Synopsis

Queen Anne was not charismatic, brilliant, or beautiful, yet England rose from the chaos of regicide, civil war and revolution to the cusp of global supremacy under her rule. In Good Queen Anne: Appraising the Life and Reign of the Last Stuart Monarch (McFarland & Company Inc, March 19, 2019), author Judith Lissauer Cromwell re-examines the three-centuries-old portrait of Queen Anne as told by her dearest friend and deadliest enemy Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.

Anne Stuart was raised in a court notorious for immorality and intrigue, happily married a handsome prince, experienced plots galore and a secret midnight flight, and suffered persecution and ill-health all by the age of thirty-seven. Gout-ridden and prematurely aged by seventeen pregnancies that failed to provide her nation with an heir, Anne began her reign by committing to a long and costly overseas war against Europe’s superpower while maintaining peace during a political conflict at home.

As the author of two previous historical biographies about complex and famous women, Dorothea Lieven and Florence Nightingale, Judith Lissauer Cromwell is qualified to meet the challenge and tell the true story of Queen Anne that posterity has lost. Her examination of archives, primary sources, and material on Anne’s contemporaries reveal Anne as a resolute and multi-faceted woman who rose above adversity to become an effective and beloved queen.

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Interview with the Judith

What is the most surprising thing you discovered about Anne?

Anne applied common sense and knowledge of human nature to governing; and that combination served her country well. She did not learn from books; Anne learned from life. Her background, upbringing, youth, and early married years taught Anne valuable lessons; she put them to good use during her twelve year reign.

Anne’s husband, dismissed as stupid by most British historians because he spoke with a strong Danish accent, (not surprising since Prince George of Denmark married Anne at age thirty-one) understood continental politics, and had sound common sense.

How was Anne’s marriage unusual for the time, and what role did it play in her reign?

Anne and her husband George had an unusually happy marriage. It was, of course, an arranged marriage but unlike most male royals, George never strayed from the bed he and Anne shared throughout more than twenty years of marriage. When English couples married, their well-wishers hoped they “would love like the queen and prince.”

George stayed out of politics for the most part, but he provided Anne with sensible advice when she confided in him. Their domestic happiness was the sole comfort of Anne’s life.

Why should readers learn the history of Queen Anne?

In the era of “Me Too,” when women of all ages and backgrounds are looking for self-fulfillment, Anne is an inspiration. She shows how a female of average intelligence and no particular beauty but a decent heart, uneducated in government, physically debilitated and emotionally scarred, can still succeed in guiding her country to greatness.

Dismissed, derided, and damned with faint praise for three hundred years, Queen Anne deserves her due. In the “Me Too” era, it is appropriate to consider the impact she made.

About the Author

Judith Lissauer Cromwell spent a successful corporate career on Wall Street before returning to academia as an independent historian and biographer of powerful women. Her experiences as a magna cum laude graduate of Smith College, holder of a doctorate in modern European history with academic distinction from New York University, a veteran of corporate America, and single mother enrich Cromwell’s perspective on strong women in history. She previously published Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris 1785-1857 and Florence Nightingale, Feminist, and now turns to tell the real story of Queen Anne.

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