A proud almost indomitable spirit is evoked as the new monarch looks out uncompromisingly, her head adorned with crown, and body with Garter chain, indicators of strength and continuity; a highly accomplished image of majesty. After her coronation and Kneller’s initial commission in 1703, his studio would have been asked to produce further versions which would have been created for royal patrons, courtiers, ambassadors and members of the gentry keen to show their allegiance to the new monarch. The larger three-quarter or full-length length versions found greater favour in civic buildings and institutions with the head and shoulders variant as seen here – arguably more engaging – being much scarcer.

Queen Anne, second daughter of James II by his first wife Lady Anne Hyde (1637-71), was born at St James’s Palace on in February 1665. She spent her early years in France living with her aunt and grandmother. Although her father was a Catholic, on the instruction of Charles II she and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants. In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark(1653-1708). It was to be a happy marriage, although marred by frequent miscarriages, still births and the death of children in infancy; five of her eighteen children were born alive and none reached maturity.
When James II was overthrown in 1688 and her sister Mary, and her Dutch husband William, took the throne, Anne automatically became their heir if they had no children. With their deaths she became Queen in 1702. Within months, the War of the Spanish Succession began and a series of military victories by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, including the Battle of Blenheim strengthened England’s negotiating position. As such, at the end of the war under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France recognised Anne’s title over that of James II’s Roman Catholic son, James Stuart and confirmed England’s possession of Gibraltar.

The last years of the 17th century had seen differing policies pursued by parliaments in England and Scotland which included disagreements over the succession. The negotiated solution ultimately led to the unification of England and Scotland in May 1707 into a single kingdom, with Anne becoming the first sovereign of Great Britain. Politically, the rest of her reign was marked by the development of the two party system, with Whigs and Tories competing for power. Parsimoniously Anne resented the great expense of Marlborough’s campaigns, and in this she was in accord with the Tory leaders. Equally, she found the Whig philosophy distasteful, with its encroachments on the prerogatives of the monarch and as such Anne hoped to rule through mixed ministries, but in 1708 the Whigs became dominant. Her own sympathies had always lain ultimately with the Tory party and she supported their administration when there was a major shift in 1711 until her death in August 1714. Her only surviving son William had died in 1700, prompting parliament to pass the Act of Settlement (1701) to ensure a Protestant succession. Anne was therefore succeeded by the German Protestant Prince George, Elector of Hanover.