The reign of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch, was a period of significant progress for the country: Britain became a major military power on land, the union of England and Scotland created a united kingdom of Great Britain, and the economic and political basis for the golden age of the eighteenth century was established. However the queen herself has received little credit for these achievements and has long been depicted as a weak and ineffectual monarch, dominated by her advisers. This biography shatters that image and establishes Anne as a personality of integrity and invincible stubbornness, the central figure of her age. This revised edition includes a new foreword by the author.