Good Queen Anne

Good Queen Anne: Appraising the Life and Reign of the Last Stuart Monarch- Judith Cromwell
McFarland/Amazon Digital Services
Release Date: February 28, 2019

Rating:
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Synopsis: Queen Anne (1665–1714) was not charismatic, brilliant or beautiful, but under her rule, England rose from the chaos of regicide, civil war and revolution to the cusp of global supremacy. She fought a successful overseas war against Europe’s superpower and her moderation kept the crown independent of party warfare at home. This biography reveals Anne Stuart as resolute, kind and practical—a woman who surmounted personal tragedy and poor health to become a popular and effective ruler.

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Britain's Queen Anne (1665-1714) is not someone I really knew anything about, so I was excited to see a new biography on her come out.  By the time I had finished Good Queen Anne I could only ask myself: why is she not more well known?  She was everything we would want in a world leader today: a strong woman, a fierce moderate, an independent thinker, and a kind human being. Author Judith Cromwell does an excellent job bringing Anne to life as a fully human and relatable royal: a young woman, a princess, a married woman, and a queen.  She united England and Scotland, helped steer England through the long War of Spanish Succession, and held her country together at a time when party politics was leaning to extremes on both sides.  I loved that Anne always insisted on her cabinet being as moderate and free of party politics as she could manage- something today's politics could learn from.  She insisted on putting what was good for the country ahead of what was good for an individual, whether that individual was her or not.  And she tried to keep from being beholden to either party, something not always possible during war. 

The book did have its' flaws, mostly in the writing style in my opinion.  Cromwell has a tendency to begin by describing the weather before entering a new section, which works in small doses but towards the end began to happen so often that it felt contrived.  While I expect the intent was to make the reader feel a part of the events it became something I was so conscious of that it would jolt me from the book to notice instead of flowing seamlessly.  But my real problem with the writing was the overwhelming amount of repetition. While I don't mind a bit of repetition to help keep people and titles straight over the course of a 600 page book, I don't need to be constantly told that Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, was Anne's close friend and confident (until Anne became Queen. It was downhill after that). I don't need to be constantly told that Sarah became threatened and jealous of Anne's maid Abigail and believed (despite no evidence) that Abigail was influencing Anne's politics.  While the relationship between Anne and Sarah was an essential part to Anne's story, there were better ways to emphasize that then the repetition Cromwell used- occasionally almost to the word.

Overall, Good Queen Anne is a wonderful, well-researched book about a strong woman who stood her ground in the face of even stronger personalities, power plays, and outright bullying by family members, "friends", and politicians.  Cromwell reveals a queen I didn't know I wanted to know about- but am incredibly glad I do now.  Three cheers for Good Queen Anne!  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review