1 00:00:02,008 --> 00:00:06,092 Royal history is at the heart of our national identity. 2 00:00:06,092 --> 00:00:10,068 We think of it as the definitive truth about our past. 3 00:00:10,068 --> 00:00:13,088 Kings and queens, dates and facts, 4 00:00:13,088 --> 00:00:19,068 all consigned to a past that's unchanging and fixed. 5 00:00:19,068 --> 00:00:22,088 But it's not like that at all. 6 00:00:22,088 --> 00:00:25,072 History is a chorus of voices. 7 00:00:25,072 --> 00:00:29,096 Each of them shouting out its own version of the story. 8 00:00:29,096 --> 00:00:35,008 And very often, it's the loudest voices that get heard most clearly. 9 00:00:35,008 --> 00:00:37,064 In this series, I'm lifting the lid 10 00:00:37,064 --> 00:00:42,032 on three of royal history's great nation-building stories. 11 00:00:44,056 --> 00:00:46,060 Henry VIII's Reformation. 12 00:00:46,060 --> 00:00:50,036 It's often seen as a bawdy royal soap opera, 13 00:00:50,036 --> 00:00:54,048 but was it really England's first Brexit? 14 00:00:54,048 --> 00:00:57,056 The Spanish Armada - 15 00:00:57,056 --> 00:01:01,084 Elizabeth I's triumphant foundation of an empire, 16 00:01:01,084 --> 00:01:05,084 or a ripping yarn that's riddled with fibs? 17 00:01:05,084 --> 00:01:11,040 And in this programme, Queen Anne and the forging of Great Britain. 18 00:01:12,076 --> 00:01:16,056 She's gone down in history as a feeble monarch. 19 00:01:16,056 --> 00:01:21,084 Fat, sickly and pushed around by her politicians 20 00:01:21,084 --> 00:01:25,040 and, above all, her ladies-in-waiting, her favourites. 21 00:01:26,088 --> 00:01:30,032 But did Anne really lack political skill? 22 00:01:31,028 --> 00:01:33,084 Queen Anne herself was a very astute politician. 23 00:01:33,084 --> 00:01:38,012 And was she truly a weak military leader? 24 00:01:39,048 --> 00:01:43,028 People see something they hadn't seen in a century - a French army, 25 00:01:43,028 --> 00:01:46,072 the scourge of Europe, breaks and runs. 26 00:01:46,072 --> 00:01:49,076 All of Anne's achievements and victories 27 00:01:49,076 --> 00:01:52,032 seem to have been forgotten. 28 00:01:52,032 --> 00:01:55,060 So who started this character assassination? 29 00:01:55,060 --> 00:02:01,028 And why has Anne's memory been blackened for centuries? 30 00:02:11,012 --> 00:02:13,024 BELL TOLLS 31 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,068 Queen Anne's path to the throne begins in 1688. 32 00:02:21,008 --> 00:02:25,024 The upheavals of the Reformation were far from over. 33 00:02:25,024 --> 00:02:31,024 France and Spain was still fighting to restore Catholicism to England. 34 00:02:32,068 --> 00:02:34,060 And they had a royal ally. 35 00:02:34,060 --> 00:02:39,024 Anne's father, King James II, had converted to the faith. 36 00:02:43,072 --> 00:02:46,056 The country's Protestants rose up 37 00:02:46,056 --> 00:02:50,060 and Anne had to make a hard choice. 38 00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:52,084 Anne was brought up a Protestant, 39 00:02:52,084 --> 00:02:55,012 so now she was in a terrible position. 40 00:02:55,012 --> 00:02:59,080 She had to either abandon her religion, or abandon her father. 41 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,092 In this dilemma, though, she was supported by 42 00:03:02,092 --> 00:03:07,072 her childhood best friend, almost her soulmate, Sarah Churchill. 43 00:03:07,072 --> 00:03:12,076 History remembers Queen Anne as a weak and dithering monarch, 44 00:03:12,076 --> 00:03:15,048 but her bold decision to join the revolt 45 00:03:15,048 --> 00:03:18,096 reveals this to be a fib right from the start. 46 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,032 There's a sentry guarding the door, Anne is trapped in her rooms, 47 00:03:24,032 --> 00:03:28,044 but Sarah finds an unguarded back staircase. 48 00:03:28,044 --> 00:03:31,036 And at the bottom of it, she's got a Hackney carriage waiting. 49 00:03:31,036 --> 00:03:32,072 They escape. 50 00:03:33,092 --> 00:03:38,020 Sarah Churchill would be by Anne's side all the way to the throne. 51 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,040 When James heard what had happened, he burst into tears. 52 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,020 "God help me," he said. 53 00:03:45,020 --> 00:03:48,004 "My own children have forsaken me." 54 00:03:48,004 --> 00:03:51,012 One observer said that he felt the loss of his daughter 55 00:03:51,012 --> 00:03:54,004 as badly as the loss of his army. 56 00:03:54,004 --> 00:03:59,076 James now lost heart and he fled into exile in France. 57 00:04:03,052 --> 00:04:07,000 Anne's older sister, Mary, now took the throne, 58 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,096 with her Protestant husband, the Dutch William of Orange. 59 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,020 By joining the revolt, Anne had also positioned herself 60 00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:19,028 to inherit the Stuart crown. 61 00:04:21,056 --> 00:04:25,076 Sarah and Anne had made a sensational escape. 62 00:04:25,076 --> 00:04:27,052 This was such a bold move! 63 00:04:27,052 --> 00:04:32,004 And they were now more than friends, they were partners in crime. 64 00:04:35,092 --> 00:04:40,052 Queen Anne came to the throne 14 years later, in 1702. 65 00:04:41,068 --> 00:04:44,068 The rule of her sister and her Dutch brother-in-law 66 00:04:44,068 --> 00:04:47,004 had been unpopular in England, 67 00:04:47,004 --> 00:04:51,056 and Anne was committed to the nation's revival. 68 00:04:51,056 --> 00:04:57,068 As a young woman, Anne had predicted that England will flourish again. 69 00:04:57,068 --> 00:05:00,020 And now she aimed to make good on that. 70 00:05:02,008 --> 00:05:05,028 But the new queen's reign was already being undermined 71 00:05:05,028 --> 00:05:09,024 by the prejudices of her politicians and subjects. 72 00:05:09,024 --> 00:05:12,024 Many were against her simply because she was a woman. 73 00:05:13,020 --> 00:05:15,012 Despite 17 pregnancies, 74 00:05:15,012 --> 00:05:19,096 she and her husband George had also failed to produce a Protestant heir. 75 00:05:21,012 --> 00:05:24,076 And many believed she was too sick to defend Protestant England 76 00:05:24,076 --> 00:05:28,044 against the might of Catholic France and Spain. 77 00:05:33,028 --> 00:05:36,076 Anne's various illnesses seemed impossible to cure. 78 00:05:36,076 --> 00:05:40,068 Her symptoms included a blotchy red face, 79 00:05:40,068 --> 00:05:43,092 sore legs, horribly swollen feet. 80 00:05:43,092 --> 00:05:46,048 Her doctors said all this was gout. 81 00:05:46,048 --> 00:05:51,028 And if the illnesses sound bad, the treatments sound almost worse. 82 00:05:51,028 --> 00:05:53,028 There was blood-letting, 83 00:05:53,028 --> 00:05:57,076 placing of hot irons on her skin, and blistering. 84 00:05:57,076 --> 00:06:01,052 Add in arthritis and the poor woman 85 00:06:01,052 --> 00:06:04,064 really was a prisoner in her own body. 86 00:06:04,064 --> 00:06:09,052 Back then, they said it was all caused by gluttony 87 00:06:09,052 --> 00:06:12,004 and excessive drinking. 88 00:06:12,004 --> 00:06:14,036 But this is another fib. 89 00:06:14,036 --> 00:06:16,072 The illnesses were real. 90 00:06:16,072 --> 00:06:20,020 Modern doctors have diagnosed the debilitating 91 00:06:20,020 --> 00:06:23,088 autoimmune disease, lupus. 92 00:06:23,088 --> 00:06:27,068 Anne's enemies saw it as a sign of moral weakness. 93 00:06:28,092 --> 00:06:32,068 Sir John Clerk, a Scottish MP, once met Queen Anne, 94 00:06:32,068 --> 00:06:34,056 and he said it was like meeting 95 00:06:34,056 --> 00:06:38,028 "the most despicable mortal in the world". 96 00:06:38,028 --> 00:06:41,004 He said that she had a "blotched countenance", 97 00:06:41,004 --> 00:06:46,024 and she was "surrounded by some plasters and some dirty-like rags". 98 00:06:46,024 --> 00:06:50,040 Now, I, personally, find it impressive that Queen Anne 99 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:54,008 was able to be queen despite her physical condition. 100 00:06:54,008 --> 00:06:55,040 And I suspect that 101 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,088 our generally-negative view of her reign today 102 00:06:58,088 --> 00:07:03,020 has been shaped by that, and other juicy quotations 103 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:05,036 about the imperfections of her body. 104 00:07:05,036 --> 00:07:09,012 Many historians struggle to believe 105 00:07:09,012 --> 00:07:13,092 that Anne could be both chronically ill and an effective queen. 106 00:07:14,092 --> 00:07:18,064 And that doubt existed in Stuart times, as well. 107 00:07:20,092 --> 00:07:24,040 At this period, the monarch is not just a figurehead. 108 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,020 So if the monarch is chronically unwell, 109 00:07:27,020 --> 00:07:31,084 that really puts the...the...the nation, 110 00:07:31,084 --> 00:07:34,088 um...politics, Parliament, 111 00:07:34,088 --> 00:07:36,084 the state, in peril. 112 00:07:36,084 --> 00:07:41,056 Um...with Anne, I think this is accentuated because she is a woman. 113 00:07:41,056 --> 00:07:45,004 If there's one long-term purpose of a queen, 114 00:07:45,004 --> 00:07:48,080 it's to create the next generation, the next monarch. 115 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:53,028 So Anne's health, and in particular, her fertility, 116 00:07:53,028 --> 00:07:57,036 is the subject of intense scrutiny throughout her reign. 117 00:07:57,036 --> 00:08:00,092 And, of course, it's an area where she experiences 118 00:08:00,092 --> 00:08:04,080 great tragedy and sadness, and ultimately, she fails. 119 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,052 What did people make of the fact that they had a woman on the throne? 120 00:08:08,052 --> 00:08:11,000 Well, I think it's undeniable that female power 121 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,092 is a problem in this society. 122 00:08:13,092 --> 00:08:17,004 Female rule is a... it's a kind of aberration. 123 00:08:17,004 --> 00:08:20,064 The fact that she's a woman is very often used against her. 124 00:08:20,064 --> 00:08:23,012 On the other hand, right from the start, 125 00:08:23,012 --> 00:08:26,088 she uses it to her advantage in really canny ways, I think. 126 00:08:26,088 --> 00:08:31,084 So in her coronation, she chooses a passage, a biblical passage, 127 00:08:31,084 --> 00:08:35,092 which refers to queens nursing the nation. 128 00:08:35,092 --> 00:08:39,012 So she... Right from the start, she's using this idea 129 00:08:39,012 --> 00:08:41,032 of a mother's authority, really. 130 00:08:41,032 --> 00:08:43,088 And she sets herself up as mother of the nation. 131 00:08:48,048 --> 00:08:50,080 One of Anne's first tasks as queen 132 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,084 was to address a speech to Parliament. 133 00:08:53,084 --> 00:08:56,080 Once again, expectations were low. 134 00:09:01,016 --> 00:09:05,004 In the early 18th century, Parliament was a brutal place. 135 00:09:06,076 --> 00:09:09,084 There were two factions, who despised each other. 136 00:09:09,084 --> 00:09:12,048 FAINT RAISED VOICES 137 00:09:13,052 --> 00:09:18,016 The Whigs were the party of business. The metropolitan elite. 138 00:09:18,016 --> 00:09:20,068 They wanted to restore England's glory 139 00:09:20,068 --> 00:09:24,004 by going to war with Catholic France. 140 00:09:24,004 --> 00:09:27,084 And they believed Parliament should curtail the power of the monarch. 141 00:09:30,024 --> 00:09:34,032 The Tories were landed gentry, country squires. 142 00:09:34,032 --> 00:09:36,084 They resisted going to war with France 143 00:09:36,084 --> 00:09:40,000 because it would lead to an increase in land tax. 144 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:41,088 They were committed monarchists. 145 00:09:41,088 --> 00:09:46,012 Tory values could be summed up as God, Queen and country. 146 00:09:50,060 --> 00:09:54,036 Anne dreaded entering this bear pit. 147 00:09:55,092 --> 00:09:58,080 To make matters worse, one of her ministers said 148 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,004 that she was too "unwieldy and lame" 149 00:10:02,004 --> 00:10:04,080 even to appear before Parliament. 150 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,036 It looked like it was going to be a disaster. 151 00:10:07,036 --> 00:10:10,012 But Anne had a secret weapon. 152 00:10:16,048 --> 00:10:21,076 Sarah Churchill had ensured that her friend was immaculately dressed, 153 00:10:21,076 --> 00:10:25,044 perfectly prepared and stunningly regal. 154 00:10:25,044 --> 00:10:29,096 Sarah had also arranged for Anne to be carried into Parliament. 155 00:10:46,004 --> 00:10:48,092 She learned her speech off by heart. 156 00:10:48,092 --> 00:10:53,040 People noticed that she gave it without book, no notes. 157 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:59,020 And she said, "There is nothing you could expect or desire me to do 158 00:10:59,020 --> 00:11:01,008 "that I wouldn't do 159 00:11:01,008 --> 00:11:05,076 "for the happiness and prosperity of England." 160 00:11:05,076 --> 00:11:09,060 But it was another line of the speech which became a sort of a meme 161 00:11:09,060 --> 00:11:11,084 and got relayed around the country. 162 00:11:11,084 --> 00:11:18,032 She said, "I know my own heart to be entirely English." 163 00:11:18,032 --> 00:11:20,084 And this was a dig at her predecessor, 164 00:11:20,084 --> 00:11:23,092 the unpopular Dutch King, William III. 165 00:11:23,092 --> 00:11:25,052 It went down a storm. 166 00:11:25,052 --> 00:11:28,064 Anne had done brilliantly. 167 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,020 Many of the doubts about her reign were beginning to melt away. 168 00:11:36,076 --> 00:11:40,044 "Her Majesty charmed both houses on Wednesday," 169 00:11:40,044 --> 00:11:42,024 reported one observer. 170 00:11:42,024 --> 00:11:47,044 "Never any woman spoke more audibly, or with better grace." 171 00:11:48,044 --> 00:11:50,048 The Earl of Sunderland gushed, 172 00:11:50,048 --> 00:11:52,040 "If she acts as she speaks, 173 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,076 "she will be safe, happy and adored." 174 00:11:55,076 --> 00:11:59,012 FAINT CHEERING 175 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,080 Queen Anne herself was a very astute politician, 176 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,080 and she was a very shrewd manipulator 177 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,012 of political actors to her own ends. 178 00:12:13,028 --> 00:12:17,096 But Anne's cleverly-planned debut would soon be forgotten, 179 00:12:17,096 --> 00:12:21,096 due to the machinations of her political enemies. 180 00:12:21,096 --> 00:12:23,080 In the early 18th century, 181 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:28,008 the position of Prime Minister hadn't yet been established. 182 00:12:28,008 --> 00:12:33,040 The monarch selected MPs for the top jobs, and approved policy. 183 00:12:35,032 --> 00:12:39,028 Anne was often caught in the crossfire between what she called, 184 00:12:39,028 --> 00:12:41,012 "the merciless men". 185 00:12:42,092 --> 00:12:45,068 But the standard story of her reign 186 00:12:45,068 --> 00:12:49,036 diverts our attention away from Parliament 187 00:12:49,036 --> 00:12:51,064 and on to intrigues at court. 188 00:12:51,064 --> 00:12:56,064 History, and Hollywood, have often painted Queen Anne 189 00:12:56,064 --> 00:13:00,096 as a woman under the thumb of other women - her favourites. 190 00:13:00,096 --> 00:13:04,064 They controlled access to the queen for political purposes. 191 00:13:04,064 --> 00:13:09,024 Now, like all myths, there's a grain of truth at the heart of this, 192 00:13:09,024 --> 00:13:12,000 but really, it's very much of an exaggeration. 193 00:13:21,060 --> 00:13:26,048 Sarah Churchill was a Whig, and Tory politicians were suspicious 194 00:13:26,048 --> 00:13:29,036 of her political influence on the queen. 195 00:13:29,036 --> 00:13:32,092 It's true that she was influential. 196 00:13:32,092 --> 00:13:36,044 She was Mistress of the Robes, Keeper of the Privy Purse 197 00:13:36,044 --> 00:13:38,048 and Groom of the Stool, 198 00:13:38,048 --> 00:13:41,040 symbolised by her golden key of office. 199 00:13:42,056 --> 00:13:45,052 Sarah controlled Anne's clothes, 200 00:13:45,052 --> 00:13:48,064 her social calendar and her money. 201 00:13:49,068 --> 00:13:52,088 But stories depicting the queen as Sarah's puppet 202 00:13:52,088 --> 00:13:57,068 were often motivated by jealousy of Sarah's power and privileges. 203 00:14:02,076 --> 00:14:04,000 Lady Sarah Churchill 204 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,036 had one of the most important apartments at Hampton Court. 205 00:14:07,036 --> 00:14:11,036 And this was her little closet, dressing room area? 206 00:14:11,036 --> 00:14:12,084 A closet or dressing room. 207 00:14:12,084 --> 00:14:16,008 How does it compare to other rooms the courtiers had in the palace? 208 00:14:16,008 --> 00:14:20,044 It is as richly decorated as the monarch's apartment. 209 00:14:20,044 --> 00:14:23,060 So it's a very, very cushy little room she's got here. 210 00:14:23,060 --> 00:14:27,064 It is the best place in the palace if you're a courtier. 211 00:14:27,064 --> 00:14:33,048 Because it is so close to the most private spaces of the monarch. 212 00:14:33,048 --> 00:14:36,056 Mm. Queen Anne would have slept right next door. 213 00:14:36,056 --> 00:14:39,088 Oh, yes! Very cosy arrangement. 214 00:14:41,076 --> 00:14:43,024 Well, if you're the queen, 215 00:14:43,024 --> 00:14:46,064 you don't want to be sleeping in the grand chambers upstairs. 216 00:14:46,064 --> 00:14:48,072 They're cold and not very comfortable. 217 00:14:48,072 --> 00:14:53,056 A room like this is much more homely, much more cosy. 218 00:14:53,056 --> 00:14:55,092 You have to imagine it once had a bed in. 219 00:14:55,092 --> 00:14:57,028 A bed in it? Yes! 220 00:14:57,028 --> 00:14:59,072 That was a big part of her life, being surrounded by women 221 00:14:59,072 --> 00:15:02,048 in these funny little downstairs rooms. 222 00:15:02,048 --> 00:15:06,064 Yes. But because those women are there, 223 00:15:06,064 --> 00:15:11,024 they can also talk politics with the queen. 224 00:15:11,024 --> 00:15:13,040 There's no escape, is there, if you're the queen? 225 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:15,096 Monarchs can't have normal relationships 226 00:15:15,096 --> 00:15:19,092 because everybody wants something from them. 227 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,076 At Hampton Court, any politician hoping to influence the queen 228 00:15:25,076 --> 00:15:30,044 in the early years of her reign needed access to her private study. 229 00:15:33,068 --> 00:15:38,012 The queen was both extremely ill and extremely shy. 230 00:15:38,012 --> 00:15:40,036 She kept away from high society. 231 00:15:40,036 --> 00:15:44,072 She kept herself to herself, mainly in the company of her ladies. 232 00:15:44,072 --> 00:15:48,016 So, if you were an ambitious politician, 233 00:15:48,016 --> 00:15:52,072 how would you get access to her reclusive majesty? 234 00:15:55,016 --> 00:15:57,028 Well, there are two routes. 235 00:15:57,028 --> 00:16:00,000 Here's the official way. 236 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,016 Firstly, you'd come up this epically-grand staircase, 237 00:16:05,016 --> 00:16:07,096 with its magnificent murals. 238 00:16:15,044 --> 00:16:19,056 Right down at the other end there is Queen Anne's study. 239 00:16:19,056 --> 00:16:21,072 It seems an awfully long way away. 240 00:16:21,072 --> 00:16:25,012 And between us and it, there were all these different rooms, 241 00:16:25,012 --> 00:16:30,016 each with its own door and its own lock and its own guard. 242 00:16:30,016 --> 00:16:33,028 These rooms form a hierarchy. 243 00:16:33,028 --> 00:16:35,012 And the more important you are, 244 00:16:35,012 --> 00:16:38,080 the deeper you're allowed to penetrate into the palace. 245 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:42,076 But ultimately, it was the queen's favourite who'd decide 246 00:16:42,076 --> 00:16:46,096 whether you were allowed into the royal presence or not. 247 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,036 But this isn't the only way in to see the queen. 248 00:16:56,084 --> 00:16:59,056 These are the back stairs. 249 00:16:59,056 --> 00:17:01,052 It's a working part of the palace. 250 00:17:01,052 --> 00:17:06,020 This is where servants would bring things up to the queen's study. 251 00:17:06,020 --> 00:17:08,088 The only people who are supposed to use these stairs 252 00:17:08,088 --> 00:17:13,024 are the servants themselves, and, of course, the queen's favourite. 253 00:17:15,052 --> 00:17:17,048 Clever politicians knew that 254 00:17:17,048 --> 00:17:20,092 the secret backstairs route, via Sarah Churchill, 255 00:17:20,092 --> 00:17:24,028 could get you enormous influence over the queen. 256 00:17:24,028 --> 00:17:27,016 And, as a result, the power-hungry Sarah 257 00:17:27,016 --> 00:17:30,064 became even more powerful still. 258 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,004 One of the queen's first appointments 259 00:17:34,004 --> 00:17:36,080 was Sarah Churchill's husband, Lord Marlborough. 260 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:42,004 He was keen to go to war with France to crush the Catholic threat. 261 00:17:44,052 --> 00:17:46,092 He would lead the queen's army. 262 00:17:48,024 --> 00:17:49,060 For many historians, 263 00:17:49,060 --> 00:17:53,004 this looks like a blatant favour to Sarah and the Whigs. 264 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,096 The history books have Anne down as feeble. 265 00:17:58,096 --> 00:18:02,080 A puppet, with strings pulled by her politicians. 266 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,080 But if you actually look at her political career, 267 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:10,032 it was much more nuanced than that. 268 00:18:10,032 --> 00:18:13,032 Anne was clever enough to take advice, 269 00:18:13,032 --> 00:18:17,012 but she put both Tories and Whigs into her Cabinet, 270 00:18:17,012 --> 00:18:19,092 and she was no pushover. 271 00:18:19,092 --> 00:18:21,092 Anne once said of herself, 272 00:18:21,092 --> 00:18:26,000 "If any of the Whigs think I am to be hexed or frightened 273 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,056 "into compliance because I'm a woman, 274 00:18:28,056 --> 00:18:32,048 "they are mightily mistaken in me." 275 00:18:34,096 --> 00:18:38,004 Despite all her problems, Anne was holding her own. 276 00:18:40,032 --> 00:18:43,052 But her tragic lack of children was still a problem. 277 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,008 England's stability as a Protestant nation was at stake. 278 00:18:50,056 --> 00:18:53,036 Scouring the family tree for a Protestant heir 279 00:18:53,036 --> 00:18:57,044 meant skipping over no fewer than 50 eligible Catholics. 280 00:18:58,076 --> 00:19:02,088 The next contender was a German called Sophia of Hanover. 281 00:19:04,004 --> 00:19:05,040 And Anne would do 282 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:06,084 everything in her power 283 00:19:06,084 --> 00:19:09,000 to fix this Protestant succession. 284 00:19:13,088 --> 00:19:15,088 But the Catholic threat was growing. 285 00:19:18,004 --> 00:19:22,064 A royal crisis in Spain was taking England to the brink of war. 286 00:19:24,072 --> 00:19:27,096 Charles II of Spain was also childless. 287 00:19:27,096 --> 00:19:30,076 On his death, Spain and its colonies 288 00:19:30,076 --> 00:19:34,048 would pass to the grandson of the King of France. 289 00:19:35,096 --> 00:19:39,040 This would create a Catholic mega-empire 290 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,028 intent on restoring a Catholic king to the English throne. 291 00:19:44,032 --> 00:19:48,020 The war of the Spanish succession was brewing. 292 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,056 This was one of the greatest tests for Queen Anne 293 00:19:52,056 --> 00:19:55,036 and her Protestant allies in Europe. 294 00:20:00,004 --> 00:20:02,044 This war determined the future of Europe 295 00:20:02,044 --> 00:20:05,040 and, in many ways, the future of world civilisation. 296 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,056 There's no question that the consequences are world consequences 297 00:20:08,056 --> 00:20:12,080 if Louis XIV controls the wealth of the Spanish Empire. 298 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,056 Essentially, that's a global empire for him. 299 00:20:16,056 --> 00:20:20,008 Why does Louis threaten Queen Anne quite so much? 300 00:20:20,008 --> 00:20:22,084 Well, he would remove her from the throne. 301 00:20:22,084 --> 00:20:26,072 The fear was that they would impose Catholicism on the nation. 302 00:20:26,072 --> 00:20:29,096 So actually, asking the nation to change its religion yet again. 303 00:20:29,096 --> 00:20:31,044 Imagine the bloodshed. 304 00:20:32,060 --> 00:20:36,036 Queen Anne's military legacy tends to be forgotten. 305 00:20:36,036 --> 00:20:39,024 But in 1704, she overruled the Tories 306 00:20:39,024 --> 00:20:43,044 and backed the hawkish Duke of Marlborough. 307 00:20:43,044 --> 00:20:45,096 Anne's shrewd choice of military commander 308 00:20:45,096 --> 00:20:47,060 was about to pay dividends. 309 00:20:48,068 --> 00:20:51,088 Marlborough definitely wants to take the war to Louis XIV, 310 00:20:51,088 --> 00:20:54,000 but he's got these allies, he has the Dutch allies, 311 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,040 and, quite frankly, they're frightened of 312 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,004 the reputation of Louis XIV. 313 00:20:58,004 --> 00:21:02,020 France's armies had dominated the continent for over half a century. 314 00:21:02,020 --> 00:21:05,016 Louis XIV was unbeatable, unstoppable. 315 00:21:05,016 --> 00:21:07,068 There was a real sense, "We can't really beat him. 316 00:21:07,068 --> 00:21:09,020 "Why are we even trying?" 317 00:21:09,020 --> 00:21:14,032 In 1704, the French actually give Marlborough his opportunity. 318 00:21:14,032 --> 00:21:18,016 Basically, a French army, in conjunction with a Bavarian army, 319 00:21:18,016 --> 00:21:20,028 is driving towards Vienna. 320 00:21:20,028 --> 00:21:22,016 So Louis is marching on Vienna. 321 00:21:22,016 --> 00:21:24,040 What's Marlborough going to do about that? 322 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,060 So he works out a plan with Prince Eugene of Savoy, 323 00:21:27,060 --> 00:21:30,004 the allied commander in the south, 324 00:21:30,004 --> 00:21:33,008 that what they're going to do is Savoy is going to march north, 325 00:21:33,008 --> 00:21:36,012 Marlborough is going to march south, and they will meet 326 00:21:36,012 --> 00:21:39,044 and cut the French forces off before they reach Vienna. 327 00:21:39,044 --> 00:21:44,000 Now, to do this, it's a major logistical undertaking. 328 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,084 Marlborough actually has to set up shoes and boots along the route 329 00:21:48,084 --> 00:21:52,060 because he is going to march his troops so far and so fast 330 00:21:52,060 --> 00:21:55,004 that they are going to wear out their footwear. 331 00:21:57,008 --> 00:22:00,040 The two armies meet on the way to Vienna. 332 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,016 What happens at the battle 333 00:22:02,016 --> 00:22:05,084 is that Marlborough proves himself a tactical genius. 334 00:22:05,084 --> 00:22:08,004 He makes a feint early in the morning 335 00:22:08,004 --> 00:22:10,024 towards the village of Blindheim, 336 00:22:10,024 --> 00:22:12,080 he draws the French forces off from the river. 337 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,016 He saves his cavalry till the afternoon. 338 00:22:15,016 --> 00:22:18,016 When he sends in the 81 squadrons of cavalry, 339 00:22:18,016 --> 00:22:20,008 they smash through the French lines. 340 00:22:20,008 --> 00:22:24,060 And people see something they hadn't seen in a century - a French army, 341 00:22:24,060 --> 00:22:29,024 the scourge of Europe, breaks and runs for the river. 342 00:22:29,024 --> 00:22:32,000 At the end of the day, Marlborough is exhausted. 343 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,096 He's on horseback. 344 00:22:33,096 --> 00:22:37,048 He writes a note to his wife, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. 345 00:22:37,048 --> 00:22:39,000 "Quickly, get me a piece of paper." 346 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:40,088 He writes on the back of a tavern bill, 347 00:22:40,088 --> 00:22:44,008 "Please tell the queen her army has won a glorious victory." 348 00:22:44,008 --> 00:22:46,036 And that message is, in fact, 349 00:22:46,036 --> 00:22:50,088 the announcement of England's arrival on the world's stage. 350 00:22:50,088 --> 00:22:53,004 You're making me feel quite proud to be English. 351 00:22:53,004 --> 00:22:54,096 THEY CHUCKLE Well... 352 00:22:54,096 --> 00:22:58,060 Queen Anne's army had won the most crushing victory 353 00:22:58,060 --> 00:23:01,012 against the French since Agincourt. 354 00:23:03,024 --> 00:23:06,076 On hearing the news, Anne said it gave her more joy 355 00:23:06,076 --> 00:23:09,004 than she had ever received in her life. 356 00:23:09,004 --> 00:23:14,036 Not bad at all, for a queen who'd go down in history as a disaster. 357 00:23:16,012 --> 00:23:19,076 Queen Anne's army had shattered French morale. 358 00:23:19,076 --> 00:23:22,068 It had stopped Austria from being invaded. 359 00:23:22,068 --> 00:23:27,000 It had won one of the most decisive victories in European history. 360 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,020 England was now in the ascendant. 361 00:23:29,020 --> 00:23:32,028 And here was the Duke of Marlborough's reward 362 00:23:32,028 --> 00:23:35,036 from his queen - the Palace of Blindheim, 363 00:23:35,036 --> 00:23:37,088 or, in plain English, Blenheim. 364 00:23:41,096 --> 00:23:45,064 Historians have presented this as purely Marlborough's victory. 365 00:23:45,064 --> 00:23:48,020 The usual story rarely acknowledges 366 00:23:48,020 --> 00:23:50,072 that it was the queen who appointed him. 367 00:23:52,076 --> 00:23:56,072 Elizabeth I gets remembered for beating the Spanish Armada, 368 00:23:56,072 --> 00:23:59,072 Mrs Thatcher gets remembered for winning the Falklands War. 369 00:23:59,072 --> 00:24:01,048 Why doesn't Queen Anne get remembered? 370 00:24:01,048 --> 00:24:05,092 Queen Anne was fully the equal of any of her Tudor predecessors, 371 00:24:05,092 --> 00:24:09,020 but she lacked the star quality of Queen Elizabeth 372 00:24:09,020 --> 00:24:11,044 and other people who sat on the British throne. 373 00:24:11,044 --> 00:24:14,024 She was quiet, she was shy, 374 00:24:14,024 --> 00:24:17,044 she was significantly overweight. 375 00:24:17,044 --> 00:24:20,032 And I think people then, and people today, 376 00:24:20,032 --> 00:24:24,064 still draw conclusions about that, which amount to mere prejudice. 377 00:24:24,064 --> 00:24:28,060 You never hear, "fat and competent, fat and politically astute", 378 00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:30,080 and yet, that's exactly what Anne was. 379 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:35,020 She knew who she was and was exactly the queen that England, 380 00:24:35,020 --> 00:24:38,040 and then, later, Great Britain, needed during her reign. 381 00:24:43,052 --> 00:24:46,048 The war with France continued. 382 00:24:46,048 --> 00:24:48,084 And it was getting closer to home. 383 00:24:50,032 --> 00:24:55,000 Louis XIV was eyeing up a French alliance with Scotland. 384 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,064 Together, they could perhaps crush England. 385 00:24:59,016 --> 00:25:00,080 But the queen had a solution. 386 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,052 And it would also help secure the Protestant succession. 387 00:25:10,048 --> 00:25:14,012 England and Scotland shared one monarch, 388 00:25:14,012 --> 00:25:16,056 but had two separate parliaments. 389 00:25:18,004 --> 00:25:21,064 Anne was urging Scotland to join a united parliament in London 390 00:25:21,064 --> 00:25:23,096 in return for economic rewards. 391 00:25:25,016 --> 00:25:27,096 This would shut the door on a French alliance with Scotland 392 00:25:27,096 --> 00:25:32,036 and secure the Protestant Hanoverian succession. 393 00:25:34,048 --> 00:25:37,004 Great Britain was about to be born. 394 00:25:38,096 --> 00:25:41,028 The story of how the union came about 395 00:25:41,028 --> 00:25:43,056 usually goes something like this: 396 00:25:43,056 --> 00:25:47,072 England said to Scotland, "How about it? Shall we get together?" 397 00:25:47,072 --> 00:25:51,076 The Scottish nobles thought about it, debated it 398 00:25:51,076 --> 00:25:53,096 and eventually decided, yes! 399 00:25:53,096 --> 00:25:56,072 The only people who thought that this was a bad idea 400 00:25:56,072 --> 00:25:59,044 were a small rabble of dissenters. 401 00:25:59,044 --> 00:26:02,072 Most people in England and Scotland thought that it was great. 402 00:26:02,072 --> 00:26:05,004 What a triumph! 403 00:26:05,004 --> 00:26:07,008 But this version of the story 404 00:26:07,008 --> 00:26:10,020 is one of the biggest fibs in British history. 405 00:26:11,076 --> 00:26:15,060 Scotland's archives reveal the truth about the people's response 406 00:26:15,060 --> 00:26:18,012 to the idea of a union with England. 407 00:26:19,016 --> 00:26:22,032 What do you think that people generally, in Scotland, 408 00:26:22,032 --> 00:26:25,056 felt about the union when it was proposed? 409 00:26:25,056 --> 00:26:28,032 If you had an opinion, I think contemporaries would have said 410 00:26:28,032 --> 00:26:29,064 most Scots were against it. 411 00:26:29,064 --> 00:26:34,076 We've got here a copy of a petition from the Scottish National Archives, 412 00:26:34,076 --> 00:26:37,040 which is saying, "We don't want the union". 413 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,080 So this is a petition from the inhabitants 414 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,052 and the trades and merchants of the borough of Ayr. 415 00:26:42,052 --> 00:26:46,032 It's signed by over 1,000 people, which is very large for this time. 416 00:26:46,032 --> 00:26:50,060 So it's signed by officers of the trade guilds, senior merchants, 417 00:26:50,060 --> 00:26:52,096 and then, as it goes down, you get more ordinary people. 418 00:26:52,096 --> 00:26:56,048 We can see the initials of people who are not actually literate enough 419 00:26:56,048 --> 00:26:58,016 to sign their full signature. 420 00:26:58,016 --> 00:27:00,004 And were there lots of these petitions? 421 00:27:00,004 --> 00:27:03,000 And what about the pro-union petitions? Where are they are? 422 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,068 There's only one petition that we can call pro-union, 423 00:27:05,068 --> 00:27:07,048 and it's from the borough council of Ayr. 424 00:27:07,048 --> 00:27:11,028 And they say, "We're OK with this union in principle, 425 00:27:11,028 --> 00:27:14,072 "but could you please amend some of the articles of the treaty?" 426 00:27:14,072 --> 00:27:17,052 How many petitions were there against the union? 427 00:27:17,052 --> 00:27:19,092 There were about 80, about 80 petitions. 428 00:27:19,092 --> 00:27:23,084 And they're signed by approximately 20,000 people. 429 00:27:23,084 --> 00:27:26,012 Which, for the time, is...is a lot. 430 00:27:26,012 --> 00:27:29,024 And there was ONE pro-union petition? 431 00:27:29,024 --> 00:27:32,044 Yes. At this time, there was a very strong sense of national identity. 432 00:27:32,044 --> 00:27:34,064 People saw Scotland as an ancient kingdom. 433 00:27:34,064 --> 00:27:38,056 It had been around, according to history of the time, 434 00:27:38,056 --> 00:27:39,088 for 2,000 years. 435 00:27:39,088 --> 00:27:43,012 And it was seen as really dishonourable to give that up. 436 00:27:44,024 --> 00:27:50,008 The real story at the union involved the bribery of Scottish politicians 437 00:27:50,008 --> 00:27:52,084 with the promise of titles and riches. 438 00:27:57,016 --> 00:28:02,020 The Duke of Hamilton was a Scottish anti-unionist hero. 439 00:28:02,020 --> 00:28:05,096 But late one September night in 1705, 440 00:28:05,096 --> 00:28:09,064 he abruptly changed his tune. 441 00:28:09,064 --> 00:28:13,060 The Scottish Parliament was debating how to choose commissioners 442 00:28:13,060 --> 00:28:17,076 to negotiate for Scotland over the suggested union. 443 00:28:17,076 --> 00:28:19,020 BELL TOLLS 444 00:28:22,056 --> 00:28:26,044 The Duke of Hamilton suddenly did a very surprising thing. 445 00:28:26,044 --> 00:28:27,076 He announced that 446 00:28:27,076 --> 00:28:31,008 he thought that the queen ought to pick her own commissioners. 447 00:28:31,008 --> 00:28:35,024 This was inexplicable to the rest of the opposition. 448 00:28:35,024 --> 00:28:37,088 They were confused, they were dismayed. 449 00:28:37,088 --> 00:28:39,080 They walked out of the chamber. 450 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:46,000 And this allowed the motion to slip through by just eight votes. 451 00:28:48,016 --> 00:28:50,008 Hamilton had been bribed. 452 00:28:50,008 --> 00:28:54,032 He would later become the first British Ambassador to France. 453 00:28:54,032 --> 00:28:59,096 His U-turn allowed Anne to select Scotland's own negotiators. 454 00:29:01,064 --> 00:29:04,064 Anne was getting exactly what she wanted. 455 00:29:04,064 --> 00:29:09,072 Not exactly the action of a politically-naive pushover. 456 00:29:13,036 --> 00:29:16,004 This corridor behind 10 Downing Street 457 00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:19,076 once led to Henry VIII's cockfighting pit. 458 00:29:19,076 --> 00:29:21,012 And it was here that 459 00:29:21,012 --> 00:29:24,064 the queen's ruthless battle for the union was won. 460 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,096 The two teams of commissioners were kept apart from each other 461 00:29:30,096 --> 00:29:34,092 in separate, locked rooms, and written messages were exchanged. 462 00:29:34,092 --> 00:29:38,076 So 300 years ago, this corridor was where it was all at, 463 00:29:38,076 --> 00:29:40,092 with the messengers going up and down. 464 00:29:40,092 --> 00:29:44,024 Scotland's future was at stake here, 465 00:29:44,024 --> 00:29:47,080 and yet the Scottish negotiating team had been muted. 466 00:29:49,084 --> 00:29:53,012 The deal was struck in just three days. 467 00:29:53,012 --> 00:29:55,044 The two parliaments would be united in London 468 00:29:55,044 --> 00:29:58,008 as Her Majesty's Parliament of Great Britain. 469 00:29:59,064 --> 00:30:03,056 Scotland would be free to trade with England's colonies. 470 00:30:04,084 --> 00:30:08,008 And the Protestant Hanoverians would succeed Queen Anne 471 00:30:08,008 --> 00:30:11,052 to both the Scottish and English thrones. 472 00:30:13,048 --> 00:30:17,048 Now, Anne's deal went back to be approved by the Scottish Parliament. 473 00:30:17,048 --> 00:30:21,068 And once again, Anne's ministers manipulated the outcome. 474 00:30:22,072 --> 00:30:26,060 �20,000 worth of English gold, about five million today, 475 00:30:26,060 --> 00:30:31,008 was used to persuade Scots MPs to vote for union. 476 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:36,004 Here, in the hall of the Scottish Parliament, 477 00:30:36,004 --> 00:30:39,004 MPs voted their independence away. 478 00:30:39,004 --> 00:30:42,056 Scotland's national poet, Rabbie Burns, 479 00:30:42,056 --> 00:30:46,044 was appalled by the corruption and lies. 480 00:31:46,028 --> 00:31:48,076 So the last line we heard there was, 481 00:31:48,076 --> 00:31:51,084 "We're bought and sold for English gold - 482 00:31:51,084 --> 00:31:55,020 "Such a parcel of rogues in a nation." 483 00:31:55,020 --> 00:31:59,040 Why is Robert Burns so cross with the Scottish people? 484 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,020 So he's reflecting the notion that the union was made 485 00:32:02,020 --> 00:32:03,080 with a degree of corruption. 486 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,040 It is a marriage of convenience. 487 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,044 It is created because there is no successor to Anne. 488 00:32:08,044 --> 00:32:10,072 And that problem needs to be solved. 489 00:32:10,072 --> 00:32:12,072 If Anne had had a surviving child, 490 00:32:12,072 --> 00:32:15,012 it probably would not have happened at that point in time. 491 00:32:15,012 --> 00:32:19,096 So amazingly, the union really came down to the womb of one woman. 492 00:32:19,096 --> 00:32:21,040 Mm-hm. Yep. 493 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,060 Queen Anne's lack of a successor is what drives the union. 494 00:32:25,076 --> 00:32:27,084 It's an incredible thought. 495 00:32:29,076 --> 00:32:34,068 By May 1707, Anne had secured a Protestant succession, 496 00:32:34,068 --> 00:32:37,084 foiled the French alliance with Scotland, 497 00:32:37,084 --> 00:32:41,016 and created Great Britain into the bargain. 498 00:32:41,016 --> 00:32:45,032 She was now eager to bring the bloody and expensive war 499 00:32:45,032 --> 00:32:47,044 with France to an end. 500 00:32:48,052 --> 00:32:52,072 But she was distracted by a growing conflict at home. 501 00:32:52,072 --> 00:32:57,092 Sarah's cousin, Abigail Masham, had joined the queen's staff, 502 00:32:57,092 --> 00:33:00,072 and Sarah was dismayed to see Abigail 503 00:33:00,072 --> 00:33:03,040 quickly winning the queen's affection. 504 00:33:06,068 --> 00:33:09,064 The queen now had a new favourite. 505 00:33:09,064 --> 00:33:13,020 It was Abigail who tended to her day and night. 506 00:33:13,020 --> 00:33:15,068 Sarah was out. 507 00:33:15,068 --> 00:33:16,076 But just how close 508 00:33:16,076 --> 00:33:19,064 was the relationship between Anne and Abigail? 509 00:33:19,064 --> 00:33:24,076 Well, that's a secret that remains shrouded in darkness. 510 00:33:32,076 --> 00:33:37,088 Abigail Masham was the cousin of the Tory leader, Robert Harley. 511 00:33:37,088 --> 00:33:41,004 And she gave him special access to the queen. 512 00:33:42,076 --> 00:33:46,008 Anne now used Harley as an ally against the Whigs, 513 00:33:46,008 --> 00:33:48,060 who wanted to fight on against the French. 514 00:33:48,060 --> 00:33:53,072 And Harley was the finest political schemer of his age. 515 00:33:53,072 --> 00:33:57,056 His nickname is the Backstairs Dragon. 516 00:33:57,056 --> 00:33:59,012 He's called the Backstairs Dragon 517 00:33:59,012 --> 00:34:01,092 because he's always thought to have some Machiavellian plan. 518 00:34:01,092 --> 00:34:04,044 He's always playing both sides against the middle. 519 00:34:04,044 --> 00:34:08,008 And so, this is a man who always has three or four plots going at once. 520 00:34:09,036 --> 00:34:12,080 The queen worked with Harley on secret plans 521 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,072 to make a peace treaty with France. 522 00:34:17,052 --> 00:34:20,048 Sarah and the Whigs were utterly furious. 523 00:34:23,076 --> 00:34:27,076 Speculation about Abigail's relationship with the queen 524 00:34:27,076 --> 00:34:33,060 has diverted attention from Anne's shrewd political tactics ever since. 525 00:34:35,012 --> 00:34:40,012 A popular song began spreading a rumour, originating from Sarah, 526 00:34:40,012 --> 00:34:43,028 which would destroy the queen's reputation. 527 00:34:54,044 --> 00:34:56,032 Ballads had already been very popular, 528 00:34:56,032 --> 00:34:57,084 right from Shakespeare's day, 529 00:34:57,084 --> 00:35:01,092 and they were the way that people enjoyed themselves, singing. 530 00:35:01,092 --> 00:35:05,016 It was very much part of oral culture in ale houses 531 00:35:05,016 --> 00:35:08,012 and inns and taverns, to sing popular songs. 532 00:35:10,056 --> 00:35:15,052 In this period, it becomes a way of expressing political satire. 533 00:35:15,052 --> 00:35:18,076 And so, you could have a ballad about a king and a pauper 534 00:35:18,076 --> 00:35:22,068 without naming the king, or naming the individuals involved. 535 00:35:22,068 --> 00:35:25,028 And you could satirise what was going on in politics 536 00:35:25,028 --> 00:35:27,068 without ending up in the Tower of London. 537 00:35:27,068 --> 00:35:30,068 So they have to have a thinly-disguised satire 538 00:35:30,068 --> 00:35:33,068 on what's going on in high places. 539 00:35:33,068 --> 00:35:38,020 "When as Qu... A..." 540 00:35:38,020 --> 00:35:39,044 That's Queen Anne... 541 00:35:39,044 --> 00:35:41,060 Well, we can recognise immediately it's Queen Anne, 542 00:35:41,060 --> 00:35:43,056 and so would people at the time. 543 00:35:43,056 --> 00:35:45,044 "When as Queen Anne of great renown 544 00:35:45,044 --> 00:35:47,020 "Great Britain's sceptre sway'd 545 00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:50,072 "Besides the church, she dearly lov'd 546 00:35:50,072 --> 00:35:53,008 "A dirty chamber-maid. 547 00:35:53,008 --> 00:35:56,032 "O! Abi... That was her name." 548 00:35:56,032 --> 00:35:59,016 That's Abigail Masham, isn't it? This is about Abigail. 549 00:35:59,016 --> 00:36:01,076 "She starch'd and stitch'd full well 550 00:36:01,076 --> 00:36:05,084 "But how she pierc'd this royal heart, no mortal man can tell." 551 00:36:05,084 --> 00:36:08,016 "She pierced this royal heart." 552 00:36:08,016 --> 00:36:10,000 That is romance, then. 553 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,080 It's...it's cross-class romance. 554 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,044 Whoever's written this ballad is causing mischief 555 00:36:16,044 --> 00:36:19,020 and really kind of putting Abigail down. 556 00:36:19,020 --> 00:36:21,092 She's being positioned as an ignorant, low-born woman 557 00:36:21,092 --> 00:36:23,040 who's illiterate, 558 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,068 "but had the conduct and the care of some dark deeds at night." 559 00:36:27,068 --> 00:36:29,088 "Dark deeds at night." 560 00:36:29,088 --> 00:36:31,080 Well, that's got to be girl-on-girl action. 561 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,012 It's a trivial thing, on one level, 562 00:36:34,012 --> 00:36:36,044 but it's been really influential, hasn't it, 563 00:36:36,044 --> 00:36:38,012 in shaping our view of Queen Anne? 564 00:36:38,012 --> 00:36:41,048 It's like a pop song that's also spreading gossip and rumour 565 00:36:41,048 --> 00:36:43,008 and political intrigue. 566 00:36:43,008 --> 00:36:45,052 Well, even if there's no smoking gun proving it was Sarah, 567 00:36:45,052 --> 00:36:48,060 you sort of think, who else could it have been? It must have been her! 568 00:36:48,060 --> 00:36:49,072 It must have been her. 569 00:36:49,072 --> 00:36:52,072 And I think, definitely, Sarah is...is playing with fire here. 570 00:36:52,072 --> 00:36:56,012 She's engaging in open propaganda wars. Hm. 571 00:37:00,024 --> 00:37:02,096 Great Britain was now alive with rumours 572 00:37:02,096 --> 00:37:06,032 that Abigail and Anne were lovers. 573 00:37:08,060 --> 00:37:10,016 Do you think that dark deeds 574 00:37:10,016 --> 00:37:12,068 actually happened in the night in this room? 575 00:37:12,068 --> 00:37:14,060 We will never know for sure. 576 00:37:14,060 --> 00:37:18,040 If we could make these walls talk, we might know. 577 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:22,008 But there's no reason, just because of who Anne was, 578 00:37:22,008 --> 00:37:25,036 the position she had in society and the time she lived in, 579 00:37:25,036 --> 00:37:29,056 that she might not have felt same-sex love and desire. 580 00:37:29,056 --> 00:37:31,088 What kind of evidence would you expect, anyway? 581 00:37:31,088 --> 00:37:33,084 It's not really going to exist, is it? 582 00:37:33,084 --> 00:37:37,056 Very often, evidence doesn't survive because it was taboo. 583 00:37:37,056 --> 00:37:40,024 Who would write this down, and why would you write it down? 584 00:37:40,024 --> 00:37:42,096 If you're whispering intimate secrets to somebody, 585 00:37:42,096 --> 00:37:45,020 you don't need to write them a letter. 586 00:37:45,020 --> 00:37:47,088 Sarah knew Anne better than anybody else. 587 00:37:47,088 --> 00:37:49,044 Sarah would have known 588 00:37:49,044 --> 00:37:53,032 that there could have been a grain of truth in her rumours. 589 00:37:53,032 --> 00:37:55,084 But the unintended consequence of that 590 00:37:55,084 --> 00:37:58,060 is that people assumed that not only Abigail 591 00:37:58,060 --> 00:38:01,076 was having an intimate relationship with the queen, 592 00:38:01,076 --> 00:38:03,052 but that Sarah had, as well. 593 00:38:05,068 --> 00:38:10,060 Sarah's relationship with Anne was, by now, spiralling downwards. 594 00:38:10,060 --> 00:38:13,056 At St Paul's Cathedral in 1708, 595 00:38:13,056 --> 00:38:17,060 Queen Anne and Sarah were attending a service of thanks 596 00:38:17,060 --> 00:38:20,072 for another Marlborough victory over the French. 597 00:38:20,072 --> 00:38:25,052 Sarah had laid out spectacular jewels for Anne to wear. 598 00:38:25,052 --> 00:38:30,004 And on the way to St Paul's, she noticed Anne hadn't put them on. 599 00:38:31,020 --> 00:38:33,060 To Sarah, the message was clear. 600 00:38:33,060 --> 00:38:37,060 The queen didn't value Sarah's husband's victory enough 601 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:41,084 to be bothered to wear the jewels to the ceremony to celebrate it. 602 00:38:41,084 --> 00:38:43,048 And Sarah also thought that 603 00:38:43,048 --> 00:38:46,032 she could detect the influence of Abigail here. 604 00:38:46,032 --> 00:38:50,012 And if Abigail was in, then Sarah was out. 605 00:38:50,012 --> 00:38:52,064 In the coach, they argued. 606 00:38:52,064 --> 00:38:56,064 And it all grew to a head as they arrived here, at the cathedral, 607 00:38:56,064 --> 00:39:00,092 where Sarah's feelings boiled over as they were going up the steps. 608 00:39:02,076 --> 00:39:06,040 Crowds were all around them as the argument continued. 609 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,016 There were lots of people here, at the entrance to the cathedral, 610 00:39:10,016 --> 00:39:14,004 and as the queen came in, they all heard Sarah saying to her, 611 00:39:14,004 --> 00:39:16,024 "Be quiet." 612 00:39:16,024 --> 00:39:20,000 Everybody heard Sarah telling the queen to shut up! 613 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:21,092 This was terrible! 614 00:39:21,092 --> 00:39:26,028 This was still an age when queens were considered to be semi-divine, 615 00:39:26,028 --> 00:39:30,096 and here was Anne being humiliated in public by her own servant. 616 00:39:30,096 --> 00:39:34,092 This time, Sarah had gone too far. 617 00:39:37,044 --> 00:39:40,080 The queen who's been remembered as a feeble puppet 618 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:45,004 was, in fact, now ready to dismiss her lifelong friend. 619 00:39:46,072 --> 00:39:49,000 Sarah resorted to blackmail. 620 00:39:50,012 --> 00:39:53,000 To back up the rumours about Anne's sexuality, 621 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,000 she said she'd publish intimate letters 622 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,072 the queen had sent her over the years. 623 00:40:00,060 --> 00:40:04,060 So, what is the truth about Anne's sexuality? 624 00:40:05,060 --> 00:40:09,028 These letters are often taken as so-called evidence 625 00:40:09,028 --> 00:40:12,092 that Queen Anne was our lesbian queen. 626 00:40:12,092 --> 00:40:16,084 What's your take on the letters as support for that, or not? 627 00:40:16,084 --> 00:40:19,080 Well, I mean, you know, the letters obviously don't contain anything 628 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,028 that explicit about some carnal relationships, 629 00:40:22,028 --> 00:40:23,092 so I think the only thing we do know, 630 00:40:23,092 --> 00:40:25,084 for which there is evidence in the letters, 631 00:40:25,084 --> 00:40:28,096 is the emotional intensity of their relationship, 632 00:40:28,096 --> 00:40:31,040 especially on Anne's part. 633 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:33,032 Sarah said that Anne's letters were 634 00:40:33,032 --> 00:40:36,020 sometimes full of "flames of extravagant passion". 635 00:40:36,020 --> 00:40:38,056 What sort of thing was she referring to? 636 00:40:38,056 --> 00:40:40,072 She was referring to letters like this one. 637 00:40:40,072 --> 00:40:43,056 "I have been in expectation of you a long time, 638 00:40:43,056 --> 00:40:46,020 "but can stay no longer without desiring to know 639 00:40:46,020 --> 00:40:48,024 "what you intend to do with me. 640 00:40:48,024 --> 00:40:51,040 "For it is most certain I can't go to bed without seeing you. 641 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,008 "Could you see my heart, 642 00:40:53,008 --> 00:40:55,068 "you would find I have not one thought but what I ought of that 643 00:40:55,068 --> 00:40:58,040 "dear woman whom my soul loves." 644 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:01,084 "The dear woman whom my soul loves." Mm-hm. 645 00:41:01,084 --> 00:41:05,052 Such a special feeling to read such an intimate letter. Yeah. 646 00:41:05,052 --> 00:41:07,096 I truly feel that if you are a royal woman, as well, 647 00:41:07,096 --> 00:41:10,088 you would be married off at a young age to an arranged marriage 648 00:41:10,088 --> 00:41:12,092 that was all about producing the kids, really. 649 00:41:12,092 --> 00:41:16,004 So, you would naturally seek emotional fulfilment, wouldn't you? 650 00:41:16,004 --> 00:41:17,092 Yeah. I mean, Anne did, I think, 651 00:41:17,092 --> 00:41:20,064 um...she did really like/love her husband. 652 00:41:20,064 --> 00:41:24,016 There's certainly no correspondence like this between her and George. 653 00:41:24,016 --> 00:41:27,028 I mean, the suggestion that there is something unnatural 654 00:41:27,028 --> 00:41:29,032 about Anne's feelings for other women 655 00:41:29,032 --> 00:41:32,024 really originates from Sarah herself. 656 00:41:33,044 --> 00:41:36,008 So here we have Sarah writing to Anne 657 00:41:36,008 --> 00:41:41,036 about Anne having "no inclination for any but of one's own sex". 658 00:41:43,068 --> 00:41:48,012 So the evidence for Anne being what we might call gay is shaky. 659 00:41:48,012 --> 00:41:50,096 But after Sarah's threat of blackmail, 660 00:41:50,096 --> 00:41:53,088 Queen Anne dismissed Sarah from her court. 661 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,052 When she moved out, Sarah asked if she could store her belongings 662 00:41:59,052 --> 00:42:01,060 at St James's Palace. 663 00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:06,004 Anne agreed, but the rent would be 10 shillings a week. 664 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,048 Sarah was spitting with rage, 665 00:42:11,048 --> 00:42:14,076 so she took with her all sorts of things that she shouldn't have done. 666 00:42:14,076 --> 00:42:18,016 Like the mantelpieces and the door knobs. 667 00:42:18,016 --> 00:42:20,068 If it moved, Sarah swiped it. 668 00:42:20,068 --> 00:42:22,076 So Anne retaliated. 669 00:42:22,076 --> 00:42:25,096 She stopped the building works here, at Blenheim. 670 00:42:25,096 --> 00:42:28,044 She said, "I'm not going to build a house for the duke 671 00:42:28,044 --> 00:42:31,020 "if his duchess is taking my house to pieces." 672 00:42:31,020 --> 00:42:36,040 What had been a beautiful friendship had become a furious feud. 673 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,016 And the queen hadn't finished yet. 674 00:42:39,016 --> 00:42:41,076 This would become battle royal. 675 00:42:43,072 --> 00:42:49,076 In January 1711, Sarah was forced to return that golden key of office. 676 00:42:49,076 --> 00:42:53,068 She and her husband were also advised to leave England 677 00:42:53,068 --> 00:42:55,080 to avoid further trouble. 678 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,088 Harley's Tories had won the election 679 00:42:58,088 --> 00:43:02,084 with the promise of signing a peace treaty with France and Spain. 680 00:43:04,008 --> 00:43:07,040 But the Whigs still wanted to fight on to victory, 681 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:11,016 and they outnumbered the Tories in the House of Lords. 682 00:43:11,016 --> 00:43:14,000 The queen was desperate to win, 683 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,092 so she and Harley resorted to a strategy 684 00:43:16,092 --> 00:43:21,080 that was described as a "mighty stretch of her powers". 685 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:25,096 She knew that she didn't have enough Tory lords to win the vote, 686 00:43:25,096 --> 00:43:27,084 so before you could even say "dodgy", 687 00:43:27,084 --> 00:43:30,092 she just created a dozen new ones. 688 00:43:37,056 --> 00:43:40,096 This was shocking to Parliament. One observer said 689 00:43:40,096 --> 00:43:44,032 it was "as stunning as if she'd burnt Magna Carta". 690 00:43:46,084 --> 00:43:48,088 The queen had won again. 691 00:43:48,088 --> 00:43:53,056 And this peace treaty would transform Britain. 692 00:43:53,056 --> 00:43:58,048 History rarely even remembers Anne's Treaty of Utrecht, 693 00:43:58,048 --> 00:44:00,040 but it changed the world. 694 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,044 It marked the end of French dominance in Europe, 695 00:44:03,044 --> 00:44:07,064 and it landed some massive trade deals for Britain. 696 00:44:07,064 --> 00:44:10,032 One of the most lucrative was with Spain. 697 00:44:10,032 --> 00:44:13,028 It was called the Assiento. 698 00:44:13,028 --> 00:44:15,044 It gave Britain a 30-year monopoly 699 00:44:15,044 --> 00:44:19,084 in a trade that would turn us into the world's greatest economic power. 700 00:44:19,084 --> 00:44:21,084 A trade in slaves. 701 00:44:22,096 --> 00:44:25,056 How do you feel about narratives that still exist 702 00:44:25,056 --> 00:44:27,068 that present Queen Anne's reign as 703 00:44:27,068 --> 00:44:32,004 the epic beginnings of this fantastic thing, the British Empire? 704 00:44:32,004 --> 00:44:34,076 Well, there's some truth in that, 705 00:44:34,076 --> 00:44:41,024 in the sense that all the conditions are being created for this takeoff, 706 00:44:41,024 --> 00:44:45,004 when Britain was able to dominate world politics. 707 00:44:45,004 --> 00:44:50,048 And all of that is facilitated by the human trafficking 708 00:44:50,048 --> 00:44:53,076 of African men, women and children in their... 709 00:44:53,076 --> 00:44:57,088 Not just tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, but millions. 710 00:44:57,088 --> 00:45:02,044 How essential was the slave trade to Britain's 18th-century economy? 711 00:45:02,044 --> 00:45:06,020 Well, you can't think of Britain's economy in the 18th century 712 00:45:06,020 --> 00:45:08,088 without what's called the "slave trade". 713 00:45:08,088 --> 00:45:12,036 You're stimulating shipbuilding because you need the ships. 714 00:45:12,036 --> 00:45:16,020 Rope-building, sail-making, um... 715 00:45:16,020 --> 00:45:19,088 everything connected with weapons, 716 00:45:19,088 --> 00:45:23,084 alcohol, metal industries. Um... 717 00:45:23,084 --> 00:45:27,004 So if we look at all the kind of major cities of this period, 718 00:45:27,004 --> 00:45:28,096 something like a city like Manchester 719 00:45:28,096 --> 00:45:31,016 develops based on this trade. 720 00:45:31,016 --> 00:45:36,024 The Bank of England, the...the British Museum, the... 721 00:45:36,024 --> 00:45:39,072 Everything. All the stately homes in the country. 722 00:45:39,072 --> 00:45:43,080 All the wealth of this period is connected with colonial trade. 723 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:48,092 Queen Anne's deal is shocking today, 724 00:45:48,092 --> 00:45:51,096 but the Assiento and the Treaty of Utrecht 725 00:45:51,096 --> 00:45:57,012 launched an empire of which the Tudors could only dream. 726 00:45:59,044 --> 00:46:03,000 Elizabeth I was Anne's much-admired heroine. 727 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,096 And she'd held a thanksgiving at St Paul's 728 00:46:05,096 --> 00:46:08,060 after seeing off the Spanish Armada. 729 00:46:08,060 --> 00:46:11,028 Now Anne was going to go one better. 730 00:46:11,028 --> 00:46:13,084 There was planned, also at St Paul's, 731 00:46:13,084 --> 00:46:16,084 a procession of 4,000 children. 732 00:46:16,084 --> 00:46:18,076 They were going to sing hymns to God, 733 00:46:18,076 --> 00:46:22,076 thanking Him for Her Majesty, and for the gift of peace. 734 00:46:22,076 --> 00:46:25,032 For the music of the thanksgiving, 735 00:46:25,032 --> 00:46:28,008 Anne included a sneaky bit of support 736 00:46:28,008 --> 00:46:30,012 for the Hanoverian succession. 737 00:46:32,008 --> 00:46:34,080 The English composer, Purcell, was out... 738 00:46:36,068 --> 00:46:39,068 ..and the German composer, Handel, was in. 739 00:46:42,044 --> 00:46:45,080 Handel's previous patron had been the Hanoverian court. 740 00:46:49,028 --> 00:46:53,044 But once again, Anne's body was to let her down. 741 00:46:53,044 --> 00:46:57,016 This was supposed to be her moment of glory, 742 00:46:57,016 --> 00:47:01,000 but she was too ill to attend. 743 00:47:10,008 --> 00:47:14,028 The queen would also miss the unveiling of this statue. 744 00:47:16,028 --> 00:47:21,028 Anne had shown courage by using military force at crucial moments, 745 00:47:21,028 --> 00:47:23,024 but she'd also shown wisdom 746 00:47:23,024 --> 00:47:26,008 by making peace when she had the chance. 747 00:47:26,008 --> 00:47:28,052 Sounds like exactly what you'd hope for 748 00:47:28,052 --> 00:47:30,092 in a natural-born leader, doesn't it? 749 00:47:30,092 --> 00:47:35,036 Like her heroine, Elizabeth I, Anne had been victorious, 750 00:47:35,036 --> 00:47:39,036 and she'd helped create the Europe that we know today. 751 00:47:46,036 --> 00:47:50,000 After a lifetime beset by illness, 752 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:54,048 on 1st August, 1714, at the age of 49, 753 00:47:54,048 --> 00:47:56,032 Queen Anne died. 754 00:47:58,048 --> 00:48:00,056 Today, she's been all but forgotten. 755 00:48:01,092 --> 00:48:05,024 But in just 12 years, England had been transformed 756 00:48:05,024 --> 00:48:07,080 into a new world power. 757 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,008 The mighty Great Britain. 758 00:48:12,024 --> 00:48:14,012 And despite her fertility problems, 759 00:48:14,012 --> 00:48:17,012 Anne had also fixed the smooth succession 760 00:48:17,012 --> 00:48:20,000 of a new Protestant dynasty. 761 00:48:22,012 --> 00:48:25,020 On 18th September, 1714, 762 00:48:25,020 --> 00:48:30,024 a man called Georg Ludwig landed here, at Greenwich. 763 00:48:30,024 --> 00:48:33,060 He'd just arrived from Hanover, in Germany. 764 00:48:33,060 --> 00:48:35,076 Now, his English wasn't that great 765 00:48:35,076 --> 00:48:37,096 and certainly, today, he would have struggled 766 00:48:37,096 --> 00:48:39,064 with the citizenship test, 767 00:48:39,064 --> 00:48:43,060 but pretty soon, he would be crowned King George I. 768 00:48:43,060 --> 00:48:47,020 But Sarah Churchill had used her time in exile 769 00:48:47,020 --> 00:48:51,060 spreading her fibs to blacken Anne's reputation in Europe. 770 00:48:51,060 --> 00:48:57,040 Despite all her victories, the queen's legacy was undermined. 771 00:49:00,020 --> 00:49:03,052 The statue's supposed to celebrate Anne's military success, 772 00:49:03,052 --> 00:49:07,084 but pretty soon after it got put up, it was graffitied. 773 00:49:07,084 --> 00:49:12,056 A disrespectful rhyme appeared, calling her, "Brandy Nan". 774 00:49:12,056 --> 00:49:15,080 "Brandy Nan," it went, "left in the lurch, 775 00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:19,080 "face to the gin shop, back to the church." 776 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:24,008 She didn't even have the respect of Georgian street urchins. 777 00:49:27,072 --> 00:49:30,072 Sarah's final act of revenge for the Whigs 778 00:49:30,072 --> 00:49:33,064 came nearly 30 years after Anne's death. 779 00:49:34,088 --> 00:49:36,068 She scandalised Britain 780 00:49:36,068 --> 00:49:41,012 with a treacherous account of her time in the queen's service. 781 00:49:42,052 --> 00:49:47,056 What kind of a Queen Anne emerges from Sarah's kiss-and-tell memoir? 782 00:49:47,056 --> 00:49:51,064 Sarah portrays Anne as just sort of blindly, 783 00:49:51,064 --> 00:49:55,028 stubbornly, um...unreasonable. 784 00:49:55,028 --> 00:49:59,024 And dominated by a Tory view of the world. 785 00:49:59,024 --> 00:50:03,008 So here, for example, it says that, "the queen had, from her infancy, 786 00:50:03,008 --> 00:50:06,060 "imbibed the most unconquerable prejudices against the Whigs." 787 00:50:06,060 --> 00:50:11,032 Anne was raised as a Tory and just couldn't see past those blinkers. 788 00:50:11,032 --> 00:50:13,024 Sarah's making Anne sound inflexible, 789 00:50:13,024 --> 00:50:15,048 and therefore, a bit dim, really. 790 00:50:15,048 --> 00:50:17,048 Can't see both sides of the argument. 791 00:50:17,048 --> 00:50:20,020 Anne mainly comes out of this book as seeming just very boring 792 00:50:20,020 --> 00:50:22,076 and insipid, and quite weak. 793 00:50:22,076 --> 00:50:27,028 So that image of Anne as not being as intelligent, 794 00:50:27,028 --> 00:50:30,036 or as, um...in control of the course of events, 795 00:50:30,036 --> 00:50:34,084 really is reinforced by the way she's depicted in this memoir. 796 00:50:34,084 --> 00:50:37,032 So on one level, it's sophisticated propaganda, 797 00:50:37,032 --> 00:50:39,056 on another, is just a big fib, isn't it? 798 00:50:39,056 --> 00:50:41,012 It oversimplifies. 799 00:50:41,012 --> 00:50:43,032 It does oversimplify, but I think Sarah, 800 00:50:43,032 --> 00:50:45,048 she wasn't consciously fibbing, 801 00:50:45,048 --> 00:50:48,004 I think she oversimplified her view of Anne. 802 00:50:48,004 --> 00:50:52,064 Sarah, really, just treats Anne as quite an infantile character. 803 00:50:52,064 --> 00:50:55,052 This little book, it's just a little book, 804 00:50:55,052 --> 00:50:59,024 but it has torpedoed Anne's reputation in history. 805 00:51:04,056 --> 00:51:08,036 Sarah wasn't the last Churchill to rewrite Anne's story. 806 00:51:11,004 --> 00:51:14,016 In 1874, another Churchill, Winston, 807 00:51:14,016 --> 00:51:16,048 was born at Blenheim Palace. 808 00:51:19,036 --> 00:51:21,076 As he grew up, he was fascinated by his ancestor, 809 00:51:21,076 --> 00:51:25,012 the Duke of Marlborough. He dubbed him, "John Duke". 810 00:51:27,016 --> 00:51:30,028 The great 19th-century historian, Thomas Macaulay, 811 00:51:30,028 --> 00:51:33,032 had cast a shadow over his memory. 812 00:51:33,032 --> 00:51:36,036 "The splendid qualities of John Churchill 813 00:51:36,036 --> 00:51:41,016 "were mingled with alloy of the most sordid kind," he'd said. 814 00:51:42,028 --> 00:51:44,088 But Winston Churchill wasn't going to take 815 00:51:44,088 --> 00:51:46,064 that slur on his family name. 816 00:51:48,096 --> 00:51:51,008 As a backbench MP in the 1930s, 817 00:51:51,008 --> 00:51:54,072 he began writing a biography of his famous ancestor. 818 00:51:57,068 --> 00:51:59,088 By the time he'd finished his book, 819 00:51:59,088 --> 00:52:02,084 Winston Churchill had fought and re-fought 820 00:52:02,084 --> 00:52:07,064 the Duke of Marlborough's world war over and over again in his mind. 821 00:52:07,064 --> 00:52:13,012 He was using history to prepare himself for his own world war. 822 00:52:13,012 --> 00:52:15,092 "The longer you can look back," he said, 823 00:52:15,092 --> 00:52:18,084 "the farther you can look forward." 824 00:52:20,020 --> 00:52:22,044 One of Winston's own biographers 825 00:52:22,044 --> 00:52:27,052 said that, "the great showman aimed to blast Macaulay out of the water." 826 00:52:28,052 --> 00:52:31,000 In Winston Churchill's colourful prose, 827 00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,016 the Duke of Marlborough, John Duke, 828 00:52:33,016 --> 00:52:37,012 gets a dramatic rehabilitation. How about this? 829 00:52:37,012 --> 00:52:41,004 "Behind Queen Anne, ever faithful in her service, 830 00:52:41,004 --> 00:52:43,084 "lay the pervading genius of Marlborough, 831 00:52:43,084 --> 00:52:46,064 "with his enchanted sword." 832 00:52:46,064 --> 00:52:51,032 In trumpeting Marlborough as this great hero, 833 00:52:51,032 --> 00:52:54,096 he relegated Queen Anne to a bit-part player. 834 00:52:54,096 --> 00:53:00,044 Sidelined, infantilised and misrepresented. 835 00:53:02,016 --> 00:53:07,000 Winston Churchill wrote that, "Marlborough was not only the chief, 836 00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:09,024 "but the sole guide of the Queen, 837 00:53:09,024 --> 00:53:12,048 "and the decisions to which she obtained her assent 838 00:53:12,048 --> 00:53:16,056 "shaped the future. Anne relied on Marlborough." 839 00:53:19,020 --> 00:53:21,068 Churchill was patronising to Queen Anne 840 00:53:21,068 --> 00:53:25,020 in order to rescue the reputation of his beloved John Duke. 841 00:53:26,060 --> 00:53:30,048 But it's Sarah Churchill's fibs that have most distorted her memory. 842 00:53:32,092 --> 00:53:34,080 Sarah Churchill's version of the story 843 00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:39,088 has had 250 years now to stew and to spread. 844 00:53:39,088 --> 00:53:44,016 And her juicy titbits about "dark deeds done at night" 845 00:53:44,016 --> 00:53:47,028 are so powerful that they've pushed all the other stories 846 00:53:47,028 --> 00:53:52,000 that could have been told about Queen Anne out of our minds. 847 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:55,048 You sent for Abigail to try and make me jealous, I think! Perhaps. 848 00:53:56,072 --> 00:53:59,028 QUEEN ANNE GASPS 849 00:53:59,028 --> 00:54:01,060 And now, the film, The Favourite, 850 00:54:01,060 --> 00:54:04,072 is spreading the fibs to a whole new generation. 851 00:54:04,072 --> 00:54:08,084 It goes even further than Sarah Churchill's version of events. 852 00:54:08,084 --> 00:54:10,064 You look like a badger. 853 00:54:10,064 --> 00:54:12,032 Oh! 854 00:54:13,068 --> 00:54:16,096 Well, what do you think you look like? 855 00:54:16,096 --> 00:54:19,080 A badger. 856 00:54:24,004 --> 00:54:25,068 Do you really think you can meet the Russian delegation 857 00:54:25,068 --> 00:54:28,008 looking like that? 858 00:54:28,008 --> 00:54:29,036 No. I will manage it. 859 00:54:30,072 --> 00:54:33,040 Go back to your rooms. 860 00:54:34,036 --> 00:54:36,000 Queen Anne in The Favourite is a tragic figure. 861 00:54:41,076 --> 00:54:45,008 She's overweight, she's insanely greedy. Mm! 862 00:54:45,008 --> 00:54:49,040 She's easily manipulated by other people. 863 00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:52,024 She has two lesbian lovers 864 00:54:52,024 --> 00:54:54,040 and she's obsessed with her pet rabbits. 865 00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:57,024 Now, you could argue about whether all these things 866 00:54:57,024 --> 00:55:00,008 are really true or not, except for the last. 867 00:55:00,008 --> 00:55:02,088 She definitely did not have bunnies. 868 00:55:02,088 --> 00:55:05,024 Along with so much else, the rabbits in the film are total inventions. 869 00:55:06,024 --> 00:55:11,016 So, what do historians make of The Favourite? 870 00:55:11,016 --> 00:55:14,052 I think visually, it's sumptuous, and I think it's... 871 00:55:15,052 --> 00:55:18,016 Anything that gets people interested in history is worthwhile. 872 00:55:18,016 --> 00:55:22,048 I found the favourite to be delightfully entertaining 873 00:55:22,048 --> 00:55:26,004 and wicked good fun, and utter rubbish as history. 874 00:55:26,004 --> 00:55:30,004 Queen Anne's memory has been blackened for centuries 875 00:55:32,056 --> 00:55:36,004 by her embittered lady-in-waiting. 876 00:55:36,004 --> 00:55:38,040 Now Hollywood appears to have sealed her fate 877 00:55:40,012 --> 00:55:42,088 as a queen destined to be remembered as a disaster. 878 00:55:42,088 --> 00:55:46,020 But it was the Georgians 879 00:55:48,072 --> 00:55:50,020 who colluded in putting the lid on Anne's legacy. 880 00:55:50,020 --> 00:55:53,020 Anne had defeated the French, 881 00:55:58,032 --> 00:56:00,044 she'd restored peace to Europe 882 00:56:00,044 --> 00:56:03,008 and she'd gracefully handed over the succession to the Hanoverians. 883 00:56:03,008 --> 00:56:07,092 To see how they thanked her for that, 884 00:56:07,092 --> 00:56:10,080 we need to visit the most magnificent building in Greenwich, 885 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:14,040 the Painted Hall. 886 00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:16,016 It was designed to be a hospital dining room, 887 00:56:18,028 --> 00:56:21,060 but it's also Britain's answer to the Sistine Chapel. 888 00:56:21,060 --> 00:56:26,028 It took the artist, James Thornhill, two decades to paint, 889 00:56:26,028 --> 00:56:30,008 and his posture would never recover. 890 00:56:30,008 --> 00:56:33,068 Ah! 891 00:56:33,068 --> 00:56:35,016 There's William and Mary - 892 00:56:35,016 --> 00:56:39,060 Anne's brother-in-law and her sister. 893 00:56:39,060 --> 00:56:41,040 They're absolutely plumb centre. They dominate the whole room. 894 00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,092 And here, on the end wall, we have George's family, 895 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:49,028 the Hanoverian clan. 896 00:56:55,056 --> 00:56:59,008 The whole darn lot of them. There's loads of them. 897 00:56:59,008 --> 00:57:00,084 With their rather modest motto, that says, 898 00:57:00,084 --> 00:57:03,016 "Here we have a new race of men from heaven." 899 00:57:03,016 --> 00:57:05,092 And where in all of this is Queen Anne? 900 00:57:05,092 --> 00:57:10,080 Well, you could be forgiven for missing her. 901 00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:13,092 She's tucked away on the ceiling here, 902 00:57:13,092 --> 00:57:17,004 next to her slightly-useless husband. 903 00:57:17,004 --> 00:57:19,012 She's not at all the focus of attention. 904 00:57:19,012 --> 00:57:22,004 And that pretty much sums up the Georgians' attitude to Queen Anne. 905 00:57:22,004 --> 00:57:25,008 In fact, that end wall was originally supposed to be 906 00:57:25,008 --> 00:57:29,056 a celebration of Anne's victories. 907 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:34,028 This would have cemented the image of her 908 00:57:34,028 --> 00:57:37,008 as a successful military leader. 909 00:57:37,008 --> 00:57:39,004 But along came George and put his own family there instead. 910 00:57:39,004 --> 00:57:41,056 It's like he painted out her legacy. 911 00:57:41,056 --> 00:57:46,040 Being forgotten is perhaps the greatest indignity of all. 912 00:57:46,040 --> 00:57:49,024 Queen Anne's story shows just how dangerous 913 00:57:51,016 --> 00:57:56,008 royal history's fibs can be. 914 00:57:57,008 --> 00:58:00,048 So we should set aside the poisonous tone of Sarah Churchill's memoirs 915 00:58:00,048 --> 00:58:03,068 to reveal the real Queen Anne. 916 00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:10,036 She WAS significant. 917 00:58:10,036 --> 00:58:13,000 She gave the world Great Britain, for better or for worse. 918 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,016 She saved the nation from the French. 919 00:58:15,016 --> 00:58:18,064 We need to rescue Anne from the mythology 920 00:58:18,064 --> 00:58:21,024 and restore her to her rightful place in royal history.