Queen Anne

Queen Anne is a historical drama by Helen Edmundson about Anne, the last Stuart monarch, and her intense friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Set in the years around Anne's accession in 1702, it charts how the long intimacy between the two women is strained by politics, ambition and Anne's growing independence, as Sarah's cousin Abigail Hill and the politician Robert Harley gain the Queen's ear. Satirists including Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe comment on events in satirical songs and pamphlets, reflecting the birth of a free press in England.