Queen Anne's twelve year reign, after her sister Mary and the unpopular Dutch William III, was arguably important and successful, but almost forgotten as she was hopeless at PR, unlike the glorified, overrated poser Elisabeth I. She was shy, rarely made up and almost constantly ill, often in bed, suffering horrible cures that didn't work. It made her reputedly dependent on attending favorites, especially Sarah Churchill, who controlled access to the monarch and had her husband John, the duke of Marlborough, appointed commander in the Spanish war of succession, where he scored a rare victory against the dominant French army of Louis XIV, rewarded with Blenheim palace, named after his key battle at Blindheim. She personally played umpire in the national interest between he hostile Whig and Tory parties in Westminster parliament. Unable to produce an heir, with over fifty Catholics closer by blood then first acceptable protestant, Sophie of Hannover, Anne arranged instead for a union with Scotland into Great Britain, actually requiring cunning and bribery, and would be succeeded by Sophie's heir Georg(e). Meanwhile Sarah lost hers status as favorite to less arrogant niece Abigail, and started a smear campaign against her, which ended up tainting all three women's reputation, leaving Anne to become almost a taboo topic.
—KGF Vissers