Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702.
Anne's life was marked by many crises relating to succession to the
Crown. Her Roman Catholic father, James II, had been forcefully
deposed in 1688; her sister and brother-in-law then became Queen and
King as Mary II and William III. The failure of Anne and of her sister
to produce a child who could survive into adulthood precipitated a
succession crisis, which ultimately produced the Act of Union 1707.
When, on 1 May 1707, England and Scotland combined into a single
Kingdom, Anne became the first Sovereign of Great Britain. Anne was
the last British monarch of the House of Stuart; she was succeeded by
a distant cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover. Anne's reign was
also marked by the development of the two-party system. Anne
personally preferred the Tory Party, but endured the Whigs. Her
closest friend, and perhaps her most influential advisor, was Sarah
Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, whose husband, John Churchill, 1st
Duke of Marlborough, led the English armies in the War of the Spanish
Succession.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1734:
A black slave known as Marie-Joseph Angélique was tortured and then
hanged in New France.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Joseph_Ang%E9lique)
1788:
New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and was admitted as the
9th U.S. state.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire)
1813:
Laura Secord set out to warn British forces of an impending American
attack at Queenston, Ontario.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Secord)
1864:
Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ended.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga_Campaign)
1985:
Greenland officially adopted its own flag, adding support to its
independence movement.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Greenland)
2000:
The anti-gay amendment known as Section 28 was repealed in Scotland
with a 99 to 17 vote.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Life has no meaning a priori... It is up to you to give it a meaning,
and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose." -- Jean-Paul
Sartre
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre)