Commons, William appointed a Ministry in 1696 which was drawn from the
Whigs; known as the Junto, it was regarded with suspicion by Members of
Parliament as it met separately, but it may be regarded as the forerunner
of the modern Cabinet of Ministers.
In 1697, Parliament decided to give an annual grant of Ј700,000 to the
King for life, as a contribution to the expenses of civil government, which
included judges' and ambassadors' salaries, as well as the Royal
Household's expenses.
The Bill of Rights had established the succession with the heirs of Mary
II, Anne and William III in that order, but by 1700 Mary had died
childless, Anne's only surviving child (out of 17 children), the Duke of
Gloucester, had died at the age of 11 and William was dying. The succession
had to be decided.
The Act of Settlement of 1701 was designed to secure the Protestant
succession to the throne, and to strengthen the guarantees for ensuring
parliamentary system of government. According to the Act, succession to the
throne went to Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover and James I's
granddaughter, and her Protestant heirs.
The Act also laid down the conditions under which alone the Crown could
be held. No Roman Catholic, nor anyone married to a Roman Catholic, could
hold the English Crown. The Sovereign now had to swear to maintain the
Church of England (and after 1707, the Church of Scotland). The Act of
Settlement not only addressed the dynastic and religious aspects of
succession, it also further restricted the powers and prerogatives of the
Crown.
Under the Act, parliamentary consent had to be given for the Sovereign to
engage in war or leave the country, and judges were to hold office on good
conduct and not at royal pleasure - thus establishing judicial
independence. The Act of Settlement reinforced the Bill of Rights, in that
it strengthened the principle that government was undertaken by the
Sovereign and his or her constitutional advisers (i.e. his or her
Ministers), not by the Sovereign and any personal advisers whom he or she
happened to choose.
One of William's main reasons for accepting the throne was to reinforce
the struggle against Louis XIV. William's foreign policy was dominated by
the priority to contain French expansionism. England and the Dutch joined
the coalition against France during the Nine Years War. Although Louis was
forced to recognise William as King under the Treaty of Ryswick (1697),
William's policy of intervention in Europe was costly in terms of finance
and his popularity. The Bank of England, established in 1694 to raise money
for the war by borrowing, did not loosen the King's financial reliance on
Parliament as the national debt depended on parliamentary guarantees.
William's Dutch advisers were resented, and in 1699 his Dutch Blue Guards
were forced to leave the country.
Never of robust health, William died as a result of complications from a
fall whilst riding at Hampton Court in 1702.
ANNE (1702-14)
Anne, born in 1665, was the second daughter of James II and Anne Hyde.
She played no part in her father's reign, but sided with her sister and
brother-in-law (Mary II and William III) during the Glorious Revolution.
She married George, Prince of Denmark, but the pair failed to produce a
surviving heir. She died at 49 years of age, after a lifelong battle with
the blood disease porphyria.
The untimely death of William III nullified, in effect, the Settlement
Act of 1701: Anne was James' daughter through his Protestant marriage, and
therefore, presented no conflict with the act. Anne refrained from
politically antagonizing Parliament, but was compelled to attend most
Cabinet meetings to keep her half-brother, James the Old Pretender, under
heel. Anne was the last sovereign to veto an act of Parliament, as well as
the final Stuart monarch. The most significant constitutional act in her
reign was the Act of Union in 1707, which created Great Britain by finally
fully uniting England and Scotland (Ireland joined the Union in 1801).
The Stuart trait of relying on favorites was as pronounced in Anne's
reign as it had been in James I's reign. Anne's closest confidant was Sarah
Churchill, who exerted great influence over the king. Sarah's husband was
the Duke of Marlborough, who masterly led the English to several victories
in the War of Spanish Succession. Anne and Sarah were virtually
inseparable: no king's mistress had ever wielded the power granted to the
duchess, but Sarah became too confident in her position. She developed an
overbearing demeanor towards Anne, and berated the Queen in public. In the
meantime, Tory leaders had planted one Abigail Hill in the royal household
to capture Anne's need for sympathy and affection. As Anne increasingly
turned to Abigail, the question of succession rose again, pitting the Queen
and the Marlborough against each other in a heated debate. The relationship
of Anne and the Churchill's fell asunder. Marlborough, despite his war
record, was dismissed from public service and Sarah was shunned in favor of
Abigail.
Many of the internal conflicts in English society were simply the birth
pains of the two-party system of government. The Whig and Tory Parties,
fully enfranchised by the last years of Anne's reign, fought for control of
Parliament and influence over the Queen. Anne was torn personally as well
as politically by the succession question: her Stuart upbringing compelled
her to choose as heir her half-brother, the Old Pretender and favorite of
the Tories, but she had already elected to side with Whigs when supporting
Mary and William over James II. In the end, Anne abided by the Act of
Settlement, and the Whigs paved the way for the succession of their
candidate, George of Hanover.
Anne's reign may be considered successful, but somewhat lackluster in
comparison to the rest of the Stuart line. 1066 and All That, describes her
with its usual tongue-in-cheek manner: "Finally the Orange... was succeeded
by the memorable dead queen, Anne. Queen Anne was considered rather a
remarkable woman and hence was usually referred to as Great Anna, or Annus
Mirabilis. The Queen had many favourites (all women), the most memorable of
whom were Sarah Jenkins and Mrs Smashems, who were the first wig and the
first Tory... the Whigs being the first to realize that the Queen had been
dead all the time chose George I as King."
THE HANOVERIANS
The Hanoverians came to power in difficult circumstances that looked set
to undermine the stability of British society. The first of their Kings,
George I, was only 52nd in line to the throne, but the nearest Protestant
according the Act of Settlement. Two descendants of James II, the deposed
Stuart King, threatened to take the throne and were supported by a number
of 'Jacobites' throughout the realm.
The Hanoverian period for all that, was remarkably stable, not least
because of the longevity of its Kings. From 1714 through to 1837, there
were only five, one of whom, George III, remains the longest reigning King
in British History. The period was also one of political stability, and the
development of constitutional monarchy. For vast tracts of the eighteenth
century politics were dominated by the great Whig families, while the early
nineteenth century saw Tory domination. Britain's first 'Prime' Minister,
Robert Walpole, dates from this period, while income tax was introduced.
Towards the end of the reign, the Great Reform Act was passed, which
amongst other things widened the electorate.
It was in this period that Britain came to acquire much of her overseas
Empire, despite the loss of the American colonies, largely through foreign
conquest in the various wars of the century. At the end of the Hanoverian
period the British empire covered a third of the globe while the theme of
longevity was set to continue, as the longest reigning monarch in British
history, Queen Victoria, prepared to take the throne.
THE HANOVERIANS
1714 - 1837
GEORGE I =
Sophia Dorothea, dau. of Duke of Brunswick and Celle
(1714–1727)
GEORGE
II = Caroline, dau. of Margrave of
(1727–1760) Brandenburg-Anspach
Augusta of =
Frederick Lewis,
Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg Prince of
Wales
GEORGE III = Sophia Charlotte of
(1760–1820) Mecklenburg-Strelitz
GEORGE IV WILLIAM IV
Edward, = Victoria
(1820–1830) (1830–1837)
Duke of Kent of Saxe-
Coburg
VICTORIA
(1837–1901)
GEORGE I (1714-27)
George I was born March 28, 1660, son of Ernest, Elector of Hanover and
Sophia, granddaughter of James I. He was raised in the royal court of
Hanover, a German province, and married Sophia, Princess of Zelle, in 1682.
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