Editing Anne, Queen of Great Britain (section)

=== War of the Spanish Succession ===
[[File:Allegory of the Victory of the Grand Alliance over the French in the Year 1704.png|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Allegory of the victory of the [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|Grand Alliance]] at [[Battle of Schellenberg|Schellenberg]] in 1704. The bust of Queen Anne at the top is surrounded by Allied leaders.]]
As the expensive [[War of the Spanish Succession]] grew unpopular, so did the Whig administration.<ref>Gregg, p. 298</ref> The [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|impeachment]] of [[Henry Sacheverell]], a [[high church]] Tory Anglican who had preached anti-Whig sermons, led to further public discontent. Anne thought Sacheverell ought to be punished for questioning the Glorious Revolution, but that his punishment should only be a mild one to prevent further public commotion.<ref>Green, pp. 217–218; Gregg, pp. 305–306</ref> In London, riots broke out in support of Sacheverell, but the only troops available to quell the disturbances were Anne's guards, and Secretary of State Sunderland was reluctant to use them and leave the Queen less protected. Anne declared God would be her guard and ordered Sunderland to redeploy her troops.<ref name=sacheverell /> In line with Anne's views, Sacheverell was convicted, but his sentence—suspension of preaching for three years—was so light as to render the trial a mockery.<ref name="sacheverell">Green, p. 220; Gregg, p. 306; Somerset, pp. 403–404</ref>

The Queen, increasingly disdainful of the Marlboroughs and her ministry, finally took the opportunity to dismiss Sunderland in June 1710.<ref>Curtis, p. 176; Gregg, pp. 313–314; Somerset, pp. 414–415</ref> Godolphin followed in August. The Junto Whigs were removed from office, although Marlborough, for the moment, remained as commander of the army. In their place, she appointed a [[Harley ministry|new ministry headed by Harley]], which began to seek peace with France. Unlike the Whigs, Harley and his ministry were ready to compromise by giving Spain to the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, in return for commercial concessions.<ref>Gregg, p. 335</ref> In the [[1710 British general election|parliamentary elections]] that soon followed his appointment, Harley, aided by government patronage, secured a large Tory majority.<ref>Gregg, pp. 322–324</ref> In January 1711, Anne forced Sarah to resign her court offices, and Abigail took over as Keeper of the Privy Purse.<ref>Green, pp. 238–241; Gregg, pp. 328–331; Somerset, pp. 435–437</ref> Harley was stabbed by a disgruntled French refugee, the [[Antoine de Guiscard|Marquis de Guiscard]], in March, and Anne wept at the thought he would die. He recovered slowly.<ref>Green, p. 244; Gregg, p. 337; Somerset, pp. 439–440</ref> Godolphin's death from natural causes in September 1712 reduced Anne to tears; she blamed their estrangement on the Marlboroughs.<ref>Green, p. 274</ref>
[[File:Queen Anne.jpg|thumb|left|Tinted engraving of Anne from an atlas commissioned by [[Augustus the Strong]], 1707]]
The elder brother of Archduke Charles, [[Emperor Joseph I]], died in April 1711 and Charles succeeded him in Austria, Hungary and the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. To also give him the Spanish throne was no longer in Britain's interests, but the proposed [[Peace of Utrecht]] submitted to Parliament for ratification did not go as far as the Whigs wanted to curb Bourbon ambitions.<ref>Gregg, pp. 337–343</ref> In the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]], the Tory majority was unassailable, but the same was not true in the [[House of Lords]]. The Whigs secured the support of the Earl of Nottingham against the treaty by promising to support [[Occasional Conformity Act 1711|his Occasional Conformity bill]].<ref>Curtis, p. 189; Green, p. 258; Gregg, p. 343; Somerset, pp. 458–460</ref> Seeing a need for decisive action to erase the anti-peace majority in the House of Lords, and seeing no alternative, Anne reluctantly [[Harley's Dozen|created twelve new peers]],<ref>Curtis, p. 190; Green, p. 263; Gregg, pp. 349–351; Somerset, pp. 463–465</ref> even though such a mass creation of peers was unprecedented.<ref>Green, p. 263; Somerset, p. 465</ref> Abigail's husband, [[Samuel Masham, 1st Baron Masham|Samuel Masham]], was made a baron, although Anne protested to Harley that she "never had any design to make a great lady of [Abigail], and should lose a useful servant".<ref>Gregg, pp. 349–351; Somerset, pp. 464–465</ref> On the same day, Marlborough was dismissed as commander of the army.<ref>Green, p. 263; Gregg, p. 350</ref> The peace treaty was ratified and Britain's military involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession ended.<ref>Gregg, pp. 358, 361</ref>

By signing the Treaty of Utrecht, [[Louis XIV of France]] recognised the Hanoverian succession in Britain.<ref>Gregg, p. 361</ref> Nevertheless, gossip that Anne and her ministers favoured the succession of her half-brother rather than the Hanoverians continued, despite Anne's denials in public and in private.<ref>Green, pp. 272–284; Gregg, pp. 363–366</ref> The rumours were fed by her consistent refusals to permit any of the Hanoverians to visit or move to England,<ref>Curtis, p. 193</ref> and by the intrigues of Harley and the Tory Secretary of State [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Lord Bolingbroke]], who were in separate and secret discussions with her half-brother about a possible Stuart restoration until early 1714.<ref>Gregg, pp. 375–377; Somerset, pp. 505–507</ref>