Editing Anne, Queen of Great Britain (section)

=== Act of Settlement ===
[[File:Queen Anne and William, Duke of Gloucester by studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller.jpg|thumb|left|Anne with her son [[Prince William, Duke of Gloucester]], in a painting from the school of [[Sir Godfrey Kneller]], ''circa'' 1694]]
Anne's final pregnancy ended on 25 January 1700 with a stillbirth. She had been pregnant at least 17 times over as many years, and had miscarried or given birth to stillborn children at least 12 times. Of her five liveborn children, four died before the age of two.<ref>Green, p. 335; Gregg, pp. 100, 120; Weir, pp. 268–269</ref> Anne experienced bouts of "[[gout]]" (pains in her limbs and eventually stomach and head) from at least 1698.<ref>Green, pp. 79, 336</ref> Based on her foetal losses and physical symptoms, she may have had [[systemic lupus erythematosus]],<ref name="emson">Emson, H. E. (23 May 1992). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/29715689 "For The Want Of An Heir: The Obstetrical History Of Queen Anne"], ''British Medical Journal'', vol. 304, no. 6838, pp. 1365–1366 {{Subscription required}}</ref> or [[antiphospholipid syndrome]].<ref>Somerset, pp. 80, 295</ref> Alternatively, [[pelvic inflammatory disease]] could explain why the onset of her symptoms roughly coincided with her penultimate pregnancy.<ref name=emson /><ref>Green, p. 338</ref> Other suggested causes of her failed pregnancies are [[listeriosis]],<ref>Saxbe, W. B., Jr. (January 1972). [http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/49/1/97 "''Listeria monocytogenes'' and Queen Anne"], ''Pediatrics'', vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 97–101</ref> [[diabetes]], [[intrauterine growth retardation]], and [[rhesus incompatibility]].<ref>Waller, p. 310</ref> Rhesus incompatibility, however, generally worsens with successive pregnancies, and so does not fit the pattern of Anne's pregnancies, as her only son to survive infancy, [[Prince William, Duke of Gloucester]], was born after a series of stillbirths.<ref>Green, pp. 337–338; Somerset, p. 79; Waller, pp. 310–311</ref> Experts also believe [[syphilis]], [[porphyria]] and pelvic deformation to be unlikely as the symptoms are incompatible with her medical history.<ref name=emson /><ref>Curtis, pp. 47–49; Green, pp. 337–338</ref>

Anne's gout rendered her lame for much of her later life.<ref>Curtis, p. 84</ref> Around the court, she was carried in a [[sedan chair]], or used a wheelchair.<ref>Gregg, p. 330</ref> Around her estates, she used a one-horse [[chaise]], which she drove herself "furiously like [[Jehu]] and a mighty hunter like [[Nimrod]]".<ref>[[Jonathan Swift]] quoted in Green, pp. 101–102 and Gregg, p. 343</ref> She gained weight as a result of her sedentary lifestyle; in Sarah's words, "she grew exceeding gross and corpulent. There was something of majesty in her look, but mixed with a gloominess of soul".<ref>Green, p. 154</ref> [[Sir John Clerk, 1st Baronet]], described her in 1706:
{{Blockquote
|under a fit of the gout and in extreme pain and agony, and on this occasion everything about her was much in the same disorder as about the meanest of her subjects. Her face, which was red and spotted, was rendered something frightful by her negligent dress, and the foot affected was tied up with a poultice and some nasty bandages. I was much affected by this sight&nbsp;...<ref>Curtis, p. 146; Green, pp. 154–155; Gregg, p. 231</ref>
}}

Anne's sole surviving child, the Duke of Gloucester, died at age 11 on 30 July 1700. She and her husband were "overwhelmed with grief".<ref>Luttrell, [https://archive.org/details/briefhistoricalr04lutt/page/674 vol. IV, p. 674]; Somerset, p. 163</ref> Anne ordered her household to observe a day of mourning every year on the anniversary of his death.<ref>Green, p. 80</ref> With William childless and Gloucester dead, Anne was the only person remaining in the line of succession established by the [[Bill of Rights 1689]]. To address the succession crisis and preclude a Catholic restoration, the [[Parliament of England]] enacted the [[Act of Settlement 1701]], which provided that, failing the issue of Anne and of William III by any future marriage, the Crown of England and Ireland would go to [[Sophia, Electress of Hanover]], and her Protestant descendants. Sophia was the granddaughter of [[James VI and I]] through his daughter [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia|Elizabeth]], who was the sister of Anne's grandfather [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. Over 50 Catholics with stronger claims were excluded from the line of succession.<ref>Somerset, p. 165</ref> Anne's father died in September 1701. His widow, the former queen, wrote to Anne to inform her that her father forgave her and to remind her of her promise to seek the restoration of his line, but Anne had already acquiesced to the line of succession created by the Act of Settlement.<ref>Green, pp. 86–87; Waller, p. 312</ref>