Anne Stuart was born in 1665, and she was to be the last of her ill-starred line to wear the crown. When Anne became Queen at the age of 37, nobody could have described her as equipped physically, intellectually or emotionally for the challenge. Gila Curtis shows that she was not entirely an incongruous sovereign for the age. Queen Anne, whose insular but proud character found its echo in the hearts of Englishmen conscious that they were building a new and powerful position among the nations of the world.