From now on Anne saw herself as someone indelibly marked by suffering. Her letters to Sarah often ended with an allusion to her tragic history of bereavement, for she took to signing them “your poor unfortunate faithful Morley.

Anne declared that if Sarah abandoned her, “I swear to you I would shut myself up and never see a creature.

The two groupings soon acquired names, originally intended as insults. Those hostile to the Duke of York were known as “Whigs,” short for “Whiggamore,” a term formerly applied to extremist Presbyterian rebels in Scotland. Their more traditionalist opponents were dubbed “Tories,” after the lawless Catholic bandits who rampaged in Ireland.

The fact is, just as Anne’s contributions towards the reign’s triumphs should not be overlooked, so she cannot be absolved from her part in less praiseworthy events. The idea that Anne was hopelessly weak and ineffectual, and constantly imposed on by others does not stand up to scrutiny.

We are torn to pieces by parties and animosities. For my part I see no end to them.

Anne declared that if Sarah abandoned her, "I swear to you I would shut myself up and never see a creature.

People may say . . . that all is made up and well again, but such breaches between great people are seldom or never so.

I believe nobody was ever so used by a friend as I have been by her ever since coming to the Crown.

Passing on information to a friend "was no breach of promise of secrecy . . . because it was no more than telling it to oneself.

To his distress, the Queen suddenly "burst into a passion of weeping and said it was plain [she] was to be miserable as long as [she] lived, whatever [she] did.