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In 1713 Britain signed the Treaty of Utrecht ending the war of Spanish Succession. Many problems were sorted out and for England the good news was that France said it wouldn’t support the claim to the throne of any family of James II and they would recognize the Act of Settlement. The bad news was the Treaty was a piece of paper.
On 1 August 1714 we say goodbye to the times of the Stuarts. Anne died at Kensington Palace in London aged 49. Electress Sophia, who had been waiting for 13 years would now be Queen Sophia of England. No. Running to avoid a thunderstorm, Sophia collapsed and died two months before Anne. The moral is perhaps that an 83 year old shouldn't run from thunderstorms. I will remember this.
Under the terms of the Act of Succession of 1701, Anne was succeeded by Sophia's eldest son, George, Elector of Hanover, who was then proclaimed as George I. He was 54 and the first of the Hanoverian monarchs.
One of the things which took place during Anne’s reign was the beginnings of a two party system in Parliament. The two parties involved were called the Tories and the Whigs.
The Tories were supportive of the Anglican Church and favoured the great landowners while the Whigs were more in favour of merchants and Protestants.
Anne tended to favour the Tories and her first set of ministers who would govern and report to her and Parliament was mainly Tory. The Whig cause was helped when the Duke of Marlborough won those victories and his wife was always telling Anne to appoint more Whig ministers. That could be a reason why they fell out.
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