Listen to the episode here.

There is nothing Angie loves more than the drama, pomp, and circumstance of Charlie Two’s court (Charles II). Today’s story is another instance of royal gossip as she shares a possible love triangle between Queen Anne, Sarah Churchill, and Abigail Marshem.

This episode pairs well with:

Another juicy moment from Charlie Two’s Court: Nell Gwyn

Transcript:

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinched History Podcast, the podcast where I count down using fingers and end on the middle one to say that we are recording. This is a history podcast where two compulsive crazy heads are going to just find obscure references to bizarre bits of history, compulsively research the back end of those, go through all the rabbit holes so you don’t have to, and then verbally assault the other one with said narratives so that you can join. I’m host one, I’m Teresa, and that. 

Angie: I’m Angie, and we just, because sharing is caring, everyone needs to know. Yeah. You know? Yeah. 

Theresa: But Angie, you get to go first. I sure do. 

Angie: So I’m just going to start with my sources. I feel like that’s what you would want me to do. I say that after 123 episodes. 

Theresa: I mean, I think I’ve caught on. Yeah, it’s 126 of today’s, so I’m glad you’ve been paying attention. Oh, okay. 

Angie: 120, dang girl. Okay. I know. 126 episodes. I think you want me to go with my sources first. 

Theresa: Would you just please let me know that there’s some validity to this nightmare. 

Angie: The National Museums of Liverpool, Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill. Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill’s last standoff at Kensington Palace, historic royal places. This is an article from February of 2021. The author is Holly Marston. History.com has a great article by Sarah Pruitt from 2019 that was, I just updated in March of this year. The article is called The Real Life Privilege that Inspired the Favorite. That was a movie. 

Theresa: I was going to say, I don’t know anything about that. Yeah. 

Angie: I didn’t either until this. It’s Rachel Weises in it and that, oh, I just blanked on the other actress’ name, but they’re all fabulous and all of a sudden I just can’t remember the name. There is Princess Anne, After Woods Queen Anne as patroness of painters on JSTOR, The Favorite and the Marble Papers. That’s put together by the curator, Alex Haley. If you get a chance to look at that, it’s actually pretty interesting. You can read through their actual papers. That’s pretty cool. 

Then, historic royal palaces has a fabulous write-up and the Historical Association of Britain or the Historical Association, or g.uk by Lady Anne Somerset. Okay. So you’re serving some sources. Yeah. 

I’m very excited with my sources here. I got a couple more, but I didn’t really use them. I just list them. I list everything in case I don’t forget. My story is messy, but what royal gossip isn’t? 

Theresa: Okay. So we’re okay. Royal gossip. I should have picked this up from the titles, but you know. Yeah. 

Angie: It’s scandalous. It’s gossipy. There’s going to be moments where I refer back to a previous moment because that’s really the only way to give the context of the story. So my story is going to center on Queen Anne, but before I get to Queen Anne, let me tell you a little bit about her family tree because it helps. Anne is born into the royal household on February 6th of 1665. She is the daughter of James, the Duke of York, who will later become King James II. And his first wife, her name was Anne Hyde. Her uncle is Charlie too. Okay. From a couple of previous episodes. I know for sure one of them was episode 29, but I know we’ve mentioned him since then. 

Theresa: By we we mean you because you fixate on the entire court. 

Angie: I do love Charlie too’s court. Um, and that alone implies because James and Charlie too are brothers that Charlie won is Anne’s grandfather. And I swear to you that knowing the family tree matters because Charles won or Charles the first. His dad is James the sixth or the first, depending on which country you’re standing on. 

And his mother was Mary Queen of Scots, who was cousins of course with our girl Lizzie one or Elizabeth the first and her rather notorious parents, Anne Boleyn and Henry the eighth. Okay. This is why this matters. Remember when Henry got all mad and he broke with a Pope and deemed Protestant Protestant isn’t the religion of England? Yes. Okay. 

Well, Anne’s father, he’s Catholic despite the fact that he’s a royal and his brother, the king is a Protestant. That could be problematic. A little bit. Um, however, on the instructions of the king, he actually raises his daughters as Protestant. So she, it’s Anne and her older sister, Mary. 

They are both Protestant, but their father is Catholic and this is going to come back to bite everybody in the butt. So Anne’s mother dies when she’s about six years old. And like most royal Stuart children, she would spend a good deal of her childhood in France while she’s there. She is treated for a medical condition that involves her eyes. She would spend her entire life with poor eyesight and generally overall bad health. 

But anyway, her sister, Mary, who’s a few years older than her, she grows up to marry William of Orange in 1677 and would leave her little sister in England to go off and live in exotic Holland with her new husband. I’m mentioning them because they’re going to come back later. They’re point. Now, in 1683, our girl Anne would be married to Prince George of Denmark. And now by all accounts, they seem to have had a happy marriage. In fact, he’s only like 10 years older than her, which is huge considering we know we’ve seen some really gnarly age gaps. Yeah. And she’s already around 18, which is like old maid status at that point. So like good for them. 

Um, so anyway, on February 2nd, 1682, our boy Charlie two dies, which honestly could be an entire episode in itself. And he says something to the effect of like, do says my guys take care of my girls. Also, I probably could have treated my actual wife better. 

Oh, and bro. Take care of England for me. Could you? 

All right. So that’s how Anne becomes. That’s how his father becomes king. 

He does in fact not do a whole great job with taking care of England and his overthrown in 1688. During a delightful jaunt called the glorious revolution, at which point there is no blood spilled. 

Theresa: And you know, that is fairly glorious. Truly, right? 

Angie: In a shocking turn of events. Remember her sister, Mary, who was living it up with her man and Holland? 

Theresa: Orggy, orangey, Bill, orggy, Bill, they re enter the chat and take the throne. 

Angie: So I, I imagine it happens something like this. The powers of the in England, not counting King James are talking to Mary and her husband over in Holland and they’re like, Hey, he’s not doing great. Like he can read the instruction manual. 

He’s not, he’s not following the rules, whatever, whatever is that he’s doing that’s taking them off. They’re reporting to Mary and they’re like, listen, we would love to invite you to a potluck. All you have to do is bring the army. And so Mary and her husband, William of Orange, like show up with the army. 

And I like to imagine at this point, King James goes, Oh, do this and then dips out and puts himself in exile in France for the rest of his time. 

Theresa: I mean, okay, that’s kind of the incredibly awkward when your daughter and her husband show up ready to beat your ass on the front lawn. 

Angie: I mean, that’s the visual, right? And he’s just like, I actually didn’t want to do this anyway. So, yeah. So now, side note, William and Mary, these are actually two interesting signouts, William and Mary, they have no children. So they make and their heir William and Mary are the only monarchs to rule as a joint monarch or joint sovereigns, meaning that they both share, share equal, paddus, paddus, power and status. 

Theresa: So that is, as power and status combined. Wow. Well done. 

Angie: Paddus. So that’s pretty cool. Um, right. They’re on even footing. However, sadly, Mary dies from smallpox in 1694 and then William dies in 1702, putting Anne squarely on the English throne. Now, I know you’re wondering about where the gossip sits and I swear I’m getting there, but first let’s talk about Erin, Mary and Anne for a second. Well, I am on fire with my mixing my first letters together. 

Theresa: I mean, considering that’s an Arian, I was like, well, this escalated. 

Angie: Arian man and paddus. So teenqueens.org, which I actually don’t think I mentioned in my sources list. Coward. I just realized, um, I don’t even know that they’re there, but I have them here. Teenqueens.org, which is a fabulous, fabulous place to go. 

I highly recommend it. Describe Anne and Mary as quote, historians have traditionally separated and compared Mary and Anne through the lens of their appearance with Mary being looked on far more favorably than Anne. Some historians describe Mary even from a young age as being tall and slender with a clear complexion, almond shaped eyes and dark curls with elegant grace and the beauty of the stewards. Marjorie Brown writes in her book, the third Mary Stuart that Anne was common place, barely pretty, even at the age inclined to be round and plump and suffered many health issues throughout her life and was favored by her mother causing her to take after her in a diet of sweet treats, rich food and ultimately her appearance when we do. So, um, when we get done, I’ll show you some paintings. 

So you can judge yourself. But we can sort of see a little bit of their dynamic right here, right? In a little bit, we’ll mention the historians again. And I think that the way that we have been viewing Anne has been skewed since her lifetime. Um, and you’ll see why in just a little bit. 

Theresa: You mean these caddy historians may not have been accurate? It’s possible. 

Angie: Um, and there’s a written like Regina or slambug. I truly, and, um, there’s a good reason. So I’m going to enter in another character. When Anne is just a princess at about eight years old, she meets Sarah Jennings. Sarah has been, she has just begun serving as a lady and waiting to Anne’s stepmother. 

So to say they hit it off might be an understatement. Anyway, Sarah is beautiful. She’s witty. She would later go on to marry John Churchill, an arm bat Churchill, an army officer, um, who has a really impressive military record. When Anne herself marries, she actually makes Sarah her second lady of the bed chamber. Are you curious about what a bed chamber lady does? Because I was like, I thought I knew. 

Theresa: Is it going to be like the valet kind of deal? Or is this going to end up being more like you’re stuck standing there and handing me the towel so he can wipe me up after? No, it’s more like a valet. Okay. Yeah. 

Angie: Um, so basically it’s just a lady and waiting who kind of serves as the personal like secretary attended to the British queen region or consort. Um, this traditionally was a role that was held by the wife of like, so it’s say you have a traditional working monarchy as a king and the queen, the kings, one of his chums, her, what his wife is going to be the lady in waiting that does this job, the lady with the bed chambers. So another high ranking member of the court. 

So there you have it. She is also going to accompany the queen on any sort of public outings, um, private engagements, all those sort of things. So it’s worth noting that Mary also had a friendship with another lady in waiting called Francis Apsley. 

Now, this story is not really about her, but it’s fun to kind of add the context. So let me just quote team queens again, because it explains a lot in their early teams, Mary and Anne formed a close friendship with Francis Apsley and Sarah Jennings. Later Churchill, the Duchess of Marlboro, respectively, Anne initially copied Mary and her friendship with Francis and they both used pen names when writing to her. Mary took on the role of Mary, Colleen and Francis as husband and switched the dynamic of their relationship with Francis, taking the male role of the farious and Francis, Samandra from the play, Mithyde, this giving a pen names later reappears in Anne’s relationship with Sarah, but they address each other differently. Mary was initially jealous of Francis and Anne’s attachments, but once she got older and she married her friendship with Francis just matures and doesn’t, it doesn’t like find her a way or anything. And Anne’s friendship with Francis cools and she sort of shifts her attention, like all of her attention to Sarah, who then becomes like the dominant party in their friendship. 

Okay, so fast forward, everyone is married. Mary leaves, right? When she gets married and she goes to her man’s house, but Anne stays in England after marrying and sort of allows Sarah, the Duchess of Marlboro, she’s not the Duchess of Marlboro yet, but she will be soon to continue to hold this sort of sway on Anne and this massive influence over her. 

So like 11 years go by before Mary and her husband returned to England and take the throne. So this is 11 years that Anne has really been dominated by this woman, Sarah, and has sort of been, I don’t really know what the right word is besides smutting, but like it, there’s very much 

Theresa: this, or are you trying to imply smut? 

Angie: No, not smut. Smitten doesn’t even feel like the right word, but there’s this huge adoration for Sarah that comes from Anne. Okay, it’s not smut. Definitely not smut. Definitely. But I don’t, I don’t want to say smitten either, but anyway, maybe. Okay. So just anyway. So Mary, like it’s 11 years before Mary and her husband returned to England and like I said, they’re pretty much invited back. 

They just have to bring the army. Now, despite this fact, Mary and her sister have been writing each other back and forth the whole time. Like Anne is writing to Mary all the gossip from England while she’s gone. 

Even though their relationship isn’t great. Because when Mary left, they left on these sort of, you know, un-dealt with problems of jealousy between Sarah and Anne and all of this. So we’re kind of working with like that weird tension, that weird family tension of like we have unresolved issues, but you know, drama helps. 

Theresa: Drama lubricates those wounds. 

Angie: It really, really does. And I’m just going to tell you some of the things that Anne’s writing to Mary about. So their dad, James has remarried, right? And he remarries this woman called Mary of Modena and she’s a Catholic and she’s like less than 10 years older than Anne. So. Okay. I don’t think Anne’s overly impressed, but here we are. And this pretty much seals the deal and sets the tone for James because he’s in a Protestant country with a Catholic wife. Yeah, that was a choice. That was a choice, right? And also his daughters are Protestant and they’re not having this at any rate. 

Like at any rate, right? So James, previous to William and Mary marching back in, he’s like, oh, shucks, I need a male heir because what, what story about the English throne doesn’t include an oh, shucks, I need a male heir. And him and Mary of Modena get pregnant like 10 times. And they are trying so hard to have a surviving male heir. 

So this is super tragic and it’s super bad for mom all around, right? We, they would actually end up seeing only two of their children survive. One daughter and one son. 

The daughter is called Luisa Maria Teresa, which I thought was super cute. Now on June 10th of 1688. So this is just like six months before Mary and William return. Her sister, Mary, stepmother Mary gives birth to a son and you would think, oh, great news rejoicing, pomp and circumstance, right? 

No. And basically writes to Mary saying the baby is fake. The pregnancy was a farce. I didn’t even attend the birth. Now rumors are being spread that what has actually happened is there’s an posture baby smuggled into the room via a warming pan and replaces a stillborn baby and would never accept baby James Francis Edward Stewart as legitimate. And he would eventually earn the nickname, the old pretender. 

Theresa: So this whole time, can we just acknowledge that women, royal women who needed to give birth had to do so in front of a studio audience? Right. 

Angie: I was thinking that the entire time, like, okay. So they said they snuck the baby in via some sort of warming pan. So I’m going to assume that that warming pan would have had like maybe warming cloth, like warm, warm cloth from them to 

Theresa: help you know what, maybe it was put to a fresh low from the oven wrapped up. And so it was just delivered like a bread basket at the table. Cheese factory. 

Angie: Right. And the whole time I’m thinking, there’s like 40 other people in this labor and delivery room right now. How the hell are you going to sneak this baby in? Pain of death. Pain of death. But, and so I believe at this time, I don’t have it in my notes, but I believe at this time, Anne herself is actually recovering from a miscarriage or a stillbirth of Rome. And she is very under the weather, but she is also supposed to have attended this birth as being a woman of royal status. 

Right. But she was like, no, I just didn’t because not because she was unwell or feeling under the weather or because she wasn’t recovered. It was that I just didn’t attend it because I thought the whole thing was BS. 

And I’m here for that kind of level of petty, right? So all of this happened and the, the relationship between Anne and her, her dad is not really great. Um, and Mary’s not happy about the whole thing. And then right six months later, they march in and exile the king anyway. 

So here we are. Now, despite the fact that like I mentioned earlier, the two sisters have been writing to one another the whole time. Their relationship is never really close anymore. And at this point, this Sarah, um, and Galpal is that has become the duchess of Marlboro. And what I can only guess was a moment of happy wife, happy life for the king William, he dismisses the Duke of Marlboro and basically is like, it’s time for you to go. And if the Duke of Marlboro goes, the duchess of Marlboro is supposed to go also, right? Good. 

Why? You would think Anne refuses to dismiss Sarah and leaves court with her. So I guess you tried King William, like good go. So let’s get into Sarah and Anne for a second. They had private nicknames for each other. Like I mentioned earlier, these private nicknames put them on equal footing socially, um, which to be honest, I feel like was Anne’s first blunder, but, um, these nicknames are as follows. Anne is called Mrs. Morley while Sarah is called Mrs. Freeman. 

Theresa: These are some beige names. 

Angie: I know, right? Like you could have gone with anything and you chose Freeman. 

Theresa: I mean, both of them are just super vanilla. Yeah. 

Angie: I was, I was sad for that too. I was hoping they were going to be like exquisite names and that’s what I read and that was like devastating. I should have just put whatever I wanted to put in. 

Theresa: I mean, would you please just enhance the narrative next time slightly? I’m so sorry. 

Angie: I blew it. So if Anne would leave the palace without Sarah, she would write her things like, it isn’t possible for you to ever believe how much I love you except you saw my heart. Or if I write whole volumes, I could never express how well I love you or my I love this one. Oh, come to me tomorrow as soon as you can that I might cleave myself to you. Or what about this one? I had rather live in a cottage with you than reign as Empress of the world without you. 

Theresa: These seem super codependent, clingy, fake girl. This is going with the vanilla theme. Anne is something for Sarah. 

Angie: Okay. Now, as the Duchess of Marlboro, Sarah holds several key positions within the court for Anne. She is the mistress of the ropes, the keeper of the pre purse and the groom of the stool. And her husband was named Captain General of the King’s Army, leading British forces to a series of victories. 

So, I’m going to let you sit there and like marinate with that information. You can see how powerful Sarah and her husband are. And Sarah has Anne’s ear politically, even when they don’t actually agree. And in fact, Anne mostly herself, she mostly sides with the Tories because at this time in British history, there’s like this whole kerfuffle going on between the wigs and the Tories and like in the battle for who’s going to dominate Parliament in this way. Because one of the other things that William and Mary set up when they get there is the constitutional monarchy, which I didn’t know that, that that’s where it came from and I thought that was pretty cool. 

And so you have these powers that be just vying for as much power in the room as they can. And Anne tends to side with the Tories while Sarah herself is a huge follower of the wigs. Not only that, but during the glorious revolution, when that was in swing, Anne supports events that lead to her sister’s reign, which they’re like super deeply encouraged by Sarah and the wigs. Now, there’s just so much back and forth going here and I think Anne, during the time of Sarah’s influence over her, really probably never made a ton of decisions by herself. 

Like, I think Sarah did all of the decision making. Okay. That’s just my personal opinion. 

I don’t have like any, any reason to like, I don’t have any source to cite that, but from everything that you read, that’s, that was my main takeaway. Now, you might be thinking, wow, Sarah and Anne are so close, but here’s the thing. All the quotes that I had mentioned earlier were only from the side of Anne. Whether they had romantic feelings like me usually or not, Sarah had convinced Anne to burn her replies. So we’ll never know how Sarah actually felt. So to me, I feel like Sarah knows what’s up. 

Theresa: I mean, look, I’m all for the one side that just kind of keep things mysterious. That’s right. 

Angie: I mean, we will never really know how Sarah felt or if all of Anne’s love was one sided, but that’s basically what Sarah is going to claim later anyways. So 1704 begins with Sarah and Anne growing a bit apart because of political reasons. And Sarah literally figuratively shoots herself in the foot by installing her cousin Abigail. 

Theresa: Literally figuratively. I’m waiting figuratively not literally. 

Angie: Sorry, figuratively not literally. And I said literally figuratively. I mean, literally figuratively, shoot herself in the foot figuratively, shoot yourself in the foot by installing her cousin Abigail as a woman of the bed chamber in Anne’s court. Now, as the story goes, Sarah does this because Abigail’s father has gone broke and then opts out of life. I’m unsure how he dies, but he goes broke and he dies. And Sarah wants to help her out. She’s like, well, gosh, none of this is your fault. 

Like you need a job. Here, let’s make you a lady of the bed chamber and call it good. Abigail, I think, is pretty much the exact opposite of Sarah and offers Anne attention and care without any sort of like judgment or straightforwardness that Sarah had. And I think Anne just loved that. And Abigail was definitely a lot more gentle. And trouble is on the horizon because in 1707, so Abigail’s been a lady of the bed chamber now for a couple of years, right? Three years and attends the secret wedding of Abigail. 

Theresa: I have questions about why it’s so great. No, because like you look at, look at Queen Lizzie One’s court, right? You have people because she had this inner court of women around her, where she kind of had this, this big girls group. And it was such a big deal for her girls not getting married about her permission or her blessing because she pulled all of these girls and kept them so that they would not be destitute. And so to be betrayed, because as soon as they get married, they have to leave her, her thing. So she’s like hemorrhaging friends and close confidants. And she’s like, I’ve given you everything and this is how you were paying me. Right. 

Angie: Now, in this particular case, it’s Queen Anne that’s attending the secret wedding. So it’s a little bit opposite, but still, Sarah is the one that put her in that role in the first place. Like Sarah elevated her in society and Sarah is not invited to the duptuals. 

Theresa: Yeah, that’s, that’s a noble annul. Right. 

Angie: And not only that, but Queen Anne pays the dowry for her from the private, from the pretty purse. So, um, there is, what is that? A storm in the horizon, just brewing. And it would not take long for the Duke and Duchess of Marble to decide that Abigail was using her influence over the Queen to further her own agenda. Much like Sarah had done for years before, but whatever. Now history.com says that Abigail’s agenda is for her powerful cousin, a Tory called Robert Harley, who consequently was forced to resign from Anne’s cabinet in 1708 because of his differences with the Duke of Marlboro. However, Harley was still advising the Queen through her lady in waiting Abigail. But at this point, at the point that he is dismissed, at the point that he has this beef with the Duke of Marlboro, all of this, it is very clear to everyone that Abigail has replaced Sarah as the favorite. 

This is no bueno. So Abigail’s new it girl. And Sarah is not feeling it. You could say she was a bit jealous. Not only that, but she’s realizing that she’s pretty much lost the influence she want to tell the Queen. So she does the most unhinged thing she can think of. And like any good high school mean girl situation, she starts spreading rumors. Okay. 

Right. She is telling everyone that Anne and Abigail’s relationship had become sexual. In fact, by mid 1708, she would even circulate a ballot about it. This ballot was written by a fellow Wig friend of Sarah’s and it included lyrics like her secretary, she was not because she could not write, but had the conduct on the care of some dark deeds at night as well as, and I love this one, when as Queen Anne of great renown, great Britain, scepter suede, besides the church, she dearly loved a dirty chambermaid. I mean, like, damn, Sarah. 

Okay. You’ve got some thoughts, right? Sarah would also take it another step further and threaten to release the overly romantic letters that Anne had written her in the previous years. Because remember, she burned all her side, right? So she only has the one side to tell. So I really feel like Sarah had a long game figured out. By 1711, Anne, she is totally done with Sarah’s BS and she instructs the Duke of Marlboro to have his wife vacate her rooms at St. James Palace, as well as return the golden key of the royal bed chamber. And obviously this is super symbolic of her status and probably would have been a massive kick in the face to Sarah. 

Theresa: But to be fair, you had to see this coming. 

Angie: If you would think, right? Like, what were you planning on doing to stay in the good graces? As an act of defiance or whatever, though, Sarah stole all the brass locks from the doors of her resident and evidently a considerable sum of money from the perpupers. 

Theresa: So like, okay, you know, like seriously, sitting there with your screwdriver going, I’m going to show her, I’m going to take all the, I’m going to take this and what is she going to do with the toilet? I got the toilet door knob too. 

Angie: I don’t know why I thought that was so funny, but like in my mind, I imagine this beautiful woman like lounging on her, on her lounge and going, oh, if I’m being asked to leave, I’m taking all the door knobs. 

Theresa: See, I just imagine her in a pissy little mood, squatting in this weird, not quite seated, not like you got to be a third time. With a screwdriver. 

Angie: Like the one, the little tiny ones too. Cause you eat, right? I just, I love that so much. I laughed so hard at this point, right? Because now all of these roles that Sarah had filled are vacated. The queen makes Abigail the keeper of the privy purse as well as making her husband a baron and her Tory cousin that she was getting advice and giving to the queen. She makes him the Earl of Oxford and he would serve as the Lord treasure for most of the remaining years of Anne’s life. All that said, Anne never let Abigail hold the same power over her that Sarah did cause she learned her lesson the first time. Yeah. 

Right. Now, sadly in 1714, after years of just increasingly worse hell with, she had things like severe myopia, gout, which honestly, I think is such a rich person problem and probably Lupus, she, like, she was chronically ill. Like her entire life. Queen Anne dies at the age of 49. 

Historic oil places. I know, right? Has this to say of her death on Friday, the 30th of July, 1714, Anne had a series of severe strokes. Her doctors treated her with bleeding, blistering hot irons and garlic on her feet and an appalling treatment that caused the dying queen. 

Great pain. He was the last Stuart monarch. According to the act of succession of 1701, the throne would then pass to the house of Hanover with the ascension of King George one. Abigail and her husband, the Baron Martian, they were moved from the palace. Now, here’s something that I think is really interesting. Abigail upon her removal of the palace is accused of sealing some of the Queen’s jewels and she would end up receiving help from one of the most unlikely places. 

Theresa: Sarah Churchill is I was just thinking we were going to get a Churchill up in this. Right. 

Angie: Is believed to have said, I believed Lady Martian never robbed anybody but me. Like I’m here to help you in the catty as way possible. Now, Sarah herself, she actually goes on to publish her memoir, giving her like sort of all of the power and how history would later look at Queen Anne, her reign and especially the power struggle with Abigail Martian. Sarah Churchill lives to the 84 years old and would become the richest woman in England and one of the richest women in the world. She had a fortune of around four million. Today, that’s close to a billion. Okay. Right. She also produced some of England’s most celebrated people in her descendancy, not only Winston Churchill, but Princess Di. Right. 

Theresa: I always forget that Diana Spencer is related to Winston Churchill. 

Angie: I think it’s, I feel like if you try hard enough, the powerful peoples of England are all somehow related. 

Theresa: Well, I mean, you saw that meme that like most of our presidents have like the same father, father, like it all, you know, comes down to like one bro and like two presidents are outliers. 

Angie: Yeah. And one of them is not brocobones because he fell into that one. Which is wild. All right. Quickly what? Um, so I don’t know. For me, I think Sarah was playing the long game the whole time, like 100% here for whatever chaos this woman is going to cause. However, to add some definition to Queen Anne’s love life, because I feel like Sarah had the narrative for so long that we all just sort of believed what was said because why wouldn’t we? 

Those are the only records we have, but only in the last few years are things starting to come to light. So, um, Anne was deeply devoted to Prince George. She was regularly pregnant throughout their marriage. She had upwards of 18 pregnancies between the years of 1684 and 1700. I hate that for her. 

Right. She would only see one child survive his infancy and sadly he too would die of smallpox just after his 11th birthday. So her and George actually shared a bedroom like they slept together, like normal people. Yeah. Wild, right? 

Theresa: Well, and that’s not common for royal families. Right. 

Angie: So when I read that, I was like, no, that’s nuts. I love that for them. Even at the time when she was growing, like growing close with Abbey, and still shared a bed and cared for her ailing husband who died in 1708. 

So do with that information, which you will. James Bridges, the Duke of, um, Shandos, if I said that right, C-H-A-N-D-O-S, I think that’s how I’m going to pronounce it. He describes Princess George’s, Prince George’s death on October 28, 1708, saying, quote, his death has flung the queen into unspeakable grief. She never left until he was dead, but continued kissing him the moment the breath went out of his body. 

Theresa: So that seems, okay, that seems like devotion. Right. 

Angie: Um, she was known to be super prudish, um, because of just her Protestant upbringing and had years of worsening health. So I don’t think that she’s really carrying on late night escapades with her ladies and waiting. Um, but it wasn’t going to be until the 20th century that, that we knew anything besides what the Duchess Marvel said. 

So, um, I loved this idea of this very messy, very like scandalous moment in history where the wildest thing you could think of saying about someone is, oh, her and her maid. Yep. That’s what’s happening. And I, and I just totally, I just totally picture it. 

But all that to say, I have some amazing paintings because we have paintings. I mean, I’m here for it. I knew you would be. Let me share my screen. Okay. Can you see my screen? Okay. 

Theresa: So we have got a monarch male in a wig that goes down to mid-peck that is an ashy brown. He’s wearing that Irmine Royal red cloak with the white. I want to take a nap under it. I mean, honestly, it just seems like it’s probably summer is not the time to be doing this nap. 

No, no, absolutely not. Opposite him, I’m assuming is Ann. So this is her husband, George. She’s in a gold gown with a blue cape. And even though it’s a painting, both look rather bored from having to sit this long to get their image captured. Right. 

Angie: I love how bored they absolutely look. Like I have them feeling they’re talking about lunch. Um, so on your left, this one is a sister, Mary. Okay. And this is Ann, roughly about the same age. 

Theresa: So these are more saucy images. Like we’re seeing some bosom. We’re seeing some flesh. There’s kind of a more of a come hither stare. 

Angie: I don’t see either one of them being prettier than the other one. So I really feel like history did Ann a dirty on, on her looks. Um, but yeah, there’s definitely bosom. There’s definitely, there’s definitely skin showing. I love the, you can see the hair, the ringlets of the time, like the fashion in Mary’s hair, right? Um, below us or below them, this is Sarah Churchill. Okay. 

Theresa: And she’s wearing kind of a pearl, lessened gray, um, deep V neck dress. With kind of deep V neck, um, with kind of a modesty guard going across, but it’s doesn’t do much. 

Theresa: Not doing his job. 

Theresa: Yeah. It is more implied than accurate. 

Angie: I just noticed, and I didn’t notice this yesterday while I was looking at this painting. I think that’s the key of the bed chamber. 

Theresa: Oh, quite possibly there is a key hanging from a belt like area. Cause she seated so you don’t necessarily see, but maybe. Yeah. And then who is the person opposite with like the cleft in the chin? That’s Abigail. 

Angie: And doesn’t she look like a half. Yeah, she really does. Uh, this next painting, I imagine this is also Sarah Churchill. So I guess it’s actually more of a sketch, but this is what I imagined she looked like when she decided to steal the door plates. 

Theresa: Very wistfully looking off into the, I’ll make them pay. 

Angie: Mm hmm. And then this is just Queens. That’s her court. Okay. Which I thought I wanted to share because it is kind of interesting to see the placement of the women. Yeah. 

Theresa: And where it’s also congregated and dead center of the image as men are kind of milling about them. Yep. It has a very music video type feel. 

Angie: It does. It really, really does. I, yeah, I would like to see, I would actually like to see the southern musical. So that’s my very messy, very wild story of a queen and and her love triangle with Sarah Churchill and Abigail Martian. 

Theresa: I love all of this. And I also know that my story is too long to accompany yours. So how about we just hold mine for next week? Rude. I mean, look, there’s things about me that I’m going to do. And I kind of went a little too long. 

These are things that I want to. Okay. So I’ll chill with us. I’m glad you hung out with us for some, some court gossip and drama that you didn’t know you needed in your life and the cattiness that was anything to do with Charlie Tooth Court. I mean, and you. Per deal. 

Angie: I’m just saying he had a flair. Okay. Like the. Right. Dude, I blame it all on Henry VIII. If we’re being honest, like that man set a tone to go for the next 500 years. Full stop. 

Theresa: There. So if you’re wondering where the heck I’m going to take us because who wouldn’t rate, review, subscribe, join us next week. And until then. Goodbye. 

Theresa: Goodbye.