CHAPTER VI

UNDER QUEEN ANNE
(1702-1704)

"And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty state's decrees,
And shape the whisper of the throne."

No time was lost in proclaiming Anne queen. On the afternoon of the Sunday William died, the proclamation was read out at St. James's Palace, Temple Bar, and the Guildhall.

A general mourning was ordered by the Privy Council for the late king, Queen Anne attiring herself in purple to mark the difference, she being already in black for her father, James II.

Preparations were immediately begun for the coronation by the Court of Claims holding sittings to consider the procedure. "The Bishop of Durham put in his claim to support her Majesty at her right hand, and Champion Dymocke claimed, as queen's champion, a white horse with armoury and all accoutrements, also a gold cup and twenty yards of damask." The first claim was allowed, and the second referred to the Attorney-General.

On the day fixed for the coronation,1 Anne was so disabled from gout that she had to be carried through the greater part of the ceremony. She was privately conveyed in a sedan chair from St. James's Palace at an early hour, and rested for a time in the court of the wards while preparations were going forward.

1 April 23 (0.s.), 1702.

When the Queen entered Westminster Hall she wore a circlet of gold set with diamonds on her head; her train, passed through the back of the chair, was borne by the Duchess of Somerset, mistress of the robes, who was assisted by Lady Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Mary Hyde, Lady Mary Pierrepont, women of the bedchamber, and the lord chamberlain.

Prince George of Denmark, attended by state officials, preceded his royal consort. The procession went through the New Palace Yard, King Street, and along the Broad Sanctuary, entering the abbey by the west door. The spectators, railed off from the boarded way, received the Queen with great demonstrations of joy.

After taking the oath, the Queen, notwithstanding her infirmities, had to stand for the greater part of the remaining service. After being solemnly girt with the sword of Edward the Confessor, she offered it at the altar, where it was redeemed for £100. Her Majesty was next invested with the staff and ring. This ring, composed of a ruby engraved with the cross of St. George, was placed on the fourth finger of the Queen's right hand. Her Majesty being again seated, the dean produced the crown, which the archbishop took from his hands, placing it reverently on the Queen's head. At this auspicious moment trumpets sounded, guns from the Tower thundered out a salute, and the people shouted "God save the Queen!" The ceremony was concluded by prayers offered by the archbishop and the dean, which were joined in by the Queen and the rest of the assembly.

A banquet followed in Westminster Hall. The Queen sat at the centre table, with Prince George at her right hand; with her also were Lord and Lady Marlborough, the Duke and Duchess of Somerset, and

others; two other tables being likewise filled by more
peers and peeresses. The Commons dined in the
Exchequer Chamber, but on the conclusion of the
repast were summoned to witness Champion Dymocke
challenge the Queen's enemies. He rode into the hall
and threw down the gauntlet, but no one appeared to
dispute her Majesty's peaceable possession of the crown.
The Queen then drank Dymocke's health out of a
gold bowl, which he afterwards kept as his fee. This
interesting and picturesque ceremony over, the Queen
was carried back in her sedan chair to St. James's
Palace, which she did not reach till after 8 P.M. The lord
chamberlain, noticing the Queen's fatigue, suggested to
the prince, who had been carousing with his friends,
that her Majesty would be relieved if he proposed going
to bed. "I propose!" said the prince jovially.
"I
cannot; I am her Majesty's subject, have done and
sworn homage to her to-day. I shall do nought but
what she commands me." Then," replied Anne, laugh-
ing, "as that is the case and I am very tired, I do
command you, George, to come to bed." The prince
smilingly acquiesced.1

A few days later Anne left London for Windsor, while her apartments at St. James's were hung with black. Returning early in March, the Queen went to the House of Lords to open Parliament. The Earl of Marlborough carried the Sword of State, and the Countess of Marlborough accompanied her Majesty in the coach.

From the date of Anne's accession we can follow Sarah's life more closely than has been possible hitherto. A great change had come over our heroine's life; from being the bedchamber woman on sufferance to the heir presumptive, who was herself not in favour at court,

1 Strickland.

Lady Marlborough became Groom of the Stole and Keeper of the Privy Purse to the sovereign.

Sarah was at once flattered and courted on all sides and by all parties, every one being aware of her influence over the new queen. This was enough to turn the head of most women, so it is not surprising that she became somewhat high and mighty. Circumstances change character. Anne, who had formerly hated ceremony, now became most punctilious; she could not, however, keep her favourite in order. During Anne's frequent fits of irresolution, Sarah, who from infancy had taken the lead, would flounce into her presence and quicken her Majesty's decision with the exclamation, "Lord, madam, it must be so!"

It is said that on one occasion Sarah banished, with one glance of her commanding eye, a Scottish gentleman, Mr. James Johnson, who came to Hampton Court to treat with the Queen. He probably came about Jacobean claims, but Sarah's attitude was so uncompromising, he saw his mission would fail, so retired. But with all her faults, Sarah was a faithful servant to Anne under all circumstances.

?

At the time of James's flight, who could have foreseen that the Princess Anne would one day become queen Mary was still young, and her progeny would succeed before the Princess of Denmark. Yet when William and Mary tried to induce Sarah to fail in her allegiance to Anne, she persistently refused all overtures. A weaker woman would have yielded. This firmness of character was not likely to make her popular. A poem written about this time refers thus to Lady Marlborough

"Deaf to all flattery, godlike to her friend,

Blest with these virtues which will crown her end."

130

DUCHESS SARAH

It is said a man may be judged by his friends. The
character of those to whom Sarah gave her friend-
ship, and the love and admiration they had for her,
speak highly of her mental and moral qualities. A
careful study of Sarah's character proves that she was
a woman of strong principle, and that she loved what
was good and hated what was evil. One point on which
friends and enemies agree is that she had a violent
temper. Lord Wolseley says, "Her temper prevented
her from calmly discussing any subject, for she could
not brook contradiction. In dealing with those around
her she could not counterfeit indifference, nor would
she suffer it from others. She was too open and down-
right, and too violent a hater to have any duplicity in
her manner.
She was free in conversation and cared
little for what others thought of her opinions, firmly
believing that she herself was always in the right.
She was educated in a society where almost all were
debased and corrupt, yet her virtue was above sus-
picion. She was a woman for whom education would
have done much. It would doubtless have some-
what curbed her impetuous temper and taught her
reason."1

There is a theory that the Jennings family descended from a Genoese merchant in the thirteenth century. If this is taken into consideration along with the fact that an ancestress of Richard Jennings on the maternal side was an Italian lady named Frances Cavalery, this southern strain of blood, however remote, might account for Sarah's hot temper. Her sparkling wit, vivacious manner, and great beauty might also be traced to the same source, while, on the other hand, her flaxen hair

1 "Life of John, Duke of Marlborough."

2 See Appendix II,

3 This lady's husband, Sir Robert Lytton, was Governor of Boulogne Castle in the sixteenth century.