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The eldest daughter of George II, and Handel's most knowledgeable patron, Anne is the only English princess since the fifteenth century to rule alone in a foreign country. In the Netherlands she is the least known of the energetic and able women from Amalia van Solms to Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont who have married into the House of Orange, but she is unique in holding real political power.
This book uses hitherto unpublished private papers which give a vivid picture of eighteenth century social life in London, Friesland and The Hague. But, more importantly, they show her influence on Dutch politics at a time of constitutional change, while letters to her father, her brother 'Butcher' Cumberland and her cousin Frederick the Great show her playing a significant role on the European diplomatic stage.
About the author
Veronica Baker-Smith was born in Derbyshire, and educated in Scotland, completing her historical studies at the University of Wales in Cardiff in 1981. Later she moved to the Netherlands where she began research in the Koninklijk Huisarchief on the private papers of Stadholder William IV and his English wife, which provide the basis for this, her first book.
