Claim: Anne's uncle had no legitimate sons.

Anne -LRB- 6 February 1665 -- 1 August 1714 -RRB- became Queen of England , Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702 . On 1 May 1707 , under the Acts of Union , two of her realms , the kingdoms of England and Scotland , united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain . She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death .   Anne was born in the reign of her uncle Charles II , who had no legitimate children . Her father , James , was first in line to the throne . His suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England , and on Charles 's instructions Anne was raised as an Anglican . Three years after he succeeded Charles , James was deposed in the `` Glorious Revolution '' of 1688 . Anne 's Dutch Protestant brother-in-law and cousin William III became joint monarch with his wife , Anne 's elder sister Mary II . Although the sisters had been close , disagreements over Anne 's finances , status and choice of acquaintances arose shortly after Mary 's accession and they became estranged . William and Mary had no children . After Mary 's death in 1694 , William continued as sole monarch until he was succeeded by Anne upon his death in 1702 .   As queen , Anne favoured moderate Tory politicians , who were more likely to share her Anglican religious views than their opponents , the Whigs . The Whigs grew more powerful during the course of the War of the Spanish Succession , until in 1710 Anne dismissed many of them from office . Her close friendship with Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough , turned sour as the result of political differences .   Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life . From her thirties onwards , she grew increasingly lame and obese . Despite seventeen pregnancies by her husband , Prince George of Denmark , she died without any surviving children and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart . Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 , she was succeeded by her second cousin George I of the House of Hanover , who was a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother , Elizabeth , a daughter of James VI and I.