Queen Anne Read online

ABIGAIL. Yes.

  SARAH. You may leave us, Mr Harley.

  HARLEY. Honoured to have been of service. Overwhelmed. A touching scene. Good day.

  Exit HARLEY.

  SARAH. And so my aunt is dead, you say?

  ABIGAIL. She is. I’m sorry not to bring you better news. I nursed her carefully to the end and felt it more than duty.

  SARAH. I did the same for my mama. It is a daughter’s honour. How might I help you, Abigail?

  ABIGAIL. Ma’am, I own no more than what you see. I know you helped my brothers gain a foothold in the world, and though I lack all polish and refinement, am just a simple country girl, I hope that you might find it in your heart to help me too. I know your worth, and wouldn’t ask were I not sure I’d truly be of service. I’m strong and have good hands and knees. There’s nothing honest I’m ashamed to do.

  SARAH. I see. (Pause.) Perhaps you know my father lived in debt?

  ABIGAIL. I did hear tell of it.

  SARAH. We scraped and crawled for money every day. And though I may dine richly now, I never will forget the taste of poverty. I set no store by privilege. My husband feels the same. A title handed down at birth does not ensure a soul’s nobility. We judge on merit. It is our first and only gauge.

  I sense you have integrity.

  ABIGAIL. I like to think I do.

  SARAH. The Princess Anne requires a Woman of the Chamber. Such positions are not strictly my domain, but I can speak to Lady Clarendon on your behalf – she wouldn’t dare refuse my protegée.

  ABIGAIL. Thank you. You won’t regret your faith in me.

  SARAH. Come – walk along. And tell me more of how my cousins fare.

  Exit SARAH and ABIGAIL.

  Scene Five

  ANNE’s bedroom, her apartments, St James’s. Night. ANNE is in her shabby nightdress. She is sitting in a chair. RADCLIFFE is on his knees before her, examining her legs. Several LADIES are in attendance, including her First Lady, LADY CLARENDON. At the back, near the door, is ABIGAIL. She now wears an apron and a scarf around her hair.

  RADCLIFFE. This swelling grows acute, I fear. There is a quantity of fluid the like of which I’ve never seen. The poultices must be applied and regularly.

  LADY CLARENDON. As they have been, I assure you, Dr Radcliffe. We follow your instructions to the letter.

  He manipulates one of ANNE’s legs.

  ANNE. Aargh! Unbearable.

  Enter SARAH. She watches the proceedings.

  RADCLIFFE. I think we want another change in diet. I’ll talk to your cooks, Your Highness, if I may? Lean meat, a little fish perhaps. Certainly no cheese or cream.

  ANNE. But cheese is such a comfort to me, doctor.

  SARAH. In Amsterdam they start to say that walking is of benefit to gout.

  ANNE. Countess. At last. Thank heavens. Take my hand for it is torture.

  SARAH goes to ANNE and does so.

  RADCLIFFE. Respectfully, my lady, the common quack is not confined to England. Besides, these symptoms aren’t entirely typical of that disease. No, no. Rest and quiet are chiefly what Her Highness needs at present. All done.

  RADCLIFFE stands. The LADIES cover ANNE’s legs for her.

  ANNE. Thank you, doctor.

  RADCLIFFE. I will return tomorrow night to check upon your care.

  ANNE. And if Prince George should come to me again?

  RADCLIFFE. Ah, yes. I’d recommend two weeks respite before resumption of your valiant efforts.

  ANNE. Poor man. It’s cruel. I know he craves me desperately.

  RADCLIFFE. As well he might.

  Now, if Your Highness will excuse me?

  ANNE. Yes, good Dr Radcliffe.

  RADCLIFFE. Your servant.

  Exit RADCLIFFE.

  ANNE. How tenderly he cares for me. What time is it?

  SARAH. It’s almost nine, Your Highness. I suggest that you retire at once.

  ANNE. I will then.

  LADY CLARENDON. What dresses will Your Highness be requiring for tomorrow?

  ANNE. Oh, none, I think, Lady Clarendon. For I must stay in bed all day and rest.

  SARAH. In the morning, certainly. But in the afternoon we go to Court. I hope you don’t forget that, ma’am.

  ANNE. Ah, yes. I’m afraid that won’t be possible. For I am in a deal of pain and cannot face such ceremony. I think the matter needs must be delayed.

  (To LADIES.) Unfasten me.

  SARAH. May I speak to you alone, Your Highness?

  ANNE. But of course you may.

  SARAH (to LADIES). A moment.

  Exit all, save ANNE and SARAH.

  ANNE. What joy to have you to myself at last. I heard that Lady Harding forms a party to play cards. I feared that I had lost you to her.

  SARAH. Ma’am, Marlborough has informed the King he may rely upon your presence tomorrow afternoon. I’m sure you know it’s what we all agreed.

  ANNE. It is a pity certainly. But look at me – I dread to walk…

  SARAH. Then let them take you in your chair.

  ANNE. I can’t.

  SARAH. I’ll carry you myself if necessary.

  ANNE. It can’t be done. It cannot be. Forgive me but it can’t. I will not stoop to please the King – that monster, that Caliban, that Dutch abortion!

  SARAH. Quietly, I implore you. Pray, do not speak so openly.

  ANNE. They say Sophia calls herself ‘Hereditary Princess of all Britain’, and that the King applauds it.

  SARAH. Who told you such a thing?

  ANNE. They say it’s all around the Court. A vicious slight upon my name. Nothing would induce me to receive her should she come, so better that the matter’s done with now and best they know it quickly.

  SARAH turns away from her and moves towards the door.

  Where are you going?

  SARAH. You clearly have no need of me. You have the gossips and the fools to offer you advice, so I’ll be gone and leave you to their counsel.

  ANNE. What? No. Why, what do you mean?

  SARAH. Your Highness, you have often said it is my honesty you prize above all else…

  ANNE. It is…

  SARAH. So I will now be forthright. I know it costs Your Highness dear to heed the King. But you must know it costs us too. Do you forget how cruelly he first used us? A full two months poor Marlborough languished in the Tower, and I was banned from seeing him. A long and dreadful persecution. And now we must submit to him, accept his tuneless overtures and sometimes, yes, admit he can be right. And this we do because we love our land and Church beyond ourselves.

  ANNE. And so do I. (Pause.) But…

  SARAH. Forgive me, ma’am. Goodnight.

  SARAH starts to leave again.

  ANNE. Wait! No. You promised you would stay with me.

  SARAH. I’ve changed my mind, Your Highness – it’s done so very easily. And perhaps I will not be too late for cards.

  ANNE. Stop. Sarah. I will not let you leave me. I forbid it.

  SARAH stops in her tracks. She stares at ANNE. A dreadful look.

  Sarah. Dearest one. My darling… please. Forgive me. I will do this and anything you ask of me.

  SARAH. You will?

  ANNE. I’ll go to Court, I swear it in God’s name. I swear. But please don’t walk away from me. I beg you. I’m begging you. I beg you on my knees.

  ANNE tries to kneel.

  SARAH (stopping her). No. Enough, Your Highness, please. I do not like to see you so distressed.

  ANNE. Why do you ‘Your Highness’ me? Come – call me Mrs Morley. And I will call you Mrs Freeman and all will then be well again.

  SARAH. I don’t see how I can. We coined those names as levellers – to do away with hierarchy. And yet of late, I must confess, you’ve made me feel your status.

  ANNE. No. Oh, never, never say so. You are the one half of myself. My equal in all things. And all the space within my heart which George concedes is homed and filled by you. Forgive me, Mrs Freeman. I would swallow daggers down before I woul
d offend you. Forgive your faithful Morley, please.

  SARAH. It’s done.

  ANNE. Then kiss these lips, as you once used to do.

  SARAH. When we were girls perhaps. I’ll kiss this head, and kiss these hands, and promise I am bound to you.

  SARAH kisses ANNE.

  ANNE. How weak I feel. Let’s lie down side by side.

  SARAH and ANNE go to lie on the bed.

  It is the fear that makes me so alarmed.

  SARAH. I know.

  ANNE. I had the dream again last night. The hordes arrived and dragged me to the street. And forcing me upon my back they tore me limb from limb, and carried parts of me away, till there was nothing left of me.

  SARAH. It is a dream and nothing more. You are secure within the people’s hearts. Their true and only Princess.

  SARAH soothes ANNE, stroking her hair.

  ANNE. Sarah.

  SARAH (kindly in spite of herself). Whatever will I do with you?

  Enter ABIGAIL, quietly.

  ABIGAIL. Forgive me, ma’am, I’m sent in for the pot.

  SARAH (quietly). Take it by all means.

  ANNE. Your hair is like a halo on your head. It’s shining through my tears.

  SARAH. I rinse it through with honey every day.

  ANNE. It puts my lonely strands to shame.

  SARAH. Hush now. Hush.

  ANNE is drifting off to sleep.

  ANNE (whispered). Stay with me.

  SARAH. I will, my dearest.

  ABIGAIL goes to leave with the chamber pot.

  Wait, Abigail.

  ABIGAIL does so. ANNE falls asleep. SARAH extricates herself from her.

  Kindly make me up a bed.

  ABIGAIL. Where, ma’am, if you please?

  SARAH. The anteroom. The air is far too thick in here. I hesitate to breathe.

  Exit SARAH. ABIGAIL is surprised to see ANNE so abandoned. She goes to ANNE and covers her gently with a blanket. Exit ABIGAIL.

  Scene Six

  The reception room, ANNE’s apartments. Morning. SARAH and LADY CLARENDON are looking through a pile of ANNE’s dresses. Other LADIES and ABIGAIL are assisting.

  SARAH. Not this. Not this. Where have all her dresses gone?

  LADY CLARENDON. Most of them no longer fit. What’s left is what you see.

  SARAH. A pretty sight she’ll make before the Court. You should have ordered new ones made.

  LADY CLARENDON. With what? She lacks the funds to pay for them.

  SARAH. In truth, how can that be? I will not have her dressed so shabbily…

  LADY CLARENDON. I hope you do not doubt me, Lady Marlborough. As keeper of the Privy Purse there’s no one better placed than I to know the state of her affairs…

  SARAH. Nor less to manage them.

  LADY CLARENDON. Of late her stipend’s rarely paid…

  SARAH (holding up a dress). This! You jest. She wore this last when she was great with child.

  Enter GEORGE, breathless.

  GEORGE. Anne? Where is my Anne?

  SARAH. She’s in the bedroom praying, sir. But what’s the matter?

  GEORGE. I think I need to see her first.

  SARAH. Did you not join the hunt today?

  GEORGE. I did.

  SARAH. Pray, what has passed? Where’s Jack?

  GEORGE. A bad and great calamity.

  SARAH. To Jack?

  GEORGE. To Jack? But no. It is the King.

  LADY CLARENDON. His Majesty?

  GEORGE. The King is fallen from his horse. His head is hit. His arm is all in pieces.

  Enter MARLBOROUGH.

  MARLBOROUGH. You’ve heard the news?

  SARAH. Just now.

  Enter ANNE.

  ANNE. What’s happening?

  MARLBOROUGH. The King is gravely injured, ma’am. An accident whilst hunting.

  SARAH. Is he alert? Awake, at least?

  MARLBOROUGH. He is, but seems confused. I think we must go back to him at once.

  GEORGE. I will come too.

  MARLBOROUGH. No need, sir. The doctors are about him now.

  GEORGE. But I should be beside his bed. He is bound to ask for me. It would be rude, I think, to stay away.

  ANNE. I am not dressed.

  SARAH. I’m sure you won’t be needed, ma’am.

  MARLBOROUGH. We’ll send at once should there be any change. (To SARAH.) Come now. The Court is all in turmoil. We must control the story that is spread.

  Exit MARLBOROUGH, SARAH, GEORGE and all LADIES-IN-WAITING, save ABIGAIL.

  ANNE thinks for a considerable time.

  ANNE. How strange this is. How unforeseen.

  Pause.

  ABIGAIL. May I assist you, madam?

  ANNE. I had a son, a perfect boy, he lived to be eleven. And when he died I held his hand, and watched his soul depart his frame. ’Twas not a vision, not a dream, of that I am quite certain. I felt… I felt as I do now – suffused with God, awash with fate.

  What is your name?

  ABIGAIL. Hill, Your Highness. Abigail.

  ANNE. It’s only you and I, it seems. Help me down.

  ABIGAIL goes to her and helps her to her knees.

  Support my weight. And I will pray for kings, and queens.

  ACT TWO

  Scene One

  Westminster Abbey. ANNE is crowned Queen by the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. She struggles to stand, under the weight of crown and robes. GENTLEMEN assist her to her feet.

  Scene Two

  An anteroom, the Palace of Westminster. ANNE is preparing to make her first speech to Parliament. SARAH is putting the final touches to her regalia. The noise of the assembled Houses can be heard. Enter GODOLPHIN, with a scroll.

  GODOLPHIN. Here it is. The final wording, ma’am.

  ANNE (taking the scroll). Is it very different?

  GODOLPHIN. A single line, that’s all, reiterating the necessity for war.

  Enter MARLBOROUGH.

  MARLBOROUGH. Parliament awaits you, ma’am.

  ANNE (of the speech). I think I need to look at it again.

  MARLBOROUGH. I fear there isn’t time.

  ANNE. But… there will have to be.

  MARLBOROUGH and GODOLPHIN exchange looks with SARAH, who indicates that they should leave.

  SARAH. Ma’am?

  ANNE. I don’t know if I can.

  SARAH. Speak as we rehearsed it. Stand straight and strong. You look magnificent. None could gaze upon you and fail to think of great Elizabeth.

  ANNE. I shake.

  SARAH. Mrs Morley. (Hugging her suddenly and tenderly.) My Mrs Morley.

  Look at me. I confess, I think you have more courage than you realise. Remember the night your father rode out to meet William’s invading troops, and we were forced to fly?

  ANNE. Down the back stairs.

  SARAH. Yes. I remember how amazed I was by your good humour. Your confidence. You even stopped to comment on the shabby paint within the passageway.

  ANNE. I ordered it to be redone.

  SARAH. I think you showed more courage then than I.

  No one will expect you to be perfect.

  ANNE. That isn’t what I fear.

  SARAH. Then what?

  Pause.

  ANNE. I want to be the fairest sovereign this country’s ever seen.

  SARAH (surprised). Well… that is a commendable ambition…

  ANNE. Wait for me.

  SARAH. I will.

  ANNE. God help me.

  Scene Three

  The House of Lords. ANNE addresses Parliament. MARLBOROUGH and GODOLPHIN are amongst those who watch. She speaks carefully and with effort, but in a surprisingly clear, engaging tone.

  ANNE. My lords and gentlemen, I cannot too much lament my own unhappiness in succeeding to the Crown so immediately upon the loss of such a King, who was the great support, not only of these kingdoms, but of all Europe. I am extremely sensible of the weight and difficulty it brings upon me. But as I know mine own heart to be entirely English, I
can very sincerely assure you, there is not any thing you can expect or desire from me, which I shall not be ready to do, for the happiness and prosperity of England…

  Scene Four

  HARLEY’s rooms, the Inns of Court. MAYNWARING, RADCLIFFE, JEZEBEL and COMPANY perform a song, dressed as Sarah, Marlborough, Godolphin and Anne [roles should be taken by company members as appropriate]. As ‘Anne’ gives away the various chains and keys of office, the ‘Marlboroughs’ and ‘Godolphin’ use them in order to ensnare ‘Anne’ and to turn her into a marionette, manipulated and controlled by the chains.

  ‘SARAH’.

  Your Majesty, allow me please

  Your mighty troubles to relieve,

  The burden of your daily cares

  Will weigh less heavily once shared,

  The Privy Purse might fall to me,

  I beg you to bestow the key.

  ‘ANNE’.

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it.

  ‘MARLBOROUGH’.

  Your Majesty, allow me please

  Your mighty troubles to relieve,

  The testing business of the war

  You need not suffer to endure,

  I beg you to bestow on me

  The key to matters military.

  ‘ANNE’.

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it.

  ‘GODOLPHIN’.

  Your Majesty allow me please

  Your mighty troubles to relieve,

  The machinations of the state

  Are taxing to administrate,

  The Government might fall to me,

  I beg you, ma’am, bestow the key.

  ‘ANNE’.

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it,

  Oh take it.

  ALL.

  Ma’am will you take it?

  I will take it,

  Ma’am will you take it?

  I will take it,

  Ma’am, will you take it up the?

  Ma’am, will you take it up the?

  I will take it.

  ‘SARAH’, ‘MARLBOROUGH’, ‘GODOLPHIN’.

  Your Majesty, allow us please

  Your mighty troubles to relieve,

  Authority in this great land

  Is more than one can dare command,

  The country might be ruled by three,

  We beg you to bestow the key.