Raunchy new movie The Favourite tells how ‘bisexual’ Queen Anne’s lover blackmailed her with lesbian love letters
The movie stars Olivia Colman as the monarch and Rachel Weisz, who plays her scheming Duchess pal
SHE was said to be Britain’s only bisexual monarch – the queen who sent passionate letters to a female friend before she took the throne.
And now Queen Anne’s notes of longing to Sarah Churchill — which her rumoured lover later used to blackmail her — are the basis of an Oscar-tipped movie.
Steamy 18th-century tale The Favourite stars Broadchurch’s Olivia Colman as the monarch and Rachel Weisz as her scheming duchess pal, while Emma Stone plays former maid Abigail Hill.
In 1711, Sarah — a distant relative of Princess Diana and Winston Churchill — threatened to use the letters to prove Anne had lesbian tendencies and was sleeping with Abigail.
The Favourite shows Queen Anne asleep next to naked Abigail as the Duchess looks on stunned.
Anne proudly says of Abigail: “I like it when she puts her tongue in me.”
Made by arthouse director Yorgos Lanthimos, the surreal comedy drama is also up for five Golden Globes.
The story sometimes plays fast and loose with historical facts. Experts say Sarah did not destroy the letters as the film shows, and the reserved Queen Anne was not as outspoken as Colman is on screen.
But the relationship between the three women is grounded in reality — and academics state Anne could have bedded women.
Dr Hannah Greig, an expert in 18th century history and a consultant on the film, says: “There were plenty of rumours which surrounded the court.
“It is perfectly plausible. There is historical evidence that there were people living in same-sex relationships.”
Historical sources show Anne first got to know Sarah when she was only ten years old and third in line for the throne behind her older sister Mary.
During her teenage years the princess sent passionate letters to her friend, who was five years older than her.
Anne wrote how she wanted “one dear embrace which I long for more than I can express” and that she was at Sarah’s “command”.
Author Ophelia Field, who wrote the biography The Favourite that inspired the film, says: “My view is that the women really did understand the double meanings of the romantic words they used.”
Their friendship grew stronger as they got older — and their bond meant Sarah became the most powerful woman in the royal court after Anne became Queen in 1702.
The monarch rewarded Sarah’s support by making her and husband John Churchill a Duchess and Duke.
Anne also appointed Sarah to the position of Keeper of the Privy Purse — the controller of her personal finances.
The duchess later convinced the Queen to fund her army general husband’s expensive war in France.
Hannah explains: “Anne was often remembered as quite fragile, frail and ill and emotionally dependent on the people who surrounded her.
“Women have a particular power at Anne’s court because it is women who attend to her and have the closest relationship with her.”
But there were rumours that Sarah reduced the Queen to tears by shouting at her and belittling her ideas.
Eventually, Anne tired of the duchess’s meddling and became annoyed she was away so often.
In her absence Sarah’s cousin Abigail Hill, once a poor servant, would entertain her.
Whispers that Abigail was the Queen’s new lover intensified in 1711 when she replaced the duchess as her treasurer.
It seemed a terrible betrayal by Abigail because her family had been rescued from poverty by Sarah.
Across the alehouses of Britain, songs were being sung about the “dark deeds” Anne was doing with her chambermaid.
The hot-tempered duchess asked an MP to introduce a bill to have Abigail fired.
Ophelia says: “Sarah was so desperate and incandescent that she really didn’t do it too quietly.”
Fuming at her removal from the royal court, the duchess threatened to expose the Queen through the letters unless she was reinstated — but Anne did not give into her demands.
Ophelia says: “Sarah underestimated Anne. The Queen had a sense of her real authority and abilities.”
To complete her downfall, Sarah and her war hero husband were accused of having illegally taken funds from the Queen and left Britain in shame.
Ever since, royal experts have puzzled over whether the two women actually had sex together.
Both appeared to be happily married.
Anne went through 17 pregnancies with her husband, Prince George of Denmark, who was with her for 25 years and died in 1708.
Sarah accused George of being gay. But Ophelia is not certain Anne had lesbian sex because she was “very moralistic” and a devout Christian.
She added: “I don’t think she would have admitted if she had homosexual desires.”
But it is clear Anne had many favourite women that she obsessed over.
Ophelia says: “The intense relationships troubled the people around Anne, both when she was a princess and then Queen, irrespective that she also loved her husband and had 17 or so pregnancies.”
Abigail remained close to Anne until her death in 1714, following a stroke.
The Queen had been ill for so much of her life that some considered the end a blessed relief for her.
Anne’s doctor John Arbuthnot said: “Sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her.”
Hannah says: “She had gout. She had digestive problems. Many times she couldn’t walk or didn’t leave her room.”
Olivia Colman, who also plays Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s upcoming third series of The Crown, had to gain weight to play chocolate-loving Anne.
William was the only one of Queen Anne’s children who survived childbirth — but he died at 11.
Hannah adds: “She spent pretty much her whole adult life pregnant or having a miscarriage or a stillbirth, year after year. Historians often brushed that aside but she was grieving desperately.”
Anne was the last Stuart monarch and Britain then turned to Germany for their King. Her second cousin George I, from the House of Hanover, succeeded her.
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Often forgotten among the more famous English queens, she nevertheless left her mark on the nation.
Hannah concludes: “Her reign is an important moment in British history.
“It included the Act of Union which united England to Scotland as one kingdom for the first time.”
But thanks to the film about Anne, Sarah and her maid, she could now be remembered for very different reasons.
- The Favourite is in cinemas on January 1.