The Queen's Favourite: A Story of the Restoration

England, 1702. William of Orange is dead, and Anne ascends the throne as the last of the Stuart line. But to those who watch the court closely, the real power is not the sickly queen herselfit is Beautiful Sarah Churchill, who has bewitched Anne and controls access to the throne. Sarah believes her position unassailable until she makes a critical miscalculation: she brings her poor cousin Abigail Hill into the royal household as a chambermaid. Plain, quiet Abigail seems the least likely challenger to Sarah's stranglehold on the queen's affections. But beneath her unassuming exterior lies a steely ambition and a strategic mind that will slowly, methodically, and devastatingly reshape the balance of power. As Anne drifts between the two women, the nation faces its own crisis: the succession is in doubt, the empire hangs in the balance, and the great game of political intrigue reaches its climax. This is the story of how a forgotten cousin became the most powerful woman in Englandand how a queen's private whims shaped the future of a nation.