Queen Anne From a plaster cast of the obverse of medal of the Accession in the British Museum Anne was the daughter of James II deposed by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of The last Stuart monarch she came to the throne after the death of William in and became the first monarch of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the signing of the Act of Union in Her reign saw a decline of the power of the crown in favour of that of ministers as well as the development of a two party system of politics Her inability to produce an heir precipitated a succession crisis with parliament passing legislation to hand the crown to the House of Hanover in order to prevent the Catholic Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart from claiming the throne A print from Queen Anne by Herbert Paul Goupil and Co London