Long Library

Statue of Queen Anne (1)

A portrait doesn’t always have to be a painting. This statue of Queen Anne is a portrait too. It was commissioned by her friend, Sarah, the 1st Duchess of Marlborough, after the Queen had died.

It is a very flattering portrait. In real life Queen Anne was very short and very, very fat. But she had been pregnant 17 times and sadly none of her children lived long enough to become adults. All these pregnancies made her ill, and ruined her figure.

But the sculptor has been kind. Here we see the Queen looking tall and slim with a beautiful shapely waist.