1 August 1714
Queen Anne dies

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When she dies, aged only 49, Anne's body is so swollen that, when she is buried in Westminster Abbey, she only just fits into a vast square coffin. The throne passes relatively peacefully to the German branch of the family headed by George, Elector of Hanover (now to be George I), in accordance with the Act of Settlement. Anne was in favour of this, to avoid civil war over claims by the exiled Catholic Stuarts, but she detested her German cousins and refused to allow any of them to live in Britain before her death.

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