The navy of Queen Anne was in great part the fruit of her father's labours. Whatever his failings as a sovereign, King James II left his daughters the means to save England. He owed a great deal to the Commonwealth men before him, Blake and Monck, Penn and Montagu. The intelligent support of his brother King Charles and cousin Prince Rupert sustained him. He could have done nothing without his civil subordinates, Sir William Coventry and Samuel Pepys, and the professional military spirit that was growing up in the body of sea officers. But James may claim to have been the leader in the steady development towards the modern Navy, as we know it to-day, that took place after the Restoration.

There was another reason for a close personal association between Anne and her Navy: for the first half of her reign, her husband served as Lord High Admiral with “Mr Freeman's” brother, Admiral George Churchill, as his principal adviser. At the Queen's accession this post was held by the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who had been First Lord of the Admiralty from 1690 to 1692 and from 1701 until January 1702, when he was given sole responsibility as Lord High Admiral. On the declaration of war with France at the beginning of May, however, the Queen made Prince George of Denmark head of all her forces.