The Favourite: How accurate is historical drama The Favourite starring Olivia Colman

The plot of The Favourite reads: “In the early 18th century, England is at war with the French, nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne occupies the throne, and her close friend Lady Sarah governs the country in her stead while tending to Anne’s ill health and mercurial temper. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing, and Abigail sees a chance to return to her aristocratic roots.”

How accurate is The Favourite?

Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Favourite.

Was Queen Anne as sick as the movie makes her out to be?

Yes, Queen Anne was physically debilitated in the way the movie shows.

She long suffered from gout and put on weight, and also reportedly had an eye condition which caused watering.

According to the Mirror Online, she also was carried around in a sedan chair or pushed in a wheelchair throughout the palace.

Did Anne have 17 pregnancies?

Yes. Queen Anne was pregnant a total of 17 times, but of those 17, a full 12 ended in miscarriage or stillbirth.

Furthermore, four of her children died before their second birthday.

Her last child, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, died at age 11 in 1700.

Anne was also left in mourning after the death of her husband, which Sarah thought to be performative. 

Did she keep 17 rabbits for each baby?

No, despite what The Favourite shows, Queen Anne did not keep pet rabbits in her room.

The Favourite’s historical consultant, Hannah Greig, said: “Pet rabbits would never have been found lolloping around a royal bedchamber.

“They were an early 18th-century foodstuff and pest,” she added.

For the purposes of the movie, however, they added another layer to the Queen’s battiness.

Did Queen Anne and Sarah call each other Mrs Freeman and Mrs Morley?

Yes, their childhood nicknames for each other were Mrs Freemand and Mrs Morely.

Anne met Sarah Churchill in the court of Anne’s uncle King Charles II when she was around eight-years-old, and Sarah was 13, according to Vanity Fair.

Was Lady Sarah that influential over Queen Anne?

For better or worse, yes, Lady Sarah had a good deal of sway over the monarch.

Sarah controlled Queen Anne’s finances, and as she appeared in the movie, had a reputation for being brutally honest.

Queen Anne made Lady Sarah the Mistress of the Robes (the top rank for a woman in the royal court), Keeper of the Privy Purse, Groom of the Stole, and Ranger of Windsor Great Park.

Did Sarah bring Abigail into favour with the Queen?

Yes, it was all because of Sarah that Abigail wound up in such close proximity to Queen Anne.

Abigail Hill was born poor due to her father’s gambling, and Sarah took pity on her.

In 1704, Sarah was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber by Queen Anne and their relationship grew closer, further widening the schism between Anne and Sarah.

The Queen preferred Abigail’s style of gentle flattery, while Sarah was still matter-of-fact.

Was there a sexual component to their relationships?

No, the sexualised element between Anne, Sarah, and Abigail is fictitious.

There had been rumours of sexual relationships between both Queen Anne and Lady Sarah, and Queen Anne and Abigail Hill, but most historians and biographers reject this idea.

However, reports from the time claim that Sarah did circulate a risque poem alleging there was a lesbian relationship between Abigail and Anne written by Whig propagandist Arthur Mainwaring.

Biographers also cite Anne’s devotion to her husband, which stemmed from a deep Christian morality, and she would not have logistically been able to have an extramarital affair, even if she had wanted one.

Was Robert Harley accurately portrayed by Nicholas Hoult?

Though Hoult was undoubtedly hilarious as Robert Harley, the portrayal was not accurate.

Harley was reportedly a somewhat morose-looking man in his early 40s.

When did Sarah realise Abigail was the Queen’s favourite?

Just as in the movie, the defining moment came with Abigail’s marriage.

In 1707, she discovered Abigail had married a groom in the bedchamber of Anne’s husband, Samuel Masham.

Not only did the Queen approve, but she attended the wedding and gave them a dowry paid from the Privy Purse.

Sarah Abigail’s kindness to the Queen was a strategy to manipulate the Queen into Abigail regaining her standing, rather than from a place of sincerity.

Did Abigail poison Sarah?

No, despite the good moment of cinema, there is no historical proof that Abigail poisoned Sarah.

Did Sarah threaten to expose Anne with private letters?

Yes, Sarah did threaten to included excerpts from private letters from Anne.

Before Anne was made Queen, she wrote in letters to Sarah excerpts with lines like: “Oh come to me as soon as you can that I may cleave myself to you.

“I can’t go to bed without seeing you…If you knew in what condition you have made me, I am sure you would pity;

“I hope I shall get a moment or two to be with my dear…that I may have one embrace, which I long for more than I can express.”

In the time, intimate language like this was common in same-sex friendships, which were described as “romantic friendships” seen as preparation for heterosexual marriage.

Did Sarah try to force Queen Anne to remove Abigail from court?

Yes, though the personal nature of their animosity in the movie is likely overblown.

There was a more political motivation behind Sarah’s desire to see Abigail gone – Sarah had aligned herself with the Whigs and wanted to remove Abigail and her Tory sympathies from the court.

Did Lady Sarah leave England?

Yes. In 1711 the Queen stripped Sarah of her roles in the royal court and Abigail (now Baroness Masham) replaced Sarah as Keeper of the Privy Purse.

Lady Sarah and her family eventually returned to England on the day of Queen Anne’s death on August 1, 1714.

The Favourite is in cinemas now.