“Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough: The Queen’s Favourite”, by Ophelia Field

576 pages, St. Martin’s Press, ISBN-13: 978-0312314668

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough: The Queen’s Favourite (don’t be like Spellcheck; that’s how the Brits spell it) by Ophelia Field attempts to explaining why Sarah Churchill has been undervalued or unfairly treated in previous biographies, but, first-things-first: Sarah Churchill, 1^st Duchess of Marlborough (née Jennings) gained notoriety through three things:

• She was a lady-in-waiting/best friend to Queen Anne of England, but she took this position of power for granted and treated the Queen much like a dumb child, going so far as to instruct the Queen on appropriate political decisions and appointments at court; however, when Sarah became too pushy and arrogant, the Queen severed the friendship, leading to a very public fall from favor. 
• She was married to the military man John Churchill, 1^st Duke of Marlborough, who defeated Louis XIV’s French armies in the early 1700s; this was a YUGE deal at the time, as England and France had been archenemies for centuries. This victory led Queen Anne to give John and Sarah not only their, titles, but a huge government grant to build a massive palace with, Blenheim, which still stands today outside of Oxford.
• Her direct descendants still occupy the dukedom of Marlborough and Blenheim Palace, and include Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Ophelia Field has written a biography which covers all these events, and also tells us objectively about the woman herself. She does not attempt to paint a rosy picture of Sarah, who could be stubborn and domineering; at the same time, she explains WHY Sarah was stubborn and domineering, and why her political views were as they were. Crucially, she discusses how Sarah’s support of the Whig party, with her deep-rooted belief in the righteousness of their cause, developed into a fanaticism which led to her fall from the Queen’s favor and high society. Queen Anne is also brought to life as a woman all her own, though her reign was short. The Queen’s Favourite was informative, educational and fascinating; it portrayed a woman in full ahead of her time. Although I feel if that, had I had met Sarah Churchill, I may not have liked her (she polarized people – you either loved or hated her), but I certainly would have respected and admired her. With all of that said, I wish Field could have been a bit more objective about her subject, as she made it seem as though Sarah’s (many) missteps in politics were completely out of her control, when in fact a healthy dose of tact and respect for other people’s feelings – without betraying her own convictions, just with respect for others – might have won her more success in her endeavors. That said, for Sarah Jennings to rise from impoverished gentility to a wealthy and powerful duchess (not to mention founding a well-known and lasting dynasty) is not merely remarkable, but almost incredible.

(P.S. – Kindly disregard the recent movie The Favourite: Sarah and Queen Anne were not lesbian lovers; that's just more contemporary PC bullshit trying to find homosexuals in the past where none existed. That is all).