The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture

‘An incredible story crackling with royal passion, envy, ambition and betrayal … Field’s account of the psychological power play between Queen Anne and her confidante is surely definitive. A tour de force’ Lucy Worsley

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1774), was as glamorous as she was controversial. Politically influential and independently powerful, she was an intimate, and then a blackmailer, of Queen Anne, accusing her of keeping lesbian favourites - including Sarah’s own cousin Abigail Masham.

Ophelia Field’s masterly biography, published in a new and updated edition, brings Sarah Churchill’s own voice, passionate and intelligent, back to life. Here is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who cared intensely about how we would remember her.