Windsor Castle, 1714. Queen Anne has known her share of tragedy and grief: betrayed by her father; plagued by illness and obesity; cursed to lose all seventeen of her children.

Now she is dying with no living offspring, and the question of who will succeed her hangs over the court, fuelling political intrigue and fear. There are two likely successors: James Stuart, the half-brother she has always refused to acknowledge, and George of Hanover, the cousin who once turned her down for marriage.

Neither is ideal. She hates them both.

As courtiers, politicians and sycophants plot to steer the succession to their own advantage, Queen Anne must finally face the past. For nothing can be resolved until she comes to terms with her children's deaths and repairs the terrible wrong she committed many years before . . .

With familiar characters - including three of the most important writers in English literature: Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe), Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), and fashionable poet Alexander Pope - and a gripping plot, What If the Queen Should Die? is the thrilling historical tale of Britain's most tragic queen.