Queen Anne furniture is distinguished by its lightness and elegance – one might even say "timeless elegance", as it looks as fresh today as it did at the dawn of the 18th century. Queen Anne, who ruled Britain from 1702-1714, was no match for the chairs and cabinets that bear her name. Obese, gouty, wracked by ill health, the queen spent much of her reign being pushed around in a wheelchair with her legs wrapped in filthy bandages. She had 17 pregnancies but died childless.

Had she been a commoner, Anne would have found it hard to make friends, let alone idolators, but as a monarch she never lacked for flatterers. In The Favourite Yorgos Lanthimos uses actual historical figures to ponder the advantages of being the queen's close confidante, and the sacrifices it entailed.