The Favourite Trivia Quiz

Answer: Greet rabbits

The film opens with Queen Anne in her bedroom as servants undo and fold her regal cape and remove her crown. "How was my speech?" she asks Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. "You were brilliant," Sarah replies. Anne asks if she lisped, and Sarah points out that she doesn't lisp. "I know that's what was so troubling about it. The thought that I suddenly did," Anne remarks. When Anne implores Sarah to "say hello to the little ones", referring to her 17 caged rabbits that represent each of the children that Anne had lost, Sarah is emphatic. "No. It is macabre," she says. "Please," Anne pleads. "No. I love you, but that I will not do," Sarah replies. "If you love me..." Anne begins, but is interrupted by Sarah saying that "love has limits". "It should not," Anne observes.

Anne blindfolds Sarah and takes her to her rooms, where she unveils a model of Blenheim Palace. "You do not lisp but you are mad. Giving me a palace?" Sarah enquires. "Well, I've been wanting to get you something for quite some time now. Seemed like the perfect opportunity with Marlborough winning," Anne explains. "It is a monstrous extravagance Mrs Morley," Sarah says, invoking her pet name for Anne. "We are at war." Anne points out that they have won. "Oh, it is not over. We must continue," Sarah responds. "Oh," Anne says, clearly oblivious to the situation. "Oh, I did not know that."

Answer: "I didn't know the new sewer ended in here."

Abigail arrives in a carriage but trips while disembarking, thanks to a lustful passenger, and ends up face down in the mud. A scullery maid instructs Abigail to clean herself up but deliberately sends her into a drawing room being used by Lord Godolphin, the Duke of Marlborough, and Sarah Churchill, his wife, which takes Abigail by surprise. "Oh, I didn't know the new sewer ended in here," Sarah remarks upon seeing Abigail, who apologises for her appearance and offers a letter written by their aunt. "Friends of yours?" Sarah says, referring to some flies buzzing about Abigail's head. Abigail flaps about the air around her with the letter, with little success. "I apologise for my appearance.

The staff led me here. A harmless prank of some sort, I suspect," she explains.

When Sarah asks Abigail what she wants, Abigail indicates that she had hoped that her cousin would employ her in some capacity. "A monster for the children to play with, perhaps?" Sarah responds. "Yes. If you like," Abigail replies, as she raises her hands in the air and makes growling noises. No one laughs with her.

Answer: A badger

Anne exits her rooms and is intercepted by Sarah in the hallway. "I am ready for the Russian ambassador," Anne announces. "Who did your make up?" Sarah enquires. "We went for something dramatic. Do you like it?" Anne replies eagerly. "You look like a badger," Sarah says bluntly. "Oh," Anne responds, upset, but Sarah is relentless. "Are you going to cry? Really?" she says, as she holds up a small mirror. "What do you think you look like?" Anne takes the mirror and examines herself. "A badger," she replies dejectedly. "And do you really think you can meet the Russian delegation looking like that?" Sarah asks. Anne shakes her head. "I will manage it. Go back to your rooms," Sarah instructs. Anne thanks Sarah and heads back the way she came. She passes a footman standing outside her rooms, and stops. "Did you just look at me? Did you?" she shrieks at him.

The terrified footman shakes his head and looks down toward the ground. "Look at me! Look at me!" Anne instructs, and the footman complies. "How dare you? Close your eyes!" Anne screams, and enters her rooms.

Answer: Gout

Abigail is working in the kitchen late one night when Mrs. Meg bursts in. "You! Grab the bandage box off the shelf! The Queen's had an attack of gout. Hurry!" she instructs. Abigail is led to Anne's rooms, where the Queen is laying on the floor with her feet elevated as she is attended to by her doctor, who administers leeches on her leg. Abigail is instructed to apply slices of raw beef to Anne's leg, as the latter winces in pain. The next day, Abigail sneaks out early with a horse to harvest a plant from the forest, which she reduces to a balm using a makeshift pestle and mortar. She returns and gains access to the Anne's room so that she can apply the balm to her legs while she sleeps. Sarah arrives and demands to know what Abigail is doing. "This is peleatis, the herb. I cut some this morning. It reduces swelling and inflammation. I thought it may help the Queen," Abigail explains. Sarah sends her away to be whipped, but interrupts the punishment after Anne indicates that the herb helps her legs. "So, you are perhaps too kind for your own good," Sarah says when she has Abigail to herself. "The Queen is soothed somewhat so I thank you. You will get me some more of those herbs and not overstep again."

Sarah takes Abigail on as her new maid, and it doesn't take her long to ingratiate herself with the Queen. One day, as Anne is being wheeled by in her wheelchair, Abigail coughs loudly enough for Anne to take notice of her. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I think I caught a chill picking the herbs for your leg," Abigail explains. "That was you?" Anne replies. Abigail nods and gives Anne her name.

Answer: She pretends to shoot her.

Harley ambushes Anne at the ball to complain about the doubling of the land tax to fund the war with the French. During the dance, Anne is overcome with melancholy and demands to go back to her rooms. Before she leaves, she informs Harley that she went too far with the land tax and assures him that it will remain the same. Sarah brings Anne back to her rooms, where Abigail is reading a book. She witnesses Anne and Sarah being intimate. She sneaks out and runs into Harley, who has a proposition for her. Later, she speaks to Sarah as they are shooting. "I must tell you something. Mr. Harley came to me and asked me to betray your confidence about what goes on between you and the Queen and Godolphin," Abigail says. "I see," Sarah replies, as she uses a funnel to pour gunpowder into her pistol. "And what will you do?" Abigail assures Sarah that she wouldn't dream of betraying her, but Sarah isn't so sure. "You may tell me of his approach to encourage my trust and still work both sides of the street," she points out. When Abigail is offended by her suggestion, Sarah laughs it off. "So my secrets are safe with you?" Sarah asks. "All of them," Abigail replies. "Even your biggest secret."

"Abigail," Sarah says, as she points her gun at her cousin and fires. A shocked Abigail falls to the ground, her hands clutching at her body trying to locate the non-existent wound. "If you forget to load the pellet the gun fires, makes the sound, but releases no shot," Sarah says. "It is a great jape. Do you agree?" A subdued Abigail feebly agrees. "Maybe we will think of a use for it one day," Sarah continues. "Sometimes it is hard to remember whether you have loaded the pellet or not. I do fear confusion and accidents." The veiled threat is not lost on Abigail. "I'm sure people will be careful," she says.

Answer: She gives Anne a makeover.

At first, Anne doesn't accept Abigail and tells her to leave and send Sarah. Thinking quickly, Abigail begins to admire her rabbits. "They're gorgeous," Abigail says. "How many are there?" Anne explains that they are her "babies" and instructs Abigail to let them out. "I lost some 17 children," Anne explains. "Some were born as blood, some without breath, and some were with me for a very brief time." Abigail begins to cry, which makes Anne cry as well. "Each one that dies, a little bit of you goes with them," Anne says.

Some time later, Anne returns to her rooms to find Abigail asleep in her bed. "What are you doing?" Anne demands, rousing Abigail from her 'sleep'. "Oh, Your Majesty," Abigail says. "Lady Marlborough asked me to wait for you and I was... The bed looked so beautiful and I was overcome with foolishness. I'm sorry." Anne doesn't know what to make of this. "Well, you may get out now," she finally says. Abigail complies, revealing herself to be completely naked. She makes a show of getting dressed, curtsies and exits.

Later that night, Abigail is awoken by a footman and summoned to Anne's rooms. "Rub my legs," Anne instructs. Abigail sets down her candle and climbs into bed with Anne, and begins massaging her legs. "Does it hurt a lot?" Abigail asks. "They're agony," Anne replies, though she doesn't appear to be in much pain. Abigail continues rubbing, and soon one thing leads to another. Sarah finds Abigail and Anne in bed together and tries to dismiss Abigail, but to no avail. Anne has made Abigail her Maid of the Bedchamber.

Answer: She poisons Sarah's tea.

Abigail may be the flavour of the month, but she will never have the type of bond that exists between Sarah and Anne from years of friendship. Abigail waits until Sarah visits Anne and brews her a cup of tea with some extra ingredient harvested from the forest. Sarah goes riding but becomes ill and collapses, and is dragged unconscious through the forest by her horse when her foot gets caught in a stirrup. When Sarah fails to return, Godolphin wants to send riders to locate her, but Anne forbids it, thinking that Sarah is deliberately vexing her. When Anne suffers a panic attack and Sarah still hasn't returned, Anne starts to get worried but has a strange way of expressing her fear. "If she's not dead, I will cut her throat," she declares.

Meanwhile, Abigail makes full use of Sarah's absence to advance her interests. She manipulates Anne into letting her marry Baron Masham, restoring her previous standing as a lady of the court.

Answer: Blackmail

Sarah was found unconscious in the forest by a prostitute, who removed her to a brothel to recover from her injuries. She confronts Abigail upon her return to court. "If you offer me tea, you will forgive me if I don't accept," Sarah says to Abigail. "I have searched my heart and I did not have trust in it and that is my shame," Abigail replies. "But it's over now. I have won. I am safe. We do not have to fight anymore. Is that not grand? If you just forgive me, we can be happy together." Sarah slaps Abigail twice across the face. "Obviously you still have some anger to expiate. I'll allow it this once," Abigail says calmly.

When Anne doesn't respond to Sarah's attempts to get her to dismiss Abigail and break with Harley, Sarah gets creative. Anne wakes up one morning to find Sarah hovering over her bed. "I think I'm becoming quite sentimental as I get older," Sarah says, holding up a bunch of letters. "I started looking over some of the many, many, many letters you've written me. 'I long for your embrace', 'I long for the heat from your naked body on mine.' It's very intense. Very explicit." She wonders out loud about what would happen if the letters found their way into the hands of the newspapers. "You would be ruined," she tells Anne. "You would do that?" Anne asks. "I will use these letters unless you announce the tax rise, change the Cabinet as I wish, and get rid of Abigail," Sarah replies.

Answer: "Some wounds do not close. I have many such."

Sarah regrets her attempt to blackmail Anne and burns the letters, but it is too late. Anne asks for the return of Sarah's key and asks her to vacate court. Sarah speaks to Anne one last time before she leaves. "Mrs. Morley, you are angry I know. I am sorry. I went quite mad for a moment," she says to Anne through the secret door to her bedroom. "I will not come back. Do you understand? I will go and be gone! Abigail has done this. She does not love you." When Anne remarks that she wishes Sarah could love her as Abigail does, Sarah points out the difference between her and Abigail. "You wish me to lie to you? Oh, you look like an angel fell from heaven, Your Majesty," she says, mocking Abigail. "No, sometimes you look like a badger, and you can rely on me to tell you." Anne doesn't accept that. "Why?" she demands. "Because I will not lie," Sarah explains. "That is love!"

Lord Godolphin visits Sarah at Blenheim to update her on the happenings in court and agrees to intercede on her behalf with the Queen. "Your Majesty, may I broach the matter of Lady Marlborough?" he asks Anne. "No, you may not," she replies testily. "A breach in a dear friendship, surely this could be healed?" he offers. "Some wounds do not close," Anne replies. "I have many such. One just walks around with them and sometimes one can feel them filling with blood." Godolphin tries one last thing. "Perhaps she could write you and we could attempt to repair at least one wound in our Queen?" he asks. "I cannot stop her," Anne says. "I imagine it'd be pointless and I would dash the letter into the fire, but I cannot stop her."

Answer: Rubbing her leg

Abigail intercepts Sarah's letters to Anne, and then plants the idea in her head that Sarah and Lord Marlborough are guilty of embezzlement. Anne doesn't believe the accusation at first, but when time passes and no letter arrives from Sarah, she resolves to have Lord and Lady Marlborough banished from England.

Abigail appears to have won and settles into court life. She begins indulging to excess and in the process neglects Anne, who starts to resent Abigail's part in Sarah's destruction. One day, Abigail is sitting with a book and traps one of Anne's beloved rabbits under her foot sadistically. Anne rises out of bed when she hears the rabbit squealing and falls to the floor in pain. Abigail rushes to Anne and helps her up. "How dare you touch the Queen like that!" Anne screams. When Abigail apologises, Anne says that she did not ask her to speak. "Rub my leg," Anne instructs, as she gets on her feet and leans against the wall. Abigail drops to her knees reluctantly and begins to do as she's told. "You should lie down," Abigail suggests, but is met by derision. "You shall speak when asked to," Anne orders. Abigail looks up at Anne and continues rubbing. "I feel dizzy," Anne suddenly says. "I need to hold on to something." Anne grabs Abigail's head by the hair to steady herself, as Abigail continues rubbing. She has become nothing more than one of Anne's playthings, trapped in a cage of her own making.