At the accession of queen Anne, whom he is said to have courted when they were both young, he was highly favoured. Before her coronation (1702) she made him lord privy seal, and soon after lord lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire. He was then named commissioner for treating with the Scots about the Union; and was made next year, first, duke of Normandy, and then of Buckinghamshire, there being suspected to be somewhere a latent claim to the title Buckingham.
Soon after, becoming jealous of the duke of Marlborough, he resigned the privy seal, and joined the discontented Tories in a motion extremely offensive to the queen, for inviting the princess Sophia to England. The queen courted him back with an offer no less than that of the chancellorship; which he refused. He now retired from business, and built that house in the Park which is now the Queen's, upon ground granted by the Crown.
When the ministry was changed (1710), he was made lord chamberlain of the houshold, and concurred in all transactions of that time, except that he endeavoured to
