Sophia of Hanover

Sophia was born on 14 October 1630 at her family home, the Wassenaer Hof in The Hague, Dutch Republic. She was the twelfth child and fifth daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James VI and I of Scotland and England. The couple were known as the 'Winter King and Queen', as they were forced to abdicate and flee Bohemia after ruling for only a year. Sophia's birth was overshadowed by the deaths of her siblings Frederick Henry and Charlotte. She was christened on 30 January 1631, three days after both siblings were laid to rest. As was custom, Sophia was granted an annuity of 40 thalers by the Estates of Friesland, and three noble ladies, also named Sophia, were appointed as her godmothers. Sophia's father died when she was only two, and she was raised away from her mother in Leiden with her siblings. However, when her brother Gustavus died in 1641, the eleven-year-old Sophia was brought to join her mother and older sisters Henriette, Louise, and Elisabeth at the Hague. The girls' marriage prospects were significantly diminished due to their lack of dowries and the family's precarious political situation. However, in 1649, Sophia was courted by her cousin, Charles II of England, who was living in exile at the Hague during the Second English Civil War. Sophia rebuffed his advances, believing that he was attempting to use her to get money from her mother's supporter, Lord William Craven. c. 1641In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia brought the 30 Years War to a close, and the Rhine Palatine was restored to Sophia's brother Charles. In 1650, Sophia left the Hague and settled with her brother and his wife Charlotte, whom she disliked, in Heidelberg. The same year, Sophia fell ill with smallpox, which she believed greatly diminished her beauty: pockmarked skin was another deterrent to potential suitors. However, the family continued to recover what had been lost in the war; Charles was confirmed as Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, and the family was given audience with the Emperor and Empress in early 1653. In her twenties, Sophia began to receive marriage proposals, including from Adolf Johann of Zweibrüken, the brother of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden. Sophia's brother, Charles, was flattered by the proposal, and sent an envoy to negotiate with the Swedish king. However, when George William, Duke of Brunswick, and his brother Ernest Augustus came to inquire about Sophia's potential marriage, Charles instead signed a marriage contract between George and Sophia. George and Ernest then continued on to Venice, where the duke appeared to have second thoughts. George called off the marriage, and instead proposed that Sophia marry Ernest; in exchange, he would never marry, and upon his death, all his lands and property would go to the new couple. The new marriage contract was drawn up and signed on 5 June 1658. Before her marriage, Sophia was styled as 'Sophie, Princess Palatine of the Rhine', or as 'Sophia of the Palatinate'. The Electors of the Palatinate were the Calvinist senior branch of House of Wittelsbach, whose Catholic branch ruled the Electorate of Bavaria. == Marriage ==

On 30 September 1658, Sophia married Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, at Heidelberg, who in 1692 became the first Elector of Hanover. Ernest Augustus was a second cousin of Sophia's mother Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, as they were both great-grandchildren of Christian III of Denmark. Sophia became a friend and admirer of Gottfried Leibniz while he was librarian at the Court of Hanover. Issue Sophia had ten children, of whom seven survived childbirth: • George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland (7 June 1660 – 22 June 1727) • Frederick Augustus (3 October 1661 – 10 June 1691), Imperial General • Stillborn twin sons (February 1664) • Maximilian William of Brunswick-Lüneburg (13 December 1666 – 27 June 1726), field marshal in the Imperial Army • Stillborn son (13 December 1666) • Sophia Charlotte (2 October 1668 – 21 January 1705), Queen in Prussia • Charles Philip of Brunswick-Lüneburg (13 October 1669 – 1 January 1690), colonel in the Imperial Army • Christian Henry of Brunswick-Lüneburg (29 September 1671 – 31 July 1703) • Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of York and Albany (7 September 1674 – 14 August 1728), became prince-bishop of Osnabrück Three of her sons were killed in battle.Sophia was absent for almost a year, 1664–65, during a long holiday with Ernest Augustus in Italy. She corresponded regularly with her sons' governess and took a great interest in their upbringing, even more so on her return. After Sophia's tour, she bore Ernest Augustus another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes her eldest son as a responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his younger brothers and sisters. Initially, she opposed the marriage of her son George and Sophia Dorothea of Celle, looking down on Sophia Dorothea's mother Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse (who was not of royal birth and to whom Sophia referred as "mouse dirt mixed among the pepper") and concerned by Sophia Dorothea's legitimated status, but was eventually won over by the marriage's financial advantages. == Heiress presumptive ==

In September 1700, Sophia met her widowed cousin King William III at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. This happened two months after the death of his nephew Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, son of Princess Anne of Denmark (the future Queen Anne). By this time, given the ailing William III's reluctance to remarry, the inclusion of Sophia in the line of succession was becoming more likely because she and her sons were Protestants. Her candidature was aided by the fact that she had grown up in the Netherlands close to William III and could converse fluently with him in his native Dutch. A year after their meeting, the Parliament of England passed the Act of Settlement 1701, which declared that in the event of no legitimate issue from Anne or William III, the crowns of England and Ireland were to settle upon "the most excellent princess Sophia, electress and duchess-dowager of Hanover" and "the heirs of her body, being Protestant". Scotland being independent at the time, this did not mean she would also succeed Anne as queen of Scotland, which led to a succession crisis and eventually to the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1706/07. The key excerpt from the Act, naming Sophia as heir presumptive, reads: Sophia was made next in line to cut off a claim by the Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart, who would have become James III and VIII, and to deny the throne to the many other Roman Catholics and spouses of Roman Catholics who held a claim. The act restricts the British throne to the "Protestant heirs" of Sophia of Hanover who had never been Roman Catholic, or married a Roman Catholic. In 1711, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended that its congregations pray regularly "for the Princess Sophia, Electoress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Protestant line in that family, upon whom the succession to the crown of these dominions is by law established".Some British politicians attempted several times to bring Sophia to England in order to enable her to assume government immediately in the event of Anne's death. It was argued that such a course was necessary to ensure Sophia's succession, for Anne's Roman Catholic half-brother was significantly closer to London than was Sophia. The Electress was eager to move to London, but the proposal was denied, as such action would mortally offend Anne, who was strongly opposed to a rival court in her kingdom. Anne might have realised that Sophia, who was active and lively despite her old age, could cut a better figure than herself. Sophia was completely uncertain of what would happen after Anne's death, saying: "What Parliament does one day, it undoes the next." When the law was passed in mid-1701, Sophia at age 70, five of her children from ages 35 to 41, and three legitimate grandchildren from ages 14 to 18, were alive. Although Sophia was 35 years older than Anne, she was very fit and healthy, and invested time and energy in securing the succession either for herself or her son. There are more than 5,000 legitimate descendants of Sophia, although not all are in the line of succession. The Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 (4 & 5 Ann. c. 16) granted the right of English (not British, as the Kingdom of Great Britain was created in 1707) nationality to Sophia's non-Roman Catholic descendants; those who had obtained the right to British citizenship via this Act at any time before its repeal by the British Nationality Act 1948 retain this lawful right today. == Death and legacy ==

and the Great Garden, ca 1708 in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Gardens, into which the remains of Sophia were moved in 1957, from their original burial site in the chapel of Leine Palace, Hanover Although considerably older than Queen Anne, Sophia enjoyed much better health. According to the Countess of Bückeburg in a letter to Sophia's niece, the Raugravine Luise, on 5 June 1714 Sophia felt ill after receiving an angry letter from Queen Anne. Three days later, on 8 June, she was walking in the Herrenhausen Gardens when she ran to shelter from a sudden downpour of rain and collapsed and died in the arms of her granddaughter-in-law Caroline of Ansbach, Electoral Princess of Hanover. Sophia was 83, a very advanced age for the era. Queen Anne died less than two months later on 1 August 1714 at the age of 49. Had Sophia survived Anne, she would have been the oldest person to ascend the British throne. Upon Sophia's death, her eldest son Elector George Louis of Hanover (1660–1727) became heir presumptive in her place and within two months succeeded Anne as George I of Great Britain. Sophia's daughter Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (1668–1705) married Frederick I of Prussia, from whom the later Prussian and German monarchs descend. Sophia was buried in the chapel of Leine Palace in Hanover, as were her husband and their son George I. After the destruction of the palace and its chapel during World War II by Allied aerial raids, their remains were moved into the mausoleum of King Ernest Augustus I in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Gardens in 1957. == Ancestry ==

• Memoirs of Sophia, Electress of Hanover 1630-1680, translated by H. Forester (London, 1888) == References ==