| Sophia | |
|---|---|
_-_Electress_Sophia_(1630%25E2%2580%25931714)%2c_Princess_Palatine%2c_Consort_of_Ernest_Augustus%2c_Elector_of_Hanover_-_493063_-_National_Trust.jpg) Portrait byGerard van Honthorst, 1650 | |
| Electress consort of Hanover | |
| Tenure | 19 December 1692 –23 January 1698 |
| Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg | |
| Tenure | 18 December 1679 –23 January 1698 |
| Born | Princess Sophia of the Palatinate (1630-10-14)14 October 1630 The Hague,Dutch Republic |
| Died | 8 June 1714(1714-06-08) (aged 83) Herrenhausen Gardens,Hanover |
| Burial | 9 June 1714[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Issue more... | |
| House | Palatinate-Simmern (Cadet branch ofWittelsbach) |
| Father | Frederick V, Elector Palatine |
| Mother | Elizabeth Stuart |
| Religion | Calvinism |
| Signature |  |
Sophia (German:Sophie,[zoˈfiː]; 14 October [O.S. 3 October] 1630 – 8 June [O.S. 28 May] 1714) wasElectress of Hanover from 1692 to 1698 as the consort ofPrince-Elector Ernest Augustus. She was later theheiress presumptive to the thrones ofEngland,Scotland, andIreland under theAct of Settlement 1701, as she was the granddaughter of KingJames VI and I. Sophia died less than two months before she would have become Queen ofGreat Britain and Ireland. Consequently, her sonGeorge succeeded her first cousin once removed,Queen Anne, to the British throne. The succession to the throne has since been composed entirely of, and legally defined as, Sophia's legitimateProtestant descendants.
Sophia was born inThe Hague toFrederick V, formerlyElector Palatine andKing of Bohemia, andElizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I and VI. She grew up in theDutch Republic, where her family had sought refuge after the sequestration of theirElectorate during theThirty Years' War. During this time, the EnglishStuarts also went into exile and Sophia was courted by her cousin,Charles II of England.
Sophia instead married Prince Ernest Augustus, her third cousin, in 1658. Despite his temper and frequent absences, Sophia loved him and bore him seven children who survived to adulthood. Born a landlesscadet, Ernest Augustus succeeded in having theHouse of Hanover raised to electoral dignity in 1692. As a result, Princess Sophia became Electress of Hanover, the title by which she is best remembered. A patron of the arts, Sophia commissionedHerrenhausen Palace and itsgardens and sponsored philosophers, such asGottfried Leibniz andJohn Toland.
Sophia was born on 14 October 1630 at her family home, the Wassenaer Hof inThe Hague,Dutch Republic.[2] She was the twelfth child and fifth daughter ofFrederick V of the Palatinate andElizabeth Stuart, daughter of KingJames VI and I ofScotland andEngland.[3] The couple were known as the 'Winter King and Queen', as they were forced to abdicate and fleeBohemia after ruling for only a year.[4][5] Sophia's birth was overshadowed by the deaths of her siblingsFrederick Henry andCharlotte. 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 40thalers by the Estates ofFriesland, and three noble ladies, also named Sophia, were appointed as her godmothers.[6]
Sophia's father died when she was only two, and she was raised away from her mother inLeiden with her siblings. However, when her brotherGustavus died in 1641, the eleven-year-old Sophia was brought to join her mother and older sistersHenriette,Louise, andElisabeth at the Hague.[7] The girls' marriage prospects were significantly diminished due to their lack ofdowries 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 theSecond 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.[8]
In 1648, thePeace of Westphalia brought the30 Years War to a close, and theRhine Palatine was restored to Sophia's brotherCharles. In 1650, Sophia left the Hague and settled with her brother and his wifeCharlotte, whom she disliked, inHeidelberg.[9] The same year, Sophia fell ill withsmallpox, 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 asArch-Treasurer of the Empire, and the family was given audience with the Emperor and Empress in early 1653.[10]
In her twenties, Sophia began to receive marriage proposals, including fromAdolf Johann of Zweibrüken, the brother ofKing Charles X ofSweden. Charles was flattered by the proposal, and sent an envoy to negotiate with the Swedish king. However, whenGeorge William,the Duke of Brunswick and his brotherErnest Augustus came to inquire about Sophia's potential marriage, Charles instead signed a marriage contract between George and Sophia.[11] George and Ernest then continued on toVenice, 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.[12]
Before her marriage, Sophia was styled as 'Sophie, Princess Palatine of the Rhine', or as 'Sophia of the Palatinate'. TheElectors of thePalatinate were theCalvinist senior branch ofHouse of Wittelsbach, whose Catholic branch ruled theElectorate of Bavaria.
On 30 September 1658, Sophia married Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, atHeidelberg, who in 1692 became the firstElector ofHanover.[13] Ernest Augustus was a second cousin of Sophia's motherElizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, as they were both great-grandchildren ofChristian III of Denmark.
Sophia became a friend and admirer ofGottfried Leibniz while he was librarian at the Court of Hanover.[13] Their friendship lasted from 1676 until her death in 1714. This friendship resulted in a substantial correspondence, first published in the 19th century (Klopp 1973), that reveals Sophia to have been a woman of exceptional intellectual ability and curiosity. She was well-read in the works ofRené Descartes andBaruch Spinoza. Together with Ernest Augustus she greatly improved theHerrenhausen Palace, and she was the guiding spirit in the creation of theHerrenhausen Gardens surrounding the palace, where she died.
In 1680, during another long visit to Italy by her husband, Sophia wrote her memories of her first fifty-years of life.
Sophia was renowned across Europe as a writer, placed amongMadame de Sevigne andCardinal de Retz as chroniclers of history in royal and princely courts.
She first sat down to write her memoirs when she was fifty, around when some of her family had died, most notably her brother and sister, Karl-Ludwig andElisabeth of the Palatinate, as therapy.[14]
Sophia had seven children who reached adulthood:
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 her sons' upbringing, even more so on her return.[15] 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.[16]
Sophia was, at first, against the marriage of her son George andSophia Dorothea of Celle, looking down on Sophia Dorothea's motherÉléonore 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 financial advantages inherent in the marriage.[17]
In September 1700, Sophia met her cousinKing William III of England, Scotland and Ireland atHet Loo Palace inApeldoorn, Netherlands. This happened two months after the death of his nephewPrince William, Duke of Gloucester, son ofPrincess 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[18] because she was aProtestant, as was her son. Her candidature was aided by the fact that she had grown up in the Netherlands close to William III and was able to converse fluently with him inDutch, his native tongue.
A year after their meeting, theParliament of England passed theAct 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 a separate state in international law 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:
Therefore for a further Provision of the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line We Your Majesties most dutifull and Loyall Subjects theLords Spirituall andLords Temporall and Commons in this present Parliament assembled do beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted and declared and be it enacted and declared by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the most Excellent Princess Sophia Electress and Dutchess Dowager of Hannover Daughter of the most Excellent Princess Elizabeth late Queen of Bohemia Daughter of our late Sovereign Lord King James the First of happy Memory be and is hereby declared to be the next in Succession in the Protestant Line to the Imperiall Crown and Dignity of the forsaid Realms of England France and Ireland with the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging after His Majesty and the Princess Anne of Denmark and in Default of Issue of the said Princess Anne and of His Majesty respectively.
Sophia was made next in line to cut off a claim by the CatholicJames 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, theGeneral 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".[19]
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 toLondon than was Sophia. The Electress was eager to move to London,[20] 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 been aware that Sophia, who was active and lively despite her old age, could cut a better figure than herself.[21] Sophia was completely uncertain of what would happen after Anne's death, saying: "What Parliament does one day, it undoes the next."[22]
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.[23] There are more than 5,000 legitimate descendants of Sophia, although not all are in theline of succession. TheSophia Naturalization Act 1705 (4 & 5 Ann. c. 16) granted the right of British (or more correctly English, asGreat Britain only came into existence in 1707) nationality to Sophia's non-Roman Catholic descendants;[24] those who had obtained the right toBritish citizenship via this Act at any time before itsrepeal by theBritish Nationality Act 1948 retain this lawful right today.[25]
Although considerably older than QueenAnne, Sophia enjoyed much better health. According to the Countess of Bückeburg in a letter to Sophia's niece, theRaugravine Luise,[26] 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 thegardens of Herrenhausen when she ran to shelter from a sudden downpour of rain and collapsed and died in the arms of her granddaughter-in-lawCaroline of Ansbach, Electoral Princess of Hanover. Sophia was 83, a very advanced age for the era.[27] 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 toascend the British throne.
Upon Sophia's death, her eldest son ElectorGeorge Louis of Hanover (1660–1727) becameheir presumptive in her place and within two months succeeded Anne as George I of Great Britain. Sophia's daughterSophia Charlotte of Hanover (1668–1705) marriedFrederick I of Prussia, from whom the later Prussian and German monarchs descend.
Sophia was buried in the chapel ofLeine 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 byAllied aerial raids, their remains were moved into the mausoleum of KingErnest Augustus I in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Gardens in 1957.
| Ancestors of Sophia of Hanover |
|---|
| German nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg 1679–1698 Served alongside:Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse | Vacant Title next held by Caroline of Ansbach |
| New title | Electress consort of Hanover 1692–1698 | |
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