Everything about Electress Sophia Of Hanover totally explained
Electress Sophia of Hanover (born
Sophia, Countess Palatine of Simmern;
14 October 1630 –
8 June 1714) was the youngest daughter of
Frederick V, Elector Palatine, of the
House of Wittelsbach, the "Winter King" of Bohemia, and
Elizabeth Stuart. She is frequently referred to as the
Duchess Sophia, particularly when the text is also discussing her niece and future daughter-in-law
Princess Sophia.
Through the
Act of Settlement 1701, an Act of the
Westminster Parliament which sought to suspend the normal laws of inheritance to the English and Scots thrones, Sophia was declared the
heiress presumptive to her first cousin once removed,
Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland (later Queen of Great Britain and Ireland). She would have acceded to Anne's crown, had she not died a few weeks before Anne did. On Sophia's death, her son George Louis,
Elector of
Hanover and Duke of
Brunswick-Lüneburg, became heir presumptive. On Queen Anne's death, he became
King George I.
As the mother of George I, she's therefore the legislative linchpin ancestor of the
House of Hanover line of succession to the British throne and their modern descendants of the
House of Windsor. Her grandfather was
James I & VI of England and Scotland and her uncle was
Charles I of England and Scotland. As Electress, Sophia was the consort to
Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover until his death in 1698.
Early life
Sophia was born in exile in
The Hague (as a result of her father's defeat at the
Battle of White Mountain) and was the youngest of five daughters of
Frederick V, Elector Palatine and
Elizabeth Stuart. She was brought up in
Leiden until moving back to her mother's court at The Hague in 1641. Her mother later suggested she marry their neighbour, the exiled
Charles II, but Sophia wasn't interested in marrying her first cousin, and went to live with her brother,
Charles I Louis (the new Elector Palatine, who had recently been restored to his lands) in
Herrenhausen in 1650.
Electress of Hanover
Before her marriage, Sophia, as the daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, was referred to as Sophie, Princess Palatine of the Rhine, or as Sophia of the Palatinate.
On
30 September 1658, Sophia married Ernst August, Duke of
Brunswick-Lüneburg, at
Heidelberg, who in 1692 became the first
Elector of
Hanover. (Electors were princes who had the right to vote to elect the emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire.) Ernst August was a second cousin of Sophia's mother
Elizabeth Stuart, as they were both great grandchildren of
Christian III of Denmark.
Sophia became a friend and admirer of
Gottfried Leibniz while he was a courtier to the House of Brunswick, from 1676 until his death in 1716. This friendship resulted in a substantial correspondence, published in the 19th century (Klopp 1973), that reveals Sophia to have been a woman of unusual intellectual ability and curiosity.
Sophia commissioned significant work on the
Herrenhausen Gardens surrounding the palace at
Herrenhausen, where she died.
Heiress of Great Britain
Sophia plays an important role in British history and royal lineage. As a daughter of
Elizabeth Stuart and granddaughter of
James I of England, VI of Scotland, she was the closest
Protestant relative to
William III (king of England and Scotland by marriage and by being the son of
Princess Mary, daughter of
Charles I), after his childless sister-in-law,
Princess Anne, the
heiress presumptive. In 1701, the
Act of Settlement made her Anne's heiress presumptive for the purpose of cutting off any claim by the Catholic
James Francis Edward Stuart, who would otherwise have become James III, as well as denying the throne to many other Catholics and spouses of Catholics who held a claim. The act restricts the British throne to the "Protestant heirs" of Sophia of Hanover who have never been Catholic and who have never married a Catholic. Presently there are almost 5,000 descendants of Sophia although not all are in the line of succession. The
Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 granted the right of British nationality to Sophia's non-Catholic descendants (though this has been modified by subsequent laws).
The Act of Settlement of 1701
The Crown, in the default of legitimate issue from both
William III and
Anne, was settled upon "the most excellent princess Sophia, electress and duchess-dowager of Hanover" and "the heirs of her body, being Protestant". The key excerpt from the Settlement, naming Sophia as heiress 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 the Lords Spirituall and 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 Comons 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.
Death and legacy
Although considerably older than
Queen Anne, Sophia enjoyed much better health. In June 1714, Sophia was walking in the gardens of
Herrenhausen when she ran to shelter from a sudden downpour of rain and collapsed and died, aged 83. Just a few weeks later, Anne herself died at the age of forty-nine, so Sophia came near to inheriting the British throne herself; and if she'd done so, she'd have become (and, indeed, would still be) the oldest British monarch of all time. Upon Sophia's death, her eldest son
Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover became
heir presumptive in her place, and weeks later succeeded Queen Anne as
George I. Sophia's daughter
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (1668-1705) married
Frederick I of Prussia, from whom the later Prussian kings and German emperors descend. The connection between the German emperors and the British royal family, which was renewed by several marriages in future generations, would become an issue during
World War I.
Sophia had additional sons, none of whom had children. Those who reached adulthood were:
Ancestry
Further Information
Get more info on 'Electress Sophia Of Hanover'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://sophia_of_hanover.totallyexplained.com">Sophia of Hanover Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
