Catherine Curzon - Sophia: Mother of Kings

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SOPHIA

MOTHER OF KINGS

THE FINEST QUEEN BRITAIN NEVER HAD

To Debra, for being even more fabulous than Sophia.

SOPHIA

MOTHER OF KINGS

THE FINEST QUEEN BRITAIN NEVER HAD

CATHERINE CURZON

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Catherine Curzon, 2019

ISBN 978 1 52675 534 6

ISBN 978 1 52675 535 3

ISBN 978 1 52675 536 0

The right of Catherine Curzon to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

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Illustrations

Electress Sophia, by Petrus Schenck.

Sophia of the Palatinate, by Jans Frans van Douven, 1706.

Friedrich V, Elector Palatine (Frederick I, King of Bohemia, The Winter King), by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, in or after 1621.

Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, by Robert Peake the Elder, 1606.

Portrait of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, by Jacob Houbraken, after Antoine Pesne.

Charles I.

Charles Louis, Elector Palatine.

Portrait of Frederick V, by Jan Lamsvelt.

Portrait of Elisabeth van Bohemen, by Crispijn van den Queborn.

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover.

Portrait of Georg Willem, Duke of Brunswick-Lneburg, by Hendrik Caus.

Prince Maurice Accompanied by his Two Brothers, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Counts of Nassau on Horseback, follower of Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne, c.1625.

Sophia Electress of Hanover, mother of King George I, RB Peake, 1690.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, by the Studio of Sir Peter Lely.

Madame Elizabeth Charlotte, Dowager-Duchess of Orleans [Liselotte].

Charles II.

Louise Hollandine, by Gerard van Honthorst, 1643.

The Elector Ernest Augustus of Hanover.

Georgius D.G. Mag. Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex. John Benson Lossing.

Portrait of Marie Mancini, by Jacob Ferdinand Voet.

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.

Sophia Charlotte of Hanover [Figuelotte].

lonore Desmier dOlbreuse, Duchess of Celle.

Portrait of Georg Willem, Duke of Brunswijk-Lneburg, by Pieter de Jode, after Anselm van Hulle.

Jean-Frdric de Brunswick-Lunebourg, by Robert Nanteuil, after Jean Michelin.

Portrait of Willem II, Prince of Orange, and his Wife, Mary Stuart, by Gerard van Honthorst, 1647.

Sophia Dorothea of Celle.

Count Philip Christoph von Knigsmarck.

Clara Elizabeth von Platen.

The Electress Sophia, from the gardens of Herrenhausen.

Queen Anne. 1730, John Closterman, after John Faber.

Sophia, Electress of Hanover.

Plates 1, 6, 10, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30: Courtesy of Internet Archive Book Images. Public domain.

Plates 2, 17: Courtesy of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Plates 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 20, 24, 26: Courtesy of Rijksmuseum, under Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication CC0 1.0 Universal licence. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

Plates 4, 25: Courtesy of the Met Museum, under Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication CC0 1.0 Universal licence. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en

Plates 7, 19: Courtesy of The New York Public Library. Public domain.

Plates 13, 31: Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London, under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Plate 14: Courtesy of The Yale Center for British Art. Public domain.

Plate 29: Courtesy of Universitts-Bibliothek Heidelberg, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence CC BY-SA 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Plate 32: Public domain.

Acknowledgements

Once again, its a rather massive merci to the team at Pen & Sword, with a sound and serious nod of recognition aimed right at Jon. Yet more thanks are going out to the ever fierce and fabulous Lucy, editor extraordinaire!

To those friends, readers and marvellous correspondents all over the world, you continue to rock. There are a few extra special thanks to liberally distribute too, of course, and Adrian and Caroline you are never less than epic. Come through Rob, you glorious fellow, and Kathryn, get that clapper clapping!

To Pippa, Nelly and the Rakish Colonial - never, ever change.

Introduction

The princess SOPHIA, who was a daughter and mother of a king, was herself mistress of every qualification requisite to adorn a crown. [Sophia was] the most accomplished lady in Europe.

Sometimes, history just happens . With as little planning and forethought as the turn of a card or the throw of a die something shifts; a butterfly flutters its wings and the course of the world changes forever.

In the case of Sophia of the Palatinate, it was all down to a marriage.

Or rather, a marriage that wasnt.

When Sophia sat down to write her memoirs in 1680 she was in her fiftieth year. The idea of ruling Great Britain wasnt even a distant dream and she little knew what the future might hold for her. She finished her memoirs a year later, with more than three decades left to live. What exciting decades they would turn out to be.

From exile to electress to taking the throne of England, this is the tale of perhaps the finest queen that Great Britain never had, Sophia, Electress of Hanover.

Act One

Princess

I was born, they tell me, October 14, 1630, and being the twelfth child of the King my father, and of the Queen my mother, I can well believe that my birth caused them little satisfaction.

Meet the Parents

Once upon a time there lived a ruler who knew all about dynasty. He was Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, a minor cog in the mighty wheel that was the powerful Holy Roman Empire. So far, so grand. Grander still, he later added to his portfolio of power by becoming King of Bohemia in 1619, but well come to that unfortunate episode later. Despite his fine titles, Frederick wasnt destined for a long and peaceful life and from almost the first moment of his reign, he struggled to keep his lands protected and united under his rule. It was a difficult balancing act and a thankless task.

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