Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Electoral Princess of Hanover

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Electoral Princess of Hanover; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Dorothea of Celle was never Queen, but she was the wife of King George I of Great Britain before he became King, the mother of King George II of Great Britain, and the ancestor of the current British Royal Family. She was born on September 15, 1666, in Celle, Principality of Celle now in Lower Saxony, Germany, the only child of Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Celle and his mistress Éléonore d’Esmier d’Olbreuse.  Sophia’s mother was from a noble, but untitled French Huguenot family. Éléonore was a lady-in-waiting to Marie de la Tour d’Auvergne, Duchess of Thouars whose son had married into the Hesse-Kassel family. During a visit to Hesse-Kassel in 1664, Éléonore met Georg Wilhelm who immediately fell in love with her. Éléonore became Georg Wilhelm’s mistress and received the title Frau (Lady) von Harburg. In 1674, their daughter Sophia Dorothea was legitimized by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I who granted Éléonore the titles Gräfin (Countess) von Harburg and Wilhelmsburg. Éléonore and Georg Wilhelm married morganatically in 1676. Because of her mother’s background, Sophia Dorothea was not considered as a marriage prospect by many of the German ruling houses.

Georg Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg; Credit – Wikipedia

At the age of 16, in a marriage arranged by the bride and groom’s fathers (who were brothers), Sophia Dorothea was married to her first cousin, 22-year-old Georg Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the eldest son of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Sophia of the Palatinate (commonly referred to as Electress Sophia of Hanover), whose mother was Elizabeth Stuart, the second child and eldest daughter of King James VI of Scotland/King James I of England. The couple had two children:

Sophia Dorothea with her two children; Credit – Wikipedia

At first, the marriage was happy, but soon George and Sophia Dorothea found affection elsewhere. George fell in love with one of his mother’s ladies-in-waiting, Melusine von der Schulenburg.  Sophia Dorothea fell in love with a Swedish Count, Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, an officer in the Hanoverian army. Despite warnings, from her mother and friends, Sophia Dorothea and her lover wrote letters to each other, met secretly, and planned to escape Hanover together. On the morning of July 2, 1694, after a meeting with Sophia Dorothea, von Königsmarck disappeared from Leineschloss Castle in Hanover and was never seen again. It was widely believed that George ordered von Königsmarck’s death. There is some speculation that the letters were forgeries, and the question of Sophia Dorothea’s guilt is still debated. On December 28, 1694, a tribunal of judges and Lutheran Church officials declared the marriage of George and Sophia Dorothea dissolved on the grounds of Sophia Dorothea’s desertion.

Philip Christoph von Königsmarck; Credit – Wikipedia

Meanwhile, Sophia Dorothea had been moved to the Castle of Ahlden in her father’s territory of the Principality of Celle now in Lower Saxony, Germany. She hoped to be reunited with von Königsmarck, whose disappearance had not been made known to her. Finally, Sophia Dorothea was told about the terms of the marriage dissolution. Because she was considered the guilty party, she was not allowed to remarry, would never again see her children, and would be kept as a prisoner at the Castle of Ahlden for the remainder of her life. The Castle of Ahlden had a guard unit of 40 soldiers with five to ten soldiers guarding the castle around the clock. Sophia Dorothea had a household consisting of two maids of honor, several maids, and other staff for the household and kitchen, who were all chosen for their loyalty to Hanover.

Castle of Ahlden; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Dorothea’s former husband had a change in fortune when the British House of Stuart failed to provide a legitimate Protestant heir. His mother Sophia of Hanover was the closest Protestant heir and was named the heiress presumptive to the British throne. Sophia of Hanover died two months before Queen Anne of Great Britain died and Sophia Dorothea’s former husband succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714 upon the death of Queen Anne.

Although Sophia Dorothea spent 32 years in captivity, she received an income that allowed her to live in the style of a princess and she was able to go for drives in her coach with an escort. Her father refused to visit her, but her mother Éléonore did make visits. During the last years of Sophia Dorothea’s life, Éléonore cared for her daughter and unsuccessfully tried to obtain her release. Éléonore asked Queen Anne to assist in obtaining Sophia Dorothea’s release as her situation was not befitting the mother of a future king of Great Britain.

When her former father-in-law died in 1698, Sophia Dorothea expressed her condolences in a letter to her former husband, saying that she would pray for him every day, begging him to forgive her error, and asking, in vain, to be allowed to see her two children. As Sophia Dorothea’s father was on his deathbed in 1705, he wanted to see his daughter one last time to make peace with her, but Prime Minister Count Bernstorff refused and the dying man did not have the strength to stand up to him. In 1722, Sophia Dorothea’s mother died, and surrounded only by enemies, Sophia Dorothea hoped to see her daughter once again. Her daughter, now Queen of Prussia, came to Hanover to see her father, King George I, in 1725, when he was on one of his visits to Hanover. Sophia Dorothea, who heard the news that her daughter was in Hanover, dressed more carefully than usual and waited in vain at the window every day for a visit from her daughter.

Sophia Dorothea apparently drowned her sorrows in the pleasure of eating, and became quite corpulent, increasingly suffering from fevers and indigestion. She suffered a stroke in August 1726 and never again left her bed. Sophia Dorothea refused medical attention and food and died on November 13, 1726, at the age of 60. King George I would not allow mourning at the British court and was furious when he learned that his daughter had ordered court mourning in Prussia.

Because the guards at the Castle of Ahlden had no funeral or burial instructions, Sophia Dorothea’s remains were placed in a lead coffin and stored in the castle cellar. In January 1727, orders came from London to bury the remains without any ceremony in the cemetery of Ahlden. However, this was impossible because of weeks of heavy rains and the coffin remained in the castle cellar. Finally, in May 1727, Sophia Dorothea was buried in the middle of the night beside her parents at the Stadtkirche St. Marien in Celle, Principality of Celle now in Lower Saxony, Germany. Her former husband King George I died four weeks later after receiving a deathbed letter from Sophia Dorothea cursing him, and their son acceded to the British throne as King George II.

Stadtkirche St. Marien in Celle, Germany; Credit – Wikipedia

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