Genealogy John Muijsers » Sophie van de Palts (1630-1714)

Personal data Sophie van de Palts 

• She was born on October 14, 1630.
• Profession: hertogin van Brunswijk- Lüneburg.
• She died on June 8, 1714, she was 83 years old.
• A child of Frederick v van de Palts and Elizabeth Stuart


• There is more biographical information available about Sophie van de Palts on RKDartists

Household of Sophie van de Palts

She is married to Ernst August van Brunswijk - Lüneburg.

They got married

Child(ren):

1. Georg i van het Verenigd Koninkrijk  1660-1727 
2. Sophia Charlotte van Hannover  1668-1705 

Notes about Sophie van de Palts

Sophia of Hanover (born Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714[2]) was the Electress of Hanover from 1692 to 1698. As a granddaughter of James VI and I, she became heir presumptive to the crowns of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland under the Act of Settlement 1701. After the Acts of Union 1707, she became heir presumptive to the unified throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain. She died less than two months before she would have become queen succeeding her first cousin once removed, Queen Anne, and her claim to the throne passed on to her eldest son, George Louis, Elector of Hanover, who ascended as George I on 1 August 1714 (Old Style).

Born to Frederick V of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and Elizabeth Stuart, in 1630, Sophia grew up in the Dutch Republic, where her family had sought refuge after the sequestration of their Electorate during the Thirty Years' War. Sophia's brother Charles Louis was restored to the Palatinate as part of the Peace of Westphalia. Sophia married Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1658. Despite his jealous temper and frequent absences, Sophia loved him, and bore him seven children who survived to adulthood. Initially a landless cadet, Ernest Augustus succeeded in having the House of Hanover raised to electoral dignity in 1692. Therefore, Sophia became Electress of Hanover, the title by which she is best remembered. A patron of the arts, Sophia commissioned the palace and gardens of Herrenhausen and sponsored philosophers, such as Gottfried Leibniz and John Toland.

A daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate by Elizabeth Stuart, also known as the "Winter King and Queen of Bohemia" for their short rule in that country, Sophia was born in The Wassenaer Hof, The Hague, Dutch Republic, where her parents had fled into exile after the Battle of White Mountain. Through her mother, she was the granddaughter of James VI and I, king of Scotland and England.[3] At birth, Sophia was granted an annuity of 40 thalers by the Estates of Friesland. Sophia was courted by her first cousin, Charles II of England, but she rebuffed his advances as she thought he was using her in order to get money from her mother's supporter, Lord William Craven.

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. The Electors of the Palatinate were the Calvinist senior branch of House of Wittelsbach, whose Catholic branch ruled the Electorate of Bavaria.

On 30 September 1658, she married Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg, at Heidelberg, who in 1692 became the first Elector of Hanover. 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 librarian at the Court of Hanover. Their friendship lasted from 1676 until her death in 1714. This friendship resulted in a substantial correspondence, first published in the nineteenth century (Klopp 1973), that reveals Sophia to have been a woman of exceptional intellectual ability and curiosity. She was well-read in the works of René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza. Together with Ernest Augustus, she greatly improved the Summer Palace of Herrenhausen and she was the guiding spirit in the creation of the gardens (which still exist) surrounding the palace, where she died.

Issue
Sophia had seven children that reached adulthood. They were:

Electress Sophia and her daughter
George I of Great Britain (1660–1727)
Frederick Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1661–90), Imperial General
Maximilian William of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1666–1726), field marshal in the Imperial Army
Sophia Charlotte (1668–1705), Queen in Prussia
Charles Philip of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1669–90), colonel in the Imperial Army
Christian Henry of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1671–1703)
Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of York and Albany (1674–1728), became prince-bishop of Osnabrück as Ernest Augustus II
Sophia was absent for almost a year, 1664–65, during a long holiday with Ernest Augustus in Italy but she corresponded regularly with her sons' governess and took a great interest in her sons' upbringing, even more so on her return.[5][6] 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.[7]

Sophia was, at first, against the marriage of her son and Sophia Dorothea of Celle, looking down on Sophia Dorothea's mother (who was not of royal birth and who Sophia referred to as "mouse dirt mixed among the pepper") and concerned by Sophia Dorothea's legitimated status, but was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage.

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,[16] on 5 June 1714 Sophia felt ill after receiving an angry letter from Queen Anne. Two days later she was walking in the gardens of Herrenhausen when she ran to shelter from a sudden downpour of rain and collapsed and died, aged 83—a very advanced age for the era.[17] Just over a month later, in August, Queen Anne died at the age of 49. Had Anne predeceased Sophia, Sophia would have been the oldest person to ascend the British throne.

Upon Sophia's death, her eldest son Elector George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1660–1727) became heir presumptive in her place, and weeks later, succeeded Anne as George I. 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, as were her husband and, later, their son George I. After destruction of the palace and its chapel during World War II by British air raids, their remains were moved into the mausoleum of King Ernest Augustus I in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Gardens in 1957.

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Timeline Sophie van de Palts

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