Sophia Charlotte of Hanover

Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (30 October 1668 – 1 February 1705) was a Prussian Queen consort, the daughter of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover and Sophia of the Palatinate. Her eldest brother George Louis would succeed to the British throne in 1714 as King George I. She was once rumoured to be marrying the widower Louis XIV of France.

Biography

As a girl, Sophia Charlotte visited France with her mother, with the prospect of marrying the French Grand Dauphin (he later married Maria Anne Victoria of Bavaria and Sophia Charlotte was herself proposed as a possible bride for Louis XIV himself, after he lost his wife in 1683, but this did not come about. A marriage with the Brandenburg-Prussian regent Frederick III and I, was therefore arranged. By marrying Frederick, she became Electress of Brandenburg in 1688, and after the elevation of Brandenburg-Prussia to a kingdom, the first Queen in Prussia in 1701. Their only child to reach maturity became Frederick William I of Prussia. Her husband was so much in love with her that while he had an official mistress at his palace—in imitation of Louis XIV—he never made use of her services.Sophia Charlotte is mainly remembered for her friendship and correspondence with her mother's good friend and tutor Leibniz, whose avowed disciple she became. In addition to German she spoke French, Italian and English. In 1696, she had the Charlottenburg Palace (originally Lützenburg Palace, later named after Sophia Charlotte) constructed at......
Read More