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......
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