Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen of Prussia

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen of Prussia; Credit: Wikipedia

Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover was born on March 26, 1687, in Hanover, Principality of Calenberg, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.  At the time of her birth in 1687, her father was styled His Highness Duke Georg Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg and became Elector of Hanover when his father died in 1698. Upon the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain in 1714, he became King George I of Great Britain due to the provisions of the 1701 Act of Settlement.  Sophia Dorothea’s mother was Sophia Dorothea of Celle.

Sophia Dorothea had one sibling, an elder brother:

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, on the right, with her mother Sophia Dorothea of Celle on the left, and her brother, the future King George II of Great Britain, in the middle

The marriage of Sophia Dorothea’s parents was happy at first, but 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 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 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. George was not satisfied with punishing his former wife with only a marriage dissolution.  He had his 27-year-old former wife imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden until she died 32 years later. Sophia Dorothea was never allowed to see her children again.

Sophia Dorothea was eight years old when her disgraced mother was divorced and banished for the rest of her life.  She was raised by her paternal grandmother Sophia, Electress of Hanover at Herrenhausen, the Hanover home.  She married her first cousin Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, son of Friedrich, King  I of Prussia and Sophia Charlotte of Hanover on November 28, 1706, in Berlin.  The couple had fourteen children:

Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia in the center with some of her children during the visit of King Augustus II of Poland to Berlin; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Dorothea and Friedrich Wilhelm had met as children as they shared a grandmother, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and they had disliked each other ever since.  Their interests were very different and Friedrich Wilhelm contemplated divorcing Sophia Dorothea the same year they were married, but nothing ever came of it.  Sophia Dorothea became Queen of Prussia in 1713 when her husband acceded to the Prussian throne.

Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, 1713; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Wilhelm was faithful, but they did not have a happy relationship. Sophia Dorothea feared his unpredictable temper and resented him for allowing her no influence at court and for refusing to marry her children to their English cousins. She detested his cruelty towards their son and heir Friedrich, with whom she was close.  In his own way, Friedrich Wilhelm was devoted to Sophia Dorothea.  Their daughter Wilhelmine wrote that when her father was dying, “he had himself rolled in his chair to the queen’s room. Not having thought the danger was imminent, she was still asleep. ‘Get up,’ the king said to her, ‘I have only a few more hours to live and I wish to have the happiness of dying in your arms.'”  Friedrich Wilhelm died on May 31, 1740, in Berlin.  During World War II, his remains were removed and hidden and were later found by American Forces and reburied at St. Elisabeth’s Church in Marburg. In 1953, his remains were moved to Hohenzollern Castle where they remained until 1991. At that point, his coffin was finally laid to rest on the steps of the altar at the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum at the Friedenskirche, the Church of Peace, in Sanssouci Park, surrounding Sanssouci Palace, in Potsdam, Germany.

Sophia Dorothea survived her husband by 17 years, died at the age of 70 on June 28, 1757, at the Palace of Monbijou near Berlin, and was buried at the Berlin Cathedral.

Tomb of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover; Credit – findagrave.com

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