Daughter of George William, Duke of Brunswick-Celle & Eleonora d'Olbreuse.
Husband of George I of Great Britain, mar 1682, diss 1694.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Sophia Dorothea, the Crown Princess of Hanover, born in the year 1666, the daughter of George William, Duke of Zell, and his French wife, Eleonora d'Olbreuse, was married at sixteen, in 1682, to her cousin George of Hanover. The French blood that flowed in her veins and the education she received at the gay court of Zell, had their effect. 'Her mother,' says her cousin, the Duchess of Orleans, 'brought her up to coquetry and gallantry.' She was clever, excitable, and full of imagination. She was of the middle size, and of exquisite form, with fair brown hair, her face oval, and her complexion good. This lively young girl was ill suited to her silent, dull husband; and their married life was not happy. George was always absent in the wars, and his return did not improve matters. She loved pleasure, he nothing but hunting and his favorites. . . Sophia Dorothea soon bestowed her affections upon Count Philip of Konigsmark, the handsome brother of Aurora, the famous mistress of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland, and the mother of Marshal Saxe." (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 519)
Effects of George I's affairs on his wife, family & society.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Sophia Dorothea, the Crown Princess of Hanover, born in the year 1666, the daughter of George William, Duke of Zell, and his French wife, Eleonora d'Olbreuse, was married at sixteen, in 1682, to her cousin George of Hanover. The French blood that flowed in her veins and the education she received at the gay court of Zell, had their effect. 'Her mother,' says her cousin, the Duchess of Orleans, 'brought her up to coquetry and gallantry.' She was clever, excitable, and full of imagination. She was of the middle size, and of exquisite form, with fair brown hair, her face oval, and her complexion good. This lively young girl was ill suited to her silent, dull husband; and their married life was not happy. George was always absent in the wars, and his return did not improve matters. She loved pleasure, he nothing but hunting and his favorites. . . Sophia Dorothea soon bestowed her affections upon Count Philip of Konigsmark, the handsome brother of Aurora, the famous mistress of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland, and the mother of Marshal Saxe." (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 519)
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| Sophia Dorothea |
"This was precisely the position that Sophia was in with Ernst Augustus and Madame Platen (now Countess Platen, he tactful husband having been promoted in the duke of Hanover's service). But Sophia, who had had the experience of watching Charlotte, Karl Ludwig's wife, lose everything---her home, her position, her children---simply ignored her rival and devoted her time to her many political and philosophical projects, her massive international correspondence, and her dealings with ambassadors and other visiting dignitaries. Sophia Dorothea did not have her mother-in-law's intellectual resources or talents. Eleonore had not provided her daughter with the sort of rigorous education that Sophia had insisted on for Figuelotte. As a result, Sophie Dorothea did not care for books and had few interests outside of jewels and clothing. Her life was appallingly dull. . . ." (Daughters of the Winter Queen)
"While the crown Prince was allowed to take a mistress, as a royal wife, Princess Sophia had to remain faithful to him. Adultery for the wife of the Crown Prince was regarded as treason. Lonely, miserable and humiliated, the Princess of Celle missed her mother badly and begged to return home to celle, but her request was refused by her stern father. Aware he had no other heir and needed the Hanoverian Army to protect him were Brunswick to be invaded, the elderly Duke of Brunswick did not want the dynastic and political alliance he had carefully engineered between the dukedom of Celle and the principality of Hanover to be broken by the whil of a silly girl. He told his daughter it was her duty to remain in Hanover. However Princess Sophie, neglected and abused by her husband, was desperate for affection and a decade after her marriage to Prince George Ludwig, Sophie threw caution to the winds and had a passionate love affair with Count Philip Christoph von Konigsmarck, Captain of Dragoons at the Palace. The handsome count was son of a wealthy Swedish diplomat. Years earlier, when the Count's father had a diplomatic posting to Celle, Philip von Konigsmarck and Sophie, both in their early teens, had flirted innocently with each other and declared their love. Although both of them knew that sleeping with a married princess was treason, punishable by death, nevertheless they planned to escape from Herrenhausen Palace by night." (Royal Mistresses of the House of Hanover-Windsor)
Sophia Dorothea's lovers were:
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| Philipp von Konigsmark |
Also known as Philipp Christoph von Konigsmark.
Count Konigsmark's personal and family background.
"Philip, Count of Konigsmark, was descended from an old Brandenburg family. Some of the race had settled in Sweden. Philip's grandfather, Hans Christopher, had made himself a name during the Thirty Years' War, as a partisan-leader under Gustavus Adolphus and Wrangel. After the peace of Westphalia, he became Governor of Bremen and Verden, which were garrisoned by Swedish troops. He left his children an immense fortune, won by his right hand. At the taking of Prague he acquired great booty. . . ." (The Eclectic Magazine, Vol 30: 520)
Philipp's Physical appearance and personal qualities.
"His grandson, Philip of Konigsmark, was born in 1662, and inherited his mother's beauty. She was a daughter of the Swedish house of Wrangel, famous for their beauty...." (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 518)
" . . . Saint Victor says of him: 'Handsome, brave, dashing, mocking, he had the courage and the pride of his race. . . ." (Cosmopolitan, Vol. 12: 609)
The most captivating man of his time.
"Of all the magnificent scamps in history, Count Philip Christopher von Konigsmark stands out preeminent. When his birth, character, fortune, charms and adventures are considered, it is indeed Eclipse first and the rest nowhere. He bore one of the greatest names in Europe, and his family was distinguished both in Germany and Sweden. He was counted the most captivating man of his time, and he inherited the beauty of his family---for the Konigsmarks were as remarkable for beauty as for brains. . . ." (Cosmopolitan, Vol. 12: 609)
Sophia Dorothea's tit-for-tat and Konigsmarck's disappearance.
" . . . For princely males, having produced an heir, there was no necessity or indeed expectation that they would remain monogamous; Georg Ludwig was no exception in this regard. the sexual double standard, rooted in the dear that an heir might not really be entitled to his father's property, meant that such freedom was not extended to women. Sophia Dorothea, however, decided that if her husband could take a mistress then there was nothing to stop her from taking her own lover. Count Philipp Christoph von Konigsmarck was a Swedish noble in Hanoverian service when he first met Sophia Dorothea. The couple began an exchange of letters and it was perhaps this that gave the game away. However, the news leaked out, various members of the court became aware that something was going on. Both were warned that the relationship must stop. Whether it was her husband or her father-in-law who determined that something should be done to curtail this liaison is not know. What is apparent is that on a hot July night in 1694 when the court was back in Hanover for Sundays service, and thus staying at the Leine palace rather than Herrenhausen, Konigsmarck was intercepted on his way to Sophia Dorothea's apartment and was never seen again. A group of four Hanoverian courtiers, including George's erstwhile tutor von Eltz, found themselves rewarded for their part in the events of that evening." (George II: King and Elector: 17)
First Encounter -- 1689.
" . . . First George and then Sophia Dorothea took lovers. Sophia Dorothea's, Philipp Christoph von Konigsmark, a Swedish count and Hanoverian colonel, was more charismatic, glamorous and sensual than George. Sophia Dorothea and Konigsmark met in 1689 and became lovers in 1692, but the affair did not remain a secret for long, and Sophia Dorothea ignored hints that she should be prudent. . . ." (The Hanoverians: The History of a Dynasty: 57)
" . . . One of her husband's brothers, Carl Philipp (1669-1690), introduced Sophia Dorothea to one of his friends. This friend was a handsome, dashing, and debonair military officer, who was a mercenary employed by Hanover. He was Count Philip von Konigsmark (1665-1694). Konigsmarck was just one year older than Sophia Dorothea and, in comparison to her lackluster husband, he was irresistible. She formed a romantic attachment to him and the resulting affair lasted five or six years. The affair became less and less of a secret as time went by, and the lovers were warned to put an end to it by friends and relatives. They ignored these warnings. . . (:119-120)
" . . . Philip was brought up at the Court of Zell, and passed much of his youth with Sophia Dorothea, for whom he entertained a youthful passion. . . ." (Ecleic Magazine, Vol. 30: 520)
The next encounter and renewal of feelings.
"Philip of Konigsmark next took service, in 1685, under the Elector Ernest Augustus of Hanover, and renewed his old acquaintance with the lively Crown Princess, who lived, as we have said, unhappily with her cold and uncongenial husband. It appears from the correspondence quoted by Dr. Vehse that the lovers met in secret: the Princess even went to Konigsmark's lodgings, which, according to tradition, were in the present 'Hotel de Strelitz,' on the 'Neumarkt.' " (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 520)
The page and the princess: a love story and its tragic end.
"Sophia Dorothea was the daughter of the Duke of Celle, at whose Court Konigsmark was brought up. It was the familiar story of the page and the princess. So tender a friendship had grown between them, that, during the celebration of her marriage with the Crown Prince of Hanover, Konigsmark concealed himself in the chapel, and nearly betrayed the secret by the violence of his emotions. To avoid further risks of this kind, he made a journey to Sweden, where he remained till he had recoverfed his senses and his self-possession. On his return, his respectful adoration was renewed and tacitly permitted by the object. It was purely Platonic, and might have been unattended by compromising results, had not the Countess of Platen fallen in love with him. She was the mistress of the Elector, over whom she held sovereign sway, and although no longer in the bloom of youth, she was both surprised and enraged to find her advances received by a young officer of the body guard, in which Konigsmark held a commission, much as those of the Sultana were received by Don Juan. Her wounded vanity suggested that a rival was the cause, and after jealously scrutinizing the demeanour of all the court ladies, her suspicions fell upon the Princess, who was in the habit of indulging her young admirer with occasional opportunities of private communication. Furnished with ample proofs of their indiscretion, and giving it a worse name, she hurried to the Elector, and urged him to take summary vengeance against his daughter-in-law; but his mildness of character made harsh expedients revolting ti him, and he simply commanded the attendance of Konigsmark, and told him,' Count, I know all. Here is a letter for Prince Frederic Augustus (the general of the Imperial army); begone: apply from Hanover for your discharge. Farewell and remember the friendship I am manifesting for you.' There was no alternative but to obey: he joined the Imperial army, and served in it till the end of the campaign, when he requested leave of absence for the purpose of visiting Hanover from the Prince Commander, who granted it reluctantly.
"The fatal lure was a ribbon, once bound round a bouquet given by the Princess as a prize at a match of running at the ring, at which he had come off conqueror. He had left it behind on his hurried departure, fastened to the colours of his company, and it was to reclaim this token that he came back. The standard was in the custody of the captain, his successor, one Count Plated, a relative of the countess, who had already got possession of the ribbon. Konigsmark desired her relative to tell her that if she would give it up, he would forgive her all the sufferings she had brought upon him, and that even the arms of the Elector would prove an unsafe place of refuge if she refused. This message, faithfully delivered, was not well calculated to obtain a favour from a proud passionate and jealous woman, who saw her opportunity at a glance, and was withheld by no feelings of remorse or former love from profiting by it. She feigned hesitation, and, by negotiating for the delivery of the ribbon, induced Konigsmark to prolong his secret stay in Hanover till she had completed her plot. Her grand difficulty was the Elector, who was at length over-persuaded to give a modified assent. She had in her pay two Italian cut-throats, ready for any deed of villainy; she joined with them three Germans of her household, who received instructions to watch for Konigsmark on a specified day in the palace garden, not far from the steps leading to the Princess's apartment, to throw themselves upon him, stifle his cries, and bring him into a subterranean room of the castle, called the laboratory. These instructions were given in the presence of the Elector. Her secret orders to the Italians, in their own language, were to murder Konigsmark in the laboratory; and just before they repaired to the rendezvous her waiting-maid was to hand them refreshments mixed with poison, so that they might not survive the deed long enough to give evidence of her complicity. To inveigle Konigsmark into the snare, the co-operation of the Princess's confidential attendant, Miss Dillon, was required, By the command of the Elector, the poor young lady repaired trembling to a private interview with the Countess, who, by the threat of instant death, compelled her to write the following billet:--- [note in French follows].
"On receiving this billet, Konigsmark hurried to the garden, ascended the steps, and found the Princess in her usual sitting room. She was surprised to see him, not knowing he was in Hanover, and gently reproached him for his indiscretion. He produced Miss Dillon's note as his justification; on reading which the Princess exclaimed that he was lost; that it was a trick of the Countess, and the she would lose a moment in ascertaining the truth. He hurried down the steps, and was just entering the garden saloon when the three Germans and two Italians fell upon him. He defended himself with skill and courage. Two of the Germans and one of the Italians were killed on the spot; the second Italian and the third German, named Fourier, were wounded, when Fourier, a very strong man, threw away his sword, caught up the cloak which Konigsmark had let fall, and as the Count was rushing upon the Italian, the sole remaining obstacle to his escape, flung it over his head. The Italian instantly ran him through his body, and he sank senseless to the ground.(: 196-198)
What really happened to Count Konigsmarck?.
"I learned from Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, mistress to George the Second, the fact mentioned in text, of George the First burning his wife's testament. That Princess, the Electress of Hanover, liked the famous Count Konigsmark, while her husband was at the army. The Electress, then hereditary Princess, was persuaded to let him kiss her hand before his departure. She saw him in bed---he retired, and was never heard of more. When George the Second went first to Hanover after his father's death, and made alterations in the palace, the body of Konigsmark was found under the floor of the chamber next to the Electress's chamber: he had been strangled immediately on leaving her, by the old Elector's order, and buried under the floor. This fact Queen Caroline related to my father, Sir Robert Walpole. George the Second told it to his wife, but never to his mistress, Lady Suffolk, who had never heard it till I told it to her many years after. The Electress was separated from George I on that amour, and was called Duchess of Halle; and he married the Duchess of Kendal with his left hand. When the French threatened Hanover in Queen Anne's war, the Duchess of Halle was sent to her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Zell, who doated (sic, doted?) on their only child, and she staid (sic, stayed?) a year with them; but though they were most earnest to retain her, she was forced to return to her confinement, in which she died the year before her husband. . . ." (Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second, Vol 2: 479)
Konigsmarck's murder ordered by Countess Platen.
"George Lewis was away in Berlin and his mother, the Electress, was also away at her summer residence. George Lewis by now had enough from Sophia Dorothea and her purported lover. He authorized Clara Elizabeth Meisenbuch, Countess von Platen (1648-1700), to administer appropriate justice to von Konigsmarck, probably intending that he would be ordered to leave Hanover. However, Countess Platen, for reasons of her own, found it expedient to have von Konigsmarck murdered. This was done by four armed men on her orders in July 1694. Later that year, in December, George Lewis convened a special tribunal of jurists and Lutheran Church officials and obtained a dissolution of his marriage on the grounds of his wife's refusal to cohabit with her husband." (The English Royal Family of America: 113)
Effects on the lovers' family, other people and society.
On the husband: "On the evening of a summer-day, in the year of 1694, one of the most brilliant cavaliers in Germany at that period, Count Philip von Konigsmarck, entered the electoral palace of Hanover, and no one ever saw him again: he disappeared without leaving a trace. The disappearance created an immense sensation . . . throughout Europe, for the missing man, grandson of Count Hans Christopher Konigsmarck, the celebrated Swedish field-marshal in the thirty years' war, was related to several sovereign princely houses, and well known at every court. In Hanover, the report at once spread that the count had been murdered, because he had an intrigue with the Crown-Princess Sophia Dorothea, while others asserted he had merely been arrested on account of this intrigue, and was kept in secret imprisonment. One one fact, in short, was firmly established, that the count went into the palace and never came out of it again." (Wraxall: 148)
On the 'wicked Countess of Platen, Konigsmark's spurned lady.
Count Konigsmark's personal and family background.
"Philip, Count of Konigsmark, was descended from an old Brandenburg family. Some of the race had settled in Sweden. Philip's grandfather, Hans Christopher, had made himself a name during the Thirty Years' War, as a partisan-leader under Gustavus Adolphus and Wrangel. After the peace of Westphalia, he became Governor of Bremen and Verden, which were garrisoned by Swedish troops. He left his children an immense fortune, won by his right hand. At the taking of Prague he acquired great booty. . . ." (The Eclectic Magazine, Vol 30: 520)
Philipp's Physical appearance and personal qualities.
"His grandson, Philip of Konigsmark, was born in 1662, and inherited his mother's beauty. She was a daughter of the Swedish house of Wrangel, famous for their beauty...." (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 518)
" . . . Saint Victor says of him: 'Handsome, brave, dashing, mocking, he had the courage and the pride of his race. . . ." (Cosmopolitan, Vol. 12: 609)
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| Philipp von Konigsmarck @Wikipedia |
"Of all the magnificent scamps in history, Count Philip Christopher von Konigsmark stands out preeminent. When his birth, character, fortune, charms and adventures are considered, it is indeed Eclipse first and the rest nowhere. He bore one of the greatest names in Europe, and his family was distinguished both in Germany and Sweden. He was counted the most captivating man of his time, and he inherited the beauty of his family---for the Konigsmarks were as remarkable for beauty as for brains. . . ." (Cosmopolitan, Vol. 12: 609)
Sophia Dorothea's tit-for-tat and Konigsmarck's disappearance.
" . . . For princely males, having produced an heir, there was no necessity or indeed expectation that they would remain monogamous; Georg Ludwig was no exception in this regard. the sexual double standard, rooted in the dear that an heir might not really be entitled to his father's property, meant that such freedom was not extended to women. Sophia Dorothea, however, decided that if her husband could take a mistress then there was nothing to stop her from taking her own lover. Count Philipp Christoph von Konigsmarck was a Swedish noble in Hanoverian service when he first met Sophia Dorothea. The couple began an exchange of letters and it was perhaps this that gave the game away. However, the news leaked out, various members of the court became aware that something was going on. Both were warned that the relationship must stop. Whether it was her husband or her father-in-law who determined that something should be done to curtail this liaison is not know. What is apparent is that on a hot July night in 1694 when the court was back in Hanover for Sundays service, and thus staying at the Leine palace rather than Herrenhausen, Konigsmarck was intercepted on his way to Sophia Dorothea's apartment and was never seen again. A group of four Hanoverian courtiers, including George's erstwhile tutor von Eltz, found themselves rewarded for their part in the events of that evening." (George II: King and Elector: 17)
First Encounter -- 1689.
" . . . First George and then Sophia Dorothea took lovers. Sophia Dorothea's, Philipp Christoph von Konigsmark, a Swedish count and Hanoverian colonel, was more charismatic, glamorous and sensual than George. Sophia Dorothea and Konigsmark met in 1689 and became lovers in 1692, but the affair did not remain a secret for long, and Sophia Dorothea ignored hints that she should be prudent. . . ." (The Hanoverians: The History of a Dynasty: 57)
" . . . One of her husband's brothers, Carl Philipp (1669-1690), introduced Sophia Dorothea to one of his friends. This friend was a handsome, dashing, and debonair military officer, who was a mercenary employed by Hanover. He was Count Philip von Konigsmark (1665-1694). Konigsmarck was just one year older than Sophia Dorothea and, in comparison to her lackluster husband, he was irresistible. She formed a romantic attachment to him and the resulting affair lasted five or six years. The affair became less and less of a secret as time went by, and the lovers were warned to put an end to it by friends and relatives. They ignored these warnings. . . (:119-120)
" . . . Philip was brought up at the Court of Zell, and passed much of his youth with Sophia Dorothea, for whom he entertained a youthful passion. . . ." (Ecleic Magazine, Vol. 30: 520)
The next encounter and renewal of feelings.
"Philip of Konigsmark next took service, in 1685, under the Elector Ernest Augustus of Hanover, and renewed his old acquaintance with the lively Crown Princess, who lived, as we have said, unhappily with her cold and uncongenial husband. It appears from the correspondence quoted by Dr. Vehse that the lovers met in secret: the Princess even went to Konigsmark's lodgings, which, according to tradition, were in the present 'Hotel de Strelitz,' on the 'Neumarkt.' " (Eclectic Magazine, Vol. 30: 520)
The page and the princess: a love story and its tragic end.
"Sophia Dorothea was the daughter of the Duke of Celle, at whose Court Konigsmark was brought up. It was the familiar story of the page and the princess. So tender a friendship had grown between them, that, during the celebration of her marriage with the Crown Prince of Hanover, Konigsmark concealed himself in the chapel, and nearly betrayed the secret by the violence of his emotions. To avoid further risks of this kind, he made a journey to Sweden, where he remained till he had recoverfed his senses and his self-possession. On his return, his respectful adoration was renewed and tacitly permitted by the object. It was purely Platonic, and might have been unattended by compromising results, had not the Countess of Platen fallen in love with him. She was the mistress of the Elector, over whom she held sovereign sway, and although no longer in the bloom of youth, she was both surprised and enraged to find her advances received by a young officer of the body guard, in which Konigsmark held a commission, much as those of the Sultana were received by Don Juan. Her wounded vanity suggested that a rival was the cause, and after jealously scrutinizing the demeanour of all the court ladies, her suspicions fell upon the Princess, who was in the habit of indulging her young admirer with occasional opportunities of private communication. Furnished with ample proofs of their indiscretion, and giving it a worse name, she hurried to the Elector, and urged him to take summary vengeance against his daughter-in-law; but his mildness of character made harsh expedients revolting ti him, and he simply commanded the attendance of Konigsmark, and told him,' Count, I know all. Here is a letter for Prince Frederic Augustus (the general of the Imperial army); begone: apply from Hanover for your discharge. Farewell and remember the friendship I am manifesting for you.' There was no alternative but to obey: he joined the Imperial army, and served in it till the end of the campaign, when he requested leave of absence for the purpose of visiting Hanover from the Prince Commander, who granted it reluctantly.
"The fatal lure was a ribbon, once bound round a bouquet given by the Princess as a prize at a match of running at the ring, at which he had come off conqueror. He had left it behind on his hurried departure, fastened to the colours of his company, and it was to reclaim this token that he came back. The standard was in the custody of the captain, his successor, one Count Plated, a relative of the countess, who had already got possession of the ribbon. Konigsmark desired her relative to tell her that if she would give it up, he would forgive her all the sufferings she had brought upon him, and that even the arms of the Elector would prove an unsafe place of refuge if she refused. This message, faithfully delivered, was not well calculated to obtain a favour from a proud passionate and jealous woman, who saw her opportunity at a glance, and was withheld by no feelings of remorse or former love from profiting by it. She feigned hesitation, and, by negotiating for the delivery of the ribbon, induced Konigsmark to prolong his secret stay in Hanover till she had completed her plot. Her grand difficulty was the Elector, who was at length over-persuaded to give a modified assent. She had in her pay two Italian cut-throats, ready for any deed of villainy; she joined with them three Germans of her household, who received instructions to watch for Konigsmark on a specified day in the palace garden, not far from the steps leading to the Princess's apartment, to throw themselves upon him, stifle his cries, and bring him into a subterranean room of the castle, called the laboratory. These instructions were given in the presence of the Elector. Her secret orders to the Italians, in their own language, were to murder Konigsmark in the laboratory; and just before they repaired to the rendezvous her waiting-maid was to hand them refreshments mixed with poison, so that they might not survive the deed long enough to give evidence of her complicity. To inveigle Konigsmark into the snare, the co-operation of the Princess's confidential attendant, Miss Dillon, was required, By the command of the Elector, the poor young lady repaired trembling to a private interview with the Countess, who, by the threat of instant death, compelled her to write the following billet:--- [note in French follows].
"On receiving this billet, Konigsmark hurried to the garden, ascended the steps, and found the Princess in her usual sitting room. She was surprised to see him, not knowing he was in Hanover, and gently reproached him for his indiscretion. He produced Miss Dillon's note as his justification; on reading which the Princess exclaimed that he was lost; that it was a trick of the Countess, and the she would lose a moment in ascertaining the truth. He hurried down the steps, and was just entering the garden saloon when the three Germans and two Italians fell upon him. He defended himself with skill and courage. Two of the Germans and one of the Italians were killed on the spot; the second Italian and the third German, named Fourier, were wounded, when Fourier, a very strong man, threw away his sword, caught up the cloak which Konigsmark had let fall, and as the Count was rushing upon the Italian, the sole remaining obstacle to his escape, flung it over his head. The Italian instantly ran him through his body, and he sank senseless to the ground.(: 196-198)
What really happened to Count Konigsmarck?.
"I learned from Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, mistress to George the Second, the fact mentioned in text, of George the First burning his wife's testament. That Princess, the Electress of Hanover, liked the famous Count Konigsmark, while her husband was at the army. The Electress, then hereditary Princess, was persuaded to let him kiss her hand before his departure. She saw him in bed---he retired, and was never heard of more. When George the Second went first to Hanover after his father's death, and made alterations in the palace, the body of Konigsmark was found under the floor of the chamber next to the Electress's chamber: he had been strangled immediately on leaving her, by the old Elector's order, and buried under the floor. This fact Queen Caroline related to my father, Sir Robert Walpole. George the Second told it to his wife, but never to his mistress, Lady Suffolk, who had never heard it till I told it to her many years after. The Electress was separated from George I on that amour, and was called Duchess of Halle; and he married the Duchess of Kendal with his left hand. When the French threatened Hanover in Queen Anne's war, the Duchess of Halle was sent to her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Zell, who doated (sic, doted?) on their only child, and she staid (sic, stayed?) a year with them; but though they were most earnest to retain her, she was forced to return to her confinement, in which she died the year before her husband. . . ." (Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second, Vol 2: 479)
Konigsmarck's murder ordered by Countess Platen.
"George Lewis was away in Berlin and his mother, the Electress, was also away at her summer residence. George Lewis by now had enough from Sophia Dorothea and her purported lover. He authorized Clara Elizabeth Meisenbuch, Countess von Platen (1648-1700), to administer appropriate justice to von Konigsmarck, probably intending that he would be ordered to leave Hanover. However, Countess Platen, for reasons of her own, found it expedient to have von Konigsmarck murdered. This was done by four armed men on her orders in July 1694. Later that year, in December, George Lewis convened a special tribunal of jurists and Lutheran Church officials and obtained a dissolution of his marriage on the grounds of his wife's refusal to cohabit with her husband." (The English Royal Family of America: 113)
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| Leineschloss |
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| Leineschloss |
On the husband: "On the evening of a summer-day, in the year of 1694, one of the most brilliant cavaliers in Germany at that period, Count Philip von Konigsmarck, entered the electoral palace of Hanover, and no one ever saw him again: he disappeared without leaving a trace. The disappearance created an immense sensation . . . throughout Europe, for the missing man, grandson of Count Hans Christopher Konigsmarck, the celebrated Swedish field-marshal in the thirty years' war, was related to several sovereign princely houses, and well known at every court. In Hanover, the report at once spread that the count had been murdered, because he had an intrigue with the Crown-Princess Sophia Dorothea, while others asserted he had merely been arrested on account of this intrigue, and was kept in secret imprisonment. One one fact, in short, was firmly established, that the count went into the palace and never came out of it again." (Wraxall: 148)
On the 'wicked Countess of Platen, Konigsmark's spurned lady.
" . . . All this did not escape the lynx eyes of others. The 'wicked Countess of Platen' (whose advances Count Konigsmark had repelled) saw in this the means of wreaking her vengeance on one who had spurned her love, and on a hated rival. The 'wicked Countess Platen' simulated the warmest interest in the confiding Princess, and pretended to favor the intrigue, while she drew the net tighter round her two victims. Konigsmark's indiscretion, in boasting at a dinner-table of his connection with the Princess, and of his scorn for Countess Platen---the spretae injuria formae---words which were transmitted forthwith to Countess Platen, brought matters to a crisis: the scorned one vowed to ruin Konigsmark and the Princess." (Eclectic Magazine, Vol 30: 520)
The Princess of Ahlden.
"The fate of the Princess is well known: she was divorced from her husband and confined in the castle of Ahlden, near Celle, till her death in 1726, twenty-nine years after these events. Count Moritz of Saxony, says that she retained her attitude of dignified superiority, if not quite injured innocence, and refused all offers of reconciliation; and this is the point in which his narrative most materially differs from the popular versions. Whether she was guilty or not in the worst acceptation of the term, is one of those questions which people will decided according to their excess of lack of charity, their belief or disbelief in Platonics. Making every allowance for the pride of the Princess and the delicacy of the admirer, these admitted private interviews sound compromising at best. . . From the correspondence between the Count and Princess, especially from her letters, unfavourable conclusions have been deduced; but they are not utterly with the theory of her personal purity; their authenticity may be questioned; and the entire tenor might have been changed by the alteration or introduction of a sentence or two. We now know, what was all along suspected, that Mrs. Piozzi's letters to Conway the actor, published as 'love letters,' have been shamefully garbled to bear out the title; and the letters of the Princess may have undergone a similar process. When the divorce was threatened, she again avowed her affection for Konigsmark, and offered to take the sacrament on its stainlessness. Wonderful to relate, the offer was accepted. Dignified ecclesiastics officiated at the alter: with the element sin her hands she called God to witness her truth, and them, having undergone the ordeal without blenching, she challenged the Countess Platen to do the same. The Countess turned pale and refused." (Edinburgh Review, Vol 116: 200)
"What began as the happy marriage of Elector George Lewis of Hanover, later George I of England, and Princess Sophie Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg, would eventually break down as the result of a secret love affair in 1694, with tragic consequences. Although the future King George I himself had a lover, he placed his wife Sophie Dorothea under arrest and had her lover, the Count of Königsmarck, tragically killed. Initially, Sophie Dorothea was forced to live in Lauenau Castle near Celle, but was eventually banished to Ahlden Castle after their divorce. She would live there, separated from her children and their father, for 32 years until her death in 1732. Follow in the footsteps of the princess - and don’t miss her grave in the royal crypt of St. Mary's Church in Celle." (Germany Travel)
" . . . In the face of incontrovertible evidence of her infidelity, divorce proceedings were quickly set in motion. Ernst August agreed with this brother that Sophia Dorothea should be confined to a castle in Ahlden. All contact with her children was to cease and traces of her presence were systematically removed from the Hanoverian court. Sophia Dorothea's father agreed to support her, while her dowry was to be retained by Ernst August and used for George and his sister." (George II: Elector and King: 18)
The Princess of Ahlden.
"The fate of the Princess is well known: she was divorced from her husband and confined in the castle of Ahlden, near Celle, till her death in 1726, twenty-nine years after these events. Count Moritz of Saxony, says that she retained her attitude of dignified superiority, if not quite injured innocence, and refused all offers of reconciliation; and this is the point in which his narrative most materially differs from the popular versions. Whether she was guilty or not in the worst acceptation of the term, is one of those questions which people will decided according to their excess of lack of charity, their belief or disbelief in Platonics. Making every allowance for the pride of the Princess and the delicacy of the admirer, these admitted private interviews sound compromising at best. . . From the correspondence between the Count and Princess, especially from her letters, unfavourable conclusions have been deduced; but they are not utterly with the theory of her personal purity; their authenticity may be questioned; and the entire tenor might have been changed by the alteration or introduction of a sentence or two. We now know, what was all along suspected, that Mrs. Piozzi's letters to Conway the actor, published as 'love letters,' have been shamefully garbled to bear out the title; and the letters of the Princess may have undergone a similar process. When the divorce was threatened, she again avowed her affection for Konigsmark, and offered to take the sacrament on its stainlessness. Wonderful to relate, the offer was accepted. Dignified ecclesiastics officiated at the alter: with the element sin her hands she called God to witness her truth, and them, having undergone the ordeal without blenching, she challenged the Countess Platen to do the same. The Countess turned pale and refused." (Edinburgh Review, Vol 116: 200)
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| Ahlden Merian Schloss |
" . . . In the face of incontrovertible evidence of her infidelity, divorce proceedings were quickly set in motion. Ernst August agreed with this brother that Sophia Dorothea should be confined to a castle in Ahlden. All contact with her children was to cease and traces of her presence were systematically removed from the Hanoverian court. Sophia Dorothea's father agreed to support her, while her dowry was to be retained by Ernst August and used for George and his sister." (George II: Elector and King: 18)
Konigsmark's personal & family background.
His grandson, Philip of Konigsmark, was born in 1662, and inherited his mother's beauty. She was a daughter of the Swedish house of Wrangel, famous for their beauty. Philip was brought up at the Court of Zell, and passed much of his youth with Sophia Dorothea, for whom he entertained a youthful passion. . . From Zell young Konigsmark was sent to finish his education in England, at the corrupt court of Charles II. In this country, he was involved with his elder brother Charles John, in a scandalous matter---the murder of Thomas Thynne, 'Tom of ten thousand,' as he was called, who had married the heiress of the Percy family, whom Konigsmark wanted for himself. The murder was committed on the 12th February, 1682, in the public streets, in Pall-Mall, nearly opposite the opera-house colonnade. Thynne was shot by three hired murderers, George Borosky, Christopher Vraats, and John Storn, who were subsequently all executed for the murder: the principal, Charles John Count Konigsmark, fled, but was taken at Gravesend; Vraats was offered a free pardon if he would peach against the Konigsmarks; but Vraats held his peace, and was executed. Charles John Count Konigsmark was killed fighting against the Turks in the Morea in 1686; and the subsequent catastrophe of Philip, Count Konigsmark, was looked upon as a just punishment for the share he had in this transaction, and in the sacrifice of Vraat's life." (The Eclectic Magazine, Vol 30: 520)
"On the afternoon of February 12, 1682, Thomas Thynn and his good friend the Duke of Monmouth were taking a drive in Thynn’s stylish carriage along Haymarket in London. Monmouth was Charles II’s eldest bastard son and a possible contender for the Throne on his father’s death, which was thought to be close. It had been a grey, misty day but as dusk fell a chill north-easterly wind sprang up. Suddenly there was a clattering of hooves and three men on horseback came past at a furious rate. Within moments wealthy landowner Thynn had been shot dead and the horsemen had disappeared. I first came across this story while reading the pages of The Loyal Protestant And True Domestick Intelligence, one of London’s first independent newspapers. I was attempting to research details of a shipwreck at the time, but the chattering classes of the 17th Century were much more interested in the latest murder story than in another shipping casualty. It wasn’t long before I was gripped too. Even on the tumultuous streets of Restoration London, the gunning down in public of an apparently upstanding member of the gentry by three assassins caused a stir. Once word got out that the victim was Mr Thynn of Longleat, and that he had been secretly married to England’s richest heiress, Lady Elizabeth Percy – owner of Petworth House, Syon Park, Alnwick Castle and grand Northumberland Palace near Charing Cross – then Londoners were riveted. The scandal quickly deepened. It soon emerged that 14-year-old Bette, as she was known, had left her husband shortly before the murder and was believed to be living on the Continent in the company of her glamorous Swedish lover, Count Konigsmark." (Daily Mail)
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| Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre Marquis de Lassay @Olivier Marchal Blog |
2) Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Marquis de Lassay (1652-1738)
Son of: Louis de Madaillan, Marquis de Montataire & Suzanne de Vipart.
Husband of:
1. Marie-Marthe Sibour, mar 1674
2. Marianne Pajot (d.1681), mar 1677
3. Julie de Bourbon (d.1710), natural daughter of the Prince de Conde [Fam1].
"Sophia Dorothea had, however, contrived to win the good opinion of her mother-in-law, and also the warm favour of Ernest Augustus. The latter took her with him on a journey he made to Switzerland and Italy. It was on this journey that her portrait was taken, at Venice, by Gascar, who, when in England, had painted, among others, that of Louse de Querouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. This portrait of Sophia Dorothea is still in existence in Germany. The beauty of the lady represented is so remarkable, it is said, as to justify the admiration she generally excited. This admiration sometimes went beyond decent bounds. One French adorer, the celebrated and eccentric Marquis de Lassay, was impudent enough, not only to address declarations of love to her, bu subsequently, in his Memoirs,' to publish his letters. It has not yet occurred to the ever-busy autograph fabricators on the continent to forge the suppressed replies of the princes." (Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, Volume 1: 36)
" . . . The military and still more amorous adventures of the Marquis de Lassay make him a conspicuous figure in the annals of French Court life. He is indirectly connected with our own through a somewhat pale and artificial passion for Sophia Dorothea, the young Princess of Hanover, whose husband became ultimately George I. . . ." (Orr: 18)
3) Raugraf Karl Ludwig von Pfalz.
4) Karl Philipp von Braunschweig-Luneburg.
5) Maximilian von Braunschweig-Luneburg.
References.
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| Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Crown Princess of Prussia @Wikipedia |
(1746-1840)
Crown Princess of Prussia
Her lover was:
1) Müller, a musician
2) Pietro, a Court musician.
Lover in 1768?
"Perhaps inevitably antipathy turned into loathing and with Frederick William occupied with his own conquests, Elisabeth looked for a little excitement of her own. Young, attractive and vibrant, the crown princess was no longer willing to be neglected and she followed her husband's example with fateful results. It was no secret that that couple were no longer sharing a bed so when Elisabeth fell pregnant, the court erupted into scandal. The father of the child was a court musician named Pietro with whom Elisabeth intended to elope but when her lover was arrested and executed, Elisabeth's pregnancy mysteriously ended in his memoirs. Baron Gijsbert Jan van Hardenbroek claimed that the unhappy young woman procured herbs with which to terminate her pregnancy. Whether this is true we cannot know but it is certainly not an impossibility and, faced with the irrefutable proof of his wife's betrayal, her hypocritical husband turned to his uncle, Frederick the Great, and asked him to intervene." (Life in the Georgian Court: 39)
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