Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey Listener discretion advised. Hi,
Speaker 1: this is Dana. Thank you so much for listening to
Speaker 1: Noble Blood. Just a quick personal note, if you want
Speaker 1: to support the show, you can subscribe on Patreon, by
Speaker 1: some merch or by a copy of my book Anatomy,
Speaker 1: A Love Story, which is a novel about nineteen century
Speaker 1: historical surgery. All of those have links in the bio,
Speaker 1: but of course, as always, the best possible support is
Speaker 1: just that you listen to the show. So thank you
Speaker 1: so much, And a brief warning before we begin. This
Speaker 1: episode contains some domestic violence, so if that's specifically triggering
Speaker 1: to you, you might want to skip this episode. Seventeen
Speaker 1: century princesses had childhoods that, as this podcast has shown,
Speaker 1: have veered at best lonely, at worst tragic, but Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea of Cell had a remarkably idyllic childhood. As an
Speaker 1: only child, Sophia Dorothea was doated on by her parents,
Speaker 1: the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick Lunenburg, who unusually for
Speaker 1: the time, had married for love. Little Sophia Dorothea wanted
Speaker 1: for nothing. Her parents wealth and affection for her meant
Speaker 1: that she simply had to ask for something and she
Speaker 1: would receive it. She was a happy, vivacious child who
Speaker 1: inherited her mother's shining brown eyes and glossy dark hair.
Speaker 1: From the windows of her bedroom in her family's castle,
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea could look out at the lime trees surrounding
Speaker 1: the moat, or she could trace her fingers over the
Speaker 1: carved cupids that supported her mantlepiece. Life was sunny for
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea, but she was a seventeenth century prince, says,
Speaker 1: and like any other seventeenth century princess, Sophia Dorothea's life
Speaker 1: was not her own. No matter the love that her
Speaker 1: parents had for her, they had larger political and familial obligations,
Speaker 1: and so when an opportunity presented itself in the form
Speaker 1: of a strategic betrothal, an opportunity for a year's long
Speaker 1: feud to be ended for the family line to be strengthened,
Speaker 1: her parents took the opportunity, even though the price was
Speaker 1: their beloved daughter's happiness, and like many other political engagements,
Speaker 1: it would lead to great sorrow and not just sorrow
Speaker 1: but scandal. The marriage of Sophia Dorothea and her husband
Speaker 1: George Louis would be marked by betrayals, punishment, and finally murder.
Speaker 1: Forty years after their marriage, the two spouses would find
Speaker 1: themselves in vastly different positions. One would sit on the
Speaker 1: throne of England while the other would die alone after
Speaker 1: decades of imprisonment. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: The series of strange events that would eventually lead to
Speaker 1: the unhappy engagement of Sophia Dorothea to her cousin George Louis,
Speaker 1: actually began with the death of a man named Frederick,
Speaker 1: Duke of Brunswick Lundberg, in nearly twenty years before Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea was even born. Now for your brief European history
Speaker 1: geography lesson. At that time, the Duchy of Brunswick Lundberg
Speaker 1: consisted of two principalities situated in the north of what
Speaker 1: is now Germany. Throughout the course of the seventeenth and
Speaker 1: then early eighteenth centuries, these principalities would be known by
Speaker 1: a number of different names, but to keep things simple,
Speaker 1: I'll refer to them as Hanover and Sell, as they
Speaker 1: were commonly known around the end of the seventeenth century
Speaker 1: after their capital cities. When Frederick died, he had ruled Cell,
Speaker 1: the wealthier of the two principalities. Dying childless, he bequeathed
Speaker 1: the title to his nephew, Christian Ludwig, who was already
Speaker 1: ruling the principality of Hanover. Christian Ludwig was happy to
Speaker 1: take the promotion of ruling Cell, and so he passed
Speaker 1: Hanover to his younger brother, gay Org Wilhelm. Gay Org
Speaker 1: Wilhelm is Sophia Dorothea's father, but we'll get to that later.
Speaker 1: The responsibilities of ruling and the monotony of court life
Speaker 1: chafed against gay Org Wilhelm's fun, loving, adventurous spirit. He
Speaker 1: left Hanover as often as possible, traveling around Europe and
Speaker 1: spending time in Italy and France with his younger brother,
Speaker 1: Ernst August. His court was not amused, and they wished
Speaker 1: that their dilettante prince would settle down and maybe barren
Speaker 1: air or two. Eventually, Hanoverian court officials threatened to cut
Speaker 1: back Georg Wilhelm's allowance if he did not marry. They
Speaker 1: even suggested a suitable bride Princess Sophia of the Palatine.
Speaker 1: I know there are a ton of George's and Georgs
Speaker 1: and Sophia's in this episode. This isn't our Sophia Dorothea yet.
Speaker 1: We're still on back story, but it is important, I promise.
Speaker 1: Twenty eight year old Princess Sophia of the Palatine came
Speaker 1: from a noble and well connected family. She was a
Speaker 1: granddaughter of King James of England, but her family's fortunes
Speaker 1: had suffered during the Thirty Years War and a number
Speaker 1: of matches for Sophia had fallen through Before gay Org
Speaker 1: Wilhelm's offer came through. She eagerly accepted, but gay Org
Speaker 1: himself was having doubts. He had no wish to be
Speaker 1: tied down to a woman he didn't love, nor to
Speaker 1: be tied down to a court he found boring and provincial.
Speaker 1: Returning to Venice for one last pre wedding trip in
Speaker 1: sixteen fifty eight, he thought over his situation and he
Speaker 1: arrived at an unorthodox solution. He would get his younger brother,
Speaker 1: the penniless Ernst August, to be his substitute. After all,
Speaker 1: one brother could provide an air just as well as another.
Speaker 1: As a younger brother, Ernest August, was all too happy
Speaker 1: to take the deal. The brothers drew up a deed
Speaker 1: in exchange for financial compensation, Ernst August would take over
Speaker 1: gay Org Wilhelm's princely duties, and he would marry Sophia
Speaker 1: in his stead. Gay Org Wilhelm additionally swore that he
Speaker 1: would never marry, meaning that he would never have legitimate
Speaker 1: children who could inherit his estates or titles. All of
Speaker 1: that would instead go to Ernst August and Sophia's family.
Speaker 1: Sophia was given no input on the decision, but when
Speaker 1: the new arrangement was presented to her, she agreed no doubt,
Speaker 1: hiding her resentment at being traded like an object for
Speaker 1: the sake of her future children's inheritance. It would not
Speaker 1: be the last time that you would have to make
Speaker 1: such sacrifices. But with this little problem settled, gay Org
Speaker 1: Wilhelm was free to return to his beloved role of
Speaker 1: seventeenth century international playboy. Sophia and Ernst August, conversely lived
Speaker 1: a simpler life. Welcoming their first child, George Louis, in
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty. The couple was actually well matched. Both were
Speaker 1: highly ambitious, cultured, and intelligent, and they quickly began to
Speaker 1: work together to secure a more prestigious position for their
Speaker 1: young family than the somewhat modest principality of Hanover. As
Speaker 1: a note, I know there are many George's and Georg's
Speaker 1: in this story. For the sake of clarity, I'll refer
Speaker 1: to Geeorg Wilhelm, Sophia Dorothea's father by his German name.
Speaker 1: For Sophia and Ernst August's young son, who was technically
Speaker 1: born Geyorg Ludwig, I'll use his English name, by which
Speaker 1: he's most well known today, George Louis. Sometime in the
Speaker 1: sixteen sixties man about town, Geyorg Wilhelm met a beautiful
Speaker 1: French noblewoman named Eleanor doul Rue. Eleanor's Protestant family had
Speaker 1: recently been expelled from France during the prosecution of the Huguenots,
Speaker 1: and they were now reliant on the generosity of their
Speaker 1: wealthy noble friends abroad. It was in the home of
Speaker 1: one of those wealthy friends that gay Org Wilhelm and
Speaker 1: Eleanor first met. For gay Org Wilhelm, it was love
Speaker 1: at first sight, Eleanor, where that a good marriage was
Speaker 1: her only chance to regain financial and social security, refused
Speaker 1: to become his mistress, even though she romantically fell for
Speaker 1: the prince as well. But because of the whole no marriage,
Speaker 1: no legitimate children agreements that gay Org Wilhelm had signed
Speaker 1: with his younger brother, he legally couldn't marry her. Eleanor
Speaker 1: was reluctant to accept anything less than marriage, but she
Speaker 1: did love gay Org Wilhelm, and she hoped to create
Speaker 1: a happy life with him. In the fall of sixteen
Speaker 1: sixty five, the couple returned to settle in Cell, which
Speaker 1: gay Org Wilhelm had inherited that spring, and the two
Speaker 1: signed a document pledging their fidelity to one another, a
Speaker 1: marriage in spirit but not in the eyes of the law. Thus,
Speaker 1: when the couple's first child, Sophia Dorothea, was born on
Speaker 1: September sixteen sixty six, she was technically illegitimate, the child
Speaker 1: of unwed parents, but her parents were determined to ensure
Speaker 1: that her status didn't dictate the course of her life.
Speaker 1: From the moment of her birth, they demanded that she
Speaker 1: be treated as heiress of Cell, even if technically she wasn't.
Speaker 1: Gay Org Wilhelm and Eleanor adored their daughter, who would
Speaker 1: be their only child. They also began the lengthy, politically
Speaker 1: delicate process of trying to legitimize her. They began with
Speaker 1: a campaign to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold, the first
Speaker 1: sending letters to him full of praise and providing troops
Speaker 1: for his various campaigns whenever he needed them, and lo
Speaker 1: and behold, it worked. Leopold became increasingly friendly with the couple,
Speaker 1: even referring to Eleanor by the title Duchess Over in Hanover.
Speaker 1: Younger brother, Ernst Augus and his wife Sophia, were a
Speaker 1: little worried by these developments. Cell was an enormously wealthy principality,
Speaker 1: and the Hanovers worried that should Sophia Dorothea become legitimate,
Speaker 1: she would inherit, sell and then possibly claim and win
Speaker 1: control over their territory. They grew even more concerned as
Speaker 1: Georg Wilhelm began buying up property and gifting it to
Speaker 1: his quote unquote wife and daughter, giving them status and
Speaker 1: wealth in their own right. Ernst August, always money minded,
Speaker 1: was mad that his brother had begun to channel wealth
Speaker 1: away from him. He was supposed to be his older
Speaker 1: brother's heir. That was the whole point of marrying in
Speaker 1: his stead. Sophia, the wife that ernst Augus had married
Speaker 1: in his stead, though a sharply intelligent and cultured woman,
Speaker 1: was a stickler for etiquette, and she found it insulting
Speaker 1: that the unmarried mother of her niece, a nobody, a
Speaker 1: woman that she regularly referred to as a clot of dirt,
Speaker 1: could possibly be gaining power and prestige that Sophia, herself,
Speaker 1: granddaughter of a king, felt she truly deserved. It was
Speaker 1: the beginning of a long period of tension between the
Speaker 1: two couples, attention that grew alongside the fortune and status
Speaker 1: of little Sophia Dorothea. In July six seventy four, when
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea was eight, the Emperor officially legitimized her and
Speaker 1: granted both her and her mother the title of Countess
Speaker 1: of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg. Following further machinations, Sophia Dorothea was
Speaker 1: made a princess and the formal air of cell. The Hanovers,
Speaker 1: realizing the danger that their legacy was in, hurried to
Speaker 1: renegotiate the contract that the two brothers had signed in
Speaker 1: sixteen fifty eight. This new contract allowed for the marriage
Speaker 1: of gay Org, Wilhelm and Eleanor and for the rights
Speaker 1: of inheritance of Sophia Dorothea, though it denied those rights
Speaker 1: to any future children who might be born to gay Org,
Speaker 1: Wilhelm and Eleanor, a compromise granted for Ernest, August and Sophia.
Speaker 1: The negotiations over this new document had been contentious, and
Speaker 1: by the time all was resolved in the summer of
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy six, the two couples were barely speaking to
Speaker 1: one another. Things continued that way until sixteen eighty two.
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea grew up in the loving, care free home
Speaker 1: created by her adoring parents, indulged in all ways. A
Speaker 1: free spirited, outgoing young woman, her parents pursued an alliance
Speaker 1: with another branch of the Brunswick family, the Brunswick Wolfinbuttles,
Speaker 1: while Ernest August and Sophia schemed to regain the inheritance
Speaker 1: they felt they had lost, installing spies in the court Atsel.
Speaker 1: It was one of these spies in September of sixty
Speaker 1: two who delivered the devastating news to the Hanovers, Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea was to be betrothed to August Wilhelm, the heir
Speaker 1: to Brunswick Wolfenbuttle. An alliance between those two families would
Speaker 1: spell certain doom for the Hanover's ambitions. It would push
Speaker 1: them completely to the side. The combined wealth and political
Speaker 1: power of the new young couple would mean they would
Speaker 1: occupy the prominent place in German society that Ernst August
Speaker 1: and Sophia felt should be theirs. They had to do something,
Speaker 1: and what could be a more royal solution than a
Speaker 1: strategic betrothal to their own child, George Louis. George Louis,
Speaker 1: the Hanover's eldest son, was only six years older than
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea and still single following a bungled attempt at
Speaker 1: wooing the English Princess Anne. If George Louis and Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea Mary, Ernst August and Sophia could secure their family
Speaker 1: line and all the resources of cell, there was the
Speaker 1: problem of status. Of course, Sophia had spent nearly twenty
Speaker 1: years disparaging Eleanor and Sophia Dorothea as commoners, but she
Speaker 1: swallowed her pride and traveled to Sell to sell Georg
Speaker 1: Wilhelm on the plan. Gay Org Wilhelm had never been
Speaker 1: too happy with the proposed engagement to August of Brunswick,
Speaker 1: Wolf and Buddle, and he had grown increasingly tired of
Speaker 1: the animosity between his wife and sister in law. He
Speaker 1: hated being estranged from his brother, and so it didn't
Speaker 1: take much on Sophia's part to convince him that this
Speaker 1: engagement was what was best for their families. Eleanor, however,
Speaker 1: was another story. She pleaded with Georg Wilhelm not to
Speaker 1: sacrifice their precious daughter to the snobbish court of the Hanovers,
Speaker 1: not to bind their beloved child to a young prince
Speaker 1: who was said to be awkward and obtuse. But Georg Wilhelm,
Speaker 1: who had rejected the Hanover court himself and then spent
Speaker 1: a lifetime defying the duties bestowed on him by noble birth,
Speaker 1: finally felt that he must bend to obligation, and he
Speaker 1: insisted resigned. Eleanor went to Sophia Dorothea's room to break
Speaker 1: the news to her daughter. Sophia Dorothea did not take
Speaker 1: it well. She was accustomed to a level of control
Speaker 1: in her life now in one swift move, her independence
Speaker 1: had been taken from her in the worst way imaginable,
Speaker 1: through betrothal to a cousin she had been raised to revile.
Speaker 1: She was inconsolable, sobbing on her bed as Eleanor held her.
Speaker 1: When her father entered it, he nervously presented her with
Speaker 1: a birthday present from her estranged aunt. It was a
Speaker 1: miniature of George Louis, framed in jewels. Sophia Dorothea threw
Speaker 1: the portrait against the wall, sending diamonds flying. At her
Speaker 1: birthday banquet that evening. She hid her tear stained face
Speaker 1: as the engagement was formally announced. As courtiers congratulated her,
Speaker 1: she kept her eyes downcast and did all that she
Speaker 1: could to hold sobs at bay. Spending time with her
Speaker 1: future husband did not reassure her. The two heartily could
Speaker 1: have been more different. Sophia Dorothea was vivacious, sharp tongued,
Speaker 1: pampered and affectionate. She was a skilled dancer and sparkling conversationalist,
Speaker 1: prone to flights of fancy. George Louis preferred the battlefield
Speaker 1: to the ballroom. He was a courageous soldier with a
Speaker 1: practical mind, but a somewhat unimaginative man, deeply concerned with
Speaker 1: propriety and duty. As the boy's mother, Sophia herself put
Speaker 1: it somewhat hyperbolically that her niece would find in George
Speaker 1: Louis quote the most pig headed, stubborn boy who ever lived,
Speaker 1: who has round his brains such a thick crust that
Speaker 1: I defy any man or woman ever to discover what
Speaker 1: is in them nothing like motherly love. Not only was
Speaker 1: the marriage not a love match, it also stripped Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea of everything her parents had given her over her
Speaker 1: young life. George Louis would receive one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year for her dowry, an enormous son, as well
Speaker 1: as all of Sophia Dorothea's estates. Sophia Dorothea would receive
Speaker 1: an allowance, but it would be controlled by her husband
Speaker 1: and future in laws. She would have enough thing to
Speaker 1: call her own, but there was nothing she could do,
Speaker 1: and so Sophia Dorothea and George Louis were married at
Speaker 1: the chapel at the Castle of Cell on November one two.
Speaker 1: It was a gloomy, chill morning and wind racked the
Speaker 1: castle walls. It was in inauspicious beginning to the marriage,
Speaker 1: and things would only get worse. The early days of
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea and George Louise marriage were the best days.
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea quickly charmed the people of Hanover with her
Speaker 1: personality and beauty, and even her haughty mother in law
Speaker 1: began to feel more kindly about her. The court of
Speaker 1: Hanover was modeled after Versailles buildings, and courtiers alike dripped
Speaker 1: with diamonds, bowls lasted until the wee hours, and women
Speaker 1: dressed in the latest most fashionable styles. Sophia Dorothea with
Speaker 1: her love for fashion and her natural exuberance shown. But
Speaker 1: like the real Versailles, it was also a highly regimented
Speaker 1: environment steeped in protocol, and Sophia Dorothea, raised in the
Speaker 1: much more casual environment itself, frequently stumbled over the seemingly
Speaker 1: meaningless rules of court etiquette, prompting mockery behind her back.
Speaker 1: But the greatest struggles in these early days were loneliness
Speaker 1: and boredom. Each day followed the same routine, mornings spent
Speaker 1: in bed, writing letters or in the garden taking a walk,
Speaker 1: dress for lunch, a very formal affair, a nap, a
Speaker 1: visit with other ladies of the court, dress for supper, eat,
Speaker 1: then play cards or perhaps dance, and retire to bed
Speaker 1: day after day after day. At most hours, the vibrant
Speaker 1: young princess, trapped by the rituals of court, could be
Speaker 1: found cloistered in her apartments, with only one true friend
Speaker 1: by her side, the one lady in waiting who had
Speaker 1: accompanied her from cell. On October six, three, seventeen year
Speaker 1: old Sophia Dorothea gave birth to a son, George Augustus.
Speaker 1: The family was overjoyed. Their line was secure. Sophia Dorothea
Speaker 1: too was delighted. She adored her baby, and his birth
Speaker 1: meant that she had fulfilled her wifely duties. Slowly she
Speaker 1: began to gain some freedom. Finally she was allowed to
Speaker 1: travel to Sell. She began spending more time with her
Speaker 1: own beloved parents. Her in law softened even further toward her,
Speaker 1: as did George Louis. Their son gave them for once
Speaker 1: a common interest and something to talk about, but their
Speaker 1: connection would not have time to develop. George Louis was
Speaker 1: keen to continue his military success and win a claim
Speaker 1: for Hanover, and so he spent most of sixteen eighty
Speaker 1: four and sixteen eighty five on military campaigns. When he
Speaker 1: returned to Hanover, the couple bickered frequently. George Louis admonished
Speaker 1: his wife for being disrespectful of the court's customs, while
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea accused her husband of being a British stick
Speaker 1: in the mud. She felt neglected, he felt haragned. The
Speaker 1: arguments worsened, became louder and more public, but the couple
Speaker 1: still managed to conceive another child, a daughter they named
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea, who was born in March sixty seven. Sorry
Speaker 1: again for the confusing name repetition. The older mother, Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea adored her children, finding them an escape from the
Speaker 1: dramatic intrigues of the court that bored her so much.
Speaker 1: Throughout his marriage, George Louis had had affairs, but never
Speaker 1: anything particularly serious, but that changed when he met Melissine
Speaker 1: van der Schloenberg, the woman he would spend the rest
Speaker 1: of his life with. However, unofficially, though Sophia Dorothea didn't
Speaker 1: love her husband, she was devastated by how public the
Speaker 1: affair was. George Louis began to take Melansine to dinner
Speaker 1: as his companion, or she would show off the luxurious
Speaker 1: dresses and radiant jewels that her lover had gifted her. Humiliated,
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea wrote letters to her parents about the situation.
Speaker 1: Her mother was sympathetic, her father was less so, writing
Speaker 1: that she must simply accept her lot with a brave face.
Speaker 1: The young princess, now only twenty four, felt more alone
Speaker 1: than ever, and that's when she met Count Philip von
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark, or rather she re met him. Koenig's Mark,
Speaker 1: a dapper, dashing Swedish nobleman, had in fact come into
Speaker 1: her life once before, when he had gone to Sell
Speaker 1: as a preteen to receive military training. The two had
Speaker 1: actually been friends then, and years later, seeing him at
Speaker 1: a festival in Hanover, Sophia Dorothea was delighted to reminisce
Speaker 1: about the happy days of their childhood, but that reunion
Speaker 1: was brief and relatively uneventful, and they did not see
Speaker 1: much of one another for the next year, as koenigs
Speaker 1: Mark tried to establish himself at court, and while Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea tried to repair her marriage in those two missions,
Speaker 1: koenigs Mark was more successful than she was. While koenigs
Speaker 1: Mark dazzled the nobility with stories of his travels, Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea's attempts to win back George Louis just seemed to
Speaker 1: drive the two further apart. The married couple would sometimes
Speaker 1: not see each other for weeks. He practically lived with
Speaker 1: his mistress, Melansine. In six George and Sophia Dorothea had
Speaker 1: a vicious argument. It's alleged that George Louis was physically
Speaker 1: abusive towards her. The situation was so bad that even Sophia,
Speaker 1: who had never been Sophia Dorothea's champion, intervened on her
Speaker 1: daughter in law's behalf, taking her and her children to
Speaker 1: their family's country residence to restore her spirits while reprimanding
Speaker 1: her own son George Louis so forcefully that he reluctantly
Speaker 1: began to spend more time with his wife. It was
Speaker 1: then that Koenig's Mark re entered Sophia Dorothea's life. He
Speaker 1: had been in and out of Hanover over the past year,
Speaker 1: but he had decided to purchase a large estate nearby
Speaker 1: and settle for a time in the region, His wealth
Speaker 1: and charisma had won him acclaim, and he had quickly
Speaker 1: been accepted into the highest echelons of Hanoverian society. Some
Speaker 1: of his closest friends were Sophia Dorothea's brothers in law,
Speaker 1: the young Princes, and it was through them that Koenig's
Speaker 1: Mark came back into the press of the Princess. They
Speaker 1: were only friends at first, brought together by their inherent similarities.
Speaker 1: In Koenig's Mark, Sophia Dorothea found the opposite of her
Speaker 1: staid husband. She discovered a man who matched her in liveliness, humor,
Speaker 1: and impulsivity. The two shared a love for life and
Speaker 1: a disregard for rules that made their time together exhilarating
Speaker 1: but also dangerous. Once they ran into one another in
Speaker 1: the palace gardens, where Sophia Dorothea was playing with her daughter.
Speaker 1: The little girl was tired and refused to climb the
Speaker 1: steps back up to their apartment. Instead of having a
Speaker 1: servant carry her daughter, Sophia Dorothea picked up her own
Speaker 1: daughter and began to walk up the stairs. It sounds normal,
Speaker 1: but in a court as etiquette obsessed as Hanover, this
Speaker 1: was a grave impropriety. Surely a princess should not be
Speaker 1: carrying a child as a servant might. But things only
Speaker 1: escalated when koenigs Mark teased her about the way to
Speaker 1: her burden, and he took the tired child into his
Speaker 1: own arms, delivering her to the top of the stairs.
Speaker 1: For Sophia Dorothea and koenigs Mark, the act was natural
Speaker 1: as well, a mother caring for her child. But for
Speaker 1: court observers, who watched the couple laugh at the entrance
Speaker 1: to the royal apartments, it was the first sign that
Speaker 1: something was not quite right, and though their reasoning in
Speaker 1: this instance might have been jumping the gun a little,
Speaker 1: they're larger point was correct. By the end of Koenig's
Speaker 1: Mark and Sophia Dorothea were engaged in a full fledged affair. Miraculously,
Speaker 1: a number of letters between the two have survived, letters
Speaker 1: that were sent to relatives for safekeeping, so now three
Speaker 1: hundred years later, we can witness their love firsthand. Koenig's
Speaker 1: Mark sealed his letters with a wax stamp bearing the
Speaker 1: image of a small heart inside of a larger one
Speaker 1: and the motto quote so is yours within mine. The
Speaker 1: two wrote in French, using codes and nicknames, hastily scrawling
Speaker 1: passionate letters to one another whenever they had a moment alone.
Speaker 1: Koenig's marks letters read like the template for romance novel speeches. Quote.
Speaker 1: I shall embrace tonight, the loveliest of women. I shall
Speaker 1: kiss her charming mouth. I shall worship her eyes, those
Speaker 1: eyes that enslave me. I shall hear from her very
Speaker 1: lips that she loves me. I shall have the joy
Speaker 1: of embracing her knees. My tears will chase down her
Speaker 1: incomparable cheeks. I will hold in my arms the most
Speaker 1: beautiful body in the world. Verily, Madam, I shall die
Speaker 1: of joy. Sophia Dorothea's letters back are no more restrained. Quote.
Speaker 1: If you but knew how intense is my love, she wrote,
Speaker 1: you would pity me. It increases every moment. Absence does
Speaker 1: not lessen it, without change or swerving. I love you
Speaker 1: and everything that touches you so tenderly, so perfectly, so
Speaker 1: delicately that imagination fails to tell. Their letters were full
Speaker 1: of such declarations, alternating with heart's reproaches. If they felt
Speaker 1: the other had gone too long without writing or had
Speaker 1: flirted with another, all of that was sprinkled in with
Speaker 1: observations about daily life, but mostly they wrote of each other,
Speaker 1: the devotion they had to one another, the pain they
Speaker 1: felt in the other's absence, the burning desire with which
Speaker 1: they yearned to be together. For the next two years,
Speaker 1: they wrote frequently, as koenigs Mark fought for Handover abroad
Speaker 1: and Sophia Dorothea traveled between Hanover and Sell. The two
Speaker 1: saw each other whenever they could. Unlike George Lewis's affair
Speaker 1: with melicine, they were not public about it. They knew
Speaker 1: they had to operate in secrecy, that the consequences of
Speaker 1: discovery might be harsh, but they didn't know just how
Speaker 1: deadly those consequences would be. If Ernest August and Sophia,
Speaker 1: the ever proper in laws, had been paying closer attention
Speaker 1: to matters of the court, they might have seen earlier
Speaker 1: what was going on between the Swedish count and the princess,
Speaker 1: but they were occupied with enormous political developments, ones which
Speaker 1: would dramatically raise the Hanoverian profile. For years, the couple
Speaker 1: had been campaigning for their family to become members of
Speaker 1: the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire. The electoral
Speaker 1: College made up of prince electors were in charge of
Speaker 1: electing the new emperor of the Holy Roman Empire upon
Speaker 1: the death of the old one. It was an extraordinarily
Speaker 1: powerful and exclusive group, and Ernst August and Sophia yearned
Speaker 1: it to join. In six two, their wish came true,
Speaker 1: and poor Leopold the First made Hanover an elector in
Speaker 1: thanks for Ernest August's assistance during the Nine Years War.
Speaker 1: From that point on, Ernst August would be known as
Speaker 1: the Elector of Hanover, Sophia would be the Electress, George
Speaker 1: Louis the electoral Prince, and Sophia Dorothea was the electoral Princess.
Speaker 1: The family was overjoyed and the entire court celebrated. Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea was happy to but she was also aware of
Speaker 1: the eyes of the empire turning toward Hanover. It was
Speaker 1: a new level of public scrutiny that didn't sit well
Speaker 1: with a princess with something to hide. At least two
Speaker 1: people within the royal circle were aware of the princess's
Speaker 1: affair by autumn of sixteen ninety two. Sophia Dorothea's mother, Eleanor,
Speaker 1: had caught on quickly and frequently tried to persuade her
Speaker 1: daughter to end the relationship, knowing that it could only
Speaker 1: spell ruin. But more ominously, the couple had also caught
Speaker 1: the attention of Countess Clara von Platten, Ernst August's long
Speaker 1: time mistress. Von Platten, a proud, striking woman who ruled
Speaker 1: over a hedonistic circle of Hanoverian nobles, was alleged to
Speaker 1: have once had an affair with Koenig's Mark herself. News
Speaker 1: of the princess's affair slowly began to make its round
Speaker 1: to court, and the royal family felt compelled to try
Speaker 1: to put an end to it. Ernst August made it
Speaker 1: known to Koenig's Mark that his military service might be
Speaker 1: better appreciated in another state, and then he sent him
Speaker 1: back to the battlefield. Koenigs Mark's sister Aurora, who had
Speaker 1: sometimes helped facilitate message is between the couple, was told
Speaker 1: politely but firmly that she ought to stay away from
Speaker 1: Hanover for the time being. Koenig's Market and Sophia Dorothea
Speaker 1: were heartbroken at being forced to part. If grief could kill,
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea wrote Koenig's Mark in early October, I should
Speaker 1: surely be dead. Convinced that his maybe ex lover von
Speaker 1: Platton was behind Ernest August's interference, which she very possibly was,
Speaker 1: Koenig's market wrote furious screeds against the countess, like this
Speaker 1: one from mid October quote, if I were Lord of Creation,
Speaker 1: I would offer a sacrifice of her and give her
Speaker 1: to the bear steat. The lions should suck her devil's blood,
Speaker 1: the tigers tear her cowardly heart out. I would spend
Speaker 1: day and night seeking new torments to punish her for
Speaker 1: her black infamy in separating a man who loves to
Speaker 1: distraction from the object of his love. As six dawn
Speaker 1: and the couple increasingly began to feel threats on all sides,
Speaker 1: and yet despite the warnings they received from friend and
Speaker 1: foe alike, they would not seemingly could not break things off,
Speaker 1: even as they were sent far from one another, even
Speaker 1: as they were closely watched, they carried on, even arranging
Speaker 1: a brief tryst in June at Brockhausen, the country house
Speaker 1: of Sophia Dorothea's parents. By July, Sophia Dorothea had come
Speaker 1: to a decision she could no longer bear to be
Speaker 1: without her love. She could no longer pretend to be
Speaker 1: a dutiful princess, could no longer stomach the sideways glances
Speaker 1: of cordiers and the heavy handed advice from her family.
Speaker 1: She had to get away. To run away, and she
Speaker 1: would take Koenig's Mark with her. She began to petition
Speaker 1: her father, the Duke of Zell, for an allowance independent
Speaker 1: of that which the Hanovers gave her. In men a ways,
Speaker 1: this was only fair. All of her money and property
Speaker 1: had been taken away from her as part of her
Speaker 1: marriage settlement. Unfortunately, though her father's finances were tight at
Speaker 1: the moment, Hanover and cel were on the precipice of
Speaker 1: war with Denmark and Sweden, and the price of raising
Speaker 1: troops had left Georg Wilhelm with little to give his daughter.
Speaker 1: Koenigs Mark two was struggling. Though he came from an
Speaker 1: enormously wealthy family, he had lost much of his personal
Speaker 1: wealth to gambling, and the King of Sweden was threatening
Speaker 1: to confiscate his estates because of the military service he
Speaker 1: was doing in Hanover, an enemy state. The love birds
Speaker 1: were increasingly determined to run off together, but without the
Speaker 1: money to do so, they were stuck and all around
Speaker 1: them the whispers were growing louder. Events reached a boiling
Speaker 1: point in May of sixteen ninety four, mainly due to
Speaker 1: koenigs Mark's reckless behavior. In April, a longtime friend became
Speaker 1: elector of Saxony. The elector owed Koenig's Mark a debt,
Speaker 1: and now as an elector, he could afford to pay it.
Speaker 1: Koenigs Mark traveled to Saxony. His friend didn't have the
Speaker 1: money on hand, but gave him a post in the
Speaker 1: military and bid him to stay awhile and celebrate his coronation.
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark was happy to, as the historian W. H.
Speaker 1: Wilkins rights quote, While the princess was eating her heart
Speaker 1: out in the palace at Hanover, weeping and wailing, quarreling
Speaker 1: with her husband, importuning her parents, moving heaven and earth
Speaker 1: to advance her pet scheme, Koenig's Mark was reveling in
Speaker 1: the wanton halls of Saxony, drunk and happy to be
Speaker 1: free from the pressures of Hanover. Koenigs Mark forgot himself
Speaker 1: and he began to regale the Saxon court with his
Speaker 1: salacious Hanoverian gossip. No one was spared. He spoke of
Speaker 1: Countess and Platton, the Elector and Electress, George Louis, and Melansine,
Speaker 1: even Sophia Dorothea, he said to have openly bragged of
Speaker 1: the affair. Word of what Koenig's Mark had said quickly
Speaker 1: got back to Hanover and the court was furious. George Louis,
Speaker 1: particularly incensed, burst into Sophia Dorothea's chambers and began to
Speaker 1: berate her for her now very public affair. Sophia Dorothea
Speaker 1: retorted that George Louis had behaved just as flagrantly with
Speaker 1: his own mistress. The argument escalated until suddenly, furious George
Speaker 1: Louis allegedly sprang at his wife, grabbing her by the
Speaker 1: throat and threatening to strangle her. Attendant quickly rushed in,
Speaker 1: and George Louis threw the half conscious Sophia Dorothea to
Speaker 1: the ground, swearing that he would never see her again.
Speaker 1: Once she recovered, Sophia Dorothea fled to sell announcing that
Speaker 1: she was seeking her parents protection and that she would
Speaker 1: never never return to Hanover. But when she arrived in
Speaker 1: cell she was met with a mixed reception. Eleanor was
Speaker 1: horrified and vowed to protect her daughter. Georg Wilhelm, concerned
Speaker 1: about what this could do with his relationship with his
Speaker 1: brother in Hanover, was less sympathetic, but even he could
Speaker 1: not deny the pain his daughter was in, and so
Speaker 1: he allowed her to spend some months at cell. By June,
Speaker 1: he and the Hanovers hoped tempers had cooled enough for
Speaker 1: a reconciliation between the prince and princess, and Georg Wilhelm
Speaker 1: told his daughter that she had to return to her husband.
Speaker 1: She was devastated, and the two argued so grievously that
Speaker 1: they would not reconcile for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1: By the time Sophia Dorothea returned it to Hanover later
Speaker 1: that month, she was a shell of herself, rung dry
Speaker 1: by the ordeal of the past few months, alienated from
Speaker 1: her parents and in laws alike, and separated even from
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark, who was still in Saxony. She had to leave,
Speaker 1: she thought, and she had to leave soon. Her only option,
Speaker 1: given her lack of resources, was to flee to the
Speaker 1: court of Wolfenbutle, whose heir she had once been engaged to.
Speaker 1: Anthony Ulrich, the Duke of Wolfenbudle, was happy to assist.
Speaker 1: He had long been a close friend of Eleanor's and
Speaker 1: saw in Sophia Dorothea's request for help a chance to
Speaker 1: both support his friend's daughter and also to strike at
Speaker 1: the Hanover's longtime rivals. It was a dangerous plan. It
Speaker 1: would be seen as treason on Sophia Dorothea's part and
Speaker 1: might even lead to consequences for her parents, but her
Speaker 1: resolve was strengthened when koenigs Mark returned from Saxony in
Speaker 1: late June to help make preparations to flee. On July one,
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark snuck out from his house and made his
Speaker 1: way towards line Schloss, the Hanover Castle, where he was
Speaker 1: set to meet the princess. He was in disguised, dressed
Speaker 1: in the shabby clothes of a laborer, and he kept
Speaker 1: to the shadows until he reached the palace. It's not
Speaker 1: known whether he ever made it to Sophia Dorothea's chambers.
Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to Koenig's Mark, he had been followed. Spies sent
Speaker 1: by Countess von Platten had tracked him to Linechlass before
Speaker 1: reporting back to her, and she quickly ran to Ernst
Speaker 1: August telling him what was happening. Ernst August was furious.
Speaker 1: He had warned the couple time and time again, welcomed
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea back into the fold, over and over, even
Speaker 1: as the courts of Europe whispered about the cuckold at
Speaker 1: George Louis, and now still the couple was still brazenly meeting.
Speaker 1: Something had to be done. It's not clear exactly what
Speaker 1: happened in the hallways of Linschloss on that balmy summer night,
Speaker 1: whether the assailants who gathered there and only to arrest
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark or to scare him, or whether they did
Speaker 1: in fact planned to kill him, and if so, on
Speaker 1: whose orders. But in any case, the end result was
Speaker 1: the same. Koenig's Mark was ambushed by the men, A
Speaker 1: bloody fight ensued, and at its end Koenig's Mark lay dead,
Speaker 1: Whether it was planned or not. Once Koenig's Mark was dead,
Speaker 1: the mechanisms of royal scandal suppression were quickly put into action.
Speaker 1: Sophia Dorothea was kept in her chambers, Her rooms and
Speaker 1: those of Koenig's Mark were searched, and any evidence of
Speaker 1: their affair was quickly gathered up and brought to Ernest
Speaker 1: August and Sophia. Sophia Dorothea, still ignorant of Koenig's Mark's fate,
Speaker 1: was sent to Alden Castle and sell Ernst DoD ist
Speaker 1: In Georg Wilhelm met to privately confer. Both felt deeply
Speaker 1: betrayed and humiliated by the princess's actions and by the
Speaker 1: contents of the letters that were seized from her and
Speaker 1: koenigs Mark's chambers, which had revealed their plans to ally
Speaker 1: with wolfenbutle The letters also made fun of the Hanover's
Speaker 1: and Georg Wilhelm. The Hanoverians decided that a divorce was
Speaker 1: the best course of action. Sophia Dorothea quickly agreed, in part,
Speaker 1: it's alleged because she believed that Koenig's Mark was still
Speaker 1: alive and that the divorce would free her to marry him.
Speaker 1: The divorce was finalized in December of six Outside of
Speaker 1: the personal considerations of the proud royals, there were important
Speaker 1: political stakes to the affair. Though Leopold had declared hanover
Speaker 1: An electorate in sixteen ninety four, this position wouldn't be
Speaker 1: official until seventeen o eight. In the meantime, those who
Speaker 1: had opposed the state looked for anything they could use
Speaker 1: to discredit it. An embittered, estranged princess was a good
Speaker 1: source of ammunition, so the families needed to keep her quiet.
Speaker 1: It was decided that Sophia Dorothea would be kept on
Speaker 1: house arrest at Alden, with a little to no contact
Speaker 1: with the outside world. We don't have letters from Sophia
Speaker 1: Dorothea from this period, so it's hard to know what
Speaker 1: exactly was going through her mind, but she most certainly
Speaker 1: was devastated. In one night, she had lost not only
Speaker 1: her beloved koenigs Mark, but also her freedom. Sophia Dorothea
Speaker 1: spent the rest of her life imprisoned at Alden Castle
Speaker 1: and cell. She was kept comfortable by an allowance provided
Speaker 1: in equal parts by her former husband and her father,
Speaker 1: neither of whom she would ever see again. Her children, too,
Speaker 1: were kept away, but sides her small court of attendance
Speaker 1: chosen for their loyalty to Hanover, her only visitor was
Speaker 1: her beloved mother. Eleanor mounted a tireless but ultimately unsuccessful
Speaker 1: campaign to free her daughter. After Eleanor's death in seventeen
Speaker 1: twenty two, Sophia Dorothea was deeply lonely, and she began
Speaker 1: to care less about those things that had kept her
Speaker 1: happy even in her darkest days. Her pride in her
Speaker 1: appearance melted away, her love for fine clothes and extravagant
Speaker 1: hairstyles faded, and she grew reclusive and unhealthy. In early
Speaker 1: seventeen twenty six, she had a stroke, and though in
Speaker 1: ill health, from that point on, she refused all care.
Speaker 1: She died November thirteenth, seventeen twenty six, at the age
Speaker 1: of sixty, and she was buried at night with no ceremony,
Speaker 1: in a small grave near her parents in cell As.
Speaker 1: For George Louis, fate had a very different path for him.
Speaker 1: In seventeen o one, the British Parliament passed the Act
Speaker 1: of Settlement, which declared that no Roman Catholic could inherit
Speaker 1: the throne of England. The same act named the closest
Speaker 1: Protestant successor to the throne as Sophia, Electress of Hanover,
Speaker 1: grand daughter of King James the First of England. Sophia, however,
Speaker 1: had died shortly before the British Queen Anne in the
Speaker 1: summer of seventeen fourteen meaning that the next King of
Speaker 1: England would be her oldest son, George Lewis. Despite speaking
Speaker 1: little English, George became the King of England on August first,
Speaker 1: seventeen fourteen. King George the First, Sophia Dorothea's son would
Speaker 1: become King George the Second. Though George Lewis could have remarried,
Speaker 1: he didn't. Though he did maintain a relationship with Melansine
Speaker 1: von Schollenberg for the rest of his life, the divorce
Speaker 1: was a forbidden subject in his presence. It was long
Speaker 1: supposed that George himself was responsible for koenigs Mark's death
Speaker 1: and for Sophia Dorothea's imprisonment, but that's not really correct.
Speaker 1: He most definitely was not involved in koenigs Mark's death,
Speaker 1: having been absent from Hanover at the time, And as
Speaker 1: for Sophia Dorothea, though his behavior to her was certainly
Speaker 1: cold and occasionally absolutely reprehensible, he was in fact not
Speaker 1: actually involved in the initial decision to keep her prisoner,
Speaker 1: and he even advocated for fewer restrictions on her movements
Speaker 1: during the later years. That didn't keep the English people
Speaker 1: from composing bodies, songs and poems about their foreign king.
Speaker 1: His mistress and his imprisoned ex wife. Those taunts would
Speaker 1: haunt George for his entire your reign. When Sophia Dorothea
Speaker 1: died in seventeen twenty six, George forbade morning in the
Speaker 1: courts of England and Hanover. George spent nearly a fifth
Speaker 1: of his thirteen year reign as King of England back
Speaker 1: in Hanover, which served as his royal retreat. It was
Speaker 1: on a visit there in June seventy seven that he
Speaker 1: suffered a stroke, dying on the eleventh of June in
Speaker 1: lane Schloss, the exact same castle where thirteen years earlier
Speaker 1: Koenig's Mark had been killed. The castle ware Sophia Dorothea's
Speaker 1: life as she had known it had also ended. That's
Speaker 1: the tragic life of Sophia Dorothea. But keep listening after
Speaker 1: a brief sponsor break to hear how archaeology maybe or
Speaker 1: maybe didn't solve one of the mysteries of the story.
Speaker 1: In August, workers on a construction project at lane Schloss,
Speaker 1: now the seat of state government for the state of
Speaker 1: Lower Saxony, made a startling discovery on castle grounds, a
Speaker 1: buried jumble of human bones. Analysis by Researchers at Hanover's
Speaker 1: Medical School determined that the bones were likely hundreds of
Speaker 1: years old human bones buried under the palace. Hundreds of
Speaker 1: years old too many, It added up to one conclusion,
Speaker 1: Surely these were the remains of Count Philip von Koenig's Mark.
Speaker 1: Historical sources had always been shaky on what exactly happened
Speaker 1: to koenigs Mark's body after his death. Some say his
Speaker 1: body was thrown in the Line River, others that his
Speaker 1: body was covered in quick climb and buried underneath the palace.
Speaker 1: But with this new discovery, it was hoped that the
Speaker 1: mystery could finally be solved. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Speaker 1: Further research eventually revealed that the bones came from at
Speaker 1: least five human skeletons, as well as some animals, and
Speaker 1: they were not, after all the right age to be
Speaker 1: those of Koenig's Mark. So the mystery continues. The final
Speaker 1: resting place of Sophia Dorothea's lover is lost to time,
Speaker 1: just as he was lost to her on that fateful
Speaker 1: July evening more than three hundred years ago. Noble Blood
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and
Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 1: Danish Wortz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston,
Speaker 1: hannah's Wick, Miura Hayward, Courtney Sunder, and Laurie Goodman. The
Speaker 1: show is produced by rema Il Kali, with supervising producer
Speaker 1: Josh Thayne and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.