Biography of Sophia Dorothea of Celle 1666-1726

On 15th September 1666 Sophia Dorothea of Celle was born illegitimately to George Wilhelm Hanover Duke Brunswick-Lüneburg (age 42) and Eleonore Esmier D'Olbreuse Duchess Brunswick-Lüneburg.

On 21st November 1682 George Louis of Hanover (age 22) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 16) were married. The marriage had been arranged by their respective fathers Ernest Augustus Hanover Elector Brunswick-Lüneburg (age 53) and George Wilhelm Hanover Duke Brunswick-Lüneburg (age 58), and his mother Electress Sophia Palatinate Simmern (age 52). She the illegitmate daughter of George Wilhelm Hanover Duke Brunswick-Lüneburg and Eleonore Esmier D'Olbreuse Duchess Brunswick-Lüneburg. He the son of Ernest Augustus Hanover Elector Brunswick-Lüneburg and Electress Sophia Palatinate Simmern. They were first cousins. He a great grandson of King James I of England and Ireland and VI of Scotland.

On 30th October 1683 [her son] King George II of Great Britain and Ireland was born to King George I (age 23) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 17) at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Lower Saxony. Coefficient of inbreeding 6.25%.

1686. Henri Gascar (age 51). Portrait of Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 19).

On 26th March 1687 [her daughter] Sophia Dorothea Hanover Queen Consort Prussia was born to King George I (age 26) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 20). Coefficient of inbreeding 6.25%.

Around 1690 Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 23) was reunited with the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, whom she had known in her childhood when he was a page at the court of Celle. Sometime later they began an affair.

Around 1690. Jacques Vaillant (age 47). Portrait of Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 23) with her two children [her son] George (age 6) and [her daughter] Sophia (age 2).

On 11th July 1694 the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, with whom Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 27) was having an affair, and with whom she had met that day, disappeared without a trace. No trace of Königsmarck was ever found.

On 28th December 1694 the marriage of the future King George I (age 34) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 28) was dissolved. Sophia Dorothea was named as the guilty party for "maliciously leaving her husband". She was forbidden to remarry or to see her children again; her name was removed from official documents, she was stripped of her title of Electoral Princess. She was imprisoned for life.

In 1696 Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 29) was imprisoned for the remaining 30 years of her life, denied access to her children, forbidden to remarry at Ahlden House, Celle, Lower Saxony.

On 22nd August 1705 [her son] King George II of Great Britain and Ireland (age 21) and [her daughter-in-law] Caroline Hohenzollern Queen Consort England (age 22) were married. He the son of King George I (age 45) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 38).

On 28th August 1705 [her father] George Wilhelm Hanover Duke Brunswick-Lüneburg (age 81) died.

On 28th November 1706 [her son-in-law] Frederick William "Soldier King" I King Prussia (age 18) and [her daughter] Sophia Dorothea Hanover Queen Consort Prussia (age 19) were married. She the daughter of King George I (age 46) and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 40). He the son of Frederick I King Prussia (age 49) and Sophia Charlotte Hanover Queen Consort Prussia. They were first cousins. He a great x 2 grandson of King James I of England and Ireland and VI of Scotland.

On 13th November 1726 Sophia Dorothea of Celle (age 60) died shortly before midnight. An autopsy revealed liver failure and gall bladder occlusion due to 60 gallstones. Her former husband King George I (age 66) died seven months later.