Sophia Dorothea of Celle - Parentage and Marriage

Parentage and Marriage

Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg was born on 15 September 1666, the only child of George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg by his long term mistress, Eleonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse (1639–1722), Countess of Williamsburg, a Huguenot lady, the daughter of Alexander II d'Esmiers, Marquess of Olbreuse. George eventually married his daughter's mother officially in 1676 (they had been married morganatically previously).

There was some talk of marriage between Sophia and the (then) future king of Denmark, but the reigning queen was talked out of it by Duchess Sophia (her future mother-in-law). Another engagement to the duke of Wolfenbüttel was broken off after Duchess Sophia convinced her brother-in-law of the advantage of having Sophia Dorothea marry her cousin. This occurred on the day the engagement between Sophia Dorothea and the duke was to be announced.

When told of the change in plans and her new future husband, Sophia Dorothea shouted that "I will not marry the pig snout!" (a name he was known by in Hanover), and threw a miniature of George Louis brought for her by Duchess Sophia against the wall. Forced by her father, she fainted into her mother's arms on her first meeting with her future mother-in-law. She fainted again when presented to George Louis.

On 22 November 1682, Sophia Dorothea married her cousin, George Louis, who inherited the Principality of Lüneburg after the death of his father-in-law and uncle, George William in 1705, and also later inherited the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and became George I through his mother, Duchess Sophia, a granddaughter of King James I.

The marriage of George Louis and Sophia Dorothea was an unhappy one. The immediate family of George Louis, especially Duchess Sophia, hated and despised Sophia Dorothea. The desire for the marriage was almost purely financial, as she wrote to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, "One hundred thousand thalers a year is a goodly sum to pocket, without speaking of a pretty wife, who will find a match in my son George Louis, the most pigheaded, stubborn boy who ever lived, who has round his brains such a thick crust that I defy any man or woman ever to discover what is in them. He does not care much for the match itself, but one hundred thousand thalers a year have tempted him as they would have tempted anybody else."

These feelings of contempt were shared by George himself, who was oddly formal to her. She was frequently scolded for her lack of etiquette, and the two had loud and bitter arguments. Things seemed better after their first two children, a son named George Augustus born in 1683 and a daughter named after her in 1686. But George Louis acquired a mistress Melusina von Schulenburg and started pointedly neglecting his wife. George Louis' parents asked him to be more circumspect with his mistress, fearful that a disruption in the marriage would disrupt the hundred thousand thalers, but he responded by going out of his way to treat his wife brutally.