The Tragic Life of Sophia Dorothea of Celle
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.พ. 2022
- Sophia Dorothea of Celle was the wife of Prince George Louis of Hanover, later George I of Great Britain, and the mother of George II of Great Britain and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen in Prussia. Her unhappy marriage made Princess Sophia Dorothea think that she could try and get away from it. When she fell in love with a Swedish count, the Princess felt that her chance to find happiness and freedom had come. Unfortunately, it was only a dream. What she gained instead was heartbreak and bitter disappointment.
The images used are in the Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Music - YT Audio Library.
Sources / Further reading
The Love of An Uncrowned Queen, Sophie Dorothea, Consort of George I, and her correspondence with Philip Christopher Count Königsmarck by W.H. Wilkins, Herbert S. Stone & Co, Chicago and New York, 1901
Such a tragic story, like it’s cruel her parents married for love but she was denied that
You are so right. Thank you very much for watching.
How sad and unfair her life was. All she wanted was happiness, her husband was allowed to have mistresses and yet she was imprison and her kids kept from her . Regardless of status in life back then ( in some countries still is currently) women had always been treated unfairly
Very sad, indeed. Thank you for watching.
I can't believe her father, who had married for love, refused to allow his daughter the same!
I know, really heartbreaking. Thank you for watching, Emma.
Their paintings make them look regal and perfect. Their stories remind us people have been people forever. I love watching these
Well said. Thank you very much for watching.
So true ❤️
That was one of the most depressing, heart breaking, royal story I've ever heard...
I agree with you. It is unparalleled in terms of misfortunes and suffering. Thank you for watching.
Sophia Dorothea, the original Golden Girl. I hope we can use this story as inspiration to be kinder to each other. Much kinder.
A very nice thought! Thank you.
Tragic love story of a princess. Her only crime was falling in love. Being imprisoned for 32 years is barbaric, even her paramour was murdered. Husbands were extremely cruel. May her soul rest in peace.
I love your channel, thank you for letting us know about historical figures and their personal lives.
You're right, Ambreen. Her only fault was falling in love.
I am so glad you're enjoying my videos. Thank you kindly for your support.
So sad but so true. Because her husband treated her so cruelly, their son, George II hated him forever...
@@livesandhistories Her husband had a mistress and that was ok, but because she was a woman, she wasn't allowed to have a lover like her husband did? And why imprisoned for so long? They wanted her money?
@@Jerseyboondocks As a wife, she was supposed to put up with her husband's behaviour according to the rules of the time. She was showing signs of rebelling and that would have brought the House of Hanover into disrepute.
I knew the Hanover kings were rotten. More details.
Such a sad life story of this lovely princess, the only happiness she knew was with her children and her mother and the man she truly loved,thank you superb as always L&H.
Well said, Robert. It must have been so painful for the Princess during her long years of captivity not to be able to see the people she loved. Thank you very much for watching.
@@livesandhistories Thank you L&H always a plesure to learn history from you. 😊
So sad. I recommend Jean Plaidy's novel about Sophia Dorothea. Actually, all Jean Plaidy's books are good
Thank you, Mary. Will look into it.
I love Jean Plaidy. Have read her books for years! Thanks for reminding me. 🇨🇦
Such a shame. Her husband could have at least tried to be friends with her. The husband clearly had the mindset of "I can have mistresses but you are not allowed to touch anyone else" that's why he kept his wife a prisoner.
Very well said. Thank you for watching.
Most royal I think tried to get along or at least show respect for their spouses as they knew the deal they had power but gave up their personal life choices as to partner for it. The fact that her father was such an ass after having followed his heart show how callous folks can be.
Horrible man.
Largely because of its association with British royalty the city of Celle was relatively left unscathed by Allied bombing during World War Two -though about 67 houses were destroyed during one raid most of the historic buildings including the Renaissance palace were left untouched.
That is very interesting to know. Thank you very much for watching.
Wow I never knew that. That’s an interesting tidbit of information. Thnx for sharing that
Such a heartbreaking life! It was a rollercoaster, first I'm routing for her when she decides to run off with the man she loves and then.. just when it can't get it worse it does. I knew she was very close to being queen of England but not the extent of tragedy that was her life.
Great job on this video! Ty!
Thank you very much for watching, Rachel.
She should have Queen Consort of Great Britain not England. There was no such title after 1707 when Scotland and England United into Great Britain
OMG, I had no idea Sophia's story was SO horrible!! Them straight-up murdering her lover, & the lengths George went to to be cruel to her from then on beggar belief... & ofc, all this cruelty was from men who had mistresses themselves. I have to say tho, the alternate history potential of the future George I marrying an English princess is mind-boggling! At the very least, the man might've learnt some English! Excellent & very interesting, thanks!
Her story is simply heartbreaking. She was surrounded by cruel and evil people. Thank you very much for watching, Beth.
@@livesandhistories Yes, in that sense she reminded me a bit of Marguerite de Valois & Juana I of Castile- horribly mistreated by so many people, especially their families.
@@beth7935 You're right, Beth. It is very sad that their respective families were so unkind.
Queen Anne of Great Britain was lucky by dodging that bullet by not marrying George of Hanover.
@@annbower6278 Absolutely, he was a nasty piece of work- I wouldn't wish him on anyone. And poor Anne had enough unhappiness, losing sooo many babies & not one surviving- at least it seems Prince George of Denmark was a decent husband to her.
Poor Princes Sophia Dorothia, indeed 😢 suffered a life of jealously and hate by her husband. As in those days only men and jealous husbands, fathers, and brothers, including any male involved with ruling over women made sure she pay for so called sins. Many women were denied searching for true love because men in power ruled.
The Princesses's husband had a long mardiable affair, it didn't hurt his reputation in any way, his wife's. Many women in history were offered little sympathy or understanding in arranged or forced marrage. She was right not to want marry her cousin in of possibly being mistreated her husband and family in years to come. Surely this poor abused Princess didn't deserve to suffer the lost of her children and forced to live as a prisoner. As a woman I strongly feel a double standerd played mostly played her father who had the power to spare his daughter of shame and cruelity by those closest to her, May innocent young Princesses's like Sophia Dorothia fell into traps when forced into loveless marriages. For men it was different, they had affairs except society was kinder to then. Hope that Sophia Dorethia and Sweedish Count meant in Heaven and shared ❤ the love stolen from them.
You're right, Anne. It must have been so difficult for the Princess not to be able to make any decision about her life, ever. Thank you very much for watching.
Wow I’m so angry for her! Such pain and injustice
I know, Sarah. Very painful and sad. Thank you for watching.
Her cruel and cold authoritarian father decided her destiny.
The Hollywood movie SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS brings to life this tragic love story 😥
You're right, Kristen. Thank you so much for watching.
Good. I am glad she cursed him. George 1st was a total jerk in Hanover and England. In England they were disgusted with him bringing his mistresses and flaunting them.
George Louis was so cruel to Sophia Dorothea, well everyone
You're right, she had no one to turn to for help. Thank you for watching.
Wow this story really broke my heart. So tragic :(
Poor Sophia Dorothea, I felt so sorry for what she went through. Thank you very much for watching.
Thank you for pouring so much time & effort into your videos.
It means a lot to hear this, Janet. Thank you for your kind words.
Wow, so detailed and informative. Rather scholarly. Thank You!
Thank you so much, Ludovic.
@@livesandhistories Thank you, your videos are not only highly informative but also very entertaining.
@@ludovicleprinceroyal8721 It means a lot to me to hear that.
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!!!
Thank you so much. I'm really happy to know that.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
What a heck of a life...
Incredibly sad. Thank you for watching, Anastasia.
What a sad story of love lost. 😢 Your interesting videos are wonderful. Thank you!
I'm so glad you like my videos. Thank you very much for watching, Ann. All the best to you.
Thanks so much..💐💐
Thank you very much for watching, Stella.
I knew her story, and what shocks me is that Hollywood, etc, have not told and retold it. Only a couple of films have even tried, the most prominent being Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).
Never mind Hollywood - I am here :) Thank you very much for watching.
I was so excited to see another video from you! I have watched similar channels, but your commentary is my favorite!
Thank you so much for your kind comment. It means a lot to me.
I didn't have a single dry eye when watching and listening to this. I hope the two responsible suffered, and I hope she's reunited with her love. This is almost as sad as Princess Diana's story...why do princesses and queens suffer, and a spiteful bitch like that have to get everything in life and continue to make her miserable...? Keep your stupid King, it's not like the Queen ever really loved or wanted him..honestly, I would dread reading the book knowing I'm just gonna soak the pages if I do.
I felt so sorry for this princess. She did not deserve such a cruel treatment. Thank you for watching, Maya.
@@livesandhistories thank you for such content, and bringing this to light. I actually did not know about this until now. I mean I know that queens always got the short end of the stick, but this was a new one for me. I'm glad you gave this princess a voice so to speak~
@@mayaalieva938 Many thanks, Maya. Her story deserved to be told.
@@livesandhistories You're right she definitely did, and I'm sure she would be grateful too~
My great, great, something uncle was her religious minister, Christian Heinrich Seelhorst. Greetings and thanks from Australia.
That's wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing this here.
@Lives & Histories you're welcome. I knew my great grandmothers name was Seelhorst. I watched the movie and heard her on her death bed ask for Seelhorst. This peaked my curiosity, and I did some research.
@@redtobertshateshandles It sounds like a fascinating journey through the labyrinth of history.
Perfect presentation! Congratulations!
Thank you very much.
Informative and exceptional presentation. Thank you very much for your work regarding Sophia Dorothea of Celle.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What scandal! What spite! Poor woman, it really wasn't great to be a noble woman in those days
Well said. I agree with you. Thank you for watching.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching.
This video is a most impressive piece of accessible and moving scholarship. Thank you so much. I
have subscribed and look forward to exploring and enjoying the rest of your work.
Thank you - that means so much to me. I'm delighted you are here.
Whoa whoa whoa, ok, a LOT of this is messed up... But finding a huge historical discovery and then just telling the workers to throw the body into the river.... The are several things wrong with that on so many levels. Bro.
Too pretty for George, "if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife."
Poor Sophia Dorothea! Thank you for watching.
Thank you. I never knew this History story. As always a lovely voice to listen to as well
Thank you very much, Aileen. Nice to see you around :)
Even in her death she wasn't respected
You're right, Carolin. Very sad, indeed. Thank you so much for watching.
I love your lilting voice and lovely accent! And thank you for these informative videos about Danish royalty.
It is so kind of you to say that. Thank you very much, Jacqueline. I'm delighted you are here.
The tragic story reminds me Princess Diane who murdered by her husband and his mistress.
What a story
As bad as her ending was in her confinement she had more liberty afforded to her then Mary Queen of Scotts was given as her imprisonment worsened
Well, it happened. Now everytime I read anything about French history, I read it hearing your accent.
I guess that it could be worse. It could be German. Keep us the great work.
Thank you, Daniel.
I'm back!
I'm alive! I think. Maybe.
Forgive me for taking so incredibly long for this and all, my state of mind lately is ... difficult. Imagine a rollercoaster marrying the ocean during a tropical storm in the middle of Antarctica. Or something within those lines.
The beginning of the video is slightly confusing to me. Am I understanding it correctly that Duke William essentially decided to step down from (at least parts of) his Duchy title because he preferred to marry for love instead of accepting the political marriage that was originally lined up for him?
If so, that is (at least to me) a very unique thing! And very wonderful, at least from this initial viewpoint. I am very much used to learning about political marriages, people having their relationships arranged basically by their parents or via other systems of political pressure, so someone actually _deciding_ to go a different route is, as i said, rather unique, i like it ^-^
Also, allow me to compliment you on your pronunciation of german names like "Wolfenbüttel". I know that our german diacritic umlauts (or really whatever you wanna call them; sometimes it seems to me noone but the most linguistic of linguistics really knows) are often relatively difficult for e.g. native english speakers since these phonemes are at best very unusual, but you're doing a splendid job with them :)
Back to the video topic: Well, after being so positively surprised by the choice of our Duke Willy, I am now back on the dusty grounds of reality. One would have thought that, after himself realising that he can not marry for other reasons but love, he would have allowed his children the same, but alas. Power and politics prevailed. Oh well. At least i spend a couple minutes with a dream of love and happiness and such things. But the title mentioning "The _Tragic_ Life" is obviously a means of foreshadowing which I should have taken seriously. But I wanted them to be happy and love each other and all that anyways!
Oh my, fainting when being presented with your new spouse is quite the way to send a message though. But ultimately, it's all about power and money, money above else.
I feel for her. It must have been, and forgive my choice of language, pretty disgusting for her to have to be married to this person, with all the "marital duties" that came with it and so on. I feel for her, it really upsets me, knowing that she had to go through those things, that she had to be so unhappy just because of money and power. She and many many others in history.
"Without her, life was worthless to him", wrote the Count of Königsmarck. I know that feeling, very very well. And indeed, the story of their lives is tragic, another love lost and broken by, oh wonder, money and power, who'd've thought. It is so so tempting, to dream about those two stealing a boat and rowing into the sunset together down the river and into the ocean. But alas.
And it is so unspeakably difficult to understand why people like her husband and her father did go to such great lengths in punishing her for ultimately just trying to be happy. That is one of those things about history and the behavior of people that is really really absolutely obscure to me. Why would one want her or anyone to suffer like that? It's just... I don't know. "Disgusting" is a word that once again comes to mind.
They even protested against the mourning of her death. Why? How can these people live with themselves after such behavior? They didn't even bury her properly, jeepers creepers. That is just so.. disgusting. Why are people like that?
It does not surprise me though that, as we hear so often in the stories that you tell in your videos, she found at least a little bit of comfort in things such as charity, writing, poetry. That seems to be something that many people have in common, including myself. So there's at least that kind of positivity even in a story so tragic.
Thank you very very much for telling her story! I think that all stories deserve to be remembered and told in their own ways, but sometimes I can't help but feel that stories like this one do have a special place. If nothing else they serve to make me lose my mind over why people like Sophia's father and her husband and that countess et al. can be so unthinkably cruel and cold and heartless sometimes. Forgive me.
As you hopefully still know, I love your videos, your way of telling these stories, and I very very much appreciate them! Again, I am sorry for me long long absence.
I am looking forward to watching today's new video, and as always wish you all all all the best! :)
I hope that you are well and healthy and happy!
Welcome back!
Yes, Duke William chose to marry for love. A rather bold step for those times. Sadly, he decided to act based on political interests when it came to his daughter’s future. If you think about it, Sophia Dorothea never had any say or control over her life. Surrounded by heartless people, she had Königsmarck to turn to, at least, for a while. They were both two unlucky souls.
Oh, the umlauts … I studied German for some years when I was in school. I still remember the basics, and I also remember that my favourite word in German was/is “Schmetterling”. I could not say exactly why, though. I think it is a combination of the way it sounds and its meaning :) Thank you for the compliment.
I would also like to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to write your comments. I really appreciate it. Please make sure you take good care of yourself. Best, L & H
@@livesandhistories Indeed she really did never have any control over her own life, not least because she was imprisoned for more than half of it if i remember correctly. Not being in control is a nightmare, one amongst many.
I'm almost inclined to say that many women weren't really in control of their lives for a long time in our history (and still to this day many aren't), though obviously to varying degrees. Our Sophia Dorothea did have Königsmarck, but he unfortunately died so early and she spent so so much time in her prison afterwards, it's hard to imagine, and probably a feat of great strength to not go insane over this and all her grief she must've felt for him.
Schmetterling is a beautiful word and butterflies are beautiful animals, indeed. This is actually one of those (more or less) rare cases where I like the german word more than the english one. "Butter" and "fly" really are not good descriptors of what the animal really is all about and they don't paint a beautiful picture either, in my opinion. Well, if one tried to translate the components of "Schmetterling" literally, it'd probably also turn out a bit weird, but oh well. At least the word has this "flow" to it, if you know what I mean, it does remind me of the motion of a butterfly with its wings.
Sometimes I like to say that certain words just have a good "taste" to them, if you know what i mean. They just feel right somehow. Schmetterling is undoubtedly one of those.
All the best :)
Can’t believe her son was so horrible too!
Wow
How cruel.
You're right, Denise. Thank you for watching.
So tragic unfair and sad so he openly is cheating with no care for her feelings and then she asks for a divorce they don’t give it then they kill the man that wanted to marry her and they imprison her for 30 something year till her death I can’t believe this happened in Europe atleast the ending was great 😊 but what the son did was despicable disrespectful
I dont know where you are from but your accent is beautiful.
Thank you :)
Down with the patriarchy
i'm watching too many history videos lately, as my first reaction was - don't they all fall in love with swedish counts? and didn't lady mary do the same, first episode of Downton Abbey?
Princess Sophia of the Palatinate was the aunt of Madame La Palatine it was Sophia ho became a mother figure to Elisabeth Charlotte (Liselotte) most of La Palatine's letters were addressed to Princess Sophia
Indeed. Thank you for watching.
@@livesandhistories Princess Sophia was allso a daughter of Elisabeth Steward the Winter Queen sister to Charles I
Her father was an incredible hypocrite - he was happy to break an engagement in order to marry the woman he loved, but couldn’t find the decency to extend the same freedom to his only child, whom he clearly regarded as a pawn in his family’s rise to electoral status. He’s responsible for the death of her lover, ruining her life and probably that of her husband and his own nephew. Disgraceful!
I couldn't agree more!
At 0.27 I cannot quite capture the word you say. Can someone please help me out? She should have never had that affair. She didn’t care and was reckless at the cost of losing so much.
"... it was, actually, a morganatic marriage". Thank you for watching
Thank you!
Is this a movie ?
What a horrible woman Duchess Sophia (mother-in-law) was.
She was surrounded by monsters.
Poor Sophia!
She was pretty
Yes, she was. Thank you for watching.
I thought I was the Queen of Tears 😢
BTW my bday is Sept 15th ♍
Oh, I can only wish you to be the queen of happiness. Thank you very much for watching.
@@livesandhistories 😉Thank you!
I was like, “She shot herself in her apartment??” but it was just the narrator’s lovely accent.
Thanks Eddie :)