The love of an uncrowned queen

1. Written by Leibniz on the margin of an account of the divorce sent by the Duchess of Orleans to the Electress Sophia (vide Köcher’s Hist. Zeitschrift, vol. xlviii., p. 233, note).

2. I have also condensed the later chapters which deal with the death of the Electress Sophia and the accession of George I. to the English throne. These events are not strictly germane to the history of Sophie Dorothea, and moreover I have treated of them much more fully in Caroline the Illustrious, Queen Consort of George II., which may be regarded as a sequel to this book.

3. The Love of an Uncrowned Queen, Edinburgh Review, January, 1901, No. 395, pp. 56-86.

4. “The Letters of the Duchess of Ahlden and Count Philip Christopher von Königsmarck,” by Dr. Robert Geerds (Supplement to the Allgemeine Zeitung, 1902, No. 77).

5. I quote from these critics because they have examined the letters themselves and can speak with first-hand knowledge. I do so with more freedom because they have not been slow in pointing out my shortcomings. I should also like to express my indebtedness for many other critical reviews, notably to the Athenæum, to Monsieur de Wyzewa for his essay in the Revue des deux Mondes, and to Mr. Andrew Lang in Longman’s Magazine.

6. On attaining to man’s estate, this youth filled the office of Master of the Horse at the court of Celle; later he became a colonel of the dragoons. He seems to have been of a jealous disposition, and was always grumbling because his putative father did not do more for him.

7. Osnabrück was a see founded by Charlemagne. Luther had many followers among the citizens, and at the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, which was concluded at Osnabrück, it was arranged that the Prince Bishop should be alternately a Lutheran and a Roman Catholic, the selection of the Lutheran bishop being left with the chapter, restricted, however, to the family of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This arrangement resulted in some very odd bishops. The last member of the English Royal Family to hold the title was Frederick Augustus Duke of York, son of George III.

8. There is a portrait of her, dressed in a blue robe, in the Guelph Gallery at Herrenhausen, as she was in middle life—a beautiful woman, with masses of dark brown hair and a superb figure.

9. A marriage ad morganaticum, sanctioned by the Church, but so far disallowed by law that the children of such wedlock were infantes nullius, and could succeed to no inheritance.

10. He married later, 1668, but his wife brought him no children.

11. Short genealogical table showing descent of King Edward VII. and the Emperor William II. from SOPHIE DOROTHEA of Celle.

12. The theatre is in the old part of the castle at Celle, approached by vaulted, stone corridors, with walls five feet thick, and has a large stage and a number of little boxes, the Royal box of course occupying a position of prominence. The decorations are simple; most of the theatre is whitewashed. Like the rest of the castle of Celle, it has changed little, though the castle has witnessed many changes. On the death of George William, the castle passed into the possession of George III., and through him to successive kings of England. On the accession of Queen Victoria, the schloss became the property of the King of Hanover, Ernest Augustus (Duke of Cumberland), who altered it somewhat inside, not for the better, and it remained in the possession of the Royal Family of Hanover until the Revolution of 1866, when it was seized, together with other Hanoverian possessions, by Prussia, and merged into the Province of Brunswick. For some time it was used as one of the summer palaces of the present Prince Regent of Brunswick; but he rarely goes there now, and the schloss is almost dismantled of furniture, but well kept and in perfect order.

13. Table showing descent of Sophia from James I. of England, and her children.

14. The authority for this statement is to be found in the Protocol of the trial of Knesebeck, published in Cramer’s Memoirs of Aurora Königsmarck.

15. Wolfenbüttel is an old town on the Oker, not far from Brunswick. The famous library contains Luther’s Bible, and the ducal schloss and mortuary chapel are the only other buildings worth mentioning. The seat of the duchy was at Brunswick.

16. A similar pastime was frequently indulged in by her grand-daughter-in-law, Queen Caroline, wife of George II., who was also most tolerant of her husband’s mistresses. No doubt she learned both these peculiarities from Sophia.

17. She died less than three months before Queen Anne.

18. “She [Sophia] told me,” writes Lord Dartmouth many years later, “that she was once like to have been married to King Charles II., which would not have been worse for the nation, considering how many children she had brought, to which I most sincerely agreed.”

19. The room remains the same to this day.

20. This did not actually take place until the reign of George I.

21. I have been taken to task by eminent critics for accepting, on the authority of the Roman Octavia, the night journey of the Duchess Sophia to Celle, and the discomfiture of Duke Antony Ulrich and his son. But I would in all humility point out that the Roman Octavia was written by Duke Antony Ulrich himself, and published within the life-time of nearly all the parties concerned. Though the form in which it is written, a dramatic dialogue with the personages disguised under fictitious names, precludes absolute accuracy, yet it is generally admitted that the narrative closely followed in many respects what actually happened. The Duchess Sophia read the Roman Octavia when it appeared, but we do not find any record that she contradicted Antony Ulrich’s version of the part she played in bringing about the marriage. The Duchess of Orleans, writing to her aunt of Antony Ulrich’s book, says: “In all matters his truth is mixed with a modicum of lies,” and she proceeds to criticise it in detail, but she says nothing about this incident. If it were untrue we should expect to find Sophia denouncing it with her customary vigour; but she was probably ashamed of the part she had played and so passed it by in silence, tacitly admitting its truth. Dr. Köcher has clearly shown that negotiations for the marriage had been going on between the two courts for years more or less definitely, but I do not see that this affects the truth of Antony Ulrich’s version of the action which Sophia took at the last.

22. Hanover is still in some respects the same as it was in the time of Ernest Augustus and Sophia. Until the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign, it must have been almost exactly the same; but the divorce from the English crown which then ensued made a difference, and the expulsion of the King of Hanover, in 1866, brought the town under Prussian rule, and resulted in the abolition of many landmarks. Under the iron heel of Prussia, Hanover is losing many of its distinctive features. It has become much like any other modern Prussian city, with wide streets, huge barracks, and enormous and hideous buildings, vast manufactories and breweries. The town has advanced in prosperity, but has lost in picturesqueness.

23. The morning bath was not a daily institution at the end of the seventeenth century, even with princesses; for aught I know, it may not be in Germany to-day. Cleanliness was not a prominent virtue, and in the long list of servants at the court of Hanover there appear to have been only two washerwomen employed!

24. George II. succeeded his father in 1727.

25. This collection is called Mémoires de Monsieur de Lassaye. It bears also the better title of Recueils de différentes choses, for the parts of which it is composed are very varied and disconnected—love affairs, philosophy, ethics, satire, reflections on various matters, and letters, all jumbled up together. Lassaye had only a few copies of this collection printed for himself and a select circle of friends, so copies are extremely rare and cannot be bought. Herr Edward Bodemann managed to stumble across one in a second-hand bookshop in Paris, and to him I am indebted for the perusal of the correspondence in the original French.

26. Many years later Duchess of Kendal.

27. The vexed question of the date of Königsmarck’s birth is settled by Count Adam Lewenhaupt in an article in Historisk Tidskrift, Stockholme, 1898, in which he quotes from documents deposited in the Record Office, Stockholme.

28. We have dwelt thus on the career of Count Carl John Königsmarck because Horace Walpole and other chroniclers have fallen into the error of confounding him with his younger brother, Philip Christopher; and Horace Walpole even goes so far as to describe Philip Christopher, in his Reminiscences of the Court of George II., as the murderer of Thynne, which he certainly was not.

29. Published in Hanover, 1847, under the title of Der Hannoversche Hof.

30. The fact that Sophie Dorothea and Königsmarck were children together is proved by a reference to the Protocol of the judicial inquiry with regard to Fräulein von Knesebeck, tried before the Vice-Chancellor Hugo and Count Platen. In it appear these questions:—

“How long is it that the Count and the Princess have loved each other?” The answer was: “They have loved each other from childhood. The Countess Rens (? Reuss) has related to me that when they were yet children they loved.” “How old were they then?” “Nine or ten years.” “And they always loved each other?” “Yes, that was always so, and thus he came to this court to serve.”

31. Histoire Secrette de la Duchesse d’ Hanover, Épouse de Georges Premier, etc., said to be written by the Baron von Poellnitz. Published in French, London, 1732. This work is not trustworthy.

32. In King William’s chest was found a large bundle marked “The Electress Sophia’s correspondence with St. Germains”.

33. A doubt has been raised as to whether Königsmarck was ever in the army of Brunswick-Lüneburg at all, in consequence of the trouble which was taken subsequently to erase his name from all official documents of Hanover and Celle relating to the troops. But the doubt is settled by the auditor of his regiment, named Rudiger, in his evidence in the Secret Senate Chamber of Hanover on July 27, 1694. Rudiger stated he had served in a regiment of foot-guards commanded by Königsmarck in Flanders. He had also served in a regiment of dragoons in which Königsmarck held the same rank. This document may be found in the Archives of Saxony, Royal Courts of Justice, Dresden. The correspondence of Colt, sometime English envoy at Hanover, also (as we shall shortly show) contains reference to Königsmarck as holding a commission in the Hanoverian troops. This correspondence is in the State Paper Office, London.

34. The Duchess Sophia was the daughter of one Elector Palatine (the “Winter King” of Bohemia) and the sister of another.

35. Colt’s Despatch, Celle, July 19, 1689.

36. Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, July 26, 1689.

37. Ibid., Hanover, July 30, 1689.

38. Letter of De la Roque, July 26, 1689.

39. Thackeray calls her a “hideous old court lady”; on what authority I know not. She certainly was not old at that time, and far from hideous. There is a picture of her at Herrenhausen in a rich crimson robe, a fine voluptuous-looking woman, with black hair and an ample bust, just the sort of woman one would expect her to be. Curiously enough the picture hangs immediately beneath that of Königsmarck.

40. Poellnitz asserts that on receiving the Countess Platen’s compliments on his dancing at the ball, “Königsmarck comprit tout le sens de ces paroles, et la passion qu’il avoit pour la Princesse ne le rendit pas insensible aux avances d’une aussi belle personne que la Comtesse. Il lui répondit qu’il étoit confus des bontez qu’elle vouloit bien avoir pour lui qui le méritoit si peu, et que puisqu’elle lui permettoit de l’aller trouver le soir.... Königsmarck fut chez la Comtesse, qu’il trouva en deshabillé sur un lit de repos. Elle se leva et ayant laissé toute modestie, elle courut l’embrasser, en lui avoüant sa foiblesse et lui faisant voir tant de charmes, que Königsmarck ne se fit point scrupule de répondre à sa tendresse. Le jour étoit prêt à paroître quand il se retira chez lui. Il se jetta sur son lit pour y prendre quelque repos, mais ce fut en vain, et il se reprochoit continuellement d’avoir été sensible aux charmes de l’ennemie déclarée de la Princesse” (Histoire Secrette de la Duchesse d’Hanover, pp. 80-81).

41. “Every prince here keeps more troops than he can possibly maintain” (Colt’s Despatch, Hanover Correspondence, December 4, 1689).

42. Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, January 24, 1690.

43. Colt’s Despatch, January 28, 1690.

44. Ibid., Hanover, February 25, 1690.

45. Colt’s Despatch Celle, May 27, 1690.

46. The authority for this incident, and the episode of the embroidered glove which follows, may be traced either to the Roman Octavia, by Duke Antony Ulrich, or to the writings of Major Müller, who was for some time librarian to the late Duke of Cambridge, when Regent of Hanover, and who had free access to the Hanoverian archives. Count Schulenburg considered his writings worthy of credit, but I cannot vouch for their accuracy, though the inherent probability of these incidents justifies their insertion here.

47. Colt’s Hanover Correspondence, August 12, 1690.

48. Ibid., October 24, 1690.

49. Macaulay’s History of England, vol. iv., p. 7. Macaulay’s authority was Relation de la Voyage de son Majesté Britannique en Hollande (Brunet, ii., 72).

50. Colt’s Despatches, Locknam, June 10, 1691.

51. Ibid., Hanover.

52. Colt’s Despatch, Celle, May 8, 1691.

53. Ibid., Celle, May 22, 1691.

54. Ibid., Hanover.

55. This chapter is an interpolation dealing with the history and authenticity of the correspondence and does not affect the narrative.

56. Those published in this book are all from the collection at Lund. But many more (doubtless those seized by the Hanoverian Government) are stated to exist, unpublished, at Berlin and Gmünden.

57. In the Protocol of the trial of Fräulein Knesebeck, she states that she was commanded by the Princess always to return his own letters to Königsmarck, because she herself did not dare to keep them, nor did she think them safe even in the hands of Knesebeck.

58. Table showing the descent and ownership of the letters from the time Aurora Königsmarck gave them to her sister until the present day.

59. FräuleinFräulein Knesebeck in the Protocol of her trial expressly states that the Princess was able to write two different hands.

60. In this task I was aided by the fragment of a key to the cypher found with the letters at Lund.

61. This is an error, she was born in 1687.

62. Against the adverse opinion of these authorities may fairly be set Thackeray and Carlyle, who accept the letters as genuine. But, like Schaumann and Köcher, they never saw the originals.

63. The letter of Lassaye, quoted on pp. 73-74, affords an excellent illustration of this.

64. Colt’s Despatch, Celle, June 28/July 7, 1691.

65. Possibly Alt = Altkloster.

66. Wherever square brackets occur the matter is interpolated.

67. “Since my last, July 31, the Count Königsmarck is sent from Hanover with the ratification of the late Treaty to Hamburg, either to carry it to Sweden himself or send it thence.”—Colt’s Despatch, Celle, August 4, 1691.

68. Some lines of German doggerel which can only be rendered thus.

69. Colt’s Despatch, Brunswick, August 28, 1691.

70. Probably Prince Ernest Augustus, youngest son of the Duke of Hanover.

71. Here and elsewhere the writers are responsible for their French.

72. Prince Ernest Augustus.

73. The Count de Reuss was the uncle by marriage of Sophie Dorothea; he had married Angelica d’Olbreuse, sister of the Duchess of Celle.

74. I.e., the commands of the Princess.

75. Colt’s Despatch, October, 1691, Epsdorff.

76. Probably he refers to an appointment offered him by the King of Sweden.

77. A reference to their early friendship.

78. This is a reference to the fact that some of the Princess’s letters to him at this time were dictated by her only, and actually written by Knesebeck (La Confidente) to disarm suspicion. Some too she wrote in a disguised hand.

79. Colt’s Despatch, October 9
19, 1691.

80. Colt’s Despatch, November 19, 1691.

81. Troops were being sent to the Morea at this time, and Prince Christian, son of the Duke of Hanover, wished to go with them. He did not go.—Vide Colt’s despatches.

82. This is a literal rendering of Königsmarck’s French.

83. Grand Master of the Hunt.

84. Colt’s Despatch, Celle, December 8, 1691.

85. Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, January 5, 1692.

86. Ibid., January 8, 1692.

87. As, in point of fact, they did, George Augustus as George II. of Great Britain; Sophie Dorothea as Queen of Prussia, and mother of Frederick the Great.

88. “Baron Welling is come hither to prepare matters.”—Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, January, 1692.

89. The Princess-Dowager of East Friesland. “The two Princesses of East Frise [Friesland] arrived yesterday.”—Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, February 9, 1692.

90. The Princess of East Friesland.

91. “The Duke of Hanover hath sent all the women hither.”—Colt’s Despatch, Celle, February 23, 1692.

92. “The Duke of Celle hath at last given the new-raised regiment of Foot to the Count Lewenhaupt, a Swede, brother-in-law to Count KönigsmarckKönigsmarck, who commands a regiment of Hanover.”—Colt’s Despatch, January 22, 1692.

93. “The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Eisenach are come hither.”—Colt’s Despatch, Celle, March 4, 1692.

94. Countess Platen.

95. Duke of Celle.

96. “The courts of Hanover and Saxe-Eisenach go from hence after to-morrow; there has been much company here for several days.”—Colt’s Despatch, Celle, March 8, 1692.

97. Colt’s Despatch, Hanover, April 15, 1692.

98. East Friesland. Colt sometimes calls her “Otfrise” too.

99. Count and Countess Lewenhaupt.

100. It is worthy of note that the same charge, boasting when he was in his cups, of his intimacy with the Princess was made against Königsmarck two years later (1694) at the court of Dresden.