On This Day In History . 15 September 1666 . . Sophia Dorothea of Celle was born in Celle, Germany . ◼ Shewas the repudiated wife of George I of Great Britain & mother of George II. . ◼ On 22 November 1682, in Celle, Sophia Dorothea married her cousin, George Louis (later King George I of Great Britain from 1714-1727) . ◼. The marriage of George Louis & Sophia Dorothea was an unhappy one. Despite this, things seemed better after the birth of their first two children: . ◼. George Augustus, born 1683, later King George II of Great Britain & Sophia Dorothea, born 1686, later wife of King Frederick William I of Prussia, & mother of Frederick the Great. . ◼ But George Louis acquired a mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, & started pointedly neglecting his wife. His parents asked him to be more circumspect with his mistress, but he responded by going out of his way to treat his wife brutally. . ◼ It was in these circumstances that Sophia Dorothea re-made the acquaintance of Swedish count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck. The two had first met in Celle when he was sixteen. . . ◼ George Louis criticised his wife over her affair, & she criticised him for his. The argument escalated to the point that George Louis threw himself on Sophia Dorothea & started tearing out her hair strangling her, leaving purple bruise marks. He was pulled off her by her attendants. . ◼ Königsmarck presumably was killed while assisting her in a futile attempt to escape from Hanover. In 1694 he disappeared (several guards & the Countess Platen confessed on their deathbeds to being involved in his death). Sophia Dorothea was divorced by George Louis who then imprisoned her at the Castle of Ahlden. She remained in captivity until her death more than thirty years later on 13 November 1726. Sophia Dorothea is sometimes referred to as the "princess of Ahlden." . . . #D15Sep (at Celle, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cmjq0gPjA/?igshid=m281rh5idzz9
