Sophia of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover

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Princess Sophia, 1797. Painting by William Beechey commissioned by the Prince of Wales
Princess Sophia coat of arms

Princess Sophia of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover (Sophia Matilda; born November 3, 1777 in Buckingham Palace ; †  May 27,  1848 in Kensington Palace ) was a British-Hanoverian princess, daughter of the British King George III. and his wife Queen Charlotte . Sophia is probably best known for the rumors about her and a child she is said to have born out of wedlock as a young woman. In her youth, Sophia was closest to her father, who preferred his daughters to his sons, but she and her sisters lived in fear of their mother. The princesses were well trained but grew up in a strict and rigid household. King George looked for suitable husbands for the princesses when they were of legal age, but the king had recurring attacks of madness while the queen wished to keep her daughters as her companions, and so most of the suitors were stopped by her . As a result, Sophia and all but one of her sisters lived in her mother's secluded household, which they often referred to as a “monastery”.

Although she never married, rumors spread that Sophia became pregnant by Thomas Garth, her father's stable master, and gave birth to an illegitimate son in the summer of 1800. Other gossip has said the child was the product of rape by her older brother, the Duke of Cumberland , who was deeply unpopular. Historians disagree on the veracity of these stories, some believing she gave birth to Garth's child, while others assume that these stories were spread by political enemies of the royal family.

The Prince Regent's efforts to achieve greater independence for his sisters were eased by the death of Queen Charlotte in 1818. In her final years, Sophia lived with her niece, Princess Victoria of Kent (future Queen Victoria ) at Kensington Palace. There she came under the influence of Victoria's auditor, Sir John Conroy , who took advantage of her senility and blindness; rumors also spread that Sophia was dependent on Conroy for his ability to deal with the "intrusive inconveniences" of Sophia's alleged illegitimate son. Sophia often spied Conroy, both in the Kensington household and with her two older brothers, while Conroy wasted her money.

Early years

Sophia (right) with her sisters Princess Mary and Princess Amelia, around 1785
Princess Sophia at the age of 5, painting by Thomas Gainsborough , 1782

Princess Sophia was born at Buckingham Palace in London as the twelfth child and fifth daughter of her parents. Her father was the reigning British monarch, George III, the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha . Her mother was Queen Charlotte (born Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz). The princess was baptized on December 1, 1777 in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace by Frederick Cornwallis , Archbishop of Canterbury . Her godparents were Prince August von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg , the Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and the Duchess of Mecklenburg (wife of Friedrich von Mecklenburg ), who were all represented by proxy.

After Sophia was born, King George secured an income for his daughters and younger sons by a resolution of parliament. Sophia and her older sisters would each receive an annual income of £ 6,000 upon marriage or after the death of the king. The court was very rigid and formal, even if only the royal family was together privately. For example, the king's daughters were expected to stand up when the king entered a room, remain silent until spoken to, and not leave the room until given permission. Queen Charlotte tried to be as economical as possible, the younger princesses wore clothes made in the country as they were less expensive and ate simple foods. Sophia's early years focused on her upbringing. Her governess was Lady Charlotte Finch , as she was for all other royal children. As with the strict upbringing of her brothers, there were, in addition to Lady Finch, additional tutors selected by Queen Charlotte, who gave the princesses lessons in English, French, music, art and geography; Sophia and her sisters were also allowed to play sports and play with their brothers. The Queen tried to combine entertainment with educational gain in her daughters. Sophia and her siblings were also introduced to the theater and they were entertained with special performances. Princess Sophia's first public appearance was on May 26, 1784, when she accompanied her parents and older siblings to a memorial service for George Frideric Handel in Westminster Abbey .

Unusually for this time, Sophia's father was involved in their early years, he preferred his daughters over his sons. Whenever possible, he attended the princesses' birthdays and other special events and was kept informed of their progress in class. A family friend once said: "I have never seen children more delightful, nor more pleasing to behold than the king's affection for them." On the other hand, Queen Charlotte caused fear in her daughters, and according to the royal historian AW Purdue, she was not " lovingly motherly ”.

In adulthood

Thomas Lawrence : Portrait of Queen Charlotte, 1789–1790
King George III about 1811

By 1792, Sophia and her sister Mary became more involved in family activities, and at the age of fourteen, Sophia made her debut at her father's court on his father's birthday on June 4, 1792. According to biographer Christopher Hibbert, Sophia was in her younger years a "beautiful but moody girl, pretty, delicate and passionate". As in her childhood, Sophia was very fond of her father, although she occasionally found him desperate. She wrote: "The dear King is always kind to me, and I cannot say how grateful I feel for him". Before 1788, King George had told his daughters that he would take them to Hanover to find suitable husbands, despite the concerns he had about his sisters' unhappy marriages. He said, "I cannot deny that I never wanted to see each of them getting married: I am happy in their company and least of all I want a separation." But the king suffered his first attack of madness when Sophia was eleven years old . Sophia commented on the behavior of her father: "He is loving and kind to me, but sometimes he is extremely friendly, if you can understand that this worries me greatly." More attacks of madness followed in 1801 and 1804, which the Discussions about marriages for his daughters prevented. The question of marriage was rarely asked, Queen Charlotte feared that this subject, which had always caused unease in the king, would drive him back to madness. In addition, the queen, burdened by her husband's illness, wanted the princesses to stay close to her.

The result was that, like most of her sisters, Princess Sophia was forced to live with her mother. The princesses were not allowed to have contacts outside the royal court, and they rarely came into contact with other men such as pages, stable masters or servants. They were under constant supervision and the girls often complained about life in a "nunnery". For entertainment the queen read them sermons and the princesses embroidered. On one occasion, Sophia wrote that her days were so "deadly boring ... I wish myself to be a kangaroo."

Thomas Lawrence: George IV as Prince Regent

The Princess Royal was the only daughter who married when she was relatively young. The other princesses also had suitors, but Queen Charlotte stopped them from getting closer. The girls longed for a family and children of their own, and often asked the Prince of Wales for help, either in finding a husband to marry their love or for permission to live outside Queen Charlotte's household. Sophia once jokingly wrote to her brother: "I wonder why they don't vote to put us in a sack and drown us in the Thames." Before George became regent, he had too little power to give his sisters help. His rise to regent in 1811 resulted in Sophia's income and that of the other unmarried princesses rising from € 10,000 to £ 13,000. He also supported her in her desire to venture out into society. Queen Charlotte was outraged by these attempts and the Prince Regent had to carefully reconcile the two parties so that his sisters could enjoy some independence.

Illegitimate child

Princess Sophia 1825, painting by Thomas Lawrence

During Sophia's lifetime there were various rumors about her alleged incestuous relationship with her brother, Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland, who later became King of Hanover. Allegedly the Prince Regent warned his sisters not to be alone with the Duke in the same room; Cumberland was deeply unpopular with the British people. It is unclear whether these rumors were true or whether they were circulated by the Duke's numerous political opponents.

Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland (around 1840)

Limited in contact with suitable men, Sophia and some of her sisters had relationships with courtiers and pages. So Sophia entered into a relationship with her father's head stable master, Major-General Thomas Garth; a man who was 33 years older than her. He had a large, purple birthmark on his face, so that Sophia's sister Mary called him "the violet light of love", the courtier and chronicler Charles Greville called him a "hideous old devil". Nonetheless, a lady-in-waiting remarked: “The princess was so madly in love with him that everyone saw it. She was out of control of herself in his presence. ”Greville wrote in a diary entry of Sophia's affair and that of her sisters:“ Women fall in love with everything - and the possibility and accidents of passions matter more than any positive virtue of the mind or the body ... [The princesses] have been separated from the world, the contact with a few people - their passions boil over and are ready to give themselves into the hands of the first man who the circumstances allow them ”.

The gossip about the existence of an illegitimate child soon spread. Some historians claim that sometime before August 1800 in Weymouth, Sophia gave birth to a child who was conceived by Garth. Biographer Flora Fraser believes in the rumors that Sophia had given birth to a child, but raised the question of whether the child was conceived by Garth or by Sophia's brother, the Duke of Cumberland. Fraser quotes a letter from Sophia expressing her sadness that she is close to her son, but she cannot see him. Historians go on to write that the child Thomas Garth, as his father was baptized, was raised by him in Weymouth, where his mother would occasionally visit. In 1828 this child had apparently tried to blackmail the royal family with certain incriminating documents from his father about his alleged origin, but he failed.

Conversely, Anthony Camp doubted Sophia had a child, and provides a detailed breakdown of the evidence available. In his book Royal Babylon: the Alarming History of European Royalty , author Karl Shaw writes of the possibility that the Duke raped his sister, citing the findings of Charles Greville's diaries and other considerations. Historian Gillian Gill believes that Sophia secretly gave birth to a child and that this is the reason why Sophia never married. Alison Weir, and others, write of a possible marriage between Sophia and Garth in the same year as the child's birth, but there is no evidence to support this claim other than a wedding ring on a portrait of the aged Sophia.

Next life

Princess Sophia, painting by Richard Cosway .
Kensington Palace

Sophia was a favorite of her niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales , the young princess liked her gentle demeanor and she had a certain fascination with the gossip about Sophia's past. Charlotte detested her other aunts and once wrote: “I can hardly believe [Sophia] is one of them - her thoughts, opinions and questions are so completely different. Her nobility and righteousness of spirit make her not a favorite here. The constant scenes of intrigue, of harassment, do little to support them. ”The Prince Regent tried to help his sisters, brought about the marriages of Maria and Elisabeth , and after the death of Queen Charlotte in 1818 , allowed Augusta and Sophia to have their own Housekeeping, but it was too late for her to get married. Sophia inherited Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park from her mother , which she in turn passed on to the Prince Regent. With the death of Princess Augusta in 1840, Sophia inherited Clarence House and Frogmore .

After the Queen's death, Sophia lived at Kensington Palace during the last years of her life, next to her niece, Princess Victoria of Kent, the future Queen Victoria . This made Princess Sophia one of the few paternal relatives that Victoria often saw. Just like her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Kent , Sophia came under the influence of Victoria Auditor Sir John Conroy and let him manage her money. The princess became part of the social circle around the Duchess of Kent and in return Sophia spied for Conroy when he was not in Kensington Palace. Sophia also reported to Conroy what she heard at St James's Palace, where she was in contact with both the courtiers and her two older brothers. Gossipers speculated that it was because he had the ability to successfully deal with the “intrusive inconveniences” of her illegitimate son that she valued Conroy so much, while some historians write that Conroy took advantage of the fact that Sophia, “dazed, easily confused” in her final years ... in mourning for her fading appearance ”and had become a“ confused, almost blind aunt ”. Sophia often dined with the household of the Duchess of Kent, who despised her. Princess Victoria was aware that her aunt was a spy, and the relationship between the two never became close. Sophia's wealth gave Conroy a lavish lifestyle, including buying a house in Kensington for £ 4,000 and two other properties for £ 18,000. Sophia was also responsible for raising certain members of Victoria's household to a higher rank, Victoria's governess Louise Lehzen , for example, was appointed a Hanoverian baroness on the orders of George IV and Conroy was made Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Order .

death

Tomb of Princess Sophia

After being blind for over ten years, Princess Sophia fell ill on the morning of May 27, 1848 in her residence in Vicarage Place , Kensington ; she received visits from her sister Mary, her sister-in-law to the Queen Dowager Adelaide, and her niece's husband, Prince Albert . Sophia died at 6:30 a.m. later that day, in the presence of Mary and the Duchesses of Kent and Cambridge . The princess was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery , London, rather than Windsor Castle, as she wanted to be near her brother, Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex . After her death, it was found that Conroy had wasted most of her money and the princess had virtually no real estate to bequeath Charles Greville wrote in his diary on May 31:

“Princess Sophia died a few days ago while the Queen [Victoria] was holding the drawing room for her birthday. She was blind, helpless, and suffered martyrdom; A very smart, well-informed woman who has never lived in the world ”.

Web links

Commons : Sophia of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Flora Fraser: Princesses - The six daughters of George III. , Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4088-3253-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 53.
  2. ^ Weir, Alison (2008). Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books, ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5 , p. 299.
  3. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , p. 307.
  4. ^ John Bernard Burke: The Patrician, Volume 6 . In: The Patrician , Myers and Co, p. 100. 
  5. ↑ a b Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 217.
  6. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 203.
  7. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 86.
  8. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , p. 308.
  9. ^ Beatty, Michael A. (2003). The English Royal Family of America, From Jamestown to the American Revolution. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1558-4 , p. 226.
  10. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  11. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 99.
  12. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , pp. 307-308.
  13. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  14. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 98.
  15. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , pp. 98-99.
  16. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  17. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 145.
  18. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 147.
  19. ^ David Robinson: The Princess Diaries . In: The Scotsman . October 2, 2004. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  20. ↑ Stacy Schiff : 'Princesses': All the King's Girls . In: The New York Times . April 24, 2005. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  21. ^ Sarah Burton: Birds in a gilded cage . In: The Spectator , September 25, 2004. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved August 27, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spectator.co.uk 
  22. ^ Black, Jeremy (2006). George III: America's Last King. Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-11732-9 , p. 156.
  23. ^ Black, Jeremy (2006). George III: America's Last King. Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-11732-9 , p. 156.
  24. ^ Black, Jeremy (2006). George III: America's Last King. Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-11732-9 , p. 156.
  25. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 60.
  26. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 378.
  27. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  28. ^ Paula Byrne: No fairytale princesses . In: The Daily Telegraph , September 6, 2004. Retrieved August 27, 2011. 
  29. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , p. 331.
  30. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  31. ^ Beatty, Michael A. (2003). The English Royal Family of America, From Jamestown to the American Revolution. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1558-4 , pp. 229-230.
  32. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 30.
  33. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , pp. 368, 384.
  34. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarebrow Press, Inc, ISBN 0-8108-5779-0 , p. 429.
  35. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  36. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 35.
  37. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 35.
  38. ↑ Saul David: The Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency . Grove Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8021-3703-2 , p. 201.
  39. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 47.
  40. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  41. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 35.
  42. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  43. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarebrow Press, Inc, ISBN 0-8108-5779-0 , p. 429.
  44. ^ Anthony Camp: Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714-1936 . Anthony J. Camp, London 2007, ISBN 0-9503308-2-5 , pp. 313-23.
  45. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 47.
  46. ^ Black, Jeremy (2006). George III: America's Last King. Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-11732-9 , p. 158.
  47. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , pp. 61, 68.
  48. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , p. 330.
  49. ↑ Jane Roberts: Royal landscape: the gardens and parks of Windsor . Yale University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-300-07079-9 , p. 170.
  50. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , pp. 331-332.
  51. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 47.
  52. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 47.
  53. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 177.
  54. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , pp. 176-177, 257.
  55. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 177.
  56. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  57. ↑ Gill, Gillian (2009). We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. New York: Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-52001-7 , p. 47.
  58. ^ Williams, Kate (2010). Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. Ballatine Books, ISBN 0-345-46195-9 , p. 203.
  59. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarebrow Press, Inc, ISBN 0-8108-5779-0 , p. 429.
  60. ^ Hall, Matthew (1858). The Royal Princesses of England: From the Reign of George the First. London: G. Routledge & Co, ISBN 1-146-51884-6 , p. 332.
  61. ^ Purdue, AW (2004). George III, Daughters of (act. 1766-1857) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 42012 . Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  62. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarebrow Press, Inc, ISBN 0-8108-5779-0 , p. 429.
  63. ^ Charles Greville : The Greville Memoirs (Second Part): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria From 1837-1852, Volume 3 . Longmans, Green, and Co, London 1885, p. 184.
personal data
SURNAME Sophia of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Member of the British royal family from the House of Hanover
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Buckingham Palace , London
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1848
Place of death Kensington Palace , London