Elisabeth Stuart

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Elisabeth Stuart (English Elizabeth Stuart ; born August 19, 1596 in Falkland Palace , Fife , Scotland ; † February 13, 1662 in Westminster , London ) was Princess of England and Scotland and through her marriage to Frederick V of the Palatinate , the Winter King , from 1613 to 1623 Electress of the Palatinate and from 1619 to 1620 Queen of Bohemia .

Because Frederick V was only able to assert himself as the Bohemian king for one year, Elisabeth had to go into exile with him in 1621 in the Netherlands, where she lived for 40 years. Having become a widow in 1632, she tried to return the Electoral Palatinate to her oldest surviving son, Karl Ludwig ; It was not until 1648 that he received it back in a reduced size. After the restoration of the Stuart house , Elisabeth was able to return to her homeland in 1661, where she died the following year.

Elisabeth Stuart (around 1649)

Descent and youth

Elisabeth Stuart as a young girl, by Nicholas Hilliard , around 1605–1610

Elisabeth, born in August 1596 and baptized on November 28, 1596, was the eldest daughter of King Jacob VI. of Scotland and his wife Anna of Denmark (1574–1619), a daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway. On her father's side, Elizabeth was a granddaughter of Queen Mary of Scots , who had been executed in 1587. In addition to several siblings who died as small children, Elisabeth had two brothers who survived the childhood stage, of whom Henry Frederick was older and Karl (later Charles I of England) younger than her. It was named after Queen Elizabeth I.

As was customary for royal daughters at the time, Elisabeth was raised not by her parents, but by various nobles who were loyal to the royal family. She spent her early childhood with her younger sister Margaret, who died at the age of one, in Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, with Alexander Livingstone , the 7th Lord Livingstone and since 1600 1st Earl of Linlithgow, and his Catholic wife Helen Hay. Her father Jacob VI followed in March 1603. of Scotland as James I after the late Queen Elizabeth I as King of England and Ireland. Six-year-old Elisabeth came to England with her mother in June 1603 and initially received Lady Frances Howard , who was second married to Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham , as governess. After the discovery of Cobham's involvement in the alleged anti-government of King James I of England Main Plot Elisabeth was established in October 1603 the custody of the strictly Protestant-minded Lord John Harington given and his wife Anne and dwelt mainly on the Good Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire . The couple took care of their new protégé, and Elisabeth spent a happy youth with her playmates. She learned, among other things, writing, riding and the foreign languages ​​French and Italian, which she has well mastered. Some notes from the hand of the young princess, addressed to her father and older brother, have been preserved.

In November 1605, British Catholics tried to assassinate Elizabeth's Protestant father and the English government members using the so-called Gunpowder Plot . The conspirators planned to seize Elizabeth and, if the attack succeeded, either she or her younger brother Karl would have been monarch on the throne of England, who would then have had to rule in the Catholic sense. Warned in good time, Lord Harington went with Elisabeth to Coventry , whose inhabitants they promised to defend. The attack by Guy Fawkes and his accomplices also failed altogether.

At the end of 1608, Elisabeth moved to the royal court, which she had previously only visited sporadically, where she lived, among other places, in Hampton Court Palace and Whitehall Palace . She became very close friends with her brother Henry Frederick and shared his strict Protestant view, which the Haringtons had instilled in her. She maintained her religious convictions for life even after Henry's untimely death, while her younger brother Karl was less strict in this regard.

Marriage to Friedrich V of the Palatinate

Friedrich V of the Palatinate (around 1628/1632)

Soon there were plans for an appropriate marriage for Elisabeth. The young princess has been described by visitors to the English court as a blond-haired beauty who has already inspired numerous poets. When Johan Skytte came to London in 1610 as head of a Swedish delegation, the English court believed that King Charles IX. wanted to woo Elisabeth's hand for his son Gustav Adolf . However, the embassy wanted to sound out how much help Sweden could expect from England and the Netherlands for a war against Russia, Poland and Denmark.

Elisabeth's marriage candidates included Friedrich Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , Otto von Hessen-Kassel and a son of the Duke of Savoy . The English Queen Anna showed herself to the indignation of the Prince of Wales Henry Frederick that her daughter would marry Philip III at the end of 1611 . very inclined from Spain. In March 1612, however, King James I made an alliance with the German Protestant Union and decided to give Elisabeth to a leading representative of the Union, the Calvinist Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate , as his wife, even though Elisabeth's mother was against this marriage. At the same time, the English monarch also sought good contacts with Catholic powers and therefore considered a possible marriage of his sons to French or Spanish princesses.

Elector Friedrich V was almost the same age as his chosen bride, with whom he had been in correspondence since March 1612. He first sent Count Johann Albrecht von Solms and then his court master Hans Meinhard von Schönberg to London as his authorized representative to conduct the marriage negotiations . The marriage contract was signed on May 16, 1612. On the following October 16, Frederick V himself landed in England and enjoyed a friendly welcome. Elisabeth was very fond of her bridegroom, but had to experience the sudden death of her favorite brother Henry Frederick († November 6, 1612), whom she had not been allowed to visit in the last days of his life. The wedding of Frederick V and Elizabeth then took place on February 14, 1613 in the royal chapel of the Whitehall Palace in London with much pomp. The festivities that followed, which included mask games and tournaments, were extraordinarily extensive.

Elisabeth's dowry of 40,000 pounds , which is provided for in the marriage contract, was paid by her father Jakob I to Friedrich V in the course of 1615–1618, who in turn handed over to Elisabeth as Wittum and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . If she were to become a widow, she would reside in Frankenthal and Friedelsheim . In addition, the elector promised his wife an annual income of 1,500 pounds and a Wittum of 10,000 pounds.

On April 26, 1613, Frederick V left England with his newlywed wife by ship and was received in the Netherlands on his journey home. He met his uncle Moritz von Orange in The Hague , among other places , then traveled to Germany with Elisabeth and was greeted with jubilation by the population on arrival in Heidelberg (June 17, 1613).

progeny

Elisabeth and Friedrich V had a total of 13 children:

  1. Karl Ludwig and Ruprecht (by Anthony van Dyck , 1637)
    Heinrich Friedrich (born January 11, 1614 in Heidelberg , † January 17, 1629 drowned near Haarlem , burial place in the St. Vinzent Monastery or in the Prince's Church in 's-Gravenhage , Netherlands ), Prince Elector of the Palatinate
  2. Karl Ludwig (born December 22, 1617 in Heidelberg; † August 28, 1680 near Edingen ), electoral prince and later elector of the Palatinate
  3. Elisabeth (born December 26, 1618 in Heidelberg; † February 8, 1680 in Herford Abbey , burial site in Herford Minster , since April 30, 1667 Abbess of Herford ( Westphalia ))
  4. Ruprecht (born December 27, 1619 in Prague , † November 29, 1682 in London , burial place in Westminster Abbey , London), since 1643 Duke of Cumberland , British admiral, governor of Windsormorganatic with Lady Bellamont and later with Margarete Hewes
  5. Moritz (born January 6, 1621 in Küstrin ; † September 1652, missing, probably died in a shipwreck on the high seas or as a prisoner in Algiers )
  6. Louise Maria "Luise-Hollandine" (born April 18, 1622 in The Hague ; † February 11, 1709 in Maubuisson Monastery , burial place in Maubuisson Cistercian Convent in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône , Val-d'Oise , France ), since 1664 Abbess of Maubuisson
  7. Ludwig (born August 31, 1623 in The Hague; † December 24, 1623 ibid., Burial place in St. Vinzent Monastery or in the Prince's Church in 's-Gravenhage, Netherlands)
  8. Eduard (* October 5, 1625 in The Hague; † March 13, 1663 in Paris , burial place in the monastery church Val de Grace, Paris) ∞ since 1645 with Anna Gonzaga (* 1616; † July 6, 1684), Princess of Nevers, Mantua and Monferrat
  9. Henriette Marie (* July 17, 1626 in The Hague; † September 18, 1651 in Sárospatak , burial place in St. Michaels Church, Karlsburg , today Alba Iulia , Romania ) ∞ since May 16, 1651 in Patak with Sigismund Rákoczy ( * July 14, 1622; † February 4, 1652 in Fogarasch , burial place in St. Michaels Church, Karlsburg, today Alba Iulia, Romania), Count of Mongatsch
  10. Philipp (born September 16, 1627 in The Hague; died December 16, 1650 in the Battle of Rethel , burial place in the parish church of Saint Charles, Sedan ), Lorraine horseman
  11. Charlotte (born December 19, 1628 in The Hague, † January 24, 1631 in The Hague, burial place in the court and collegiate chapel, later French monastery church, The Hague, Netherlands)
  12. Sophie (born October 14, 1630 in The Hague, † June 8, 1714 in Herrenhausen , burial place in the Guelph mausoleum in the Herrenhausen mountain garden in Hanover ); ∞ in Heidelberg since October 17, 1658 with Ernst August, Elector of Hanover
  13. Gustav Adolf (born January 14, 1632 in The Hague; † January 9, 1641, burial place in the court and collegiate chapel, later French monastery church, The Hague, Netherlands)

Electress of the Palatinate

Through the marriage connection with the House of Stuart , a refined cultural life found its way into the court of Frederick V, who, due to the English influence, was increasingly committed to strictly Protestant and knightly humanist ideals. Elisabeth brought with her a penchant for pomp and extravagance, which her husband shared. Despite their marriage, initiated for purely political reasons, the electoral couple had a happy marriage for life. Frederick V had for his wife in Heidelberg Castle its own "English Building" and a menagerie built and the construction of a then-British flavor corresponding new castle garden, the Hortus Palatinus begin with the installation of Elisabeth in the Palatinate traveled famous landscape architect Salomon de Caus was entrusted.

Elisabeth had her first three children in the first five years of her marriage, but during this time she indulged in her luxurious, carefree activities, which she was able to finance with her English pension, among other things. For example, she took part in numerous festivals, banquets and hunts. Such a lifestyle was previously unknown at the electoral court and was just as little popular with her new subjects as her little effort to learn German well. Nevertheless, she was extremely engaging because of her charm and attractiveness. She had brought a large retinue of almost 400 people with her, and Hans Meinhard von Schönberg often had to ensure that there was not too much tension between her English servants and the court staff of Frederick V.

The political position of Frederick V, who saw himself as the leader of the Protestant forces in the empire against the Catholic Habsburg emperor, had been increased by his marriage to a princess of royal blood. This also increased the ambitious plans of his advisors, of whom in particular Christian I von Anhalt-Bernburg often led the government for the sometimes depressed, also politically inexperienced elector.

Queen of Bohemia

Elizabeth Stuart (around 1623)

After the second lintel in Prague (May 23, 1618), which ushered in the beginning of the Thirty Years' War , Frederick V initially only supported the rebellious Bohemian Protestants against the Habsburgs in secret. A Heidelberg war party to which Christian von Anhalt belonged soon worked to ensure that its elector would be made King of Bohemia in place of Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria (later Emperor Ferdinand II ). After the death of Emperor Matthias (March 20, 1619), the Bohemian estates decided to depose Ferdinand (August 17) and elect the Palatinate Elector as their new king (August 26, 1619). Only two days later, however, Ferdinand was himself elected Roman-German Emperor.

Frederick V asked for time to think about whether he should accept the crown offered to him. Several Protestant allies, including James I of England, strictly advised him against this adventurous plan. Elisabeth, on the other hand, is said to have encouraged her husband to accept his choice, according to frequent later allegations, so that she could in future take a position worthy of her royal ancestry. Even if this assumption cannot be substantiated, it is certain that at least she did not prevent him and wrote him to willingly follow his decision and, if necessary, to pledge her diamonds and other treasures to finance this company. The elector himself stated that religious reasons were decisive for the far-reaching decision he ultimately made to accept his election as king; he followed a call from God that he supposedly had heard.

In October 1619 Frederick V, his wife and numerous entourage traveled to Prague, where they arrived on October 31. In St. Vitus Cathedral there , Elisabeth, who was heavily pregnant with her fourth child, Ruprecht, was crowned Queen of Bohemia on November 7, 1619 three days after her husband. However, tensions soon arose between the local population on the one hand and the new royal couple and their court on the other. For example, the zealous Calvinist court preacher of Frederick V, Abraham Scultetus , acted as an iconoclast in the churches of Prague at Christmas 1619 to the outrage of the Bohemians . Many Bohemians also found it inappropriate that their “winter king” bathed naked in the Vltava river in front of his wife and her ladies-in- waiting, or that Elisabeth wore extremely daring clothes and kept dogs and monkeys in her vicinity.

Meanwhile concluded Ferdinand II. In October 1619 with the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I as head of the Catholic League countries and Elector dignity promised an alliance and this for military support Frederick V. In addition, the emperor with the Lutheran Elector allied Johann Georg of Saxony, Lusatia should receive as a reward . Spain also joined the alliance on the condition that it was allowed to attack the Lower Palatinate . In contrast, Frederick V received practically no support from friendly Protestant countries. While the Spanish general Spinola attacked the almost unprotected Electoral Palatinate in August 1620, the troops of Maximilian and Johann Georg , led by Tilly , invaded Bohemia soon afterwards. In September Elisabeth wrote to her brother Karl urgently to ask her father Jakob I to support Frederick V.

After the devastating defeat in the battle of the White Mountain on November 8, 1620 near Prague against the troops of the Catholic princes under Tilly, Elisabeth, again heavily pregnant, fled with her husband to Breslau , from where she wrote her father to pity him you have, but in any case she will not leave her husband. In this difficult situation, she showed great self-discipline and courage. During the Christmas period of 1620 she found shelter in Küstrin, where she gave birth to her son Moritz, but with her entourage was insufficiently supplied with food. After their husband's arrival in Küstrin, the escaped couple had to move on to Berlin . It was not very welcome there, but its children were given a safe haven at the court of Elector Georg Wilhelm . Elisabeth's eldest daughter , whose name was the same as her mother, lived in Berlin during the first years of her life, where she had been brought by her grandmother Luise Juliana . Frederick V, on 29 January 1621 in part due to on the Emperor Ferdinand II. Landfriedensbruch the imperial ban imposed, and his wife Elisabeth, however, soon left Berlin and traveled via Wolfenbüttel to the Netherlands. Here they were honored by the governor Moritz von Oranien , a half-brother of Frederick's mother, received on April 14, 1621 in The Hague.

Long exile in the Netherlands

Life until the death of Frederick V

Elisabeth Stuart (painting by Gerrit van Honthorst , 1642)

In the Netherlands, Elisabeth and Friedrich V now resided in The Hague, had eight more children and soon set up a government in exile. At least initially they received generous financial support from the States General. Due to the Dutch and English donations that were transferred to them, the princely couple could allow themselves to continue to lead an extremely lavish life in the 1620s. Elisabeth, who now played a much more important political role than before, had herself and her family portrayed by renowned Dutch painters such as Gerrit van Honthorst and Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt and sent some of these paintings to various of her supporters.

In the political field, Elisabeth and her husband suffered further major setbacks. Bohemia became Catholic, in April 1621 the Protestant Union dissolved itself, in 1622–1623 Frederick V completely lost his Palatinate hereditary lands to the imperial, Spaniards and Bavaria transferred from Bavaria. The hopes of the couple living in exile rested largely on English help. Elisabeth found diplomatic rather than military support from her father, apart from the aid money with which one paid for the actions of the mercenary leader Mansfeld ; rather, Jacob I sought a compromise with Spain, which was holding the Electoral Palatinate, because it represented an important stage for the Spaniards on the land route to the Spanish Netherlands and the scene of the Eighty Years War . Jacob I even sent his son Karl after Madrid to promote an alliance and his marriage to a Spanish princess, both of which were unsuccessful. Elisabeth always vigorously advocated the Palatinate cause with her relatives.

Elisabeth's court in The Hague developed into a spiritual center of Protestant society. It corresponded to the ideal of beauty of the time. It was named the Pearl of Britain (German: Pearl of Britannia ), England's Rose and, not least because of its charm, Queen of Hearts (German: Queen of Hearts ). She received almost ritual admiration from many admirers, such as the English diplomat Sir Thomas Roe or generals who were ready to fight for their cause in Germany. She was adored in a chivalrous sense by her cousin, the militarily daring but also prone to violence young Duke Christian von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . He is said to have attached one of Elisabeth's gloves to his helmet and swore that he would only take the glove off once he had succeeded in reinstating his beloved lady's husband in his kingdom. In addition, he provided his troops with standard marks on which " Pour dieu et pour elle " (ie " For God and for her ") had been embroidered in French as a reference to Elisabeth . Militarily, however, he did not succeed in regaining the Electoral Palatinate for Frederick V with his mercenary army. In 1626 he died of a high fever at the age of only 26.

After Elizabeth's brother Karl and the Duke of Buckingham returned disappointed from their unsuccessful bridal trip to Madrid in 1623, they urged King James I to adopt an anti-Spanish war policy. This seemed to improve Frederick V's prospects in his Palatinate cause. Elisabeth now expected the help of Charles. But after the death of her father (March 27, 1625) and her brother's accession to the throne as Charles I, she soon saw the war strategy failed. Your advisor and authorized representative in London, Johann Joachim von Rusdorf , blamed the Duke of Buckingham, who in turn saw Elizabeth's Dutch court as an opponent of his policy. Frederick V and his wife then rejected the proposal of the Duke, who had traveled to The Hague in November 1625, to make his daughter the wife of a son of Elizabeth. Elizabeth did not regret the murder of Buckingham on August 23, 1628.

Palace of the Winter King in Rhenen (Netherlands), completed in 1631

Even the military incursion of the Danish King Christian IV into the empire in favor of the German Protestants did not help Frederick V's return plans. In the Battle of Lutter , the Danish king was completely defeated by Tilly in 1626 and finally concluded the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629 . Elisabeth was upset that her brother Karl ended the war against Spain in 1630 without taking Frederick V's claims into account. But she continued to enjoy great sympathy in England, especially among strict Protestants. The drowning of her eldest son Heinrich Friedrich (1629) and the early death of her only two-year-old daughter Charlotte (1631) caused further grief. 1629–31 she and her husband had a palace built in Rhenen , where the ex-king liked to go hunting; she received many English visitors in the royal palace; The building later fell to the Hanover House through her daughter Sophie, but was demolished in 1812.

The victories of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf in 1631 awakened new hopes in Friedrich V. Letter requests from Elisabeth to her brother to ally with Sweden and to intervene militarily in Germany for the interests of the Palatinate dynasty were ultimately unsuccessful. Frederick V joined the Swedish conqueror, but his reinstatement in the Palatinate only played a secondary role in his plans. Shortly after Gustav Adolf fell in the Battle of Lützen (November 16, 1632), Friedrich V, who was immensely disappointed, died in Mainz on November 29, 1632 due to a pestilent fever, probably the plague. His wife Elisabeth was shocked by his death and wrote to her royal brother that she had been afraid for the first time in her life and that she had not been able to eat or sleep for three days. But she refused an offer from Charles to return to England, as this would have meant giving up her claims and those of her children for the reimbursement of the Electoral Palatinate.

Widowhood

Elisabeth now received the payments from the States General that had hitherto been granted to her husband and occasionally continued to indulge in hunting and riding. Above all, however, she campaigned for the fate of her children over the next few years. So she and Wilhelm von Hessen gathered a small army in July 1633 in order to occupy the Palatinate, and she tried to influence her brother Karl I to assert his influence in favor of her oldest living son and heir of the Palatinate, Karl Ludwig made. But the king did not take any decisive steps in the interests of their concern; their relations with the English court were rather strained in the 1630s. After Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester , a good, influential friend of Elizabeth's and Secretary of State since the end of 1628 , died on February 15, 1632, Sir Thomas Roe acted as Elizabeth's closest confidante in England, even if he did not hold court office. Although she was on friendly terms with some other important politicians in her home country, she only had very few really ardent supporters at the English court, such as Georg Rodolf Weckherlin . The official representative of Elisabeth in her home country, Sir Francis Nethersole , did not behave very diplomatically and with this behavior harmed her Palatinate interests. When at the end of 1633 he accused Karl I in a letter of indifference to Elisabeth's political wishes, the disgruntled King had Nethersole imprisoned and Elisabeth had to release her confidante.

The reconquest of the Palatinate by the Imperialists and the Peace of Prague (May 30, 1635) dashed the hopes of Karl Ludwig, who, on the advice of his mother Elisabeth and soon followed by his younger brother Ruprecht, traveled to London to seek help from Charles I. . He did not want to support his nephews militarily, but only through negotiations. When the brothers later decided to try to recapture their inheritance by force of arms, they were defeated near Gohfeld after a unsuccessful siege of Lemgo in October 1638 , after which Karl Ludwig was able to escape, while Ruprecht was imprisoned by Emperor Ferdinand III. and was only released in 1641. Karl Ludwig was arrested again on a trip through France in October 1639 on the orders of Richelieu and interned until August 1640. This confirmed Elisabeth in her rejection of a closer cooperation with France that her advisor Rusdorf had recommended.

After the outbreak of the English Civil War between supporters of Charles I and those of Parliament (1642), Elizabeth's annual English pension was suspended at £ 12,000. Her financial situation became more and more critical over time and she increasingly depended on the goodwill of Dutch lenders, mostly merchants. Her close and permanent friend, Lord William Craven , who first came to The Hague in 1632, often supported her in her need. That he was her lover or secret husband does not seem to be based on truth; on the contrary, he must have always honored her sincerely and sympathetically. After the end of the civil war, his property was confiscated for his support for Charles I. Of Elisabeth's sons, Ruprecht and Moritz fought for their uncle King Karl I in the civil war, while Karl Ludwig tended towards the party of parliament. Elisabeth herself seems to have shared Ruprecht's and Moritz's view, but asked the English Parliament several times for further money transfers. After the execution of Charles I (January 30, 1649) mourned Elisabeth these very, all contacts broke off with its opponents and now hated the later Lord Protector appointed Oliver Cromwell . She got great support from her niece Maria Henrietta Stuart , who had been Princess of Orange since 1649 and with whom she developed a lifelong, close relationship.

In the last 15 years of her life, Elisabeth's relationship with most of her children deteriorated. Her youngest daughter Sophie later claimed that Elisabeth did not like small children and preferred the company of her dogs and monkeys to them; therefore she had her daughters raised in suffering until they were adults. After the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War, Karl Ludwig was given back part of his Palatinate hereditary lands, namely the Rhineland Palatinate, where he now resided; in addition, an eighth cure was created for him. Elisabeth was promised a Wittum of 20,000 thalers by the emperor. But disputes between Karl Ludwig and his mother meant that she did not come to the Palatinate as intended, but continued to live in the Netherlands. Elisabeth received from Karl Ludwig only an annual financial support of 6000 thalers and after the fall of the House of Orange , the previous monetary benefits of the Dutch States General have not been received since 1650. She therefore had to live with the remaining family in relative poverty and found it difficult to defend herself from her creditors.

As a lifelong religious Protestant, it pained Elisabeth very much that her son Eduard converted to Catholicism in 1645. In 1646 her son Philipp murdered the French nobleman Jacques d'Espinay in The Hague, who was alleged to have been Elisabeth's lover. This act drew Philip the deep resentment of his mother, and he fled the States General. However, the murder also led to Elisabeth's eldest daughter of the same name, who later became abbess of Herford , falling out with her mother. Sophie, on the other hand, after her planned marriage to the future English King Charles II had not materialized, wrested her reluctant mother Elisabeth's permission in 1650 to leave her household and move to the court of her brother Karl Ludwig; her sister Elisabeth did the same. The brother Moritz, who was a pirate in his last lifetime, was lost in 1652 after a shipwreck. Luise Hollandine, who was the last of her siblings to still live with her mother, left her at the end of 1657 in secret and in a hurry, went to France and, like her brother Eduard, became a Catholic. Elisabeth, who was painfully moved by this, never forgave her daughter for this behavior. Ruprecht was her favorite son in Elisabeth's later years.

Return to England and death

After the House of Stuarts came back to power in England with the accession to the throne of Elizabeth's nephew Charles II (May 1660), Elizabeth planned to return to her home country. However, this was delayed because of her debts, and she waited in vain for an invitation from Charles II. In the second half of 1660, the English parliament granted her a total of £ 20,000 to pay her debts, but this money was not transferred to her. In the end, her Dutch creditors agreed to her departure because they probably believed that Elisabeth would get the £ 20,000 that had been granted to her paid off more quickly and use it to settle her debts. Despite attempts by Charles II to prevent her from returning, she left her host country, the Netherlands, after a 40-year stay and re-entered English soil after a ship voyage at the end of May 1661. She was not officially received there.

Elisabeth, meanwhile, enjoyed again the friendship of Lord Craven, who made his house with beautiful gardens in Drury Lane in London available to her as a residence. Charles II granted her a pension and promised that Parliament would satisfy her creditors as much as possible. Her son Ruprecht treated her very lovingly. On February 8, 1662 she moved to her own domicile, Leicester House in Leicester Fields, but died there five days later on February 13 at the age of 65 in the presence of Ruprecht, presumably of bronchitis . Her death went almost unnoticed, only her burial on February 17, 1662 in Westminster Abbey was pompous. In her will she named her eldest living son as heir, but bequeathed the remaining jewelry to her favorite son Ruprecht and her papers and family portraits to Lord Craven, who kept them in the Combe Abbey he had acquired.

Ancestral mother of the later British kings

Due to the Act of Settlement passed by the English Parliament in 1701 , Elisabeth's youngest daughter Sophie , the only Protestant descendant of the kings of England and Scotland after the heir to the throne Anne Stuart , was appointed heir to the throne of these countries. Sophia's son, Elector George I of Hanover, ascended the British throne in 1714. Elisabeth Stuart became the ancestor of all the monarchs in Great Britain.

literature

Web links

Commons : Elisabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. In some sources August 16, 1596 is given as the date of birth (Ronald G. Asch, in: ODNB, vol. 18, p. 86).
  2. Ronald G. Asch, ODNB, Vol. 18, pp. 85f .; Adolphus William Ward, DNB, Vol. 17, pp. 233f.
  3. Günter Barudio: Gustav Adolf the Great , Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-596-14197-4 , p 150f.
  4. Ronald G. Asch: Elizabeth, Princess (Elisabeth Stuart) , in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), Vol. 18 (2004), pp. 86f.
  5. Adolphus William Ward: Elizabeth (1596–1662) , in: Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), Vol. 17 (1889), pp. 234f. ( online )
  6. Hans Rall and Marga Rall: Die Wittelsbacher in Lebensbildern , updated paperback edition Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-24597-8 , p. 265.
  7. Ronald G. Asch, ODNB, Vol. 18, p. 87; Adolphus William Ward, DNB, Vol. 17, p. 235.
  8. Ronald G. Asch, ODNB, Vol. 18, pp. 87f .; Adolphus William Ward, DNB, Vol. 17, pp. 235f.
  9. Ronald G. Asch: Elizabeth, Princess (Elisabeth Stuart) , in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), Vol. 18 (2004), pp. 88f.
  10. Adolphus William Ward: Elizabeth (1596–1662) , in: Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), Vol. 17 (1889), pp. 236f. ( online )
  11. Ronald G. Asch, ODNB, Vol. 18, pp. 89ff .; Adolphus William Ward, DNB, Vol. 17, pp. 237f.
  12. Ronald G. Asch, ODNB, Vol. 18, p. 91; Adolphus William Ward, DNB, Vol. 17, pp. 238f.