Divorced at 28,Never Allowed to See Her Children Again–The Tragic Life of the Wife of King George I

On the 13th of November 1726, in a small castle on a heath in northern Germany, a woman of sixty died after thirty-two years as a prisoner. Her husband, by then the King of Great Britain, ordered that nobody should wear mourning for her, and she was buried at night, in secret. This documentary follows Sophia Dorothea of Celle: the only surviving child of a duke and a Huguenot noblewoman, married at sixteen to her cousin George Louis, the future George I, and the mother of the future George II and of a Queen in Prussia. It tells the story of the court of Hanover, her relationship with the Swedish count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, the night in July 1694 when he disappeared and was never seen again, the divorce on grounds of desertion, her thirty-two years at Ahlden House, and the legend of the curse. Built from historians' accounts and surviving letters. Where the sources disagree, for example about the date of Königsmarck's disappearance, who gave the order, whether the affair was physical, or whether the curse legend has any truth, the video says so. CHAPTERS 0:00 “No court had ever shown in public…” 1:24 Born at Celle, 1666 1:46 Her mother, a Huguenot duchess 3:17 The marriage that united Celle and Hanover 5:25 The court of Hanover 6:32 Königsmarck arrives 7:25 The letters 9:07 The night he vanished 10:10 Who killed Königsmarck? What we know 11:40 Divorce at twenty-eight 12:38 Ahlden House: the rules 14:25 Never seeing her children again 15:07 George becomes King of Great Britain 15:59 Her last letter and death, 1726 16:39 No mourning, a burial at night 17:01 The legend of the curse 18:20 What the story cost 19:39 The crypt at Celle 20:20 How should we remember her? SOURCES Wikipedia articles on Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, George I of Great Britain, Ahlden House and Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse; History of Royal Women, "Sophia Dorothea of Celle – The Prisoner of Ahlden". W. H. Wilkins, The Love of an Uncrowned Queen (1900); Georg Schnath's edition of the correspondence (1952). Maps: Ducatus Luneburgensis, Mellinger/Blaeu (17th century). Paintings and prints by Godfrey Kneller, Pierre Mignard, Antoine Pesne and others (public domain). Some scenes are illustrated with newly created artwork in the style of the period. #SophiaDorothea #GeorgeI #RoyalHistory #Documentary MUSIC "Hidden Past", "Dark Times", "Oppressive Gloom", "Mourning Song", "Heartbreaking", "Echoes of Time v2" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...) Piano recordings by Kimiko Ishizaka (CC0); Brahms and Vivaldi performances from Wikimedia Commons (public domain / CC0).