Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle was the repudiated wife of future King George I of Great Britain. The union with George, her first cousin, was a marriage of state, arranged by her father George William, her father-in-law the Elector of Hanover, and her mother-in-law, Electress Sophia of Hanover, first cousin of King Charles II of England. Sophia Dorothea is best remembered for her alleged affair with Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck that led to her being imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden for the last thirty years of her life.
Portrait from the 1690s. Currently displayed at the Residence Museum (Residenzmuseum) in Celle Castle.
Sophia Dorothea with her two children, by Jacques Vaillant, ca. 1690–1691. Currently displayed at the Bomann-Museum in Celle.
Sophia Dorothea, by Henri Gascar, 1686. Currently displayed at the Celle Castle museum.
Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, anonymous portrait, ca. 1690s. Currently displayed at the Celle Castle museum.
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover.
Portrait from studio of Godfrey Kneller, 1714
George in 1680, aged 20, when he was Prince of Hanover. After a painting by Godfrey Kneller.
George in 1706, when he was Elector of Hanover. After Johann Leonhard Hirschmann.
George c. 1714, the year of his succession, as painted by Godfrey Kneller