11/21/1682 AD married

From its early days, the marriage was a complete failure. George Louis and his mother, Sophia of the Palatinate, had accepted the union, but felt contempt towards Sophia Dorothea, believing that her birth and manners were inferior.

Explaining her reluctant support for the marriage, Duchess Sophia wrote to her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans:

"One hundred thousand thalers a year is a goodly sum to pocket, without speaking of a pretty wife, who will find a match in my son George Louis, the most pigheaded, stubborn boy who ever lived, who has round his brains such a thick crust that I defy any man or woman ever to discover what is in them. He does not care much for the match itself, but one hundred thousand thalers a year have tempted him as they would have tempted anybody else".

George Louis treated his bride with coldness and formality. He frequently scolded her for her lack of etiquette, and the two had loud and bitter arguments.

Nevertheless, they managed to conceive two children:

• George Augustus (future King George II of Great Britain)
• Sophia Dorothea (future Queen consort in Prussia and Electress consort of Brandenburg)

Having done his duty by the succession, George Louis acquired a mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, and started increasingly to neglect his wife. His parents asked him to be more circumspect with his mistress, fearful that a disruption in the marriage would threaten the payment of the 100,000 thalers he was to receive as part of Sophia Dorothea's dowry and inheritance from her father.

Hanover / Hannover

Lattitude: 52.3666° N
Longitude: 9.7166° E
Region: Europe

Modern Day Germany

Events in 1682 MORE