What do you think?
Sophia of Hanover: From Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630–1714
The detailed memoirs and letters of a gifted and prolific chronicler provide an insider's view of life for the top echelons of society in the 16th century.
Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630--1714), granddaughter of James I, and mother of George I, is best remembered as the link between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover. A true European, Sophia spoke English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian fluently, and was open-minded and intellectually curious. Her writings cover an astonishing variety of subjects: religion, philosophy, international gossip, household hints, politics, and the details of her family life.
Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630--1714), granddaughter of James I, and mother of George I, is best remembered as the link between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover. A true European, Sophia spoke English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian fluently, and was open-minded and intellectually curious. Her writings cover an astonishing variety of subjects: religion, philosophy, international gossip, household hints, politics, and the details of her family life.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 19, 2012
She could have become Queen of England. I'm certainly filling the gaps of my knowledge of the Royal family by reading books like these. Very interesting and enjoyable.
January 22, 2014
Despite being taken from the subjects letters this is very dry and hard going. Thank the Lord it is only 150 odd pages rather than the 300 the barcode tells me!!!!
May 1, 2018
[Note: I did NOT read Kindle version; got the book from Amazon UK]
This is a lot like Black Sheep, which was also written using letters, and I gave it only three stars because there's so little in the book to reveal much of what occurred in Sophia's life; I'm hoping the new book on Elizabeth of Bohemia's four daughters will make up for that. However, I knew almost nothing about Sophia before I read it; her brother, Rupert of the Rhine, is the only one known at all to English readers because he was such a strong "character" in the life of Charles II. From what I read, I really liked Sophia, and I was somewhat less disgusted with her oldest son, George Louis, who became George I of Britain after this read. How interesting that Sophia always considered herself a friend of James II (and considered his son, the "Old Pretender," the Prince of Wales; perhaps she thought of him that way also, considering her only son who lived beyond infancy was the Duke of Gloucester, instead). Sophia is sort of a phantom in British history, the Protestant heiress to the throne. She was quite a bit older than Anne, yet died only 65 days before her. This book makes it quite clear that Anne kept Sophia and George Louis from Britain for years, even after her son's death; perhaps if she had made a better choice, the Hanovers wouldn't have been such strangers to Britain when they finally arrived. The Hanovers would still have been foreigners for many, many years, but it might have helped.
This is a lot like Black Sheep, which was also written using letters, and I gave it only three stars because there's so little in the book to reveal much of what occurred in Sophia's life; I'm hoping the new book on Elizabeth of Bohemia's four daughters will make up for that. However, I knew almost nothing about Sophia before I read it; her brother, Rupert of the Rhine, is the only one known at all to English readers because he was such a strong "character" in the life of Charles II. From what I read, I really liked Sophia, and I was somewhat less disgusted with her oldest son, George Louis, who became George I of Britain after this read. How interesting that Sophia always considered herself a friend of James II (and considered his son, the "Old Pretender," the Prince of Wales; perhaps she thought of him that way also, considering her only son who lived beyond infancy was the Duke of Gloucester, instead). Sophia is sort of a phantom in British history, the Protestant heiress to the throne. She was quite a bit older than Anne, yet died only 65 days before her. This book makes it quite clear that Anne kept Sophia and George Louis from Britain for years, even after her son's death; perhaps if she had made a better choice, the Hanovers wouldn't have been such strangers to Britain when they finally arrived. The Hanovers would still have been foreigners for many, many years, but it might have helped.
May 1, 2021
Quite an interesting account of the life of Sophia of Hanover!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews