George I (King of Great Britain)

Georg, Elector of Hanover

Georg Ludwig of Hanover was born on May 28, 1660 in Hanover on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire .

As the son of Ernst Augustus , the first Elector of Braunschweig , Prince George Ludwig received the rights to the British crown thanks to his mother, Princess Sophia of Hanover , granddaughter of Jacob I , as well as the Succession Act adopted by the English Parliament in 1701 . According to this Act, Catholics could not occupy the thrones of England and Scotland; Princess Sofia turned out to be the closest Protestant relative of the Stuart house.

In 1682, George married his cousin, Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Zell . Two children were born from this marriage - son George (future English king George II) and daughter Sofia Dorothea (future mother of the Prussian king Frederick the Great ). But the union did not last long - in 1687, the prince broke up with his wife.

In 1698 , after the death of his father, Georg Ludwig inherited the Braunschweig Elector. At his court, such luminaries of culture and science as the mathematician Gottfried von Leibniz and composer Georg Handel worked. The latter went to England in 1714 with his patron.

George's mother, Sofia, the heiress of the English throne, died a few weeks before the death of the British Queen Anne , who followed on August 1, 1714 . Georg initially did not want to occupy the British throne, but Hanoverian advisers persuaded him to accept the crown. He arrived in London on September 18 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey .

In 1715, an uprising of the Jacobites broke out in England, wishing to see on the throne the brother of the late Anna, Catholic Jacob (James) Stuart . The ruling circles of Britain did not like the German king, but still did not want the throne to occupy the pro-French Stuart . Soon, the uprising was crushed.

When the bride of Jacob, Maria Clementine, was heading to a wedding in Rome through Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor arrested her. He did this to reassure King George I, who feared that the offspring of Jacob, who might be born in this marriage, would continue to continue the Stuart’s claim to the British throne in the future.

In 1717, George was actively involved in the creation of the anti-Spanish Triple Alliance of Britain, France and the Netherlands. George Hanover was little interested in the internal affairs of Great Britain - all power was concentrated in the hands of the cabinet of ministers, which had been headed by Robert Walpole since 1721; Walpole, the most powerful man of his time, in historiography is considered to be the first prime minister of Great Britain . In the future, he increasingly visited his native Germany, which always remained closer to his soul than Great Britain. On the way to Hanover, he died. He was buried there in the princely tomb of the Lane Palace, in 1957 the ashes were transferred to the Welfare Mausoleum. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George II .

King George I, who for a long time was considered a man of ignorance and stupid, knew Latin , understood in Dutch and Italian. Some sources also mention that he was fluent in French ^[4] , which is called into question by a number of researchers. This attitude was formed due to the fact that George of Hanover did not like the country that he became king of after the death of Anna Stewart .

For a long time, it was believed that King George I did not know how to speak English. However, some historical sources mention that the sovereign could perfectly speak English, as well as write in this language ^[5] .

George, king of Great Britain, did not like public events. He liked spending time in the company of close friends, playing cards with them ^[6] .

Wife: from November 21, 1682 (divorce December 28, 1694 ) Sofia Dorothea Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Zell ( September 15, 1666 - November 13, 1726 ), daughter of the Duke George II Wilhelm Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Zell . They had two children:

• George Augustus ( November 10, 1683 - October 25, 1760 ), King of Great Britain and Ireland (George II), Elector of Braunschweig-Luneburg;
• Sophia Dorothea ( March 16, 1687 - June 28, 1757 ), married King of Prussia Frederick William I , mother of Frederick II .

In addition, George I also had three illegitimate daughters from his mistress Melusina von der Schulenburg :

• Anna-Louise-Sofia (1692-1773);
• Petronella Melusin (1693-1778);
• Margarita-Gertrude (1701-1728).

• George I, King of England // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Beattie, John M. The English Court in the Reign of George I. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
• Hatton, Ragnhild. George I: Elector and King. - London: Thames and Hudson, 1978. - ISBN 0-500-25060-X .
• Plumb, JH The First Four Georges. - 1956.