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Sophia Dorothea of Celle- The Lady in the Tower
Born the only child of the Duke George William of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1666, Sophia Dorothea was illegitimate. Her mother was the Duke’s long standing mistress, Éléonore Marie d’Esmier d’Olbreuse, an exiled French Protestant aristocrat. They weren’t even supposed to be together, and Sophia Dorothea was not supposed to exist. George William was supposed to marry Princess Sophia, daughter of the Palatine King of Bohemia (For more on her, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/sophia-of-hanover/) George William was so repulsed by the “mannish” Sophia, he traded his claim to the duchy of Hanover to his brother, Ernst Augustus, so he’d take her off his hands. Item: If you look at her picture,…
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La Petite Struensee
In an earlier post, we told the story of the tragic Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. She had an affair with her deranged husband’s doctor and had a child by him. (For more on that story, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/princess-caroline-matilda-unhappily-ever/ ) She was sent in to exile and never saw her children again. What happened to the little girl they called La Petite Struensee in reference to her bastard parentage? Louise Auguste was born July 7, 1771 at Hirschholm Palace in Denmark. She was heralded as the child of King Christian VII of Denmark and his wife Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, but it was an open secret that…
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Princess Caroline Matilda- Unhappily Ever After
Despite what the fairy tales tell you, the life of a princess is not happily ever after. A prime example of this is the life of Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. She was born on July 22, 1751 the daughter of the Frederick, the Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. In keeping with Hanoverian tradition, Frederick and his father King George II hated each other as hard as they could. However, Frederick died suddenly three months before Caroline Matilda’s birth. She was named after her grandmother, Queen Caroline, and her paternal aunt, Princess Caroline. (Read more about Princess Caroline in this post: http://www.historynaked.com/princess-caroline-great-britain/ ) To keep things…
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The Delicate Investigation
George, the Prince Regent of England and the soon to be George IV, hated his wife. I don’t mean they didn’t get on well together, I mean he loathed the sight of her. When Caroline of Brunswick was introduced to her future husband, George embraced her then retreated to the other side of the room where he flagged down the Earl of Malmesbury. With a face as white as a sheet, he begged the Earl, “Harris, I am not very well, pray get me a glass of brandy”. Then George proceeded to continue to drink for the three days prior to the wedding and be massively drunk throughout the entire…
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The Darien Scheme
Scottish settlement in America brings to mind Nova Scotia or any of the original thirteen colonies. There was one Scottish settlement which is much less known, but is just as important if not more so. Since the crowns of England and Scotland had been united under James I, the fortunes of the two countries were tied closer than ever. However, things were not rosy in Scotland. Poverty, war, famine and homelessness was plaguing the land and threatening to have the Scottish identity swallowed up by their more prosperous neighbors the the south. William Paterson, a Scot who had made his fortune as one of the founding directors of the Bank…
