House of Stuart - Sophia of Hanover
Name: Sophia of Hanover
Father: Frederick V of Bohemia
Mother: Elizabeth Stuart (daughter of James I)
Born: Oct 13, 1630 at The Hague
Married: Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, on September 30, 1658
Children: 7 children. Her eldest was George who became King George I of England
Died: June 8, 1714 at Herrenhausen, Germany, aged 83 years, 7 months, and 24 days
Buried at: Herrenhausen, Germany
Sophia was a granddaughter of James I of England (James VI of Scotland) through her mother Elizabeth Stuart daughter of James. She was born in The Hague but moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where she married Ernst August who became Elector of Hanover. She was an intelligent and cultivated lady who was well read in the works of Rene Decartes and Spinoza. She had seven children and lived at Herrenhausen.
The death of Queen Anne’s only surviving child, The Duke of Gloucester, in 1700 led to the Act of Settlement under which Sophia as the nearest Protestant relative and 2nd cousin to Anne was made heiress presumptive to the English crown. She would have become Queen Sophia of England had she not died just two months before Anne. Instead her eldest son George Ludwig became King George I and founder of the Hanoverian dynasty of British monarchs.