Editing George I of Great Britain (section)

==Marriage==
[[File:George I as Prince of Hanover.jpg|thumb|left|George in 1680, aged 20, when he was Prince of Hanover. After a painting by [[Godfrey Kneller]].]]
In 1682, George married Sophia Dorothea of [[Celle]], the daughter of his uncle George William, thereby securing additional incomes that would have been outside Salic laws. This [[marriage of state]] was arranged primarily to ensure a healthy annual income, and assisted the eventual unification of Hanover and Celle. His mother at first opposed the marriage because she looked down on Sophia Dorothea's mother, [[Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse|Eleonore]] (who came from lower French nobility), and because she was concerned by Sophia Dorothea's legitimated status. She was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage.<ref>Hatton, pp. 36, 42.</ref>

In 1683, George and his brother Frederick Augustus served in the [[Great Turkish War]] at the [[Battle of Vienna]], and Sophia Dorothea bore George a son, [[George II of Great Britain|George Augustus]]. The following year, Frederick Augustus was informed of the adoption of primogeniture, meaning he would no longer receive part of his father's territory as he had expected. This led to a breach between Frederick Augustus and his father, and between the brothers, that lasted until his death in battle in 1690. With the imminent formation of a single Hanoverian state, and the Hanoverians' continuing contributions to the Empire's wars, Ernest Augustus was made an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. George's prospects were now better than ever as the sole heir to his father's electorate and his uncle's duchy.<ref>Hatton, pp. 43–46.</ref>

Sophia Dorothea had a second child, a daughter named after her, in 1687, but there were no other pregnancies. The couple became estranged—George preferred the company of his mistress, [[Melusine von der Schulenburg]], and Sophia Dorothea had her own romance with the Swedish Count [[Philip Christoph von Königsmarck]]. Threatened with the scandal of an elopement, the Hanoverian court, including George's brothers and mother, urged the lovers to desist, but to no avail. According to diplomatic sources from Hanover's enemies, in July 1694, the Swedish count was killed, possibly with George's connivance, and his body thrown into the river [[Leine]] weighted with stones. The murder was claimed to have been committed by four of Ernest Augustus's courtiers, one of whom, Don Nicolò Montalbano, was paid the enormous sum of 150,000 [[thaler]]s, about one hundred times the annual salary of the highest-paid minister.<ref name="pp51">Hatton, pp. 51–61.</ref> Later rumours supposed that Königsmarck was hacked to pieces and buried beneath the Hanover palace floorboards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Farquhar |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq |title=A Treasury of Royal Scandals |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7394-2025-6 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/152 152] |url-access=registration}}</ref> However, sources in Hanover itself, including Sophia, denied any knowledge of Königsmarck's whereabouts.<ref name="pp51" />

George's marriage to Sophia Dorothea was dissolved, not on the grounds that either of them had committed adultery, but on the grounds that Sophia Dorothea had abandoned her husband. With her father's agreement, George had Sophia Dorothea imprisoned in [[Ahlden House]] in her native [[Celle]], where she stayed until she died more than thirty years later. She was denied access to her children and father, forbidden to remarry and only allowed to walk unaccompanied within the mansion courtyard. She was, however, endowed with an income, establishment, and servants, and allowed to ride in a carriage outside her castle under supervision.<ref>Hatton, pp. 60–64.</ref> Melusine von der Schulenburg acted as George's hostess openly from 1698 until his death, and they had three daughters together, born in 1692, 1693 and 1701.<ref name=kilburn/>