Editing Sophia of Hanover (section)

== Marriage ==
[[File:Sophie of Hanover.jpg|thumb|Sophia, Princess Palatine, and Electress of Brunswick-Lüneburg]]
Before her marriage, Sophia, as the daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, was referred to as Sophie, Princess Palatine of the Rhine, or as Sophia of the Palatinate. The [[Prince-elector|Electors]] of the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]] were the [[Calvinist]] senior branch of [[House of Wittelsbach]], whose Catholic branch ruled the [[Electorate of Bavaria]].

On 30 September 1658, she married [[Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg|Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg]], at [[Heidelberg]], who in 1692 became the first [[prince-elector|Elector]] of [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]].<ref name=Cavendish>{{cite web| url = https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/sophia-hanover-dies| title = Cavendish, Richard. "Sophia of Hanover Dies", ''History Today'', Vol. 64 Issue 6, June 2014}}</ref> Ernest Augustus was a second cousin of Sophia's mother [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia]], as they were both great-grandchildren of [[Christian III of Denmark]].

Sophia became a friend and admirer of [[Gottfried Leibniz]] while he was librarian at the Court of Hanover.<ref name=Cavendish/> Their friendship lasted from 1676 until her death in 1714. This friendship resulted in a substantial correspondence, first published in the 19th century (Klopp 1973), that reveals Sophia to have been a woman of exceptional intellectual ability and curiosity. She was well-read in the works of [[René Descartes]] and [[Baruch Spinoza]]. Together with Ernest Augustus she greatly improved the [[Herrenhausen Palace]], and she was the guiding spirit in the creation of the [[Herrenhausen Gardens]] surrounding the palace, where she died.

In 1680, during another long visit to Italy by her husband, Sophia wrote her memories of her first fifty-years of life.

=== Issue ===
Sophia had seven children who reached adulthood:
[[File:Jacobite broadside - Electress Sophia and her daughter.jpg|thumb|upright|Electress Sophia and her daughter]]
* [[George I of Great Britain]] (7 June 1660 – 22 June 1727)
*[[Frederick Augustus (1661-1690)|Frederick Augustus]] (3 October 1661 – 10 June 1691), Imperial General
* Stillborn twin sons (February 1664 – February 1664)
* [[Maximilian William of Brunswick-Lüneburg]] (13 December 1666 – 27 June 1726), [[field marshal]] in the Imperial Army
* Stillborn son (13 December 1666 – 13 December 1666)
* [[Sophia Charlotte of Hanover|Sophia Charlotte]] (2 October 1668 – 21 January 1705), [[Queen in Prussia]]
* Charles Philip of Brunswick-Lüneburg (13 October 1669 – 1 January 1690), colonel in the Imperial Army
* Christian Henry of Brunswick-Lüneburg (29 September 1671 – 31 July 1703)
* [[Ernest Augustus, Duke of York and Albany|Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of York and Albany]] (7 September 1674 – 14 August 1728), became [[prince-bishop of Osnabrück]]

Three of her sons were killed in battle.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 11th ed. (1911), vol. 25</ref>

Sophia was absent for almost a year, 1664–65, during a long holiday with Ernest Augustus in Italy. She corresponded regularly with her sons' governess and took a great interest in her sons' upbringing, even more so on her return.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Dirk |last=van der Cruysse |title=Sophie de Hanovre: mémoires et lettres de voyage}}; {{cite book |last=Hatton |first=Ragnhild |author-link=Ragnhild Hatton |title=George I: Elector and King |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |year=1978 |pages=26–28 |isbn=0-500-25060-X}}</ref> After Sophia's tour, she bore Ernest Augustus another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes her eldest son as a responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his younger brothers and sisters.<ref name="p29">Hatton, p. 29</ref>

Sophia was, at first, against the marriage of her son George and [[Sophia Dorothea of Celle]], looking down on Sophia Dorothea's mother [[Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse]] (who was not of royal birth and to whom Sophia referred as "mouse dirt mixed among the pepper") and concerned by Sophia Dorothea's legitimated status, but was eventually won over by the financial advantages inherent in the marriage.<ref>Hatton, pp. 36, 42</ref>