Editing Sophia of Hanover (section)

== Heiress presumptive ==
In September 1700, Sophia met her cousin King [[William III of England]] at [[Het Loo Palace]] in [[Apeldoorn]], the Netherlands. This happened two months after the death of his nephew [[Prince William, Duke of Gloucester]], son of the future Queen [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]. By this time, given the ailing William III's reluctance to remarry, the inclusion of Sophia in the line of succession was becoming more likely<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horwitz |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/parliamentpolicy0000horw_o2j8/page/276 |title=Parliament, policy, and politics in the reign of William III |publisher=Manchester University Press ND |year=1977 |isbn=0-7190-0661-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/parliamentpolicy0000horw_o2j8/page/276 276] |url-access=registration}}</ref> because she was a Protestant, as was her son. Her candidature was aided by the fact that she had grown up in the Netherlands close to William III and was able to converse fluently with him in Dutch, his native tongue.
[[File:Kurfuerstin Sophie.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Sophia as dowager Electress of Hanover, around the time she was proclaimed heir presumptive of the British crown.]]
A year after their meeting, the [[Parliament of England]] passed the [[Act of Settlement 1701]], which declared that in the event of no legitimate issue from Anne or William III, the crowns of England and Ireland were to settle upon "the most excellent princess Sophia, electress and duchess-dowager of Hanover" and "the heirs of her body, being Protestant". Scotland being a separate state in international law at the time, this did not mean she would also succeed Anne as queen of Scotland, which led to a succession crisis and eventually to the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1706/07. 
The key excerpt from the Act, naming Sophia as heir presumptive, reads:

{{Blockquote|Therefore for a further Provision of the Succession of the Crown in the Protestant Line We Your Majesties most dutifull and Loyall Subjects the [[Lords Spiritual]]l and [[Lords Temporal]]l and Commons in this present Parliament assembled do beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted and declared and be it enacted and declared by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the most Excellent Princess Sophia Electress and Dutchess Dowager of Hannover Daughter of the most Excellent Princess Elizabeth late Queen of Bohemia Daughter of our late Sovereign Lord King James the First of happy Memory be and is hereby declared to be the next in Succession in the Protestant Line to the Imperiall Crown and Dignity of the forsaid Realms of England France and Ireland with the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging after His Majesty and the Princess Anne of Denmark and in Default of Issue of the said Princess Anne and of His Majesty respectively.}}

Sophia was made next in line to cut off a claim by the Roman Catholic [[James Francis Edward Stuart]], who would have become James III and VIII and to deny the throne to the many other Roman Catholics and spouses of Roman Catholics who held a claim. The act restricts the British throne to the "Protestant heirs" of Sophia of Hanover who had never been Roman Catholic or married a Roman Catholic. In 1711, the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]] recommended that its congregations pray regularly "for the Princess Sophia, Electoress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Protestant line in that family, upon whom the succession to the crown of these dominions is by law established".<ref>{{cite web |title=Acts: 1711 Pages 450-459 Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1638-1842. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/church-scotland-records/acts/1638-1842/pp450-459 |website=British History Online |publisher=Edinburgh Printing & Publishing Co, Edinburgh, 1843. |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>

Some British politicians attempted several times to bring Sophia to England in order to enable her to assume government immediately in the event of Anne's death. It was argued that such a course was necessary to ensure Sophia's succession, for Anne's Roman Catholic half-brother was significantly closer to [[London]] than was Sophia. The Electress was eager to move to London,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Kevin |url=https://archive.org/details/refiguringrevolu0000unse/page/59 |title=Refiguring revolutions: aesthetics and politics from the English revolution to the Romantic revolution |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-520-20920-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/refiguringrevolu0000unse/page/59 59]}}</ref> but the proposal was denied, as such action would mortally offend Anne, who was strongly opposed to a rival court in her kingdom. Anne might have been aware that Sophia, who was active and lively despite her old age, could cut a better figure than herself.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sachse |first=William Lewis |title=Lord Somers: a political portrait |publisher=Manchester University Press ND |year=1975 |isbn=0-7190-0604-X |pages=236}}</ref> Sophia was completely uncertain of what would happen after Anne's death, saying: "What Parliament does one day, it undoes the next."<ref name="p309">Sachse, p. 309</ref>

When the law was passed in mid-1701, Sophia at age 70, five of her children from ages 35 to 41, and three legitimate grandchildren from ages 14 to 18, were alive. Although Sophia was 35 years older than Anne, she was very fit and healthy, and invested time and energy in securing the succession either for herself or her son.<ref>Hatton, pp. 75–76</ref> There are more than 5,000 legitimate descendants of Sophia, although not all are in the [[Succession to the British throne#Current line of succession|line of succession]]. The [[Sophia Naturalization Act 1705]] ([[4 & 5 Ann.]] c. 16) granted the right of British (or more correctly English, as [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] only came into existence in 1707) nationality to Sophia's non-Roman Catholic descendants;<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Picknett |first1=Lynn |last2=Prince |first2=Clive |last3=Prior |first3=Stephen |last4=Brydon |first4=Robert |date=2002 |title=War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy |page=206 |publisher=Mainstream Publishing |isbn=9781840186314}}; {{Cite web |title=Prince Ernest of Hanover v. Attorney General (1955-1957) |url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/Hanover_case.htm |website=heraldica.org}}</ref> those who had obtained the right to [[British citizenship]] via this Act at any time before its [[repeal]] by the [[British Nationality Act 1948]] retain this lawful right today.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Donovan |first=Ned |date=9 June 2021 |title=The UK is still handing passports to the descendants of a 17th Century German aristocrat |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/2018/05/uk-still-handing-passports-descendants-17th-century-german-aristocrat |website=New Statesman}}</ref>