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George I, King of Great Britain & Ireland George, the son of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover,
and Sophia, Princess Pflaz, was born June 7 1660 at Osnabruck, Hanover.
George I Prince George visited England for the first time in 1680. Two years later he married his cousin, Princess Dorothea of Celle. In 1692, on the death of his father he succeeded as Elector of Hanover. In 1694 Prince George was granted a divorce because of the alleged infidelity of his wife with Count Philip Kosingzamrk. As a punishment, the Princess was confined in the castle of Ahlden until her death in 1726. But this moral stand paid no attention to the fact that Prince George had several mistresses. The Act of Settlement agreed by the British Parliament in 1701, the year James II was deposed by Willem of Orange, created George's mother, Sophia, a grand-daughter of James I, heiress presumptive to the throne. In 1705 Prince George was given British citizenship by another Act. In August 1714, on the death of Queen Anne, he succeeded to the throne of Britain to become the first of six British monarchs in the House of Hanover. Devotees of the Stuarts in Scotland were furious. In 1714 a rebellion took place headed by the Earl of Mar. This was soon put down but the problem did not go away until George I's grandson, the Duke of Cumberland defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden. Perhaps the King felt more at home in Hanover. He left England for Germany for the last time in 1727, crossing the English channel to land in Holland where his coach waited to take him to Osanbruck. On the journey he suffered a stroke. Early next morning he died. He was buried near his mother in Leineschloss Church, Hanover. The church suffered badly during the bombing of Hanover in World War II and after the war George I's remains, together with those of his mother, were removed to Herrenhausen. George I was succeed by his son, George II. Sophia of Celle died in Ahlden Castle, Hanover, November 13 1726.
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