Table of contents:
- George I and the prisoner of the Alden castle: I won't give it to others
- Henry VIII and Anna of Cleves: a correspondence marriage
- Philip II and Ingeborga: when divorce goes for money
Video: 3 epic royal divorces: what scandals shook Europe in the old days
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Kings are more likely to marry for love than one might think. But to get a divorce when love did not work out, it was difficult for them - but it is possible. And not everyone did it with dignity. For some stories, perhaps, it would be worth for them to correct the crown.
George I and the prisoner of the Alden castle: I won't give it to others
King George I of England was born in general initially in German Hanover. King James I, whose relationship gave him a chance to take the throne, he was a grandson. In due time, Georg married his cousin - there was a long-standing agreement between their fathers about this. From the very beginning, the feelings of Sofia Dorothea and Georg were not too hot, and after the birth of two children - a girl and a boy - they completely cooled off. Georg returned to his long-standing constant mistress, and the mother-in-law, who fiercely hated the mother of Sofia Dorothea and therefore herself, too, began to harass the young woman with the complete allowance of the men of the family.
Is it surprising that when Sophia Dorothea met her childhood friend and peer (Georg was older) Count von Königsmark, who treated her with the same warmth, love flared up in her? And along with love - and disgust for the long-hated husband, who did not even think to protect her in his home. Sofia Dorothea tried to go to her parents - but they did not accept her. After returning, life in her husband's house became an endless hell, and the woman decided to run away with her lover. She did not even know that among her court ladies there was a voluntary and very zealous spy of her mother-in-law, who conveyed all of Sophia's plans to Dorothea Georg.
As a result, on the night Philip crept into George's castle … He disappeared. Count von Königsmark was a prominent figure, and a big scandal broke out, even involving the French king. Georg was suspected of involvement in the disappearance, but no evidence could be found. After waiting out the scandal, he imprisoned Sophia Dorothea in the Alden castle and dissolved the marriage. As the owner of his land, Georg forbade Sofia Dorothea to see children, remarry, see someone in his castle, leave Alden castle, and, of course, took all her property. Then he quietly left for England to rule, and Sophia Dorothea lived in captivity for about thirty years and died of stones in the gallbladder.
After death, the guard of the castle simply put the coffin in the basement until further instructions. For a very long time, the princess could not find a place for burial. In addition, Georg forbade mourning for her and was terribly outraged by the act of his daughter, who at that time was already Queen of Prussia and declared mourning for her mother in Berlin.
Henry VIII and Anna of Cleves: a correspondence marriage
The English king Henry VIII considered his first three marriages unsuccessful - he inherited one wife from his older brother, the other he cut off his head, the third died of childbirth fever. In general, Heinrich decided to give himself another chance and ordered himself a bride from German Protestants, firstly, for political reasons, and secondly, falling in love with her portrait. His chosen one was called Anna of Cleves, but as soon as she arrived in England, he was disappointed. Anna was not as beautiful as in the portrait, but this is half the trouble - she did not know anything about the art of flirting and seduction, behaved very simply, dressed unassumingly … In general, Henry VIII was not used to this. But he could no longer send the girl back: political complications.
On their wedding night, the king could not fulfill his conjugal duty, because it seemed to him that Anna, let's say, did not observe hygiene too much. The girl, who had never known men before, did not understand at all that the consumation of the marriage did not take place - she had to explain this later. In the heat of the moment, Henry cut off the head of Thomas Cromwell, who organized the wedding with Anna, and divorced due to the fact that the marital relationship between him and Anna did not work out.
Probably, Anna Klevskaya later rejoiced at this circumstance more than once. She was assigned maintenance, and she calmly continued to live at court - and outlived the other wives of Henry, and all the political turns associated with the Tudor family. I must say that after the king no longer felt obligated to try to sleep with her, he relaxed and found many virtues in Anna: she was kind, sweet in circulation and very quickly learned to love music and luxurious outfits, so she kept up the fun at balls … In addition, she was adored by Henry's children - Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Heinrich gave her the status of his "beloved sister" and made it clear that he was not against her remarrying with anyone else. However, Anna no longer aspired to get married. She already had a good life. But not for long - she died at forty-two from a certain illness.
Philip II and Ingeborga: when divorce goes for money
Richard the Lionheart's friend, King of France Philip II wooed the Danish princess Ingeborg (by the way, the daughter of the princess from the east, Sophia of Polotsk). She was famous for her meek disposition and attractive appearance, but what attracted him, as it turned out, was a rich dowry. On the morning after the first wedding night, Philip II announced that he was divorcing Ingeborga "because of overwhelming disgust" and forced the bishops to acknowledge the dissolution of the marriage. When he was timidly objected that for the dissolution one needed weighty justification, at least a distant relationship, he suddenly felt that same relationship with his young wife. In general, the divorce took place.
The king kept the dowry for himself, and ordered Ingeborg to go home. Ingeborga flatly refused to return home robbed and disgraced, and then Philip imprisoned her in a monastery with instructions to feed her less often, keep her in the cold and do not provide medical assistance if she caught a cold. He probably greatly underestimated the endurance of the Scandinavian girls.
Meanwhile, the scandal took on a pan-European scale. Two popes of Rome intervened for the girl, one after the other, but Philip did not even give a whisker, and besides, he married the daughter of the duke, to whom he felt affection. Then the current Pope imposed an interdict on France. In response, Philip expelled from the churches those bishops who were determined to carry out the decree, and took all their property in his favor. He also robbed the barons who were outraged by what was happening and imposed unbearable taxes on their cities. The people began to worry, especially since there was no one to perform the services now - and France was far from a secular state.
In the end, Philip took Ingeborg from the monastery and began to cohabit with both wives (well, at night he did not visit Ingeborg). The Pope decided that he would not achieve more for the poor Danish princess, closed his eyes to the apparent immorality of what was happening and withdrew the interdict. Just before his death, the king admitted that he had treated Ingeborga like a bestial, and bequeathed to her 10,000 francs as compensation.
Life was often difficult for queens. The tragedy of the Queen of Iran: why Soraya Isfandiyari-Bakhtiari sacrificed family happiness to state interests.
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