Elizabeth of Bohemia

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For other people named Elizabeth of Bohemia, see Elisabeth of Bohemia (disambiguation)
For other people with a birth name Elizabeth Stuart, see Elizabeth Stuart (disambiguation)
For other uses of Winter Queen, see Winter Queen (disambiguation)
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia

Elisabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (August 19, 1596-February 13, 1662), born Princess Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland, was the eldest daughter to King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and his Queen consort Anne of Denmark. She was thus sister to Charles I of England. With the demise of the Stuart dynasty in 1714, her direct descendants, the Hanoverian rulers, succeeded to the British throne.

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[edit] Biography

At the time of Elizabeth's birth, her father was still the King of Scotland only. She was named in honor of the Queen of England, in an attempt by her father to flatter the old queen, whose kingdom he hoped to inherit. When the younger Elizabeth was six years old, in 1603, her namesake died and James succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland, making his daughter a much more attractive bride.

Part of the intent of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was to put the nine year old Elizabeth onto the throne of England (and, presumably, Scotland) as a Catholic monarch, after assassinating her father and the Protestant English aristocracy. At the time of the plot she was staying at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, from where the conspirators planned to kidnap her.

British Royalty
House of Stuart
James VI & I
   Henry, Prince of Wales
   Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
   Charles I
   Robert, Duke of Kintyre

On February 14, 1613, she married Frederick V, then Elector of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg. Frederick was the leader of the association of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire known as the Evangelical Union, and Elizabeth was married to him in an effort to increase James's ties to these princes. In 1619, Frederick was offered and accepted the crown of Bohemia, but his rule was brief, and Elizabeth became known as the "Winter Queen". She was also sometimes called "Queen of Hearts" because of her popularity.

Driven into exile, the couple took up residence in The Hague, and Frederick died in 1632. Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son, Charles I Louis, regained his father's electorship in 1648. Following the Restoration of the British monarchy, she travelled to London to visit her nephew, King Charles II, and died while there. Her daughter was known later as Sophia of Hanover; pursuant to the English Act of Settlement 1701, the Electress Sophia and her issue were made heirs to the English (later British) throne, so that all monarchs of Great Britain from George I are descendants of Elizabeth's.

[edit] Ancestors

Elizabeth's ancestors in three generations
Elizabeth of Bohemia Father:
James I of England		 Paternal Grandfather:
Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
4th Earl of Lennox
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Margaret Douglas
Paternal Grandmother:
Mary I, Queen of Scots		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
James V of Scotland
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Marie de Guise
Mother:
Anne of Denmark		 Maternal Grandfather:
Frederick II of Denmark		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Christian III of Denmark
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg
Maternal Grandmother:
Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Elizabeth of Denmark

[edit] Children

  1. Frederick Henry (1614-1629) - (Drowned)
  2. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine (1617-1680)
  3. Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (1618-1680)
  4. Rupert, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1682)
  5. Maurice (1620-1654) - (Drowned)
  6. Louise Hollandine (1622-1709)
  7. Louis (1624-1625)
  8. Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern (1625-1663)
  9. Henrietta Maria (1626-1651)
  10. John Philip Frederick (1627-1650)
  11. Charlotte (1628-1631)
  12. Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714)
  13. Gustav Adolf (1632-1641)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] The Winter Queen in books

In WG Sebald's novel Vertigo (1990), a woman appears whom the narrator, travelling through Heidelberg by train in 1987, recognizes instantly "without a shadow of a doubt" as Elizabeth when she enters his carriage.

Books about the Winter Queen include:

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