#august von platen

[stoertebeker]

[die-weltbuehne]

“Ich bin unzufrieden mit mir selbst. Kann ich wohl hoffen, ein großer Staatsmann zu werden? Eben so wenig ein großer Dichter. Wollte Gott, ich könnte meine Thätigkeit nur nach einer Seite richten. Wollte Gott ich hätte nie einen Vers gemacht, und dürfte mich ganz in die Arme der Wissenschaft werfen.”

– August von Platen, Tagebucheintrag vom 26. Mai 1818

[wmlz]

„Begangene Fehler zu betrauern, ist zu nichts nütze.“

August von Platen

[valentina-lauricella]

Credo non dovrebbe esserci nessun imbarazzo o pudore, al giorno d'oggi, nel dichiarare o supporre l'omosessualità o la bisessualità di personaggi illustri.

Dopo una prima impressione assolutamente negativa sull'aspetto fisico di Leopardi, von Platen, avendolo conosciuto meglio, ne diede un altro parere, che è quello sopra riportato. Al von Platen però, è risaputo, piacevano i bei ragazzi, quindi non credo che Leopardi gli sia mai piaciuto, se non intellettualmente. Pur non essendo io una persona particolarmente istruita, avrei molto amato conversare con Leopardi, e confesso che nell'immaginazione lo faccio spesso.

[ochoislas]

TRISTÁN

Quien con sus ojos contempló lo bello, traspuso los umbrales de la muerte; no prestará en la tierra ministerio, mas la muerte temblando eludirá quien con sus ojos contempló lo bello.

Quebranto eterno le será el amor, pues en la tierra solo un loco espera contentar semejante inclinación. Si tan solo una vez lo hirió su dardo, quebranto eterno le será el amor.

¡Ay, quisiera secarse cual la fuente, sorber ponzoña en cada aura que aspira, sentir en cada flor hedor de muerte! ¡Quien con sus ojos contempló lo bello, ay, quisiera secarse cual la fuente!

*

TRISTAN

Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen, Ist dem Tode schon anheimgegeben, Wird für keinen Dienst auf Erden taugen, Und doch wird er vor dem Tode beben, Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen. Ewig währt für ihn der Schmerz der Liebe, Denn ein Thor nur kann auf Erden hoffen, Zu genügen einem solchen Triebe: Wen der Pfeil des Schönen je getroffen, Ewig währt für ihn der Schmerz der Liebe! Ach, er möchte wie ein Quell versiechen, Jedem Hauch der Luft ein Gift entsaugen, Und den Tod aus jeder Blume riechen: Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen, Ach, er möchte wie ein Quell versiechen!

August von Platen

di-versión©ochoislas

[lesewut]

The "West-Eastern Diwan" by Goethe - A bridged beauty between Occident and Orient. Published by Prof. Dr. Heinrich Düntzer, Berlin and Stuttgart, 1878.

It is said, that Goethe used the "oriental mask" to cover his pantheistic ideas, speaking trough the lips of the newly translated poets. Next to the Hafez' poems, which where published and translated by the orientalist Joseph von Hammer, other literal and scientific sources were used as inspirational impact and to refine the tone of the great masters of Oriental poetry, like the academic achievements of Prof. Wurm, Prof. Paulus (Orientalist in Heidelberg), other translations of cultural impact like Rückert's "Östliche Rosen" (~ Eeastern Roses) the Mewlana-Transaltions of 1819 and the collection of August von Platen called "Ghaselen", Goethe corresponded with Boisserés and with one of the Grimm brothers. Wilhelm von Humboldt praised the authencitiy of Goethe's work.

The "East-Western Diwan" is the last great cycle of poetry Goethe has wrote, his interest for Persian poetry arised in the time of the Rheinbund. It can be traced, that this period of time disillusioned him, the diving into another time and continent is essential for escapism, but as Goethe and his field of interest and curiosity is as deep as wide, he must felt like thrown like a freed bird into new heavenly realms. The "Diwan Atmosphere" was created by reading several works and taking in Oriental elements. So we can find "Madschnun and Leila" interwoven in the heart-shaking correspondence between Suleika and Hatem in the "Book Suleika". Expressions of the Dervish Hafis of Shiraz can be found, Tarafas, Labid (Prophet Mohammad called him the poet, who said the most true words; Labid converted to Islam and wrote eologies, but it is said, that he stopped practicing ?), Zoheir, Saadi and Hafez. Saadi was also known as a sheik and was called "Poet-King" (or King-Poet, if you like :P) and if we would compare the structure of the poems, it is more likely, that Goethe imitated Saadi, rather than Hafez.

Goethe is playing wonderfully with expressions, merging wine and tears, praising the dust of the lover as better than safran and comparing the loved one to a drop of water and the lyrical-I as desert sand. Numerology is emphasising the cultural background, drawing a link between the poet and the priest, pairing mystics and religion into ecstatic relief. This wonderful work is a gift, for everyone, who sometimes had the feeling of getting ripped apart by two forces. It feels like the made-up gap between Europa and Asia is nothing but a fiction, like a forgotten song of our cultural cradle. Let us share the pomegranates of our culture, let us nourish from unkown fruits to break our borders, to sharpen our discernment, to truely lift our feet and recognize the extraordinary.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … October 24

44 BC – Italy: The first written reference to same-sex marriage appears when Cicero insults promiscuous Mark Antony whose father Curio "established you in a fixed and stable marriage, as if he had given you a stola." A stola is a traditional garment worn by married Roman women. Cicero’s sexual implications are clear, the point of which is to cast Antony in the submissive role in the relationship and to impugn his manhood.

1796 – The poems of Count August von Platen (d.1835) are homoerotic expressions of Platonic love, idealism, beauty, friendship, and longing. Platen was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, the son of an impoverished nobleman. He attended the Military Academy at Munich and the Royal Institute of Pages resulting in his commission as a lieutenant in 1815 in a regiment against France during the time of Napoleon; he, however, engaged in no action.

Platen was extremely erudite, mastering a dozen languages, including literary Greek and Latin, French for social status, Persian for poetic reasons, and even English.

An admirer of Michelangelo and Italian art, Platen visited Florence, Rome, Naples, Syracuse, and Sicily. While in Naples in the 1820s, he formed a homosexual friendship with the poet and painter August Kopisch, all the while perfecting the content and form of his poetry. By 1826, he had moved permanently to Italy, supported by a pension from his friend, King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Focusing his sexual urges into the artistic and creative realms, Platen transformed his passion for same-sex relations from the physical to the intellectual. On occasion, a friendship lasted only a year or so—for example, his intense relationship with a young painter, Rühl—but it nevertheless served to heighten his creative powers.

His controversial, multilingual, autobiographical narrative, which contains an explicitly erotic homosexual theme, was not published until the end of the nineteenth century, under the title Diary (Die Tagebücher, 1896-1900). In his poetry, Platen employs a recurrent homoerotic image borrowed from Persian poetry, the tulip, which is a spiritual symbol for masculine love.

Platen's longing for love and friendship is a persistent motif in his work. He addressed seven sonnets to "Cardenio," an Erlangen student, who is described as a young, tall, dark, and handsome man with full lips. Platen addressed an additional twenty-one sonnets to another Erlangen student, "Karl Theodor German." Embodying themes of Platonic love, friendship, longing, idealism, and beauty, Platen's sonnets express unrequited love for men.

Platen's homosexuality is the subject of a vicious attack by Heinrich Heine in The Baths of Lucca. Edward Carpenter, however, expressed his appreciation for Platen in his Ioälus, An Anthology of Friendship (1902). Among German writers who admired Platen is Thomas Mann, who praised him in a lecture in 1930; Platen's poem "Tristan" (1825) inspired Mann's novella Tristan and Isolde (1903).

1820 – Seventeen year old Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of his crush on fifteen-year old Martin Gay: I begin to believe in the Indian doctrine of eye fascination. The cold blue eyes of (blank) has so intimately connected him in my thoughts & visions that a dozen times a day & as often by night I find myself wholly wrapped up in conjectures of his character and inclinations. We have already two or three long profound stares at each other. Be it wise or weak or superstitious I must know him.

1933 – Ronnie Kray (d.1995) and his twin brother Reggie Kray (d.2000) were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s.

Ronald, commonly referred to as Ron or Ronnie, most likely suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. The Krays were involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, violent assaults including torture and the murders of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and George Cornell.

As West End nightclub owners, they mixed with prominent entertainers including Diana Dors, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and politicians. The Krays were highly feared within their social environment, and in the 1960s they became celebrities in their own right, being photographed by David Bailey and interviewed on television.

Ronnie was definitely gay - and Reggie may have been. During his life, Ronnie Kray was openly gay, refusing to hide his orintation from either the law or his fellow gangsters, but sometimes claimed to be merely bisexual - a nod to the disapproving social attitudes at the time.

"Ron discussed his homosexuality with only a very few people, but put simply it was a part of his nature he discovered, explored and enjoyed," biographer Laurie O'Leary said. "He was at ease with it. It did not seem to conflict with his "tough guy" image or cause him any problems on any level."

The members of the twins' gang, known as the Firm, were overwhelmingly tolerant of Kray's homosexuality. "Even if they objected, Ron just smiled at them and told them they didn't know what they were missing," said O'Leary.

Author John Pearson, who interviewed then both extensively, says Ronnie Kray was gay and that Reggie Kray was bisexual. He said they had an incestuous sexual relationship with each other because they could not be open about their sexualities.

Pearson said in a book about the twins: "Homosexuality was nothing to be proud of in the East End. But as they became more notorious, Ronnie became quite shameless about it. According to Ron in the early days they had sex with each other because they were terrified about people finding out."

Pearson has written three books on the subject of the infamous twins, and claims that Ronnie told him about the relationship during on of many interviews. "According to Ron, for quite a while they were so concerned to keep their secret hidden that the only sex they had was with each other."

Ronnie's homosexuality came into the public eye when an exposé in the tabloid newspaper Sunday Mirror alleged that Ron had had a sexual relationship with Lord Boothby, a UK Conservative Party politician. Although no names were printed, when the twins threatened the journalists involved in the story and Boothby threatened to sue, the newspaper backed down, sacked its editor, printed an apology and paid Boothby £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. As a result, other newspapers were unwilling to uncover the Krays' connections and criminal activities.

The police investigated the Krays on several occasions, but the twins' reputation for violence meant witnesses were afraid to come forward to testify. There was also a political problem for both main parties. It was in the interests of neither the Conservative Party to press the police to end the Krays' power lest the Boothby connection was again publicised and demonstrated, nor the Labour Party as their MP Tom Driberg was also rumoured to have had a relationship with Ron.

They were eventually arrested on 9 May 1968 and convicted in 1969 by the efforts of a squad of detectives led by Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper" Read, and were both sentenced to life imprisonment. Ronnie remained in Broadmoor Hospital until his death on 17 March 1995, but Reggie was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2000, eight weeks before his death from cancer.

Reggie was closeted, although Ronnie had often claimed his brother too was bisexual. After his death a former gang member, Bradley Allardyce, claimed that he and Reggie had been more than just good friends. He spent three years in Maidstone Prison, four cells along the landing from Reggie Kray, who was serving life for the murder of Jack 'the hat' McVitie. Both denied they were more than just friends, until after Reggie's death in 2000, when Allardyce stated "I am openly admitting for the very first time that we had a sexual relationship."

Ronnie Kray was openly gay but Reggie always denied what many suspected - that he was also attracted to men. Friends of Kray consider Allardyce to be the love of his life. They spent most of their time at Maidstone Prison in each other's company.

1960 – Bradley Darryl BD Wong is an American actor, best-known for his roles as Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as Father Ray Mukada on HBO's Oz, Henry Wu in the movie Jurassic Park, and for his starring role as Song Liling in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly.

Wong gained attention for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly opposite John Lithgow. The play won multiple awards, including several for Wong. He is notable as the only actor to be honored with the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award for the same role.

In 2008, he starred in the one-man show Herringbone, in which he portrays 11 roles, at the McCarter Theatre at Princeton University.

Wong, who is openly gay, began a long-term relationship with talent agent Richie Jackson in 1988. In 2000, Wong had twin sons: Boaz Dov, who died 90 minutes after birth, and Jackson Foo Wong. They were born through a surrogate mother, using Wong's sperm and an egg donated by Jackson's sister. In 2003, Wong wrote a memoir about his experiences with surrogacy titled Following Foo: the Electronic Adventures of the Chestnut Man. Wong and Jackson ended their relationship in 2004.

Wong very strongly identifies as a gay man. Hence, he has been a visible presence at AIDS-related charity functions and in gay and lesbian community events, as well as at events sponsored by the Asian Pacific Islander communities. Wong has appeared at the GLAAD Awards, made promotional spots for the gay and lesbian television newsmagazine In the Life, and worked in various ways to further understanding among both Asians and non-Asians, gays and non-gays, about the experience of being both gay and Asian.

1972 – Van Darkholme is a Vietnamese American gay pornographic actor, director, an artist and photographer.

Darkholme is among the few Asian American men working in Western gay porn as a director and actor, and is of Vietnamese descent. Much of his work as a director and actor contains bondage and particularly shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, a specialty within BDSM cultures. Van Darkholme (sometimes misspelled as "Darkholm") is a screen name; his birth name has been kept private.

Throughout the 1990s, Darkholme was a fashion and photographic model. Darkholme's book of bondage photography, Male Bondage, was published by Bruno Gmünder in June 2006. In 2008, The San Francisco-based BDSM studio Kink.com hired Darkholme, where he currently directs gay pornography with an emphasis on bondage and wrestling. Darkholme self-identifies as a gay man.

1980 – (Zachary E.) Zac Posen is an American fashion designer.

Posen was born and raised to a Jewish family in New York City, residing in the SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. He is the son of Susan (née Orzack), a corporate lawyer, and Stephen Posen, an artist. His interest in fashion design started early, and as a child he would steal yarmulkes from his grandparents' synagogue to make ball dresses for dolls.

He attended a private school in Brooklyn and in his sophomore year interned with fashion designer Nicole Miller. As a teen, he also won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award. At age 16 he enrolled in the pre-college program at Parsons The New School for Design. For three years, Posen was mentored by curator Richard Martin at The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At age 18, he was accepted into the womenswear degree program at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London. In 2001, Posen constructed a gown entirely made from thin leather strips and dressmaker hooks and eyes that was displayed by the Victoria and Albert Museum and featured in their "Curvaceous" exhibition.

Upon returning to New York in 2001, Posen set up an atelier in his parents' living room, while they gave him a USD$15 allowance. In October of the same year, he was chosen to present a capsule collection as part of GenArt's Fresh Faces in Fashion New York 2001. He received a grant for $20,000. After his first runway show in 2001, Posen was courted by fashion titans Yves Carcelle, president of LVMH Fashion Group; Sidney Toledano, CEO and director of Christian Dior S.A.; and Domenico De Sole, president and CEO of Gucci Group NV. Following the success of this presentation, Posen established his design studio in Tribeca.

In 2004, high-end urban fashion brand Sean John made an investment deal with Posen. Ashley Olsen interned with Posen in 2005 while a student at The Gallatin School of Individualized Study, an undergraduate college within New York University.

In April 2008, Posen's capsule collection created in collaboration with Target, Zac Posen for Target, was released in 75 stores in Australia. A preview of the collection was shown during March's L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

At the 2012 Academy Awards, Glenn Close wore a Posen gown on the red carpet, as did both Reese Witherspoon and Naomi Watts at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards. Other notables who have worn Posen creations on red carpets include Uma Thurman at the 2013 Met Ball); Sofia Vergara at the 2014 Golden Globes; Anna Chlumsky at the 2014 Emmy Awards; and Rita Ora at the 2014 AMA Awards.On December 18, 2012, Posen was announced as an official judge of Project Runway Season 11 on Lifetime Television.

In February 2014, Posen partnered with another major retailer, David's Bridal, to create Truly Zac Posen, a line of affordable bridal gowns. The line was Posen's first official bridal collection. Also in 2014, he was named Creative Director for Brooks Brothers, tapped to modernize their signature women's clothing and accessories line. In 2014, he introduced a more casual Pre-Fall 2015 Trunk Show collection.

In recent collaborations, Posen was selected to redesign the uniforms for Delta Air Lines 60,000 employees. These uniforms are set to appear on Delta Air Lines staff members, from flight attendants to customer service, in 2017.

Posen lives in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, with his boyfriend, Christopher Niquet and their three dogs.

1981 – The first National Conference on Lesbian and Gay Aging was held in California, sponsored by the National Association for Gay and Lesbian Gerontology. It sought to "dispel myths about older lesbians and gay men, advance research, establish programs and services for lesbian and gay elders, and encourage and provide support for lesbian and gay gerontologists."

[hiemihymni]

tagged by @transbutchblues!

last book i read : the last one i finished must have been The Discovery of Slowness by Sten Nadolny. i really value the message because i often feel pressured to learn and act more quickly than at my natural pace :/

a book i recommend : ough. um. too many and none at all come to mind, i'll pass on that. just read what speaks to you!

a book i couldn’t put down : Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban! I've never heard anyone talk about it. It takes two adults on a small crazy adventure to free turtles and they therefore break out of the rut of their everyday life for a while (does not cure depression tm but it gave me hope when i was going through it).

a book i’ve read twice : many, especially classics i picked up too early in life and didn't understand at all the first time around. I'll say War and Peace for the fun of it.

a book on my tbr : Thornton Wilder's The Ides of March, i'm hoping to read it while in Greece!

a book i’ve put down : I agree with @transbutchblues, it's mostly nonfiction that i put down. The last one that happened to was Werner Goez's "Gestalten des Hochmittelalters. Personengeschichtliche Essays im allgemeinhistorischen Kontext" (essays on singular people living during the high middle ages) - even though it was written incredibly well i could not bring myself to read more. nonfiction on history is super confusing and irritating for me. i have huge gaps in my knowledge of basic historical facts - i cannot imagine what life was like for the people because every form of documentation is incomplete, and because of that i get frustrated and am unable to remember these dates and facts. i'm keeping the book nonetheless because the hope that someday i will give it a second try is still there

a book on my wishlist : Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane, i actually bought it once but the delivery got cancelled and refunded because it was out of stock :(

a favourite book from childhood : um i remember very little.. there was a series on a mermaid i really adored. (The series is called Pimpinella Meerprinzessin by Usch Luhn)

a book you would give to a friend : I have literally given Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar to a friend. the book radiates calmness.

a book of poetry/lyrics you own : i'm currently reading Heinrich Heine for the first time in my life, and for the first time enjoying german poetry! (prior i've only ever clicked with latin poetry)

a non-fiction book you own : probably the first nonfiction book i ever read was Mathijs Deen's Down Old Roads. It started a fire in me which i cannot explain but i am incredibly grateful for it.

currently reading : slowly picking my way through too many at once: The Persian Boy, two books on medieval german literature, an essay collection on August von Platen, Dyskolos, catull (especially c.63 right now and essays on that), oop

planning on reading next : idrk, i am in a bit of a rut but uni ended yesterday so i'll hopefully can get back into reading more and actually finish books?

tagging anyone who wants to!

[stoertebeker]

They really mentioned August von Platen in that new book about franconian love stories!

[die-weltbuehne]

“Platen – Don Quijote! Eine fahrende Seele, begeistert und getrieben von sublimer Narrheit, von einem unbedankten, unzeitigen, unmöglichen, verbitterten, jeden Augenblick geschändeten und verprügelten, zu Tode gelachten Hochsinn und Kampfesmut, der bis zum letzten Atemzuge schwört, daß Dulzinea von Toboso die schönste Dame unter der Sonne sei, obgleich sie eine Bauernmagd, besser gesagt aber irgendein törichter Student namens Schmidtlein oder German ist: wollen wir ihn nicht so sehen, diesen Dichter in des Wortes hoffnungslos-edelmütigstem Sinn, und dabei nicht aufhören, ihn zu lieben und zu ehren, wie wir den skurrilen Helden des Cervantes lieben und ehren, obgleich sein Meister uns zwingt, über ihn zu lachen?”

– Thomas Mann über August von Platen, in seinem Festvortrag vor der Platen-Gesellschaft am 4.10.1930

[ggoodbyefall]

…ebedi güzelliği temaşa ettiği söylenir. Ne var ki gerçek anlamda mükemmellik ve saf güzellik, her ne kadar görünürde neşe ve coşku verse de, mukadder olarak inkıraz ve ölümle neticelenmektedir. August von Platen “Tristan” başlıklı gazelini sanki Mozart içi yazmıştır. Bu gazelin ilk mısraları şöyledir:

Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Ayten,

Istdem Tode schon anheimgegeben

Kim ki güzelliği temaşa etmiştir,

O çoktan ölüme teslim edilmiştir.

Doğu ve Batı, Senail Özkan

[valentina-lauricella]

[...] Celebre fu il suo rapporto amicale con Antonio Ranieri, sodalizio che venne immortalato a Napoli anche dal poeta tedesco August Von Platen che, nel 1834, dedicò questi versi ai due inseparabili amici (li lasciò su un bigliettino dietro la porta, che non gli venne aperta, appunto perché Ranieri era fuori casa e Leopardi sonnecchiava, n.d.r.):

"A.P. saluta

Giacomo Leopardi

che si alza tanto tardi

e Antonio Sempre - fuori

dottissimi signori."

Sempre dal suo diario, condividiamo con voi questa citazione dalla quale emerge molto della personalità di Giacomo.

[buendischerwaldgang]

Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen, Ist dem Tode schon anheimgegeben, Wird für keinen Dienst auf Erden taugen, Und doch wird er vor dem Tode beben, Wer die Schönheit angeschaut mit Augen!

Ewig währt für ihn der Schmerz der Liebe, Denn ein Tor nur kann auf Erden hoffen, Zu genügen einem solchen Triebe: Wen der Pfeil des Schönen je getroffen, Ewig währt für ihn der Schmerz der Liebe!

– August von Platen, aus: Tristan

[dykehaus]

me arguing with myself in the mirror

[i12bent]

Cai-Ulrich von Platen (b. August 6, 1955) is a Danish painter, sculptor and installation artist. He trained at the Royal Academy and Glyptoteket (sculpture).

Since 2011 he has produced a series of canvases in dialogue with Pieter Breughel the Elder, copying his formats and viewpoints, but updating the everyday subject matter to reflect contemporary concerns.

Here is an example: Udsigt/View, 2011-19 (Shown by Banja Rathnov Galleri og Clausens Kunsthandel)

[catherinesvalois]

Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Electoral Princess of Hanover (1666-1726)

Daughter of a Love Match

Daughter of George William, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg ruler of Celle and his mistress Eleanore d’Esmier d’Olbreuse (morganatically married because they were of different social ranks). Sophia was legitimized in 1674, her mother was made the Duchess of Wilhelmsburg, and in 1676 her mother and father were married officially.

Marriage to “that pig snout!” Cousin

Sophia became a very eligible woman on the marriage market because she brought with her a large dowry, but instead making a match abroad or with someone appealing she was married to her cousin, George Louis. George Louis was also in the line of English succession through his mother’s lineage.

Troubled Marriage

Sophia and George Louis had a problematic marriage, because they both disliked each other. They would have loud arguments where they both criticized each other. However, they did have two children: George August (later King George II of England and father of George III) and Sophia Dorothea (later mother of Frederick the Great of Prussia).

Estrangement and Extramarital Affairs

When George Louis took up with Melusina von Schulenburg, he was began to actively ignore his wife, Sophia Dorothea. During this period of their marriage Sophia herself took up with someone, the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck. He was reportedly very handsome and tall. Sophia and Königsmarck were already acquainted in Celle when they were younger, and they were attracted to each other then. Upon returning to Hanover, Sophia and Königsmarck took up with each other again more seriously. They began to write each other passionate love letters. By putting their affair on paper, it made it easier for Sophia’s father-in-law, Ernest August, the Elector of Hanover, find out about it. Königsmarck was sent back into military service, this time fighting for the Hanoverians against Louis XIV. Königsmarck left his assigned post to return to Hanover; Ernest August responded by exiling him.

Failed Elopement, Murder, and Imprisonment

At this point George Louis was aware of the affair between Sophia and Königsmarck. When the two lovers planned to elope in 1694, George Louis’ current mistress, the Countess Clara Elisabeth von Platen had found out and told George Louis. Whether George Louis sent his men to intercept Königsmarck or not, the Count never made it to his rendezvous with Sophia and he disappeared. Some sources say that after he was murdered in the Leine Palace his body was put under the corridor floorboards and quicklime was used to decompose his body. Other sources say that he was thrown into the Leine river (this is a new one to me, I had never heard this version).  Not only was Sophia Dorothea’s marriage to George Louis dissolved, but she was under house arrest for the rest of her life, which was more than thirty years. When Sophia Dorothea died, George Louis forbid mourning for her in London (he was King of Great Britain at this point) and Hanover, however, his daughter Sophia Dorothea’s court in Berlin mourned for her. George Louis died four weeks later.