King george the first and sophia

George I  ©George was elector of Hanover and, from , the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain.

George was born on 28 Mary in Hanover, Germany, the eldest son of the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

In , George married his cousin Sophia and they had two children.

King george ii successor

A decade later, he divorced her for alleged infidelity and imprisoned her in a castle until her death in

In , under the Act of Settlement, George's mother Sophia was nominated heiress to the English throne if the reigning monarch William III and his heir Anne died without issue.

The Act sought to guarantee a Protestant succession and George's mother was the closest Protestant relative, although there were at least 50 Catholic relatives whose claims were stronger. The Electress Sophia and Anne died in quick succession and George became king in August

The following year George was faced with a rebellion by the Jacobites, supporters of the Catholic James Stuart, who had a strong claim to the throne.

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