The Princess of Celle

Georgian Saga #1

by Jean Plaidy

True love never ran smoothly for the beautiful Sophia Dorothea, darling of Celle, who first lost her heart to Philip Königsmarck on her seventh birthday.

At sixteen, a pawn in seventeenth-century German politics, she was forced into marriage with George Lewis, Crown Prince of Hanover and the future George I of England, who cared only for women and war.

Clara von Platen, the uncrowned ruler of Hanover, jealous, ruthless and sexually insatiable, is spurned by Königsmarck when he re-appears in the life of Sophia Dorothea. In revenge, she plans his ruin-and that of the sad princess he so recklessly loves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, 17th Century, Germany, Romance, Royalty

398 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1974

About the author

Eleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a sadly fascinating look at the topic of woman's inhumanity to woman, feudal German style. I picked it up because it is the beginning of the Georgian saga, and thus the beginning of Queen Caroline's story (Caroline being one of my favorite characters in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle), but I feel like I was looking at the great women of Baroque era Germany through a funhouse mirror, and I suspect the author chiefly. Sophia of the Palatinate is portrayed as a vain, silly and rather petty woman who never got over being passed over by one brother and fobbed off on another and then spent the rest of her life resenting and scheming against the pretty French woman the original brother married instead, even unto mistreating the French woman's daughter by that brother. And all of the other women in the story are pretty horrible, too: Clara Platen needs a mustache to twirl except that would give her yet another reason to feel threatened by the pretty pretty princess; the princess herself is another spoiled Plaidy heroine who is too sweet and innocent even to understand the malice around her... Fortunately the men fare no better, our I'd have to wonder from this book if Plaidy/Hibbert wasn't a big time self-hating misogynist. It's hard to tell, with historical fiction, the bottom argument of which is always that it sure do suck to have a uterus, but wow this book. Wow.

I still like Plaidy and now I've got my hands on them I'm going to read the other books in the series pretty soon, but if this had been my first Plaidy novel, it might have been my last. Um.

[Matthew]

Even though the dress she’s wearing on the front isn’t exactly accurate, the neck line is close but the artist could have had a lot of fun with her sleeves like where’s the ruffles? The fashion inside can be put down to a celebration of jewel toned silks so sure go for it

Book is okay, I’ll probably read a few more

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the middle of this novel is a fairy tale gone horribly wrong - where the princess (Princess Sophia Dorothea) kisses a frog (George Louis of Hanover) and he stays a frog. Brought up in the lap of luxury and love, the sheltered child of a German Count and his French born wife, she proves to be an only child, and the heiress of quite the fortune. Because of this she is caught up in the dynastic machinations of those who do not value her for her sweetness, innocence and beauty.

There are plenty of unsavory characters in this story, as foils to Sophia's goodness. They are painted in some complexity by Plaidy, as are her minor characters such as Eleonore von Knesebeck, Sophia's lady in waiting. The dashing hero in the story, the Swedish Count Philip Konigsmarck, has his share of flaws. Plaidy describes a whir of a world, where aristocrats dance, play cards, gamble, and have mistresses. And small minded people indulge in intrigue. When the intrigue gets serious, it threatens to pull Sophia's world away from her.

There is a lot going on in this historical novel, and it was powerful to me because I knew nothing of this Sophia Dorothea of Celle, George Louis of Hanover (later George I of England), much less all of the Counts and Electors in Germany at that time. A tragic bit of history done very well by the Mistress.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophia Dorothea had a good childhood, was well loved by her parents, but was very unlucky in love. She became the wife of the first King George, but lived with him in Hanover until he became the king. This account shows him to be very uncouth. I had read years ago that he had never learned English, even though he was the king. This book says the same. Last year I had the pleasure of visiting Celle, saw the castle, enjoyed the town. didn't make it to Hannover. can't wait to read more in the series.

[Hippo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I ended up doing.

I love Jean Plaidy she is normally a far better historic fiction writing than those who have followed her but something was just not hitting right with this novel.

I think it took too long to get going to the actual adult part of Sophie Dorothea’s life and then did not focus enough on her. I was hoping she would become more involved in the story and have more depth but she was very one dimensional.

It was nice to read about overlooked historical figures though.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

George Louis's mother was granddaughter to James I of England. At Queen Anne's death and his mother no longer alive ,George became George I of England, the first of the Hanover kings.
He is portrayed as a boor with no manners and whose wife, Sophia Dorothea, was put in the castle Ahlden as a prisoner for more than thirty years. Though she was Queen of England she was never allowed to leave the castle in Germany. her son became George II of England

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviewers pointed out, this is less historical fiction and more a fairy tale. Beautiful Princess is married off to an ogre-like man and people ruin her life because they are so jealous of how sweet and beautiful she is.

And… okay. As fairy tales go it’s pretty well done. So I judged it on that basis rather than anything historical. Like most of Jean Plaidy’s novels this has a lot more “telling” than “showing” but that also fits into the fairy tale element so I call it a wash.

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm such a super fan of Jean Plaidy! This is the story of Sophia of Hanover and her incredible life. What this woman endured and how she was able to just makes you keep shaking your head. Jean Plaidy writes like no other, in my opinion, and brings all the emotions and drama to life. If you don't know Sophia's story, don't Google it - read the book!

[Francine Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best historical fiction writer ever; skilfully fleshes out the large cast of characters (each with similar sounding hyphenated names) such that the reader can remember with little effort and is invested with their various fates.

[Danny Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary historical for a novel based on true facts in the Georgian era. Very little is written about Sophia Dorothea and the Hanovers, and when it is, it's definitely not this entertaining! Very well written and factually accurate! I highly recommend it!

[Paolo B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I did not expect to learn so much about the life of George I of England (and his ex wife) before becoming king, as he was still in Hanover.
True: there IS romance, but to me the historical accuracy (with the limits if this being fiction, of course) overshadows it.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

a rather dull read even with the horribleness of Clara .

[Carole O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this first book in the Georgian series, have not read them for many years so decided to buy them again.

[Jessica Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written and highly accurate historically!

[Asterope]

I first heard about her on the podcast called Noble Blood. I was interested enough to look into her more and came across this book. Will review once read.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not well versed in the Georgian period so I thought I'd tackle it and enjoy myself by reading Plaidy's series. I went in ignorant, so I really cannot day how accurate her version is, but it was a great read.

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book with a very likeable, strong villainess and tragic hero. It was off to a slow start, though. In the beginning, it read somewhat like a simple children's fable, but then got more interesting. This is a tragic story. George William refuses to be King of Bohemia, passing his birth right to his brother. He falls in love with a woman. They welcome Sophia Dorothea soon after, not yet the Princess of Celle. In time, after drawn negotiations with his brother Ernest and the emperor Charles, she is legitimized after her parents are wed. Ernest rules in the rival court of Hanover. Sophia Dorothea is thrust into an unwanted marriage with Ernest's crude, licentious, cruel son, George Lewis. He will be George First of England. Sophia Dorothea is neglected by her new family. She finds love with Count Konigsmarck. What lays ahead is rapture and tragedy beyond their wildest dreams.

[sminismoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did get better towards the end, but the first 3/4 was written in a "she-said, he-said" sort of style, with little scene setting and description. It is almost as though the author had a dot point timeline of Sophia Dorothea's life and list of named relatives, then simply sketched tableau around them. Lifeless, stereotypical characters who performed perfunctory actions. Here we have the the innocent princess used as a pawn by her weak-willed father, the oafish husband, the scheming mistress and dashing conflicted lover. Events happen quickly and perfunctorarily, with little preamble or suspense. I first read these books around the age of 17 and thought they were wonderful. Now, twenty reading years later, I realise that they are somewhat inferior to other books in the genre. For example the Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and most books by Phillipa Gregory.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tragic story of Sophie Dorothea Princess of Celle and the unfortunate wife of George I of England when still prince of Hanover.
True love never ran smoothly for the beautiful Sophia Dorothea, darling of Celle, who first lost her heart to Philip Königsmarck on her seventh birthday.

At sixteen, a pawn in seventeenth-century German politics, she was forced into marriage with George Lewis, Crown Prince of Hanover and the future George I of England, who cared only for women and war.

Clara von Platen, the uncrowned ruler of Hanover, jealous, ruthless and sexually insatiable, is spurned by Königsmarck when he re-appears in the life of Sophia Dorothea. In revenge, she plans his ruin-and that of the sad princess he so recklessly loves.

[Ashleigh Oldfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't mind this book, which follows the story of a German princess who at 16 is married off to her evil cousin in an effort to unite the two families (and their wealth) together. She is such a tragic figure who would never be allowed to experience true love, and I grieve for all those women throughout history who were never allowed to live out their own lives. Plaidy is able to embody these sentiments in this story, and I applaud her for that.

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting historical fiction book about the long suffering wife of George of Hanover (George I), Sophia Dorothea. The book went into quite a bit of detail about George and Sophia's parents, too, and it was a good historical fiction overview of politics in Germany in that period. It's always striking to me how sad the lives of many historical figures actually were.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

First the Goodreads app says this is only ten pages in length, it is not. The copy I own is almost 400 pages in length which is actually better in my opinion.
The story is interesting and really captures your attention. Very much a twisted fairy tale.

[Jodie Oddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book

[Billye]

I first read this book in 2010 but have read it again. I rate this 5 star- it is the story of Sophia Dorothea of Princess of Celle in Germany who was beautiful and wonderful and was married against her will to George Lewis of Hanover, who became George 1st of England. He was very ugly and just as ugly inside. He was a great soldier but otherwise a horrible husband. Jean Plaidy is the best fictional writer of the Kings and queens of England.