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Elizabeth of England and Scotland (August 19, 1596 – February 13, 1662) was a member of the Royal House of Stuart and by marriage she was Princess -Electress of the Palatinate of the Rhine and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Friedrich V Prince-Elector of the Palatinate of the Rhine. Prince Friedrich’s selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the political and religious turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War. Since her husband’s reign in Bohemia lasted over one winter, she is called the Winter Queen.

Princess Elizabeth was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on August 19, 1596 at 2 o’clock in the morning. Princess Elizabeth was the only daughter of James VI-I, King of Scotland, England, and Ireland, and his Queen, Anne of Denmark, second daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

King James rode to the bedside from Callendar, where he was attending the wedding of the Earl of Orkney. At the time of her birth, her father was King of Scotland, but not yet King of England. Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England, her godmother, the young Elizabeth was christened on November 28, 1596 in the Chapel Royal at Holyroodhouse, and was then proclaimed by the heralds as “Lady Elizabeth”.

During her early life in Scotland, Elizabeth was brought up at Linlithgow Palace, where she was placed in the care of Lord Livingstone and his wife, Eleanor Hay. A couple of years later the king’s second daughter, Margaret, was placed in their care as well. Elizabeth “did not pay particular attention to this younger sister”, as even at this young age her affections were with her brother, Prince Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.

During Princess Elizabeth’s childhood, unbeknownst to her, part of the failed Gunpowder Plot was a scheme to replace her father with her on the throne, and forcibly raise her as a Catholic.

Courtship and marriage

Suitors

As the daughter of a reigning monarch, the hand of the young Elizabeth was seen as a very desirable prize. Suitors came from across the continent and were many and varied. They included:

1. Gustaf Adolph of Sweden, son of the King Carl IX of Sweden(and later successor King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden).
2. Friedrich Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
3. Prince Maurice of Nassau.
4. Theophilus Howard, Lord Howard of Walden, later second Earl of Suffolk.
5. Otto, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel, son of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.
6. Victor Amadeus, Prince of Piedmont, King Felipe II of Spain’s nephew and heir to the Duke of Savoy.
7. King Felipe III of Spain, newly widowed in 1611.

Each suitor brought to the proposed marriage the prospect of power and greatness for the young Elizabeth.

Marriage would cost Elizabeth her father and her father’s kingdom. When James VI of Scotland had succeeded to the English throne in 1603, England had acquired a new role in European affairs. Unlike the childless Elizabeth I, James, by simply “having children, could play an important role in dynastic politics”. The selection of Elizabeth’s spouse, therefore, had little to do with her personal preference and a great deal to do with the benefits the match could bring.

Most of her suitors were rejected quickly for a variety of reasons. Some simply were not of high enough birth, had no real prospects to offer, or in the case of Prince Gustaf Adolph of Sweden, who on all other grounds seemed like a perfect match, because “his country was at war with Queen Anne’s native Denmark”. Furthermore, England could not face another religious revolution, and therefore the religious pre-requisite was paramount.

The man chosen was Friedrich V, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Friedrich was of undeniably high lineage. His ancestors included the kings of Aragon and Sicily, the landgraves of Hesse, the dukes of Brabant and Saxony, and the counts of Nassau and Leuven.

He and Elizabeth also shared a common ancestor in King Henry II of England. He was “a senior Prince of the Empire” and a staunch defender of the Protestant faith.

Courtship

Friedrich of the Rhine arrived in England on October 16, 1612, and the match seemed to please them both from the beginning. Their contemporaries noted how Friedrich seemed to “delight in nothing but her company and conversation”. Friedrich also struck up a friendship with Elizabeth’s elder brother, Prince Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales which delighted his prospective bride immensely.

King James did not take into consideration the couple’s happiness, but saw the match as “one step in a larger process of achieving domestic and European concord”. The only person seemingly unhappy with the match was Queen Anne due to her opinion that Prince Friedrich was not of sufficient noble birth.

As the daughter of a king, the sister of a king, the wife of a king, and the mother of a future king, Queen Anne also desired to be the mother of a queen. She is said to have been somewhat fond of Friedrich’s mild manner and generous nature but simply felt that he was of low stock.

On November 6, 1612 Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, died. His death took an emotional toll on Elizabeth, and her new position as second in line to the throne made her an even more desirable match. Queen Anne and those like-minded who had “always considered the Palsgrave to be an unworthy match for her, were emboldened in their opposition”. Elizabeth stood by Friedrich, whom her brother had approved, and whom she found to have the sentiments of a fine gentleman. Above all, he was “regarded as the future head of the Protestant interest in Germany”.

Marriage

The wedding took place on February 14, 1613 at the royal chapel at the Palace of Whitehall and was a grand occasion that saw more royalty than ever visit the court of England. The marriage was an enormously popular match and was the occasion for an outpouring of public affection with the ceremony described as “a wonder of ceremonial and magnificence even for that extravagant age”.

It was celebrated with lavish and sophisticated festivities both in London and Heidelberg, including mass feasts and lavish furnishings that cost nearly £50,000, and nearly bankrupted King James. Among many celebratory writings of the events was John Donne’s “Epithalamion, Or Marriage Song on the Lady Elizabeth, and Count Palatine being married on St Valentine’s Day”. A contemporary author viewed the whole marriage as a prestigious event that saw England “lend her rarest gem, to enrich the Rhine”.

Their marriage proved successful, but after they left Bohemia they spent some time in exile in The Hague, while the Thirty Years’ War continued. After his death, she eventually returned briefly to England, at the end of her own life, during the Stuart Restoration of her nephew, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

With the demise of Elizabeth’s great niece, Anne, Queen of Great Britain, the last Stuart monarch in 1714, Elizabeth’s grandson by her daughter Sophia of Hanover succeeded to the British throne as King George I of Great Britain initiating the House of Hanover.