DRAPER, Sarah.

£7,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Memoirs of the Princess of Zell, Consort to King George the First. First edition, scarce in commerce, a romantic dramatization of the life of Sophia Dorothea of Celle (1666-1726), who was forced into a disastrous marriage with the future George I of England and had an ill-fated affair with the Swedish Count Königsmarck. Draper characterizes the extramarital relationship as sincere and virtuous, and portrays the lovers' downfall as tragic.Sophia Dorothea and the future George I were both born into noble German families and married in 1682. Their relationship rapidly deteriorated into mutual dislike. By 1691, George had started an affair with Melusine von der Schulenburg, who would become his long-term mistress; in 1692 Sophia began her own liaison. When the risk of Sophia eloping with Count Königsmarck became known to the court, he disappeared, presumed assassinated, under mysterious circumstances. George divorced Sophia and imprisoned her for the remaining 30 years of her life, forbidding her any contact with their children.Draper's novel presents Sophia as a virtuous outsider of the decadent Hanoverian court, and maintains, as did Sophia herself, that her affair was unconsummated. Count Königsmarck is honourable and devoted to her protection, while George I, who was unpopular in Britain, is cruel and at times physically abusive. The Memoirs are presented as an unearthed manuscript, which in this case proved to be portentous: letters between Sophia and Königsmarck were publis

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