So the years passed – and while Charles waited for his throne Sophia waited for a husband. There was the attack of smallpox from which she recovered, but it had left its mark on her, and her beauty was not improved.
She was beginning to despair of ever marrying, which would mean living at the court of her brother the Elector Palatine where she was not wanted, listening and often forced to take part in the squabbles between him and his wife, the poor relation, the woman whose ambitions had gone sour, who had no fortune – nothing but her pride in her birth and a love for a far-off country which she had never seen and which was becoming a fetish with her.
Thus Sophia – twenty-eight and desperate – prepared to offer a warm welcome to Duke George William when he came to Heidelberg to propose marriage to her.
Her maid dressed her for the meeting. It was not a new gown; there was no money for new gowns. Her mother, wandering in exile through Europe, continually suffering poverty, short of money, could not help; nor was her brother the Elector inclined to. She had her home at his court; she must be content with that. ‘Oh, rescue me soon, George William!’ murmured Sophia. And her eyes brightened at the prospect.
While her maid was dressing her hair she studied her reflection. Her hair was rather pretty, falling in light brown natural curls about her shoulders; when she smiled she was not without charm despite the damage done to her skin by the accursed pox. It was a pity she were not a little taller, but she made up for that by carrying herself well and haughtily – as became a princess with English blood in her veins.
She hoped George William would be pleased with her. Not that it should make any difference if he were not. This marriage had been arranged and he would have no more choice than she would. She hoped he had not changed. He had been such a charming boy – as her cousin Charles undoubtedly was; and George William, she believed, although he had had countless mistresses, was not quite so profligate as Charles. His mistresses would not be important though, as long as he spent enough time in her bed to enable her to provide the necessary heirs – and, of course, accorded to her the dignity of her rank.
A servant came to tell her that her brother the Elector commanded that she join him in his apartments. She knew this meant she was to be presented to her future husband.
One last look at her reflection. If I were not pitted with the pox, she thought, I should be tolerably handsome.
She was announced, and as she came into the apartment saw her brother with George William. George William was one of the handsomest men she had ever seen.
As he bowed to her, she lifted her eyes to him, and felt an excitement creeping over her. This was indeed the next best thing to marriage into England.
George William took her hand.
‘I find it impossible to convey my pleasure in this meeting.’
He was suave, elegant, gallant.
His brother, standing a few paces behind him, was quite a pleasant young man but eclipsed by the other’s superior attractions.
George William gave no sign of the deep depression which he was experiencing.
He had decided in that moment that marriage was even more repugnant than he had imagined – and he certainly did not want Princess Sophia for his bride.
There was little finesse about the Elector. He knew why the brothers were in Heidelberg and so did everyone else, so why make any pretence about it? The house of Brunswick-Lüneberg wanted a wife for its Duke, and there was no doubt that he wanted a husband for Sophia. He was tired of keeping his sister; her tongue was a little too sharp for his liking, he resented her cost to his household: and he would rejoice to see her the concern of someone else.
So he arranged that the young people should have a private interview on the very day of the arrival of the Duke and his brother.
Duke William, accepting the unpleasant duty before him, plunged in without any preamble, seating himself beside Sophia and taking her hand. His voice was cool as he said: ‘You know for what purpose I am here?’
There was nothing of the coquette about Sophia.
‘I have been told,’ she replied.
‘Then I trust you are not displeased by the arrangements which our families have made for us. I do assure you that if this matter is distasteful to you …’
‘It is not distasteful to me,’ she answered sharply.
He was surprised, and she turned to him laughing. ‘I am not going to play the part of coy maiden. Have no fear of that. I am nearing thirty. Time is running out. If I am going to give my husband heirs I should delay no longer.’
‘I had thought …’
‘That I was in my teens? Now come, my lord Duke, you thought nothing of the sort. You knew my age as well as I knew yours. Why, as soon as a match was mooted between us, I’ll warrant you discovered all it was advisable for you to know about me … as I did about you.’
He laughed. She had a ready tongue.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘there is little for me to say but: Will you marry me?’
‘And nothing for me to answer but: I will.’
‘So the matter is settled then?’
‘To your satisfaction, I hope.’
‘It is the successful conclusion to my mission. I had not thought to complete it so soon.’
‘Then, my lord Duke, have you nothing more to say to me?’
He took her hand and kissed it. His kiss was cold; and remembering all the stories she had heard of him she knew how different it might have been.
He was telling her that it was a marriage of convenience and she would not be expected to ask for more. This was surely not the way he behaved with his Venetian mistress.
And why? Because he felt no passion for pock-pitted Sophia, because he was proposing marriage only because his family insisted that he should?
Sophia was greatly attracted by him. She was longing for marriage, to be the mother of children, to attain the rank and dignity which was denied her in her brother’s court. If her bridegroom were not pleased with her, she was with him.
The marriage contract had been signed. There was one condition. George William had explained to the Elector Palatine that he could not consider marrying immediately because he had affairs to settle, so he wished that his betrothal to Sophia should not be made public just at this time.
The Elector, afraid that any disagreement might mean he had his sister back on his hands, was amenable, and George William took his leave of his bride-to-be and with Ernest Augustus left Heidelberg.
Ernest Augustus did not like to see his brother so downcast.
‘Oh come, brother,’ he said, ‘it’s not so bad. You’ll soon get her with child and when she has produced your son, you and I will go off on a little jaunt together.’
‘I have no great fancy for her,’ admitted George William.
‘Well, ‘twill not be necessary to. Cheer up. You must be in good spirits in Venice.’
‘Venice!’ cried George William.
‘The soon-to-be-married man should have his final bachelor carousal.’
George William turned to Ernest Augustus and they began to laugh.
‘Come on! To Venice then!’ cried George William.
‘There to forget the future while we revel in the present.’
‘Yes, we’ll revel, for I have a notion, brother, that if I am married to that woman nothing will ever be the same again.’
It was not even the same in Venice.
Signora Buccolini surveyed him with suspicion, as he did her. He believed she had been taking lovers during his absence.
He was changed, she told him. He was remote. His thoughts were elsewhere.
‘You are in love with someone,’ she accused him.
‘No,’ he cried. ‘I’m not. I wish to God I were.’
Such a cryptic remark did not ease matters; there was an attempt to recapture the old passion, but it would not come, and the bedchamber of the beautiful Signora seemed to be haunted by the Princess Sophia.