Note 63 — II EARLY WOMANHOOD AND MARRIAGE (HEIDELBERG, 1650-1658)

The Queen’s last will and testament shows that she declared Charles Lewis her heir, but left special legacies to Rupert—jewels, plate, and furniture, with the papers of which the Original Royal Letters, published by Sir George Bromley in 1787, passed into the hands of his lineal ancestress Ruperta, daughter of Prince Rupert and wife of Scroope Emmanuel Howe. To Edward the Queen left a large diamond; to Elizabeth emerald ear-rings; and to Sophia the string of pearls which her mother had ordinarily worn. Probably the medallion with the lock of King Charles I’s hair, which was found on her breast after her death, was buried with her. Many years later, when the death of the Abbess of Herford was apprehended, Sophia wrote to Charles Lewis that he would not find so much reason for discontent on this occasion as on that of their mother’s death—‘for she seems to bear no malice against you.’ It is distressing that Sophia’s want of sympathy towards her mother, which may have been explicable enough in earlier days, should have lasted beyond the grave.