Note 89 — III THE DUCHESS SOPHIA (HANOVER, OSNABRÜCK, AND HANOVER, 1658-1688)
Reading edition
‘I do not know whether it is true, but it is said here’ [at Versailles] ‘that the English are ready to have the Elector of Brunswick for their King, but that they will make it a condition, that the Electoral Prince shall never succeed him on the throne. Duke Maximilian I do not know, but, between ourselves, I would rather it were Duke Ernest Augustus than the Electoral Prince; for my cousin, Duke Ernest Augustus, has a good ancestry on both sides and is of wholly German descent, whereas the Electoral Prince has some very bad ancestors, and is described to me as so mad that I have often heartily pitied his wife; of Duke Ernest Augustus I have never heard anything but praise, and I have therefore a hearty regard for him.’