Thanks for the clarification! Hatton doesn't cite any sources for this claim; the chapter in general is based on the memoirs and the "many volumes of her printed correspondence." It could be speculation, or there could be a letter.
(hence her including such details as the STD gained from a courtesan in Venice
Oh, one thing Hatton says that does come from a letter is this:
Sophia's amour-propre had been damaged by Georg Wilhelm's rejection but she was given to understand--or convinced herself--that he had contracted syphilis in Venice and was now 'unfit for marriage'.7
7 For her later realization that Karl Ludwig had been told this of Georg Wilhelm to make him consent to the substitution of bridegrooms, see Sophia, Correspondence with her brother: to Karl Ludwig 8 April 1666.
I found the volume, and the quote reads:
Je ne sache aussi personne qui ait jamais doute de la vigueur de Georg Wilhelm ; ce qu'on vous a dit n'a este que pour vous faire consentir a mon mariage.
I also don't know anyone who ever doubted the vigor of Georg Wilhelm; what you have been told was only to make you consent to my marriage.
Re: Charles II and Sophia
(hence her including such details as the STD gained from a courtesan in Venice
Oh, one thing Hatton says that does come from a letter is this:
Sophia's amour-propre had been damaged by Georg Wilhelm's rejection but she was given to understand--or convinced herself--that he had contracted syphilis in Venice and was now 'unfit for marriage'.7
7 For her later realization that Karl Ludwig had been told this of Georg Wilhelm to make him consent to the substitution of bridegrooms, see Sophia, Correspondence with her brother: to Karl Ludwig 8 April 1666.
I found the volume, and the quote reads:
Je ne sache aussi personne qui ait jamais doute de la vigueur de Georg Wilhelm ; ce qu'on vous a dit n'a este que pour vous faire consentir a mon mariage.
I also don't know anyone who ever doubted the vigor of Georg Wilhelm; what you have been told was only to make you consent to my marriage.