Description

William III. 1694-1702. Silver Medal 1701, 131.07 g. Princesses Matilda and Sophia, Hanoverian Succession. By S. Lambelet. Bust veiled and draped. MATILDA . FILIA . H . II . R . ANGL : H . LEON : D . BAV : ET . SAX : MATER . OTT : IV . IMP : PRIVS . DVCIS . AQVIT H . PAL : RHEN : D . S . WILH : SATORIS . DOMVS . BRVNS: Rv. Bust, veiled and draped. SOPHIA . EX . STIRPE . EL : PAL : NEPT : IAC : I . REG : M . BRIT : VIDVA . ERN : AVG : EL : BRVNS : ET . L . ANGLIAE . PRINCEPS . AD . SVCCESS : NOMINATA . MDCCI. Plain edge. 65.1 mm. Eimer 385. MI ii 218/542. Brockmann 752. Vorzüglich / Extremely Fine. Feine Patina / Nicely toned.

Purchased from S & B, Great Missenden, November 1996, lot M216.

Sophia (1630 - 1714), was the daughter of Frederick of the Palatinate (Winter King) and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of Great Britain. She spent her youth in Holland and was very well educated. The Act of Settlement in 1701 provided that the throne would pass to her, the Electress Sophia of Hanover - a granddaughter of James VI and I and a niece of King Charles I - and her descendants, but it excluded "for ever" "all and every Person and Persons who ... is are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold Communion with the See or Church of Rome or shall profess the Popish Religion or shall marry a Papist".

Thus, those who were Roman Catholics, and those who married Roman Catholics, were barred from ascending the throne. However, Sophia died two months before Queen Anne. So her eldest son George Ludwig succeeded to the throne in 1714 as George I, King of Great Britain.

The reverse of this medal shows Matilda, daughter of the English King Henry II. She is considered the founding mother of the Brunswick houses and indicates their early connection with England.