1706
Hanover
Georg August, only son of Georg Ludwig, Duke and Elector of Braunschweig und Lüneburg, died aged 22 of pneumonia, a complication of a smallpox infection caught from his new wife, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.[1] This death was problematic for Georg Ludwig, as it meant that unless he could produce another son before his death, the Duchy and Electorate of Braunschweig und Lüneburg would pass to his brother, Maximilian Wilhelm, a Roman Catholic convert. For Maximilian Wilhelm it was unexpected good news, as he now stood to inherit the Duchy and Electorate of Braunschweig und Lüneburg, so he began casting around for a wife, so he could start producing heirs.
Prussia
Georg August's younger sister, Sophie Dorothea, married Friedrich Wilhelm of Hohenzollern, heir to the throne of Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm's mother, Sophie Charlotte of Braunschweig und Lüneburg (sister of Georg Ludwig) had been keen for the pair to marry. The pair themselves had been less keen, having disliked each other since childhood, but Sophie Charlotte's death had complicated things, as her 'dying wish' had been for her son to marry. As a result, the marriage had been contracted, and was carried out late in the year.
[1] In our timeline Georg August and Caroline suffered smallpox infection one year later, and it was Caroline who developed pneumonia.
Dead this post:
Georg August von Braunschweig und Lüneburg, 1683-1706