KONIGSMARK, PHILIPP CHRISTOPH, COUNT (GRAF) VON

born March 14, 1665, Stade, Bremen died July 1, 1694, Hannover, Hanover alleged German lover of Sophia Dorothea, who was consort to the Hanoverian electoral prince George (later King George I of England). Their supposed relationship led to Knigsmark's death and to Sophia Dorothea's lifelong imprisonment. Born of a noble German family in Swedish service, Knigsmark, whose sister Maria Aurora became the mistress of the elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (later Augustus II the Strong, king of Poland), was a colonel in the Hanoverian service. Twice he aided the dissatisfied Sophia Dorothea in unsuccessful attempts to escape from her husband's household in Hanover. In 1694, before he could take up a new commission in electoral Saxony, he disappeared, probably having been murdered. George divorced Sophia Dorothea and imprisoned her.