Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / June 30, 1988, edition 1 / Page 48
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f5oq?> '0 Supplement v I h?- B? ii"*.wi(k Beacon July Wedding Gave Br in .iim mi (iivi:n\ 1 >t Mruhi-rn h ? h;urm;iu of the philosophy .mil n-liipnn <i* purtiuviil ;tl llii I ni\crvil\ ?i \nrlh t;iroli?;i ;it \\ ilmllll. lo||. iii u i\ i i>1 mi\ woum noi or named Brunswick ti n were not for a wedding that took place in the old university town of Heidelberg, tiennany. in September. 1(158. Nobody involved in that event could possibly have foreseen the weird set of circumstances that more than a half-century later would install the House of Hanover on the British throne, a development that accounts for the 18th century adoption in the British colonies of such German place names as Brunswick. Hanover and Mecklenburg. The marriage that was to bring the destinies of England and north Germany so close together actually took place when the British throne was vacant, its last occupant i Charles 11 having been beheaded nirre years earlier. The bride that morning in Heidelberg was an unimportant heir, the 12th child of the (laughter of King James I. Her name was Sophia, and she was a talented woman who spoke five languages fluently and had a grasp of the politics of that era. The groom was a minor dignitary. Ernest Augustus. Elector of Hanover. The marriage lasted -10 years Ernest died in Ki!i8i and produced seven children. (ieorge Kewis, Sophia's oldest son. now crossed the channel to become King (ieorge I. and tliat takes us back to our opening statement. The throne of England would not have gone to the Duke of Brunswick, the House of Hanover 1111714. if it had not been for that wedding in Heidelberg in lt>58. It would have been a far more glorious story, however, if Sophia herself had been the one to link Brunswick and England as Queen, for (ieorge I was a dull, vindictive character with none of his mother's talents. I B.-n %r jBk ; Sumnr m f Ai.qi.st ?QHH unswick its Name l lu' entrance at Hrunswick and Hanover into Knplish lif? was thus not accompanied l>> any kind of clary, the "Catholic threat" had been avoided, but only by iettinu the throne fall to the Hanoverian vultures." (ieoruc kept his divoreeif wife imprisoned on the continent anil brought his two German mistresses with him. Irreverent Englishmen with a fine eye for the female figure, quickly dubbed them, "the Elephant." and "the Maypole." as they exercised the real power for the English king who could not speak English. It was this man's alienated son. George II. who was on the throne two decades later when Brunswicktown was settled and named, and it was his great-grandson, George Hi. against whose taxation policies the colonists revolted in 177H. All in all. the House of Hanover did not exactly signal ,".n era of greatness for the British' -own. There was a kind of poetic justice, therefore, in 11117. when antipathy toward things German led the English to drop the name of Brunswick from royal titles, replacing it with Windsor. Had North Carolina been as close to Britain in 1917 as it was in 171-1. Brunswick County would probably have changed its name to Windsor County as part of the English effort to purge itself of the "German Connection." On the one hand, that would have meant that this thrilling article, instead of appearing in the Brunswick Beacon, would probably have surfaced in the Windsor Whatnot. (in the other hand, by keeping the names of Brunswick and Hanover in North Carolina counties, one can always say that the failure to find creative solutions for such things as landfill and zoning problems, is simply part of the legacy of unimaginative leadership received trom lieorge I. ? 'Lrbv CLOTHING Go^ca^ F0R MEN & ier Clearance Sale MM I n . Sat 9 7, Sun 1 -6 ? 1 DCAOU m\A/CI oil DtHV/rl iUvvlLo | $2^8 I %/i/ By The PoundS^pSS*ia?^ $298 ^^sLL^fjTy J. i TOWEL & LINEN | at TRADER'S VILLAGE OUTLETS in CALABASH 1 SS 579-6885 Ljp^I I Capture Your Summer Fun! r <0> M | ^ &gmjggjSSBS^^^ : 26 'diagonal ^ j HQ A Model VPT294 ^ Bj? I SUBS a a ?1 IB RCA Video Cassette jggg^ | Recorder with I ' * v Digital Special * 1 vs--- swivel base ? Effects I rc Ji rtrr I Goodyear Home Supply I fv\cin Street, Snallotte, 754-6792 I J | m
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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June 30, 1988, edition 1
48
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