Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington

A half-sister of George I of Great Britain, to whom she was close, she moved to England in 1714 shortly after the Hanoverian succession, where she became an influential figure of his court.

[1] She was the daughter of Clara Elisabeth von Meysenburg, married to Franz Ernst, Count von Platen-Hallermund, a court official, but mistress of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg, married to Sophia of the Palatine who was in the line of succession of the kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Her blood relationship to George I was not well known in Britain, and it was widely assumed that she, like the Duchess of Kendal, was the King's mistress.

[3][4][5][6] On one occasion, a confectioner in the royal household was dismissed after being caught using "indecent expressions concerning the King & Madam Kielmansegg".

The fierce black eyes, large and rolling, beneath two lofty arched eyebrows, two acres of cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed and was not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part restrained by stays