Expert: Mark Smith - 4/21/2010

Question
If I am correct, Sophia of Hanover was named as heir to Queen Anne in the Act of Settlement (1701). She actually died before Anne and her son became George I.

If Sophia had died in infancy, thus without heirs, which Protestant noble would have had the strongest claim to be named in the 1701 Act?

Answer
Hello Biran.
This is going to take me a while to work out. I know who the closest Protestant heir, excluding the Hanoverians, was at the death of Queen Anne in 1714, but I don't know who it was in 1701.
It'll probably take me until the weekend to find the answer, so I'll send a follow-up answer then.
Mark

I've found the answer quicker than I thought.
When the Act of Settlement was signed in 1701 the closest Protestant heir to the Throne (with a closer link even than Electress Sophia) was Charles Schomberg, Marquess of Harwich (born 1683) son and heir of Meinhardt Schomberg, Duke of Schomberg and Leinster. His connection was through his mother Caroline of the Palatine of the Rhine, a neice of Electress Sophia. He was over looked for the succession because his family were not of sufficiently high rank to be considered for the Throne.
For the closet English Protestant noble you have to go back through the line of Henry VII's youngest daughter Mary. The represntative of her line in 1701 was Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (born 1662).
It's impossible to say who the government would have chosen had they been forced to chose between the two.

Mark