為什么這個德國小城如此吸引英國王室

The quaint timbered houses of the German town of Celle recall the center of Britain’s most picturesque towns and villages. What is less obvious to the naked eye is that Celle is an ancestral home of Britain’s royal family, the House of Windsor.

德國小城策勒(Celle)古香古色的木房子讓人想起英國中部最優(yōu)美的城鎮(zhèn)和村莊。肉眼不那么容易看出的是，策勒是英國王室溫莎家族(House of Windsor)的故鄉(xiāng)。

That connection has drawn unusual royal interest in this pretty place near Hanover. No other German town of its size — about 70,000 people — has seen anything like two visits from Queen Elizabeth II, as well as one in 1965 from her mother, known as the Queen Mum, and a walkabout by Prince Charles and Princess Diana, who visited in 1987.

這種聯(lián)系讓英國王室對漢諾威附近的這個美麗小城產(chǎn)生了不同尋常的興趣。其他同樣規(guī)模的德國小城(約有7萬人)從未吸引伊麗莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)兩次來訪，她的媽媽王母太后(Queen Mum)也曾于1965年來訪，此外，查爾斯王子(Prince Charles)和戴安娜王妃(Princess Diana)曾于1987年來到這里跟公眾前面。

What ostensibly drew the modern royals to Celle (pronounced TSELL-uh) was partly the presence of British troops during the Cold War. But Queen Elizabeth II, who first came to Celle in 1984, returned last year, at age 89, in conjunction with her visit to the nearby former Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, liberated in 1945 by the British.

將英國現(xiàn)代王室成員吸引到策勒的部分表面原因是冷戰(zhàn)期間英國曾在這里駐軍。不過，1984年首次訪問這里的伊麗莎白二世去年在89歲高齡再次來到這里。她還訪問了附近的貝爾根-貝爾森前納粹集中營(Bergen-Belsen)——1945年英軍解放了這里。

She was also following in the footsteps of her ancestors. What became the House of Windsor, or Welfen in German, originated in this area more than 300 years ago, when Queen Anne died childless.

她也在追隨祖先的足跡。300多年前，溫莎家族出現(xiàn)在這一地區(qū)，當時安妮女王(Queen Anne)駕崩無嗣。

Her closer Stuart relations in Britain were barred from the throne by law because they were Roman Catholic, so Britain turned to Germany for a new Protestant monarch: George I, the Elector of Hanover and Anne’s second cousin. Celle was the hometown of George’s wife, Sophia Dorothea.

她在英國的近親斯圖爾特家族(Stuart)因為信仰羅馬天主教而不能依法繼承王位，所以英國轉(zhuǎn)向德國尋找一位新的新教君主：安妮的遠房表兄弟、漢諾威選帝侯喬治一世(George I)。策勒是喬治妻子索菲婭·多羅特婭(Sophia Dorothea)的故鄉(xiāng)。

Caught in a marital tangle far crueler than the 20th-century woes of Charles and Diana, Sophia Dorothea was never able to see England, where her son would one day ascend the throne as George II.

由于比20世紀的查爾斯和戴安娜的痛苦婚姻殘酷得多的婚姻糾葛，索菲婭·多羅特婭從未去過英國——她的兒子將在那里登基，成為喬治二世。

Before George I became king there, he took a mistress. Sophia Dorothea, for her part, fell for a dashing Swedish count, Philipp von Konigsmarck. The two planned to elope, but their plan was betrayed; the Swedish count was killed, and Sophia Dorothea, at 28, was divorced by her philandering husband, found guilty of “malicious desertion,” deprived of her children and imprisoned in a castle in nearby Ahlden.

在喬治一世成為英國國王之前，他有個情婦。而索菲婭·多羅特婭也愛上了風度翩翩的瑞典伯爵菲利普·馮·克尼格斯馬格(Philipp von Konigsmarck)。兩人打算私奔，不過計劃遭到泄露。瑞典伯爵被殺，28歲的索菲婭·多羅特婭被淫亂的丈夫休掉，并被判“蓄意背棄罪”，剝奪探視孩子的權(quán)利，軟禁在附近的阿爾登城堡(Ahlden)。

She remained there, essentially in captivity, for more than 30 years, until her death on Nov. 13, 1726.

她在那里被軟禁了30多年，直到1726年11月13 日去世。

Sophia Dorothea’s fate is being specially honored this year — 350 years after her birth — with a series of guided tours and special exhibits. A “birthday surprise” is promised for Sept. 10, when she was born.

今年，在索菲婭·多羅特婭去世350周年之際，人們?yōu)榱思o念她的命運，組織了一系列有導游的游覽項目和特別展覽。在她的生日9月10日，還會有一個“生日驚喜”。