"I have vu tout ce qu'il y avait à voir": The Incorporation of Other Languages into the Memoirs and Letters of Two Early Modern Princesses

Sophie de Hanovre, future mother of George I of England, wrote the words quoted in this article's title in 1679. Although the primary language of Sophie's German father and English mother was French, their children spoke several other languages. This study explores how and why Sophie incorporates such languages in her Mémoires and letters, and how her niece Elisabeth Charlotte does so in her Lettres françaises. The memoir and letters contribute to the "variegated corpus" of translingual literature in French (Forsdick). Far from being a "volte-face [d'] identités nationales" (Gasquet), the interspersing of other languages in these writings contributes significant cultural dimensions to their texts, while strengthening bonds between their recipients.