The Elector Palatine, Frederick V (1596-1632), succeeded his father in 1610 and in 1613 married Princess Elizabeth (1596-1662), daughter of James I. In 1619 he accepted the crown of Bohemia and, after a single winter's reign (for which reason he is known as the 'Winter King'), was defeated by Emperor Ferdinand II and driven into exile in Holland. Charles I paid out regularly to maintain his sister and brother-in-law's court at The Hague and was devastated by Frederick's death in 1632. The Hanoverian claim to the throne (and that of all subsequent British monarchs) derives from the Act of Settlement of 1701, which named the Electress Sophia of Hanover (1630-1714), Frederick and Elizabeth of Bohemia's youngest daughter, as the most direct Protestant heir to the throne.

A copy of a full-length design by Honthorst of c. 1631. The sitter is shown in robes of state with the collar of the Order of the Garter, wearing his crown and holding an orb in his right hand, clasping the hilt of his sword in his left hand.