Frederick was a Protestant leader with Catholic neighbours - the Hapsburgs - whose leader had been elected as Emperor Ferdinand II. Ferdinand's predecessors had been tolerant of other religions but Ferdinand was not. The Protestants of Europe urged Frederick to challenge the crown and, thinking he would have support from his father-in-law King James I of England, decided to do so.

This sparked off the Thirty Years War in Europe.

Frederick took Elizabeth and their eldest son Prince Frederick Henry to Prague where he was crowned Emperor in November.

They ruled through the winter with little challenge and became known as the Winter King and Queen...but then in the spring...

Frederick - the Winter King

Frederick refused to leave and Ferdinand started to gather Catholic support to force him to do so. Ferdinand could gain little Protestant support to help him but King James I did allow a force of 2000 volunteers under Sir Horace Vere to help.

Ferdinand gained more support and managed to get an army (under Spinola) to move in on Frederick into the Lower Palatinate and another (under Maximilian) to move into Bohemia. On November 8th Frederick's army was defeated at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague.

The battle had been so decisive that Frederick and Elizabeth scarcely had time to escape from their castle in Heidelburg. In the rush a small baby nearly got left behind and was hurriedly pushed into a departing coach - this was Prince Rupert.

Elizabeth was very pregnant (with Maurice) and had to leave her carriage at one point to ride along with a young English officer - Ralph Hopton. They fled through the snows but were turned away by many - afraid of Catholic reprisals