Figure 1.--This photograph, probably taken in the early 1910s shows three generations of a Hanoveraian royal family. The older man sitting in the chair is apparently HRH Prince Ernst Hanover. Standing to his right is his son Prince Ernst August. He was married to HRH Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia, only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The two young boys in the front are Ernst August's eldest children, Prince Ernst August of Hanover (yet again) who died in 1987 and his brother HRH Prince Georg Wilhelm. They as the children of Victoria Luise were the Kaiser's grandchildren.

Hanover was a German kingdom, perhaps best known for providing the English Hanovarian dynasty beginning with George I and ending with Victoria. The personal union with the United Kingdom ended with Ernst August (1837-51). The last ruling Hanovarian king was King Georg V (1851-66). Prussian annexed Hanover after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and Hanover became a Prussian province. Even so, the German Empire appears to have continued to recognize the royal Linage.

History

Hanover was one of the most important states of northern Germany. Hanover was a German kingdom, perhaps best known for providing the English Hanovarian dynasty beginning with George I and ending with Victoria. The personal union with the United Kingdom ended with Ernst August (1837-51). The last ruling Hanovarian king was King Georg V (1851-66). Prussian annexed Hanover after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and Hanover was made a Prussian province. Even so, the German Empire appears to have continued to recognize the royal linage. It has been said in Germany that north of the Main River, Prussia begins. This actually obscures the complexity of Germnan gography and politics. The period, when the former Kingdom of Hanover was a Prussian province, lasted just 80 years (1866-1946). A relatively short intermission, if we realize the long lasting of the free and independant Guelph-country beginning in the Middleages.

Current Status

There is no longer a state (Landen) in today's German Federal Republic called Hanover. The Sate of Lower Saxony actually consists of four different former German principalities: the Duchy Brunswick, the Kingdom of Hanover, the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, and the County Schaumburg-Lippe. The British Military Government created Lower Saxony in 1946 out of these former principalities.

Hannover Roylty

We have little infomation at this time on early Hanovarian kings. In modern times, the crowns of Hanover and Britain were shared. Only with the assession of Queen Victoria did this diverge.

English kings

Hanover's Kings were kings of Great Britain for a period of 123 years (Georges I to IV and William IV-- britains Hanovarian dynasty. Only with Queen Victoria did the monarchies diverge, because in Hanover the crown could be inherited only through the male line.

Ernst August I (1837-51)

The extinct title of the Duke of Cumperland was granted to Prince Ernest Augustus, fifth son of King George III. He became Earl of Armagh (Ireland) and Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale. When his older brother, King William IV, died without children (1837), Ernst August became king of Hanover. Unlike Britain, the Salic Law in Hanover and other German states prevented women from ruling. Ernst August's niece Princess Victoria could be queen of Britain, but not Hanover. Britain had made George I king when he was thoroughly German and did not even speak English. Now Hanover made throughly English Ernest Augustus their king. It should be noted that at the time the Germans and British were generlly well disposed oward each other, seeing the French as the great threat to European peace. Ernst August was succeeded by his only child Georg (1851).

Georg V (1851-66/78)

George was born in 1819 at Unter-de-Linden Strasse in Berlin. His father was King Ernest Augustus I (1771- ). His mother was Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1778- ). He was blinded in a 1834 accident. He married Princess Marie-Alexandrina of Saxe-Altenburg in 1843. They had three children. Ernest Augustus of Cumberland, Duke of Cumberland 3rd, (1845- ), Frederica Sophia Marie (1848- ), and Marie Ernestine Josephine (1849- ). He acceded as King George V of Hanover in 1851. He also had the British titles of Duke of Cumberland & Teviotdale, Earl of Armagh. King George was deposed by the Prussians after he refused to join them in the Astro-Prussian War. He made Queen Victoria the executor of his considerable private fortune which the Prussians had confiscated. He died in 1878, living in exile in Paris. He was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windor Castle as a result of his ties to the British royal family.

Prince Ernst Hanover (1878-1923)

Prince Ernst was born in 1845 in Hanover, Germany. His father was George V (1819- ). His mother was Princess Marie-Alexandrina of Saxe-Altenburg (1818- ). Ernst acceded in 1878. Besides his claims to the now defunct Hanovarian crown, Ernst was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Teviotdale, and Earl of Armagh. He was known as the Duke of Cumberland. He refused to abandon his claim as King of Hanover. He asked Queen Victoria to persue his family's claims to property confiscated by the Prussians. Queen Victoria told him that she could not help him persue his claim to confiscated assets with the Prussians (now Germans) unless he abandoned his claim to the Hanovarian throne. As this dispute was becoming acrimonious. The Princess of Wales Alexandra, no friend of the Prussians, aproached him about a possible marriage to her sister Tyra. He married Danish Princess Thyra Amelia of Schleswig-Holstein in 1878. The marriage was delayed because the Prussians, especially Chancellor Bismarck did not like the idea that a Danish Princess would marry a claimant to the Hanovarian crown after Prussia had annexed Hanover. King Christain IX of Demark was concerned with the Prussian reaction. His marriage had tied Ernst closer to the British. Not only did he have British titles, but his sister in law was now Alexandra Princess of Wales and future queen. Ernst and Thyra had six children: Marie Louise Victoria Caroline (1879- ), George William Christian, Earl of Armagh (1880- ), Alexandra Louise Marie Olga (1882- ), Olga Adelaide Louise Marie (1884- ), Christian Frederick William (1885- ), and Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-, Duke of Bruswick-Lüneburg (1887- ). The older man sitting in the chair here (figure 1) is HRH Prince Ernst Hanover, Duke of Cumberland. The gentleman standing to his right is his son HRH Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick. His British titles were revoked in 1919 as part of the anti-German feeling following World War I. He died in 1923 at Gmunden, Austria.

Prince Ernst August (1923- )

HRH Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick married HRH Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia, only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. They had two sons, HRH Prince Ernst August of Hanover (yet again) who died in 1987 and his brother HRH Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hanover. Georg Wilhelm is still living and was married to HRH Princess Sohpie of Greece, who died in ??? and was the sister of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. I have no biographical details on the lives of the children.

Created: May 19, 2002
Last updated: April 29, 2004