german Houses: The Royal House of Hannover

The Royal House of Hannover

House of Guelf

All present members of the Royal Family have the titles Prince/Princess of Hannover,  Prince/Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke/Duchess zu Brunswick and Lüneburg with the style of Royal Highness (HRH).

Ancestor of this line is Duke Wilhelm zu Brunswick and Lüneburg who received in the partition of the Brunswick territories on 15.03.1569 the Principality of Lüneburg. Under him the possessions of the Family s grew with the addition of the lower county and city of Hoya in 1582 and the county of Diepholz in 1585.When he died in 1592 he left among others 7 sons.  By an agreement between the brothers from 27.09.1592 between the brothers the the goverment was entrusted to the oldest brother Ernst II. for 8 years. He continued with their assent for another 10 years, until another agreement of 03.12.1610 gave him the principality of Lüneburg and all its dependencies for him and his descendants as an indivisible whole. When he died without leaving descendants in 1611 the next brother Christian followed him in the reign. In 1612 the remaining brothers made an similiar agreement among eachother which was confirmed by the Emperor. To maintiain the unitiy of the Territory the borhters made an agreement that only of them should marry and have descendants. In 1617 the choose the youngest brother Georg. After Christian's death in 1633 he was followed by August I. who reigned until 1636 and was followed by Friedrich IV. During the reign of August the brohters received Calenberg which was not added to the Pricipality but given to the married brother Georg who had his residence in Hannover. 

Georg died in 1641 before his turn to reignCelle came up. He left an unusual will.  He instituted the rule that Celle (which his sons were due to inherit from their unmarried uncle Friedrich) and his own principality of Calenberg should never be united, as long as there were two males left in his issue.  Moreover, he laid down the rule that the elder male should have the right to choose  which of the two principalities he wished to rule. 

He left four sons from his marriage to Princess Anna Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt

• Christian Ludwig, he had succeeded in Calenberg after the death of his father, and after the the death of his uncle he choose for himself Celle with Grubenhagen and Lüneburg. He ws married to Pricness Dorothea Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein--Sonderburg-Glücksburg but the marriage remained without childless.
• Georg Wilhelm, afterh the death of his brother Christian Ludwig in 1665 he receieved Celle, Diepholz, Hoya, Schauen and Walkenried and took up residence in Celle. In 1655 he had become enganged to Princess Sophie of the Palatinate but the engagement ewas taken off and Princess Sophie became engaged to the youngest brother Ernst August. Georg Wilhelm had promised his brother in 1658 that he would never marry and therefore all lands would fall to Ernst August (as the other brothers where unmarried at that time). However he later meet Eleonore d'Olbreuse who he brought to his Court in 1665.   They had only one surviving child, a daughter born in 1666.  In 1674 Eléonore was created Countess of Harburg and her daughter Countess of Wilhelmsburg by the Emperor.  Finally, in 1675, Georg Wilhelm formally married Eléonore, with the consent of Ernst August as well as that of Anton Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, of the elder line.  The two kinsmen also signed the marriage contract.  The contract stipulated that the wife should not use the title of duchess of Brunswick; that the issue of the marriage would be considered legitimate and entitled to the title and rank of imperial count, until it should receive greater dignities from the Emperor; and that it would have no claims to succeed in the principality as long as a living male heir of the line of Brunswick-Lüneburg still exists.  There was also a clause that the daughter, Sophia Dorothea, would use the title of duchess of Brunswick if she should marry into an altfürstlich house. In 16782 Sophie Dorothe was married to her first cousin Georg Ludwig, the oldest son of Ernst August.
  • Sophie Dorothea, married to her first cousin Georg I., King of Great Britain, Elector of Hannover
• Johann Friedrich, after the death of his oldest brother Christian Ludwig in 1665 he received Calenberg with Grubenhagen and Göttingen. He made the village Haringehusen 1666 under the name of Herrenhausen his summer residence, provided a first simple palace and began the installation of the Great Garden. Also, the system of the zoo in Kirchrode goes back to his initiative. The Castle Church in linen castle he was a Catholic rite consecrated for worship and took Capuchin monks to Hanover. In 1674 he led an official order, which until 1808 was replaced by the Westphalian territorial organization. In 1676, he called the then only 30-year-old scholar and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz as a court historian and librarian at his court. Also, it goes to the foundation of the later Royal Library, now the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, back. His elaborate style of government financed by Johann Friedrich French support funds.
  Johann Friedrich was married to Princess Benedicta Henriette of the Palatinate. They had 4 daughters
  • Johanna Sophie, died young
  • Charlotte Felicitas, marrie to Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Medna and Reggio
  • Henriette Marie
  • Amalie Wilhelmine, married to Emperor Josef I., Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia
• Ernst August, he succeeded his brother Johann Friedrich in Calenberg, Göttingen and Grubenhagen. In 1683 he introduced against the opposition of his younger sons the promigenitur in his territories. In 1692 he was raised to the rank of Elector.

Electorate of Hannover

After the death of his brother Johann Friedrich,  Ernst August in 1679 inherited the Principality of Calenberg. The main policy objective of Ernst August was the acquisition of the electoral dignity for his calenbergian house. Since 1689 so he led negotiations with the Emperor. 1682 Ernst August had already proclaimed the right of Primogenitur for his country, which was a prerequisite for obtaining the electoral dignity. Consequently, the eldest son, Georg Ludwig would be  the sole heir of the Welf principalities Calenberg and Grubenhagen. By anm inheritance contract with the Celler Duke Georg Wilhelm was also ensured that after his death the Principality of Lüneburg also fell to the Guelf resident in Hanover. Also, the state budget was brought into balance and overall management less familiar Minister Franz Ernst Graf von Platen and Mr. Grote led by the Office of the princes by consultation. As the supreme advisory and controlling authority was the prince of reaching back to watching Secret advice. Under this administration passed the various colleges, the law firm, mainly for cases that chamber for the finance, the Consistory and the Council of War, all with strictly separate departments. In 1692 the new (ninth) Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire was created by the Emperor. The ruling in the Principality of Calenberg line of Guelf was awarded this ninth Electorate. This was possible should take place a perpetual Union between the houses of Habsburg and Lüneburg by a treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and the two lines of the House of Lüneburg, according to the grant of the Electorate of Hanover House, with the possible participation of Celle. For all future elections, the the Hanoverian Guelfs gave their fixed  approval to always the firsttborn Habsburg. With the investiture of the Electorate was accompanied by a short, little bloody battle with the brunswick-wolfenbüttel line between the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The wolfenbüttel between Guelphs felt the increase in calenbergischen line in Hanover unbearable reset. When their protests went unheeded about, they joined with other German princes in 1700 in Nuremberg for "covenant of the corresponding princes". If necessary, they wanted to prevent by force of arms the Kurerhöhung Hanover. In the same year overpowered Georg Wilhelm and Georg Ludwig with the assistance of the Emperor Wolfenbüttel between Princes and compelled them to recognize the electoral dignity. . 

Elector Ernst August was married to Princess Sophie of the Palatinate and had with her the following children:

• Georg Ludwig, succeeded his father as Elector
• Friedrich August, fallen as a major general in the Great Turkish War in St. Georgen, Transylvania
• Maximilian Wilehlm, imeprial Field Marshall
• Sophie Charlotte, married to Elector Friedrich III. of Bradenburg, from 1701 King Friedrich I. in Prussia
• Karl Philipp, fallen in 1680 in the Great Turkish War at the Battle of Pristina
• Christian Heinrich, General Wax Master drowned in the Danube near Ulm in the campaign against the French in the War of Spanish Succession
• Ernst Agust, Duke of York and Albany  

After the death of Elector Ernst Agust in 1698 oldest son Georg Ludwig followed him as Elector. After the death of his uncle Georg Wilhelm he inherited also the Privipality Brunswick-Lüneburg. With the exception of Brunswick-Wollfenbüttel all the posessions of the House of the hannoveraiun line of the Guelfs. In 1701 three years after George had became Duke and Elector the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement. This law stipulated that George's mother Sophie of the Palatinate should follow to the British throne if the then reigning monarch, William III. and his sister Anne would die without descendants. The choice fell on Sophie because she  was the closest Protestant relative of the British royal family, many Catholics as parent heirship were excluded from the succession. When in 1706 the Dukes of Bavaria, the title of Elector was deprived because of the support of France, George received by the Elector of the Palatinate, the honorary title of Erzschatzmeisters the Holy Roman Empire. 1710 confirmed the Reichstag formally George as Elector. In 1714 George's Mutter Sophie only a few weeks before the british Queen Anne. According to the Act of Settlement he became now as George I. King of Great Britain. 
The largest part of the reign of George I. was founded by two major wars (the War of Spanish Succession and the Great Northern War) filled in , where both George as Elector , as well as a strong King took part in its properties . His warlike engagement ended with a considerable increase in its country . The union with Great Britain transformed electoral Hannover into an adjoining country whose nobility exploited freedoms without strong leadership princely . In economic terms, the country benefited from new trade relations . The most agrarian land far produced more products than it needed for its own use , and found a buyer in the British Empire to its surplus. The emerging industry of Great Britain could provide the electorate with missing goods in return. electoral Hannover appeared during the 18th Century political relationship almost exclusively as a satellite of Great Britain , it nevertheless raised the prestige and importance of the land in the kingdom as a result of this connection considerably . His influence in domestic affairs was just behind the back of Habsburg and Brandenburg-Prussia. George I's government , was significant for the kurbraunschweigisch - Lüneburg country, as they were officially called since 1705 in every respect . Returned from the campaign on the Rhine at the end of 1707  , the Elector turned her out also at its borders Northern War battles of his attention to. The  with Denmark proposed defensive and offensive alliance against Karl XII. however, did not materialize. Still standing spa Brunswick-Lüneburg , which was militarily well prepared since that time , ready to intervene at the right moment , to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 vainly strove rich duchies of Bremen and Verden, if necessary, to achieve by force of arms to round out the territorial holdings. Meanwhile the Elector contented to take the Protestants in the high pins Münster , Paderborn , Hildesheim in his protection , as he gave his hand to the Catholics in his lands complete religious freedom . Hildesheim was briefly occupied militarily. On 01.08.1714 the British Queen Anne of the House of Stuart died.  Although the Elector of Hanover moved to London to settle there but  made no direct constitutional amendment in the Electorate . Gradually it became clear that Governor and Privy Council were now  the actual rulers. The Privy Council kept the negotiations with the stands , the control of the national administration, finance, justice , spiritual , military and foreign affairs , and subject to electoral confirm the appointment of officials with the exception of the highest ranks, so the actual government of the country under the condition of regular reporting to the ruler in his hand. The colleges under him for each department , office , pantry, Consistory and war stood firm with him through the extracted exclusively from among its department heads in constant direct communication . The rich income from the domains of direct and indirect taxes, which had even at times result in surpluses while the shiny royal household of the Prince of the last generation immigrant , less the relatively significant expenditure on the civil service and in Hanover persisting royal household , in the Checkout the Elector - King and allowed despite significant cost for the standing army the creation of an important treasure house . Meanwhile, led the tenacity of King Charl XII . of Sweden , near the threat of Russian troops in Mecklenburg, the fear that the Northern War completely take down Germany and the Czar had only recently helped an approximation of the Danish King Frederik IV of Brunswick- Lüneburg and spa while the other interested German Prince brought that one year later to an offensive and defensive alliance between Denmark and electoral Brunswick-Lüneburg Brunswick led to Congress for agreement on the Nordic peace treatises , beginning in 1714 with mutual guarantee . Denmark secured the retention of standing time under Danish administration Swedish duchies of Bremen and Verden in electoral Hannover . On the other hand, the permanent union of Schleswig with Denmark should be guaranteed. A final security in the possession of the duchies of Bremen (not the Free Imperial City of Bremen ) and Verden , which , because of their rich income ( a quarter million annually reichstaler ) valuable, the Treaty of Stockholm ( November 1719 ) granted, in which Sweden against payment of one million Thaler relinquished his claim to the duchies to the electorate . The imperial investiture of the same , also in the Braunschweig -Wolfenbüttel was taken, however, took place only in 1733. George I also made sure that in the 1720s far-reaching plans of the Habsburgs against France were thwarted by closed Kurhannover with the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I "The Wall Street Alliance " in Herrenhausen to preserve the existing state of the law ..
Elector and King George I. had in 1682 married his first cousin  Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the only child of the elder brother of his father. The sole purpose of the marriage was the union of the territories of Hannover and Celle, and the couple alienated rapidly. Georg Ludwig preferred the company of his mistress before Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, which he later made ​​to the Duchess of Kendal and Munster in the UK and with whom he had at least three illegitimate children. Careless favor of Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, who grew up on her father's farm as a page, gave the Hanoverian court to excuse Sophie Dorothea offensive to accuse a relationship with Königsmarck. The Count was on 01.07.1694 murdered and thrown his body into the line. The murder appears to have been carried out by four courtiers George, one of which is for 150,000 dollars received, representing about one hundred times the salary of a senior minister. The marriage was dissolved on 28.12.1694 and Sophia Dorothea banished to the castle Ahlden where she was held captive until her death in the year in 1726. That she had been unfaithful to her husband, has not been established. Access to their children and their father was forbidden her, as she was not allowed to remarry. She received a steady income and servant, but was allowed to leave only when strictly supervised rides the castle. They had 2 children

• Georg August, who succeeded his father as Elector and King
• Sophie Dorothea married to King Friedrich Wilhelm I. in Prussi 

After the death of Elector and King George I. on 11.06.1727 his only son Georg August followed him as Elector and King George II. He shared with his  father George  the preference for the German home country , where he liked to stay. With his cousin and brother-in-law Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia he was from personal antipathy and mutual rivalry consistently in a very awkward relationship . The preference of the Prussian king for long soldiers and the ruthlessness of his Hanoverian recruiters in 1731 led to a serious complication. Already the armies of both princes were ready to fight at the border each other, save through the dukes of Gotha and Brunswick have been prevented at the last moment of the fight. The Elector founded in 1737 , the University of Göttingen , which soon attracted with a rich endowment established through the efforts of the Minister of Munchausen to life and the most distinguished scholars in Germany and a large number of students per se . As an elector of the empire and guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction George II stood during the Austrian War of Succession, 1741-1748 on the side of Maria Theresa. The victory of Dettingen on27.06.1743  is the last victory which was won by a British king at the head of his troops themselves . The Seven Years War hit electoral Hannober very hard, as it was one of the main battlegrounds . Austria's alliance with the old enemy France had perverted the political situation and Hanover conducted in the wake of Britain's alliance with Friedrich II. of Prussia. In the early years the Prussian- British forces were mostly in bad location . The great military skill of Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel , the Prussian King willingly gave his allies as Commander of the Allied army could not fully compensate for the losses of the first two years , before all the defeat of the Duke of Cumberland in Hastenbeck  and the door is closing because the Convention of Kloster Zeven , which the French ceded the entire country for a year.Elector and King Georg II. was married to Pricness Karoline off Bradenburg-Ansbach. they had the following children

• Fredrick Louis, Prince of Wales, married to Princess Augusta of Saxe-.Gotha-Altenburg
  • Augusta, married to Duke Karl II. of Brunswick-Wolffenbüttel
  • George, who succeeded his grandfather as Eelctor and King
  • Edward, Duke of York and Albany
  • Elisabeth Caroline
  • William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, married to Maria Walpole
    • Sophia Matilda
    • Caroline Auguste
    • William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, married to Princess Mary of Great Britian, Princess of Hannover
  • Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, married to Lady Anne Luttrell
  • Louisa Anne
  • Frederick William
  • Caroline Mathilda, married to King Christian VII. of Denmark and Norway
• Anne, married to Prince Willem IV. of Orange and Nassau-Dietz, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands
• Amelia Sophia
• Caroline Elizabeth
• Georg William
• William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland
• Mary, married to Landgrave Friedrich II. of Hesse-Cassel
• Louisa, married to King Frederik V. of Denmark and Norway

When Elector and King George II. died on 25.10.1760 he was succeeded by his grandson George because his oldest son Frederick Louis, the Prince of Wales had already died in 1751. Under the new Elector and King George III.  way the government remained same as since 1714, except that the governor and Privy Council so independent proceeded, as the King-Elector henceforth took  his permanent residence in England, the land of his birth, where he was certainly introduxced a standing cabinet for the Electorate.  Until the French Revolution, a full human Ages, the electorate of the entire Germany enjoyed a period equal to undisturbed peace. On the German domestic politics electoral Hannover only started since the Bavarian War of Succession, committed to participate this time in accordance with the Prussian policy and against the Josephine expansion efforts. On the part of the Habsburg monarchy was threatened by the planned annexation of Bavaria, a complete overthrow of the internal political power ratio, Catholic and Protestant, big and small princes of equal risk. George III. occurred as most of them in 1785, founded by Prussia of Friedrich II Fürstenbund in whose statutes of Prussia, electoral Hannover and electoral Saxony two only for these three counterparties mandatory secret Individual items have been added that in the event of a war of mutual support with an auxiliary corps of 15,000 men awards were planned on the other hand ROCHE common measures to make the pursuit niece of the Emperor to bring the members of his house of Habsburg in the Koadjutorschaften all important spiritual kingdom stands. In the battles against the French Revolution Hanover did not directly patricipate. However, one only 13,000 , then 16,000 -strong corps was left to the King of Great Britain , under the leadership of Field Marshal Freytag, the join in the fights until it was returned during the retreat of the main British army in the home . The conclusion of the peace Basel by Prussia ( 1795 ) and the line of demarcation is stipulierte preserved Hannover from the incursions of the French. The next decade was full of frictions between Hannover and Prussia and brought Hannover precisely because of its connection with Great Britain, which did not want to understand the stipulations of the Peace of Luneville   but the struggle continued for twelve months longer , in a misslichste situation. Although that is received is definitely awarded the diocese of Osnabrück still called peace Hanover, was already planned by the First Consul his downfall in such a way that in these also his rival , which the consul against himself restrained Prussia, should be with involved . Bonaparte invited no less than three times in the years 1796-1801 Fiedrich Wilhelm III. to occupy the Electorate for violation of the provisions of the Basel peace and to cover against Great Britain, and the last Prussian king recognized it because Russia sought to forestall him , for the best to follow this advice. So the first occupation of Hanover was because , as a defense of the country did not seem advisable for the insufficient number of troops by 24,000 Prussians under General von Kleist, who a year until the Peace of Amiens  had to be maintained by the country. The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss from February 1803 confirmed electoral Hannover in possession of Osnabrück , but it could not enforce its claim to the same time also secularised Bishopric of Hildesheim competing against the Prussians. The resumption of war by Great Britain in 1803 also led to disaster brought about the electorate . Neither the King nor his former Cabinet Minister of Lenthe had as of what nottat a proper view of the state of affairs in electoral Hannover in a critical situation . The large costs created from small beginnings and to advertising army of about 20.000 men , at that time under the leadership of Field Marshal von Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, a righteous, personally brave, but his task by no means grown man was suffered through over the past decade weakened defeats in the field and in policy and demoralized. When, therefore, an attempt at a general banns had failed at the reluctance of the propertied classes  Wallmoden-Gimborn felt compelled to pressure to give estates of the land deputy and one of these with General Édouard Adolphe Mortier  the commander of her approaching from the River Weser against Hannover French army to Sulingen completed Convention recognize as binding . Without having the sword out of its sheath is pulled, so that nevertheless still strong against 16,000 men Hanoverian army declared a no greater enemy than for defeated and signed the condition , beyond the Elbe in Lauenburg , for the duration of the war as it were voluntary in a internment to stay . Its popular practice of failing the First Consul on a trivial pretext towards the Convention 's ratification, and so the French commander dictated the unfortunate Wallmoden in the Convention of Artlenburg on the Elbe  the following conditions : The Hanoverian army is disarmed and dissolved; ammunition and horses are given to the winner , the country remains in French sequester. Jean -Baptiste Bernadotte, who later became King of Sweden and Norway, was here on 14.05.1804 French governor for several months . As a result of the Treaty of Paris from 15.02.1806 which Christian Haugwitz concluded with Napoleon  Prussia was forced to occupy Hanover , which led to a declaration of war by England as a result.  In 1807 or 1810 Hanover finally went to the Kingdom of Westphalia  ruled by Napoleon's youngest brother Jerôme . The northwest of the electorate in 1811 as part of the Hanseatic departments, part of the First French Empire. At the Congress of Vienna  the Electorate itself  on 12.10.1814 itself to the Kingdom of Hanover.

Kingdom of Hannover 

At the Congress of Vienna  the Electorate itself  on 12.10.1814 itself to the Kingdom of Hanover. Thanks to the negotiating skills of the Hanoverian cabinet minister at the English court, Count Ernst zu Münster, at the Congress of Vienna also a rounding of the territory was successfull. The Kingdom of Hanover, the Lower County of Lingen, the Duchy of Arenberg-Meppen, the County of Bentheim, the Bishopric of Hildesheim, the city of Goslar, areas of sub Eichsfeld and the Principality of East Frisia were allocated. The new King George III.  who was almost blind because of cataracts and also suffered from rheumatism, seriously ill late in 1810. In his view, the disease had been triggered by the stress at which he suffered after he learned of the death of his youngest daughter, Amalia. He accepted the need for the Regency Act 1811 and the Prince of Wales took over the regency for the rest of George III.'s life. The end of 1811 the king finally fell into madness. Until his death he lived in seclusion at Windsor Castle  The health of George III.  deteriorated rapidly. He suffered from dementia, and was completely blind and increasingly deaf. He was not able to comprehend that he was declared King of Hanover in 1814, or that his wife had died in 1818.  Over Christmas 1819, he suffered a very severe attack, saying 58 hours of uninterrupted confused and was not to go into the last weeks of his life in the area.  He died on 29.01.1820.

King George III. had in 1761 married Pricness Cahrlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Notably, George never had a mistress (in contrast to his grandfather and his sons), and the pair apparently led a happy marriage.

Their children:

• George, who succeeded his father as King
• Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, married to Princess Friederike of Prussia 
•  William, Duke of Clacrence, succeeded his brother, King George IV. as King
• Charlotte Mathilde, married to King Friedrich I. of Württemberg
• Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, married to Pricness Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
  • Victoria, succeeded her uncle, King William IV. as Queen of Great Britain
•  Augusta
• Elisabeth, married to Landgrave Friedrich VI. of Hesse-Homburg
• Ernst Agust, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, succeeded his brother, King William IV. as King of Hannover
• Augustus, Duke of Susses, married in contravention to the Royal Marraiges Act (which meant that the marriage was null and void) to August Murray, married second to Lady Cecilia Underwood, who was created Duchess of Inverness
• Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, married to Princess Augusta of Hesse
  • George, Duke of Cambrdige, married in contravention to the Royal Marraiges Act (which meant that the marriage was null and void) to Sarah Fairbrother
  • Augusta, married to Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Streltiz
  • Mary Adelaide, married to Duke Franz of Teck
• Mary, married to Prince William Frederick of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester 
• Sophie
• Octavius
• Alfred
• Amelia 

His successor became his son George IV. who had already since 1811 acted as Prince Regent. From 1816 his younger brother Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge acted as Governer-General in Hannover. During this time a constitution was provided in the law, only an advisory vote of the parliament, the Assembly of the Estates of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1819 was introduced.  As a Parliament, which consists of two equal chambers States General of the Kingdom of Hanover was established. To the Estates consisted of representatives of the nobility, clergy, towns and some free farmers from the different landscapes. George IV of posterity by others because of his extravagant and flamboyant lifestyle of the dysfunctional relationship with his father and his failed marriage with his cousin Caroline of Brunswick in memory. Although he had already closed in 1785 a secret marriage with the catholic and twice widowed Maria Fitzherbert  he married Caroline of Brunswick in 1795. At this point, his debts were so high that only a legal marriage and the associated increase his alimony could keep him from personal ruin. However, the connection failed a year later. Shortly after their daughter Princess Charlotte Augusta was born, the then Prince of Wales decided to live apart from his official wife.  After undertaking an annual alimony of £ 35,000 to Caroline of Brunswick  she decided to leave the United Kingdom and traveled on 08.08.1814 with a small entourage selected by herself.  In the following years the Princess first toured the continent of Europe and North Africa and then settled for some time in Italy. Princess Charlotte, the common daughter of couple married on 02.05.1816  Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. However, she died on the 06.11.1817 from the effects of a stillbirth . The Prince Regent was thus without a heir to the throne  if he would not father a legitimate child . Since this was not likely under the circumstances  one of his brothers would follow him . Only next oldest and the youngest brother was married but befitting and lacked the ruling royal family of legal talent. The death of the potential heir to the throne made the  unmarried brothers of George lookinmg for suitable borhters among Protestant Princesses in Europe.  In July 1818 in a double wedding the Duke of Kent married the  widowed Fürstin zu Leiningen and the Duke of Clarence married Princess Adelaide of Saxe- Meiningen. The aim of the Prince Regent was still a divorce from his wife. Of the desired of him for treason against Caroline of Brunswick government members could dissuade him again . The divorce , however, was only to gain under English law , if one of the spouse's marital infidelity was proved. With the support of the Prime Minister , the Prince Regent commissioned a well-funded commission trying to collect compromising material about Caroline of Brunswick . This commission is also known as "Milan Commission," since three of the Commissioners themselves from September 1818 settled in Milan to hear witnesses there . On the establishment of this Commission of Inquiry Caroline of Brunswick was not officially informed . She had knowledge of it but soon as quickly circulated the rumor that the Commissioners would financially reward testimony against them well.   1820 saw his attempt to officially dissolve the marriage through an act of parliament, a stir. Large parts of the population expressed their solidarity in this struggle with the Queen.  Because of its extravagance and gambling addiction, his affairs and his corpulence - 1797 he weighed 111 kg and 1824 be included waist circumference 124 cm  - George IV was a favorite target of the British press and cartoonists.The Regency era art is closely associated with George IV The beginning of this period-ending to 1834 is generally based on the collection of the then Prince of Wales in his seat Carlton House dated. The facility or remodeling of London attractions such as Regent Street, Regent's Park, Trafalgar Square and the new construction of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton by John Nash go back to the initiative of George IV. King George IV. died on 26.06.1830
King Georg IV. and his wife had 1 daughter

• Charlotte, married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, became in 1831 as Léopold I., King of the Belgians
  • stillborn son

King George IV. was succeeded by his younger brother William Duke of Clarecne who now became King William IV. Also during his reign his younger brother Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge acted as Governer-General in Hannover.  After the riots in Göttingen in 1831 he was also introduced as Viceroy. After in 1833 a liberal state constitution came into force, reform movements were facilitated. By arable reform laws 1831/1833 and 1842, the basic expense of farmers were replaced. As William had two older  had barely had a cahnce to get the Crown and therefore suggested a traditional career in government service of yougner sons. William was not considered very royal rulers and made ​​his partially rough sailor's manners, such as public spitting, never. He is said to have violently drunk sailor in his younger years and beaten and devastated many a brothel. He was prone to fits of rage, was brusque to the rudeness and vulgarity to the formless. He leaned to the distance from his subjects as well as luxury or even splendor and was the fine arts for frills. He also donated as rector of the University of Göttingen for this secular celebration in 1837 the auditorium. Thanks to the square in front of the auditorium was renamed the Wilhelmssquare. In addition, the Göttingen built the King on this place a monument is the only monument to a British king on German soil today.. In hios youngers years he had a long-lasing relationshipo with the irish actress Dorothea Jordan. With her he had 10 children. After his niece Charlotte died in 1817 in childbirth he look for an equal protestant Princess and married in July 1818 Princess Adeliade of Saxe-Meiningen. The couple had 2 daughters but both died not live long. King William IV. died on 20.06.1817. With hid death the Personal-union between Grerat Britain and Hannover ended as in Great Britian his young niece Victoria, the daughter of his late brother the Duke of Kent succeeded him as Queen. 

Because in Hannover the was the guelf law which similiar to the salic law prevented female succession as long as ther was an Heir in the House of Brunswick-Wolffenbüttel his brother Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland  became King of Hannover.
King Ernst August proved to be unpopular ruler. Iin 1837 lifted the relatively liberal state constitution, which his predecessors had adopted in 1833 when he took office again. Against the abrogation of the Constitution in 1837 directed the acclaimed protest of the Göttingen Seven, which were then all dismissed as professors at the University of Göttingen.
King Ernst August died on 18.11.1851. He had in 1818 married Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Streltiz, who was already twice widowed from a Prince of Prussia and a Prince zu Solms-Braunfels.
They had 1 son

• Georg, who succeeded his father as King

The successor og King Ernst August became his only son who already an early age was blind. He lost his eyesight due to illness in 1829 left and right in 1833 by an accident which led to a Star capsule. Although arose because of doubts about his suitability , his father began that he should be king, that by 1842 ruled that the heir apparent to the executive signing documents in the presence of government was to be done by sworn witnesses . However, he tried his whole life to hide his blindness in public. Georg who had represented his father during an extended absence in the UK in 1843 , succeeded him after his death on 18.11.1851 as King of Hanover, 2 Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh . From his father and his maternal uncle Grand Duke Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , one of the most influential men of the Prussian court he had taken a feudal and autocratic view of the state . Supported by his favorite and minister , Count Borries , he soon went from liberal course from 1855 and lifted the liberal constitution, which his father had as a result of the revolution of 1848 have adopted again, but he could with his reactionary policy of permanent not prevail . During his fifteen-year reign, he was in frequent conflict with the Hanoverian parliament. Looked sovereignty - guarded with anxious jealousy - in contrast to his father outside his political sympathies rather than Prussia Austria , against which he had a deep dislike , especially since it had become a Prussian alliance against Austria to force what he regarded as an invasion of his . This aversion to Prussia joined the Federal reform question in the matter because of coastal protection , crisis in the Zollverein and at many other grounds for days. Against the decision of its parliament , therefore, he also refused to accept the Prussian demand for neutrality and thus to break with the German Confederation in the upcoming German war but joined the other loyal middle states. After the surrender had become unavoidable despite the successful tactical battle of Langensalza then the Kingdom of Hanover was occupied by Prussian troops and on 20.09.1866 annexed. The king fled to Vienna  (where he moved into the Villa Huegel in Hietzing) , his family followed him a year later after a temporary stay in the Malbork castle in the Austrian exile. The exiled Georg V refused to the end to give up his claim to the Kingdom of Hanover and to recognize the annexation. He appealed in vain to the great European powers and was in exile in Paris , the magazine " situation " out that the new order of things attacked daily in the most violent terms in Germany and the hatred of France against Prussia nascent Germany stoked . In 1867 he was with the help of the writer Oskar Meding up  in France, a private army of Hanoverian refugees to reclaim his kingdom in the event of a Franco-German war on the side of France (Guelph Legion) , which ultimately led to the fact that Prussia exposing an already promised financial compensation and his personal assets confiscated (Guelph Fund) . Until the end unreconciled and seriously ill , the blind king died on 12 June 1878 in Paris. .
King Georg V. had married on 18.02.1843 Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. He gave her in 1857 Marienbrug Castleas birthday Gift which was build until 1867. Because of her departure into Exil in 1866 she saw it never again. 
They had 3 children

• Ernst Agust, who succeeded his father as Head of the Royal House
• Friederike, married to Baron Alfon of Pawl-Rammingen
• Marie

After the death of King Georg V. his only son Crown Prince Ernst August succeeded him  Head of the Royal House. After the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussian troops in 1866 and the dethronement of his father, he followed him into  the Austrian exile. Emperor Franz Joseph I.  appointed him to the Austrian Supreme, but the Ernst August  did not have active service. In the spring of 1868, the royal family of Hanover came just as the Austrian imperial court of Vienna to cure in the Salzkammergut. She took residence in the Villa Redtenbacher near Gmunden, where Crown Prince Ernst August permanently settled later. In Grünau he also possessed extensive freight over possession. In Gmunden on 15.06.1882 started the construction of Cumberland Castle, which was built as a neo-Tudor style residence in exile. A native of Hanover architect Ferdinand Schorbach was commissioned with the planning. On 15.09.1886 the newly built castle was constructed, which was inhabited continuously until the death Ernst August of 1923 by him and his family. After the death of his father in 1878 he not only became Head of the Royal but also Duke of Cumberland.  Although Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, General of the British Army and Austrian officer, Ernst August always regarded himself as exiled German monarch. Even after the death of his father he did not seize the opportunity to make peace with Prussia. Rather, he maintained in a letter to the powers and Stables, Gmunden dated 11 .07. 1878, all of its rights to the Kingdom of Hanover and declared its intention to lead to the realization of the same title of the Duke of Cumberland and Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, with the title "Royal Highness", thus renouncing also on the return of the Guelph Fund. When on 18.10.1884 Ernst August's distant cousin, Duke Wilhelm of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, died without direct heirs, Ernst August announced as head of the Welf dynasty his claims to the Duchy of Brunswick. He said he wanted to rule the country according to the German Imperial Constitution. Since he did not renounce his claim to the Kingdom of Hanover, but had stated in a letter to Queen Victoria in 1878, its recognition of the constitution did not mean the task of his Hanoverian inheritance rights, gave the German Federal Council at the request of Prussia on 02.07.1 885 announced that the government of the Duke of Cumberland in Brunswick is incompatible with the basic principles of federal treaties and the Constitution. In the Duchy of Brunswick himself the in the meantime ruling regency decided under the direction of Minister of State Count Hermann of Goertz-Wrisberg for a pragmatic policy and for the solution to carry the regencyalso accepted this. To a relaxation of the policy of Ernst August with the Hohenzollern it came not until shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. On 24.05.1913 married his youngest son Ernst August  the only daughter of Emperor Wilhelm II, Viktoria Luise. He renounced in October 1913 in favor of his son on the claims to the Duchy of Brunswick, and thus his son 0n 01.11.1913 became reigning Duke of Brunswick,  however - like all German princes - as a result of World War I lost it again in November 1918. The First World War led to a rupture between the British royal family and her Hanoverian cousins. Since Ernst August was on German-Austrian side, and therefore "weapons against England was," he was expelled from the Order of the Garter and of the British Army. In addition, his British title of nobility and rights by order of King George V of Great Britain and Ireland, it was 28 .03.1919 disallowed, with the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917 provided the legal basis for it. Except Ernest Augustus as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Earl of Armagh and Prince of Great Britain and Ireland from this law three other people affected: Duke Carl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, Baron Arklow and Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, also Duke Ernst August (III) of Brunswick-Lüneburg as Prince of Great Britain and Ireland and also Heinrich Graf von Taaffe than 12 Viscount Taaffe of Corren and Baron of Ballymote. According to the Titles Deprivation Act, the male heirs of such persons have the right to ask the British Crown to their reinstatement in this title, but they have so far made ​​no use of it. His last years spend Ernst August at Cumberland Castle in Austria where he died on 14.11.1923.

Crown Prince Ernst August had married  on 22.12.1878 at Copenhagen Princess Thyra of Denmark, the youngest daugther of the danish King Chistian IX. Among her silbings where Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, the spouse of King Edward VII., Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, the spouse of Emperor Alexander III., King Frederik VIII. of Denmark and King Georg I. of the Hellenes.

They had 6 children

• Marie Louise, married to Prince Max of Baden
• Georg Wilhelm, died in a car crash in the forest near Nackel in Brandenburg
• Alexandra, married to Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 
• Olga
• Christian
• Ernst August

Successor as Head of the Royal House became his youngest but only surviving son Ernst August.  He had married on 24.05.1913  married Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of the King Prussia and German Emperor Wilhelm III. which  kittete the decades-old rift between the houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover. This was simultaneously the last big meeting of European sovereigns before the outbreak of World War II. With the announcement of the engagement  Ernst August swore an oath of allegiance to the Emperor and was AKO of 24.05.1913 by promotion to captain to chief of 4 Squadron in the Hussars "of Zieten" (Brandenburg) No 3 appointed a Prussian regiment in which his grandfather and his great-grandfather George V. Ernst August were already supreme. On 27.10.1913 the Duke of Cumberland renounced in favor of his son on his formal his claim to the Duchy of Brunswick and the following day the Federal Council decided that the Prince and Princess of Cumberland should became reigning Duke and Duchess of Brunswick and Lüneburg. However, the former Kingdom of Hanover remained a Prussian province. The new Duke and his wife took his Duchy of Brunswick formally on 01.11.1913 in Brunswick. During the First World War, in which he took part, he was promoted to major general, the regency of the duchy, he transferred to his wife during his absence. During the course of the November Revolution in Brunswick Ernst August had in the afternoon of the 08.11.1918 to abdicate compared to the local workers' and soldiers under the command of August Merges - a day earlier than his father-in-law Wilhelm II in Berlin. The following day he left Brunswick together with his family to Cumberland Castle in Gmunden in the Austrian exile. From there, he led numerous processes including against the German Empire and the Free State Brunswick. In 1924 he received from the country Brunswick by way of the Fürstenabfindung severance castles including Blankenburg and Marienburg, the family possessions Calenberg, the domains of Hesse and Heimburg  Blankenburg, the manor West Village and the former Good monastery Michaelssteion refunded (approx. 10,000 hectares). 1924-1933, he sued for the return of the so-called Guelph Fund. The court ruled on a refund of eight million Reichsmark. He moved with his family in 1930 from Cumberland Castle to Blaneburg Castle in the Harz where they lived until at the the end of World War II the had to flew bbefore the  the Soviet troops. But first British troops had occupied the resin, before a move was carried out by the British Army. Approx. 30 trucks cleared the empty castles in Blankenburg. The removals went mostly to Marienburg Castle. On 30 Ernst August died in January 1953 at Schloss Marienburg near Hanover.
Prince Ernst August and Princess Viktoria Luise had several children

• Ernst August, succeeded his father as Head of the Royal House
• Georg Wilhelm married to Princess Sophie iof Greece and Denmark
  
  • Welf, married to Wibke van Gunsteren
    • Tanja, married first to Michael Naylor-Neyland, second to Edward Hooper
  • Georg, married to Victoria Ann Bee
    • Vera, married to Manuel Dmoch
    • Nora, married to Christian Falk
  • Friederike, married to Jerry Cyr
• Friederike, married to King Paul I. of the Hellenes
• Christian, married to Mirelle Dutry

  

  HRH Princess Alexandra

  • Caroline-Luise
  • Mireille
• Welf, married to Princess Alexandra zu Ysenburg in Büdingen and Wächtersbach

His successor as head ot Royal Houxse became his oldest son Ernst August who was born in 1914 as Hereditary Prince in Brunswick,. After the the end of the monarchy in 1918 he wend with his parents and siblings in the Austrian exile. He attended boarding school at Salem and after high school studied law in Göttingen. In 1936 he received his doctorate there as a doctor of law degree. During World War II he took part in the war against the Soviet Union, and served until January 1942 as Lieutenant on the staff of General Hoepner. In the spring of 1943, he was severely wounded in Kharkov. After the assassination of 20.07.1944 he was imprisoned for several weeks by the Gestapo in Berlin headquarters in the Prinz-Albrecht-Street. After the war, he fled with the entire family in front of the Red Army from  Blankenburg Castle in the Harz to Marienburg Castle near Hanover. With the death of his father in 1953  he became head of the family of the Guelfs and Head of the House of Hanover. Under the direction of his wife Ortrud Marienburg Castle was converted into a palace museum. Prince Ernst August died on 09.12.1987 in the family possessions Calenberg in Schulenburg.

HRH Princess Monika

Prince Ernst August was twice married. First he married in 1951 in Hannover Princess Ortrud zu Schlewig-.Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. After her death in February 1980  he married in July 1981 Countess Monika zu Solms-Laubach.

children from his first marriage:

• Marie, married to Count Michael of Hochberg, Baron zu Fürstenstein
• Ernst August, who succeeded his father as head of the Royal House
• Ludwig Rudolph, married to Countess Isabelle zu Thurn and Valsassina-Como-Vercelli. After he found his death wife wo died from an ovedosis Cocain in Novemver 1988 he shot himself.
  • Otto
• Olga
• Alexandra, married to Fürst Andreas zu Leiningen
• Heinrich, married to Thyra von Westernhagen
  • Albert
  • Eugenia
  • Julius

Successor of Prince Ernst August as Head of the Royal House became his oldest son Ernst August who had been born in 1954. After training as a farmer in England and Canada, he worked as a successful businessman and producer of animal and documentaries. In August 1981 he married the swiss Chantal Hochuli. With her he has 2 sons. The marriage was divocred in 1997. On 23.01.1999 he married in second amrriage Princess Caroline of Monaco the oldest daughter of Prince Rainier III.. Since 2009 the couple was not seen together in public. Because of this marriage with a catholic he los his place in the british line of succession. Prince
Ernst August is repeatedly caught in the media with violent or abusive outbursts. In January 1998 he beat before Calenberg Estate with his umbrella on a cameraman and was filmed by this  which made ​​headlines nationwide and brougt him the nickname "Prince spanking" and "beating August". . The Hanover Regional Court sentenced him to pay to the cameraman 15,000 Mark for pain and suffering . A criminal case has been set for assault against payment of 90,000 marks. In 1999, he was on the edge of the Salzburg Festival a "Bunte"  photographer, so these suffered a bruise. In the first instance he was therefore sentenced to eight months suspended sentence and 500,000 marks fine in December 2001 by the District Court Jump , in the second instance before the Landgericht Hannover the procedure with regard to the more serious Kenyan allegations was set. He was also noticeable at the World Expo 2000 in Hanover when he urinated on the Turkish pavilion and it was photographed by a paparazzo , giving him time to time by the tabloids nicknamed "Pinkelprinz" earned . Mainly from the "Image "guided" "Pinkelprinz " campaign also led to another " outburst " because he , on the phone several times massively berated the head of the "Bild" editorial Hanover, Anne -Kathrin Berger and pointing out that he would only talk "with assholes like journalists" and so that the lady even knew best , " what makes their shit newspaper ." These calls were then printed in the picture and the newspaper filed a complaint against him. In 2004, Ernst August was initially convicted of grievous bodily harm to a fine of 445,000 euros , because he should have beaten hospitalized in January 2000, a German hotelier in Kenya. He also sought a retrial.  In March 2007, rejected his application for revision by the District Court of Hildesheim in the first instance ,  by the Higher Regional Court of Celle was , however , granted . From the 15th June 2009 were renegotiated before the District Court of Hildesheim .  On 09.03.2010 Ernst August was convicted of simple assault to a fine of 200,000 euros (40 daily rates ) , and he had given two slaps. A revision however was in April 2011 by the Higher Regional Court of Celle "manifestly unfounded" discarded as so is the verdict. judicata.

Prince Ernst August gave in 2004  the agricultural and forestry possession of the House of Hanover in Germany and Austria, including Marienburg Castle and the royal house in Herrenhausen and the exile seat of the family in Gmunden, his son Ernst August, who since 2012 directs himself the administration and also increasingly perceives the representation of the Guelf dynasty.

children from his first marriage:

HRH Hereditary Prince
Ernst August

• Ernst August
• Christian

children from his second marriage:

• Alexandra