The King of Hanover () was the official title of the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and hereditary ruler of the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

, beginning with the proclamation of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great ...

, as "King of Hanover" during the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, on 12 October 1814 at

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and ending with the kingdom's annexation by Prussia on 20 September 1866.

History

In 1692, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I elevated the

Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg The Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg (), commonly known as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an imperial principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the territory of present day Lower Saxony. In 1235, Otto I, Duke of ...

to the status of an Electorate, known as the

Electorate of Hanover The Electorate of Hanover ( or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an Prince-elector, electorate of the Holy Roman Empire located in northwestern Germany that arose from the Principality of Calenberg. Although formally known as the Electorate of Brun ...

. This elevation allowed the Electors of Hanover to participate in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor and significantly increased their political influence. The first Elector of Hanover was Ernest Augustus, whose son, George Louis, ascended to the British throne as George I in 1714 due to the

Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catho ...

and ensured a Protestant succession. This

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

of the British crown and the Electorate of Hanover lasted until 1837. The Electorate of Hanover became the

in 1814, following the defeat of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and the reorganization of German territories at the

. The Kingdom was granted to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

, who had ruled the

with the title of

Prince-elector The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops. From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...

. This marked Hanover's rise to greater political significance within the German Confederation. However, the dual monarchy system created complexities, especially as the British and Hanoverian thrones had separate succession laws. When

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

ascended the British throne in 1837, Hanoverian semi-Salic law (agnatic-cognatic) gave priority to all male lines before female lines. Consequently, Victoria's uncle, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, became King of Hanover. The Kingdom of Hanover faced significant challenges during the mid-19th century, particularly during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Despite aligning with the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, Hanover was annexed by

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

after Austria's defeat, thereby forfeiting its autonomy as a kingdom. Subsequently, the region became part of the German Empire in 1871, following Prussia's unification of Germany. Local resistance and regional loyalty led Hans von Hardenberg, the civil commissioner who oversaw the integration of Hanover into Prussia, to remark that: The protests of George V of Hanover and the local population proved to be an effective obstacle to Hanover's assimilation into Prussia, and led to the founding of the German-Hanoverian Party, which received 46.6% of the Hanoverian vote in the March 1871 Reichstag election.

List of Electors of Hanover

Ernest Augustus was appointed as the first Elector of Hanover in 1692, but he died in 1698 before the Imperial Diet confirmed the elevation of Hanover to the status of an Electorate in 1708. His widow,

Sophia of Hanover Sophia (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; – ) was Electress of Hanover from 19 December 1692 until 23 January 1698 as the consort of Prince-Elector Ernest Augustus. She was later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and ...

, was still known as Electress of Hanover. Their son was George I.

List of Kings of Hanover

Standard and coat of arms

After the

with

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

ended in 1837, the monarchs of Hanover kept the British royal arms and standard, only introducing a new Crown (after the British model). File:Royal Standard of the United Kingdom (1816–1837).svg, Royal Standard of Hanover File:Royal Hanover Inescutcheon.svg, Arms of the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...

File:Royal Arms of Great Britain (1714-1801).svg , Coat of arms of the Monarchs of Great Britain, Ireland, and Hanover (1714) File:Arms of Great Britain in Scotland (1714-1801).svg , Coat of arms of Hanoverian Monarchs of Great Britain used in Scotland File:Coat of arms of Great Britain (1714–1801).svg , Arms of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain and Ireland (1714–1801) File:Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1816-1837).svg , Arms of the Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom (1816–1837) File:Coat of Arms of Great Britain in Scotland (1714-1801).svg , Arms of the Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom in Scotland (1816–1837) File:Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Hanover.svg,

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the

1837

References

{{Monarchies

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

History

List of Electors of Hanover

List of Kings of Hanover

Standard and coat of arms

See also

References