89-603: The FitzClarence family was an illegitimate branch of the House of Hanover . Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews , who later became King William IV of the United Kingdom , had at least ten children with his mistress Dorothea Jordan , all of whom took the surname FitzClarence. All of them were also granted by their father the rank of a marquess' younger sons or daughters. The Duke of Clarence's eldest surviving illegitimate child, George FitzClarence (1794–1842),
178-809: A car accident in 1912; the father renounced Brunswick in favour of his younger son Ernest Augustus , who married the Kaiser's daughter Victoria Louise the same year, swore allegiance to the German Empire and was allowed to ascend the throne of the Duchy in November 1913. He was a major-general during the First World War , but he was overthrown as Duke of Brunswick in 1918. His father was also deprived of his British titles in 1919 for "bearing arms against Great Britain". After having left Brunswick Palace ,
267-508: A challenge to a duel. The Prince was told to leave the royal residence, St. James's Palace . The Prince's new home, Leicester House , became a meeting place for the King's political opponents. The King and his son were later reconciled at the insistence of Robert Walpole and the desire of the Princess of Wales , who had moved out with her husband but missed her children, who had been left in
356-541: A descendant of King James VI and I , assumed the throne of Great Britain and Ireland , marking the beginning of Hanoverian rule over the British Empire . At the end of his line, Queen Victoria 's death in 1901, the throne of the United Kingdom passed to her eldest son Edward VII , a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , through his father Albert, Prince Consort . The last reigning members of
445-532: A hitherto overlooked (and since repealed) provision of the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 . According to the decision taken by a court of the House of Lords , all family members bear the last name Guelph in the UK and are styled Royal Highnesses in their documents. Many towns and provinces across the British Empire were named after the ruling House of Hanover and its members. They include
534-499: A precarious throne, and either by political wisdom and guile, or through accident and indifference, he left it secure in the hands of the Hanoverians and of Parliament. As king, his arms were: Quarterly , I, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or ( for England ) impaling Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules ( for Scotland ); II, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France); III, Azure
623-468: A responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his younger brothers and sisters. By 1675 George's eldest uncle had died without issue, but his remaining two uncles had married, putting George's inheritance in jeopardy, for his uncles' estates might pass to their own sons, were they to have any, instead of to George. George's father took him hunting and riding and introduced him to military matters; mindful of his uncertain future, Ernest Augustus took
712-576: A scandal. His Lutheran faith, his overseeing both the Lutheran churches in Hanover and the Church of England, and the presence of Lutheran preachers in his court caused some consternation among his Anglican subjects. The British perceived George as too German, and in the opinion of historian Ragnhild Hatton , wrongly assumed that he had a succession of German mistresses. However, in mainland Europe, he
801-595: A stressful debate in the House of Lords, and Lord Sunderland resigned from public office. Sunderland, however, retained a degree of personal influence with George until his sudden death in 1722 allowed the rise of Robert Walpole. Walpole became de facto Prime Minister , although the title was not formally applied to him (officially, he was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer ). His management of
890-459: A stroke on the road between Delden and Nordhorn on 9 June 1727, and was taken by carriage about 55 miles to the east, to the palace of his younger brother, Ernest Augustus, Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück , where he died two days after arrival in the early hours before dawn on 11 June 1727. George I was buried in the chapel of Leine Palace in Hanover, but his remains were moved to the chapel at Herrenhausen Gardens after World War II. Leine Palace
979-804: A substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to retain him or risk ministerial instability. George was ridiculed by his British subjects; some of his contemporaries, such as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu , thought him unintelligent on the grounds that he was wooden in public. Though he was unpopular in Great Britain due to his supposed inability to speak English, such an inability may not have existed later in his reign as documents from that time show that he understood, spoke and wrote English. He certainly spoke fluent German and French, good Latin, and some Italian and Dutch. His treatment of his wife, Sophia Dorothea, became something of
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#17327910798661068-461: A temporary council of regency to take over at the Duke's death and, if necessary, to appoint a regent. The Duke of Cumberland proclaimed himself Duke of Brunswick at the Duke's death, and lengthy negotiations ensued but were never resolved. Prince Albert of Prussia was appointed regent. After his death in 1906, Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg succeeded him. The Duke of Cumberland's eldest son died in
1157-495: 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 centuries. Originating as a cadet branch of the House of Welf in 1635, also known then as the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Hanoverians ascended to prominence with Hanover's elevation to an Electorate in 1692. In 1714 George I , prince-elector of Hanover and
1246-451: The Duke of Cumberland . In 1901, when Queen Victoria, the last British monarch provided by the House of Hanover, died, her son and heir Edward VII became the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Edward took his family name from that of his father, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha . After the death of William IV in 1837, the following kings of Hanover continued
1335-541: The Great Turkish War at the Battle of Vienna , and Sophia Dorothea bore George a son, George Augustus . The following year, Frederick Augustus was informed of the adoption of primogeniture, meaning he would no longer receive part of his father's territory as he had expected. This led to a breach between Frederick Augustus and his father, and between the brothers, that lasted until his death in battle in 1690. With
1424-730: The Hanoverian Army and foreign policy. From 1814, when Hanover became a kingdom following the Napoleonic Wars , the British monarch was also King of Hanover . Upon the death of William IV in 1837, the personal union of the thrones of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended. Succession to the Hanoverian throne was regulated by semi-Salic law (agnatic-cognatic), which gave priority to all male lines before female lines, and so it passed not to Queen Victoria but to her uncle,
1513-533: The House of Welf became extinct. By semi-Salic law , the House of Hanover would have acceded to the Duchy of Brunswick , but there had been strong Prussian pressure against having George V of Hanover or his son, the Duke of Cumberland , succeed to a member state of the German Empire, at least without strong conditions including the swearing to the German constitution. By a law of 1879, the Duchy of Brunswick established
1602-633: The Jacobites , who sought to replace George with Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart (called "James III and VIII" by his supporters and "the Pretender" by his opponents). Some disgruntled Tories sided with a Jacobite rebellion , which became known as "The Fifteen". James's supporters, led by Lord Mar , a Scottish nobleman who had previously served as a secretary of state, instigated rebellion in Scotland where support for Jacobitism
1691-805: The Principality of Lüneburg - Grubenhagen , centred at Celle . Shortly after George's accession in Hanover, the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) broke out. At issue was the right of Philip , the grandson of King Louis XIV of France , to succeed to the Spanish throne under the terms of King Charles II of Spain 's will . The Holy Roman Empire, the United Dutch Provinces , England, Hanover and many other German states opposed Philip's right to succeed because they feared that
1780-742: The Septennial Act 1715 , which extended the maximum duration of Parliament to seven years (although it could be dissolved earlier by the Sovereign). Thus Whigs already in power could remain in such a position for a greater period of time. After his accession in Great Britain, George's relationship with his son (which had always been poor) worsened. Prince George Augustus encouraged opposition to his father's policies, including measures designed to increase religious freedom in Britain and expand Hanover's German territories at Sweden's expense. In 1717,
1869-589: The Thirty Years' War , the Peace of Westphalia (1648) awarded the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück alternately to a Catholic bishop and to a cadet branch of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Since the treaty gave cadets priority over heirs and reigning princes, Osnabrück became a form of appanage (in alternation) of the House of Hanover. Osnabrück was mediatized to Hanover in 1803. In 1884, the senior branch of
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#17327910798661958-621: The British and Dutch. In 1706, the Elector of Bavaria was deprived of his offices and titles for siding with Louis against the Empire. The following year, George was invested as an Imperial Field Marshal with command of the imperial army stationed along the Rhine. His tenure was not altogether successful, partly because he was deceived by his ally, the Duke of Marlborough , into a diversionary attack, and partly because Emperor Joseph I appropriated
2047-464: The French House of Bourbon would become too powerful if it also controlled Spain. As part of the war effort, George invaded his neighbouring state, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , which was pro-French, writing out some of the battle orders himself. The invasion succeeded with few lives lost. As a reward, the prior Hanoverian annexation of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg by George's uncle was recognised by
2136-796: The French line of succession, and the Elector of Bavaria was restored. Though both England and Scotland recognised Anne as their queen, only the Parliament of England had settled on Sophia, Electress of Hanover, as the heir presumptive. The Parliament of Scotland (the Estates) had not formally settled the succession question for the Scottish throne. In 1703, the Estates passed a bill declaring that their selection for Queen Anne's successor would not be
2225-553: The French now fighting against him, Philip's armies fared poorly. As a result, the Spanish and French thrones remained separate. Simultaneously, Hanover gained from the resolution of the Great Northern War , which had been caused by rivalry between Sweden and Russia for control of the Baltic . The Swedish territories of Bremen and Verden were ceded to Hanover in 1719, with Hanover paying Sweden monetary compensation for
2314-650: The Government's response, showed leniency, and spent the income from the forfeited estates on schools for Scotland and paying off part of the national debt . George's distrust of the Tories aided the passing of power to the Whigs. Whig dominance grew to be so great under George that the Tories did not return to power for another half-century. After the election, the Whig-dominated Parliament passed
2403-556: The Hanover palace floorboards. However, sources in Hanover itself, including Sophia, denied any knowledge of Königsmarck's whereabouts. George's marriage to Sophia Dorothea was dissolved, not on the grounds that either of them had committed adultery, but on the grounds that Sophia Dorothea had abandoned her husband. With her father's agreement, George had Sophia Dorothea imprisoned in Ahlden House in her native Celle , where she stayed until she died more than thirty years later. She
2492-401: The House by preventing the creation of opposition peers, but it was defeated after Walpole led the opposition to the bill by delivering what was considered "the most brilliant speech of his career". Walpole and Townshend were reappointed as ministers the following year and a new, supposedly unified, Whig government formed. Greater problems arose over financial speculation and the management of
2581-478: The House of Hanover have been: The family has been resident in Austria since 1866 and thus took on Austrian nationality besides their German and British. Since the later king Ernest Augustus had been created Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh by his father George III in 1799, these British peerages were inherited by his descendants. In 1914 the title of a Prince of Great Britain and Ireland
2670-399: The House of Hanover lost the Duchy of Brunswick in 1918 when Germany became a republic and abolished royalty and nobility. The formal name of the house was the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Hanover line . The senior line of Brunswick-Lüneburg, which ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , became extinct in 1884. The House of Hanover is now the only surviving branch of the House of Welf , which is
2759-632: The House. Georgian architecture gives distinction to the architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830 in most English-speaking countries . George I of Great Britain George I (George Louis; German : Georg Ludwig ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He
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2848-631: The King's care. Nevertheless, father and son were never again on cordial terms. George was active in directing British foreign policy during his early reign. In 1717, he contributed to the creation of the Triple Alliance , an anti-Spanish league composed of Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic . In 1718, the Holy Roman Empire was added to the body, which became known as the Quadruple Alliance. The subsequent War of
2937-502: The Quadruple Alliance involved the same issue as the War of the Spanish Succession . The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht had recognised the grandson of Louis XIV of France, Philip V , as king of Spain on the condition that he gave up his rights to succeed to the French throne. But upon Louis XIV's 1715 death, Philip sought to overturn the treaty. Spain supported a Jacobite-led invasion of Scotland in 1719, but stormy seas allowed only about three hundred Spanish troops to reach Scotland. A base
3026-623: The Regency Council that would take power after Anne's death, as it was known that Anne's health was failing and politicians in Britain were jostling for power. She suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, and died on 1 August 1714. The list of regents was opened, the members sworn in, and George was proclaimed King of Great Britain and King of Ireland. Partly due to contrary winds, which kept him in The Hague awaiting passage, he did not arrive in Britain until 18 September. George
3115-552: The Scottish economy if the Estates did not agree to the Hanoverian succession. Eventually, in 1707, both Parliaments agreed on a Treaty of Union , which united England and Scotland into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain , and established the rules of succession as laid down by the Act of Settlement 1701 . The union created the largest free trade area in 18th-century Europe. Whig politicians believed Parliament had
3204-568: The South Sea crisis, by rescheduling the debts and arranging some compensation, helped the return to financial stability. Through Walpole's skilful management of Parliament, George managed to avoid direct implication in the company's fraudulent actions. Claims that George had received free stock as a bribe are not supported by evidence; indeed receipts in the Royal Archives show that he paid for his subscriptions and that he lost money in
3293-898: The U.S. and Canada named after Queen Charlotte . Furthermore the Canadian province of New Brunswick and towns Hanover, Ontario , Guelph ; Ontario, and Victoria, British Columbia ; in South Africa the town Hanover, Northern Cape , in Australia the state Victoria and the city Adelaide , in the UK six and in the US thirteen towns named Brunswick. Furthermore one each in Australia and New Zealand, and worldwide more than fifty towns named Victoria. There are also numerous streets and squares, such as Hanover Square, Westminster , Hanover Square (Manhattan) , Hanover Square, Syracuse or Queen Street, Brisbane with its intersections named after members of
3382-540: The U.S. state of Georgia , U.S. towns Hanover, Massachusetts ; Hanover, New Hampshire ; Hanover, Pennsylvania ; Hanover Township, Jo Daviess County, Illinois , counties Hanover County, Virginia ; Caroline County, Virginia ; Brunswick County, Virginia ; New Hanover County, North Carolina ; Brunswick County, North Carolina ; King George County, Virginia , places named Georgia in New Jersey (e.g. New Brunswick, NJ ), Vermont, Arkansas and South Dakota, seven towns in
3471-476: The United Kingdom. George was born on 28 May 1660 in the city of Hanover in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire . He was the eldest son of Ernest Augustus , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and his wife, Sophia of the Palatinate . Sophia was the granddaughter of King James I of England, through her mother, Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia . For the first year of his life George
3560-686: The aid of Lord Townshend, he arranged for the ratification by Great Britain, France and Prussia of the Treaty of Hanover , which was designed to counterbalance the Austro-Spanish Treaty of Vienna and protect British trade. George, although increasingly reliant on Walpole, could still have replaced his ministers at will. Walpole was actually afraid of being removed from office towards the end of George I's reign, but such fears were put to an end when George died during his sixth trip to his native Hanover since his accession as king. He suffered
3649-521: The birth of a grandson led to a major quarrel between George and the Prince of Wales. The King, supposedly following custom, appointed the Lord Chamberlain ( Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle ) as one of the baptismal sponsors of the child. The King was angered when the Prince of Wales, disliking Newcastle, verbally insulted the Duke at the christening, which the Duke misunderstood as
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3738-472: The city until 1673 when they moved to the newly completed Schloss Osnabrück . The parents were absent for almost a year (1664–1665) during a long convalescent holiday in Italy but Sophia corresponded regularly with her sons' governess and took a great interest in their upbringing, even more so upon her return. Sophia bore Ernest Augustus another four sons and a daughter. In her letters Sophia describes George as
3827-590: The company of his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg , and Sophia Dorothea had her own romance with the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck . Threatened with the scandal of an elopement, the Hanoverian court, including George's brothers and mother, urged the lovers to desist, but to no avail. According to diplomatic sources from Hanover's enemies, in July 1694, the Swedish count
3916-481: The company. The Company bribed Lord Sunderland, George's mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg, and Lord Stanhope's cousin, Secretary of the Treasury Charles Stanhope , to support their plan. The Company enticed bondholders to convert their high-interest, irredeemable bonds to low-interest, easily tradeable stocks by offering apparently preferential financial gains. Company prices rose rapidly;
4005-450: The country without Parliament's permission was unanimously repealed in 1716. During all but the first of the King's absences, power was vested in a Regency Council rather than in his son, George Augustus, Prince of Wales. Within a year of George's accession the Whigs won an overwhelming victory in the general election of 1715 . Several members of the defeated Tory Party sympathised with
4094-466: The court was profound. Yet the character of George I remains elusive; he was in turn genial and affectionate in private letters to his daughter, and then dull and awkward in public. Perhaps his own mother summed him up when "explaining to those who regarded him as cold and overserious that he could be jolly, that he took things to heart, that he felt deeply and sincerely and was more sensitive than he cared to show." Whatever his true character, he ascended
4183-593: The crash. As requested by Walpole, George revived the Order of the Bath in 1725, which enabled Walpole to reward or gain political supporters by offering them the honour. Walpole became extremely powerful and was largely able to appoint ministers of his own choosing. Unlike his predecessor, Queen Anne, George rarely attended meetings of the cabinet; most of his communications were in private, and he only exercised substantial influence with respect to British foreign policy. With
4272-496: The current head of the house, also called Ernest Augustus , continues to claim. He has the right to petition under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 for the restoration of his ancestors' suspended British peerages Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh , but he has not done so. His father, another Ernest Augustus , did, however, successfully claim British nationality after World War II by virtue of
4361-620: The duke and his family moved back to their exile seat Cumberland Castle at Gmunden , Austria, but in 1924 he received Blankenburg Castle and some other estates in a settlement with the Free State of Brunswick , and moved there in 1930. A few days before Blankenburg was handed over to the Red Army by British and American forces in late 1945, to become part of East Germany , the family quickly moved to Marienburg Castle (Hanover) with all their furniture, transported by British army trucks by
4450-409: The dynasty: The Kingdom of Hanover ended in 1866, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia , and the King of Hanover (and Duke of Cumberland) was forced to go into exile in Austria. The 1866 rift between the houses of Hanover and Hohenzollern was settled by the 1913 marriage of Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick , the last king's grandson. At the end of
4539-546: The exception of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück , an office he had held since 1661. George thus became Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (also known as Hanover, after its capital) as well as Archbannerbearer and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire . His court in Hanover was graced by many cultural icons such as the mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz and the composers George Frideric Händel and Agostino Steffani . Shortly after George's accession to his paternal duchy, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester , who
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#17327910798664628-596: The fifteen-year-old George on campaign in the Franco-Dutch War with the deliberate purpose of testing and training his son in battle. In 1679 another uncle died unexpectedly without sons, and Ernest Augustus became reigning Duke of Calenberg - Göttingen , with his capital at Hanover. George's surviving uncle, George William of Celle , had married his mistress in order to legitimise his only daughter, Sophia Dorothea , but looked unlikely to have any further children. Under Salic law , where inheritance of territory
4717-486: The funds necessary for George's campaign for his own use. Despite this, the German princes thought he had acquitted himself well. In 1708, they formally confirmed George's position as a Prince-Elector in recognition of, or because of, his service. George did not hold Marlborough's actions against him; he understood they were part of a plan to lure French forces away from the main attack. In 1709, George resigned as field marshal, never to go on active service again. In 1710, he
4806-528: The imminent formation of a single Hanoverian state, and the Hanoverians' continuing contributions to the Empire's wars, Ernest Augustus was made an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. George's prospects were now better than ever as the sole heir to his father's electorate and his uncle's duchy. Sophia Dorothea had a second child, a daughter named after her, in 1687, but there were no other pregnancies. The couple became estranged—George preferred
4895-502: The last name. So, curiously, the British prince's title is still part of the family's last name in their German passports, while it is no longer mentioned in their British documents. On 29 August 1931, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick , as head of the House of Hanover, declared the formal resumption, for himself and his dynastic descendants, of use of his former British princely title as a secondary title of pretense , which style, "Royal Prince of Great Britain and Ireland", his grandson,
4984-615: The later twentieth century and nationalistic anti-German feeling subsided. George's life and reign were re-explored by scholars such as Beattie and Hatton, and his character, abilities and motives re-assessed in a more generous light. John H. Plumb noted that: Some historians have exaggerated the king's indifference to English affairs and made his ignorance of the English language seem more important than it was. He had little difficulty in communicating with his ministers in French, and his interest in all matters affecting both foreign policy and
5073-565: The loss of territory. In Hanover, the King was an absolute monarch . All government expenditure above 50 thalers (between 12 and 13 British pounds ), and the appointment of all army officers, all ministers, and even government officials above the level of copyist, was in his personal control. By contrast in Great Britain, George had to govern through Parliament. In 1715 when the Whigs came to power, George's chief ministers included Robert Walpole , Lord Townshend (Walpole's brother-in-law), Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland . In 1717 Townshend
5162-543: The market now halted, uncontrolled selling began in August, which caused the stock to plummet to £150 by the end of September. Many individuals—including aristocrats—lost vast sums and some were completely ruined. George, who had been in Hanover since June, returned to London in November—sooner than he wanted or was usual—at the request of the ministry. The economic crisis, known as the South Sea Bubble, made George and his ministers extremely unpopular. In 1721, Lord Stanhope, though personally innocent, collapsed and died after
5251-429: The national debt. Certain government bonds could not be redeemed without the consent of the bondholder and had been issued when interest rates were high; consequently each bond represented a long-term drain on public finances, as bonds were hardly ever redeemed. In 1719, the South Sea Company proposed to take over £31 million (three fifths) of the British national debt by exchanging government securities for stock in
5340-558: The opera and often travelled incognito to the homes of friends to play cards. Despite some unpopularity, the Protestant George I was seen by most of his subjects as a better alternative to the Roman Catholic pretender James . William Makepeace Thackeray indicates such ambivalent feelings as he wrote: His heart was in Hanover ... He was more than fifty years of age when he came amongst us: we took him because we wanted him, because he served our turn; we laughed at his uncouth German ways, and sneered at him. He took our loyalty for what it
5429-464: The order of King George VI . Duke Ernest Augustus died at Marienburg Castle in 1953. His Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover had been completely destroyed during World War II. His eldest son, Prince Ernest Augustus , sold his remaining property at Herrenhausen Gardens in 1961 but kept the nearby Princely House, a small palace built in 1720 by George I for his daughter Anna Louise. It is now his grandson Ernest Augustus 's private home. The later heads of
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#17327910798665518-428: The powers of the monarchy diminished, and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister . Towards the end of his reign, actual political power was held by Robert Walpole , now recognised as Britain's first de facto prime minister. George died of a stroke on a journey to his native Hanover, where he was buried. He is the most recent British monarch to be buried outside
5607-441: The previous century such as Lord Hervey's memoirs, and looked back on the Jacobite cause with romantic, even sympathetic, eyes. They in turn, influenced British authors of the first half of the twentieth century such as G. K. Chesterton , who introduced further anti-German and anti-Protestant bias into the interpretation of George's reign. However, in the wake of World War II continental European archives were opened to historians of
5696-400: The right to determine the succession, and to bestow it on the nearest Protestant relative of the Queen, while many Tories were more inclined to believe in the hereditary right of the Catholic Stuarts , who were nearer relations. In 1710, George announced that he would succeed in Britain by hereditary right, as the right had been removed from the Stuarts, and he retained it. "This declaration
5785-445: The sake of the succession was remote; some had already refused. In August 1701, George was invested with the Order of the Garter and, within six weeks, the nearest Catholic claimant to the thrones, the former king James II , died. William III died the following March and was succeeded by Anne. Sophia became heiress presumptive to the new Queen of England. Sophia was in her seventy-first year, thirty-five years older than Anne, but she
5874-465: The same individual as the successor to the English throne, unless England granted full freedom of trade to Scottish merchants in England and its colonies. At first Royal Assent was withheld, but the following year Anne capitulated to the wishes of the Estates and assent was granted to the bill, which became the Act of Security 1704 . In response the English Parliament passed the Alien Act 1705 , which threatened to restrict Anglo-Scottish trade and cripple
5963-636: The senior branch of the House of Este . The current head of the House of Hanover is Ernst August, Prince of Hanover . George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the first member of the House of Hanover. When the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was divided in 1635, George inherited the Principality of Calenberg and moved his residence to Hanover. His son, Christian Louis , inherited the Principality of Lüneburg from George's brother. Calenberg and Lüneburg were then shared between George's sons until united in 1705 under his grandson, also called George, who subsequently became George I of Great Britain . All members held
6052-399: The shares had cost £128 on 1 January 1720, but were valued at £500 when the conversion scheme opened in May. On 24 June the price reached a peak of £1,050. The company's success led to the speculative flotation of other companies, some of a bogus nature, and the Government, in an attempt to suppress these schemes and with the support of the company, passed the Bubble Act . With the rise in
6141-543: The title of Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg . George Louis became the first British monarch of the House of Hanover as George I in 1714. The dynasty provided six British monarchs: Of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland (changed in 1801 to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ): George I, George II, and George III also served as electors and dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg , informally, Electors of Hanover (cf. personal union ). They served as dual monarchs of Britain and Hanover, maintaining control of
6230-445: Was additionally granted to the members of the house by King George V . These peerages and titles however were suspended under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 . However, the title Royal Prince of Great Britain and Ireland had been entered into the family's German passports, together with the German titles, in 1914. After the German Revolution of 1918–19 , with the abolishment of nobility's privileges, titles officially became parts of
6319-468: Was arranged primarily to ensure a healthy annual income, and assisted the eventual unification of Hanover and Celle. His mother at first opposed the marriage because she looked down on Sophia Dorothea's mother, Eleonore (who came from lower French nobility), and because she was concerned by Sophia Dorothea's legitimated status. She was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage. In 1683, George and his brother Frederick Augustus served in
6408-617: Was created Earl of Munster in 1831 and his male-line was continued until the death of the 7th Earl of Munster in 2000. Two of Lord Munster's brothers, Frederick and Augustus (a clergyman), had issue that were also part of the family. Five daughters of William IV and Dorothy Jordan were married to nobles or prominent military figures, including the 18th Earl of Erroll , the 10th Viscount Falkland , and Admiral Lord John Hallyburton . Only one, Mary, had no children. House of Hanover The House of Hanover ( German : Haus Hannover German pronunciation: [haʊ̯s haˈnoːfɐ] )
6497-566: Was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 October. His coronation was accompanied by rioting in over twenty towns in England. George mainly lived in Great Britain after 1714, though he visited his home in Hanover in 1716, 1719, 1720, 1723 and 1725. In total, George spent about one fifth of his reign as king in Germany. A clause in the Act of Settlement that forbade the British monarch from leaving
6586-526: Was denied access to her children and father, forbidden to remarry and only allowed to walk unaccompanied within the mansion courtyard. She was, however, endowed with an income, establishment, and servants, and allowed to ride in a carriage outside her castle under supervision. Melusine von der Schulenburg acted as George's hostess openly from 1698 until his death, and they had three daughters together, born in 1692, 1693 and 1701. Ernest Augustus died on 23 January 1698, leaving all of his territories to George with
6675-465: Was dismissed, and Walpole resigned from the Cabinet over disagreements with their colleagues; Stanhope became supreme in foreign affairs, and Sunderland the same in domestic matters. Lord Sunderland's power began to wane in 1719. He introduced a Peerage Bill that attempted to limit the size of the House of Lords by restricting new creations. The measure would have solidified Sunderland's control of
6764-538: Was entirely burnt out as a result of Allied air raids and the King's remains, along with his parents', were moved to the 19th-century mausoleum of King Ernest Augustus in the Berggarten. George was succeeded by his son, George Augustus, who took the throne as George II . It was widely assumed, even by Walpole for a time, that George II planned to remove Walpole from office but was dissuaded from doing so by his wife, Caroline of Ansbach . However, Walpole commanded
6853-662: Was established at Eilean Donan Castle on the west Scottish coast in April, only to be destroyed by British ships a month later. Jacobite attempts to recruit Scottish clansmen yielded a fighting force of only about a thousand men. The Jacobites were poorly equipped and were easily defeated by British artillery at the Battle of Glen Shiel . The clansmen dispersed into the Highlands , and the Spaniards surrendered. The invasion never posed any serious threat to George's government. With
6942-491: Was granted the dignity of Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, an office formerly held by the Elector Palatine ; the absence of the Elector of Bavaria allowed a reshuffling of offices. The emperor's death in 1711 threatened to destroy the balance of power in the opposite direction, so the war ended in 1713 with the ratification of the Treaty of Utrecht . Philip was allowed to succeed to the Spanish throne but removed from
7031-434: Was killed, possibly with George's connivance, and his body thrown into the river Leine weighted with stones. The murder was claimed to have been committed by four of Ernest Augustus's courtiers, one of whom, Don Nicolò Montalbano, was paid the enormous sum of 150,000 thalers , about one hundred times the annual salary of the highest-paid minister. Later rumours supposed that Königsmarck was hacked to pieces and buried beneath
7120-480: Was meant to scotch any Whig interpretation that parliament had given him the kingdom [and] ... convince the Tories that he was no usurper." George's mother, the Electress Sophia, died on 28 May 1714 at the age of 83. She had collapsed in the gardens at Herrenhausen after rushing to shelter from a shower of rain. George was now Queen Anne's heir presumptive. He swiftly revised the membership of
7209-540: Was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover in 1708. As the senior Protestant descendant of his great-grandfather James VI and I , George inherited the British throne following the deaths in 1714 of his mother, Sophia, and his second cousin Anne, Queen of Great Britain . Jacobites attempted, but failed, to depose George and replace him with James Francis Edward Stuart , Anne's Catholic half-brother. During George's reign
7298-496: Was restricted to the male line, the succession of George and his brothers to the territories of their father and uncle now seemed secure. In 1682 the family agreed to adopt the principle of primogeniture , meaning George would inherit all the territory and not have to share it with his brothers. In 1682, George married Sophia Dorothea of Celle , the daughter of his uncle George William, thereby securing additional incomes that would have been outside Salic laws. This marriage of state
7387-600: Was second-in-line to the English and Scottish thrones, died. By the terms of the English Act of Settlement 1701 , George's mother, Sophia, was designated as the heir to the English throne if the then reigning monarch, William III , and his sister-in-law, Anne , died without surviving issue. The succession was so designed because Sophia was the closest Protestant relative of the British royal family . Fifty-six Catholics with superior hereditary claims were bypassed. The likelihood of any of them converting to Protestantism for
7476-468: Was seen as a progressive ruler supportive of the Enlightenment who permitted his critics to publish without risk of severe censorship, and provided sanctuary to Voltaire when the philosopher was exiled from Paris in 1726. European and British sources agree that George was reserved, temperate and financially prudent; he disliked being in the public light at social events, avoided the royal box at
7565-413: Was stronger than in England. "The Fifteen", however, was a dismal failure; Lord Mar's battle plans were poor, and James arrived late with too little money and too few arms. By the end of the year the rebellion had all but collapsed. In February 1716, facing defeat, James and Lord Mar fled to France. After the rebellion was defeated, although there were some executions and forfeitures, George acted to moderate
7654-645: Was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover . Born in Hanover to Ernest Augustus and Sophia of Hanover , George inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. In 1682, he married his cousin Sophia Dorothea of Celle , with whom he had two children; he also had three daughters with his mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg . George and Sophia Dorothea divorced in 1694. A succession of European wars expanded George's German domains during his lifetime; he
7743-463: Was the only heir to the German territories of his father and three childless uncles. George's brother, Frederick Augustus, was born in 1661, and the two boys (known respectively by the family as "Görgen" and "Gustchen") were brought up together. In 1662 the family moved to Osnabrück when Ernest Augustus was appointed ruler of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück , while his older brother George William ruled in Hanover. They lived at Iburg Castle outside
7832-483: Was very fit and healthy and invested time and energy in securing the succession either for herself or for her son. However, it was George who understood the complexities of English politics and constitutional law , which required further acts in 1705 to naturalise Sophia and her heirs as English subjects, and to detail arrangements for the transfer of power through a Regency Council. In the same year, George's surviving uncle died and he inherited further German dominions:
7921-546: Was worth; laid hands on what money he could; kept us assuredly from Popery ... I, for one, would have been on his side in those days. Cynical and selfish, as he was, he was better than a king out of St. Germains [James, the Stuart Pretender] with the French king's orders in his pocket, and a swarm of Jesuits in his train. Writers of the nineteenth century, such as Thackeray, Walter Scott and Lord Mahon , were reliant on biased first-hand accounts published in
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