Ernest Augustus

▪ elector of Hanover

born Nov. 20, 1629, Herzberg am Harz Castle, Hanover [Germany]

died Jan. 23, 1698, Herrenhausen Castle

      duke (from 1679) and elector (from 1692) of Hanover, father of George Louis, who became George I, king of Great Britain.

      The Protestant bishop of Osnabrück from 1661, Ernest Augustus succeeded his elder brother as ruler of the duchy of Lüneburg-Calenburg (which became known as the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or, more popularly, because of its capital city, the duchy of Hanover). In 1692, in return for lavish promises of assistance to the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburgs, the emperor Leopold I granted him the rank and title of elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (i.e., Hanover), which became the ninth electorate of the empire. Indignant protests followed this proceeding. A league was formed to prevent any addition to the electoral college; France and Sweden were called upon for assistance. This agitation, however, soon died away, and his son was confirmed as elector by the imperial diet.

      Ernest Augustus took a step of great importance in the history of Hanover and Great Britain when, in 1658, he married Sophia, daughter of the elector palatine Frederick V and granddaughter of James I of Great Britain; for their son became, by the terms of the Act of Settlement of 1701, king of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714.

▪ king of Hanover

also called  (1799–1837) Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke Of Cumberland, Duke Of Teviotdale, Earl Of Armagh  

born June 5, 1771, Kew, Surrey, Eng.

died Nov. 18, 1851, Herrenhausen, Hanover [Germany]

      king of Hanover, from 1837 to 1851, the fifth son of George III of England.

      Ernest Augustus studied at Göttingen, entered the Hanoverian army, and served as a leader of cavalry when war broke out between Great Britain and France in 1793. When Hanover withdrew from the war in 1795 he returned to England, being made lieutenant general in the British army in 1799. In the same year he was created duke of Cumberland.

      In 1810 Ernest Augustus was severely injured by an assailant, probably his valet Sellis, who was found dead; subsequently two men were imprisoned for asserting that the duke had murdered his valet. Recovering from his wounds, the duke again proceeded to the seat of war; as a British field marshal, he was in command of the Hanoverian army during the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. Back in England in 1815, however, the duke's strong Toryism made him unpopular. He resented the refusal of Parliament to increase his allowance and retired for some years to Berlin. On the accession of George IV he returned to England but he ceased to play an important part in politics after the accession of William IV in 1830.

      When William died in June 1837, the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were separated; and Ernest Augustus, as the nearest male heir of the late king, became king of Hanover. He cancelled the constitution that William had given in 1833, and the constitution that he sanctioned in 1840 was characteristic of his own illiberal ideas. His reign was a stormy one, and serious trouble between king and people had arisen when he died. He was succeeded by his son, George V.

▪ pretender to Hanoverian throne

also called  Duke of Cumberland, Herzog von Braunschweig-Lüneburg  

born September 21, 1845, Hannover, Hanover [Germany]

died November 14, 1923, Gmunden, Austria

      only son of George V of Hanover and pretender to the Hanoverian throne from 1878 to 1913.

      After his father was deposed as a result of the Seven Weeks' War between Prussia and Austria (in which Hanover had sided with losing Austria), Ernest Augustus lived mainly in Austria. On his father's death (1878), however, he maintained his claim to the Hanoverian throne. In 1884 on the death, without issue, of his kinsman William, the last sovereign duke of Brunswick, he also claimed that duchy. Inspired by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (Bismarck, Otto von), the German Federal Council rebutted him by naming Prince Albert of Prussia as regent of Brunswick. After the latter's death, the duke was again excluded (1907) and the regency continued.

      In 1902 Ernest Augustus had told the German emperor William II (Kaiser Wilhelm II) that he was prepared to accept the imperial regime in Germany. In May 1913 the Welf-Hohenzollern feud over possession of the duchy of Brunswick was healed by the marriage of his son Ernest Augustus (1887–1953) to William II's only daughter, Victoria Louise. Ernest Augustus then renounced his rights in favour of his son, the Federal Council lifted its veto, and the young prince became a sovereign ruler as Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick (November 1, 1913). He abdicated with other German princes, on November 8, 1918. A Titles Deprivation Act in 1917, followed by an order in council in 1919, deprived father and son of all their titles and honours in the United Kingdom.

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