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Ernest Augustus (german: Ernst August; 5 June 177118 November 1851) was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death in 1851. As the fifth son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, he initially seemed unlikely to become a monarch, but none of his elder brothers had a legitimate son. When his older brother William IV, who ruled both kingdoms, died in 1837, his niece Victoria inherited the British throne under British succession law, while Ernest succeeded in Hanover under Salic law, which barred women from the succession, thus ending the
personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interli ...
between Britain and Hanover that had begun in 1714. Ernest was born in London but was sent to Hanover in his adolescence for his education and military training. While serving with Hanoverian forces near Tournai against Revolutionary France, he received a disfiguring facial wound. He was created Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale in 1799. Although his mother Queen Charlotte disapproved of his marriage in 1815 to her twice-widowed niece,
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Frederica Louise Caroline Sophie Alexandrina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (german: Friederike Louise Caroline Sophie Alexandrine; 3 March 1778 – 29 June 1841) was a German princess who married successively Prince Louis Charles of Prussia, Prince ...
, it proved happy. The eldest son of George III, the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), had one child,
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, who was expected to become the British queen, but she died in 1817, giving Ernest some prospect of succeeding to the British and Hanoverian thrones. However, his older brother Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, fathered the eventual British heir, Victoria, in 1819 shortly before the birth of Ernest's only child, George. Ernest was an active member of the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
, where he maintained an extremely conservative record. There were persistent allegations (reportedly spread by his political foes) that he had murdered his valet, had fathered a son by his sister Sophia, and intended to take the British throne by murdering Victoria. Following the death of King William IV, Ernest became Hanover's first resident ruler since George I. He had a generally successful fourteen-year reign but excited controversy near its start when he voided the liberal constitution granted before his reign and dismissed the Göttingen Seven, including the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...
, from their professorial positions for protesting against this decision. In 1848, the King put down an attempted revolution. Hanover joined the German customs union in 1850 despite Ernest's reluctance. Ernest died the next year and was succeeded by his son, George V.


Early life (1771–1799)

Ernest Augustus, the fifth son of
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...
and Queen Charlotte, was born at Buckingham House, London, on 5 June 1771, and baptised on 1 July 1771 at St James's Palace. His sponsors were Duke Ernest of Mecklenburg (his maternal uncle), Duke Moritz of Saxe-Gotha (his paternal great-uncle, for whom the Earl of Hertford stood proxy), and the Hereditary Princess of Hesse-Kassel (his father's cousin, for whom the Countess of Egremont stood proxy). After leaving the nursery, he lived with his two younger brothers, Prince Adolphus (later Duke of Cambridge) and Prince Augustus (later Duke of Sussex), and a tutor in a house on Kew Green, near his parents' residence at Kew Palace. Though the King never left England in his life, he sent his younger sons to Germany in their adolescence. According to the historian John Van der Kiste, this was done to limit the influence Ernest's eldest brother George, Prince of Wales, who was leading an extravagant lifestyle, would have over his younger brothers. At the age of fifteen, Prince Ernest and his two younger brothers were sent to the University of Göttingen, located in his father's domain of Hanover. Ernest proved a keen student and after being tutored privately for a year, while learning German, he attended lectures at the university. Though King George ordered that the princes' household be run along military lines and that they follow the university's rules, the merchants of the Electorate proved willing to extend credit to the princes and all three fell into debt. In 1790, Ernest asked his father for permission to train with
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
n forces. Instead, in January 1791, he and Prince Adolphus were sent to Hanover to receive military training under the supervision of Field Marshal
Wilhelm von Freytag Heinrich Wilhelm von Freytag (17 March 1720, Estorf – 2 January 1798, Hannover ) was an officer in the service of the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover). Career B.1720 in Estorf, Freytag rose to prominence during the Seven Years' ...
. Before leaving Göttingen, Ernest penned a formal letter of thanks to the university and wrote to his father, "I should be one of the most ungrateful of men if ever I was forgetful of all I owe to Göttingen & its professors." As a lieutenant, Ernest learned cavalry drill and tactics under Captain von Linsingen of the Queen's Light Dragoons and proved to be an excellent horseman, as well as a good shot. After only two months of training, Freytag was so impressed by the prince's progress that he gave him a place in the cavalry as captain. Ernest was supposed to receive infantry training, but the King, also impressed by his son's prowess, allowed him to remain with the cavalry. In March 1792, the King commissioned Prince Ernest Augustus as a colonel into the 9th Hanoverian Light Dragoons. The prince served in the Low Countries in the War of the First Coalition, under his elder brother Prince Frederick, Duke of York, then commander of the combined British, Hanoverian and Austrian forces. Seeing action near the Walloon town of Tournai in August 1793, he sustained a sabre wound to the head, which resulted in a disfiguring scar. During the
Battle of Tourcoing The Battle of Tourcoing (17–18 May 1794) saw a Republican French army directed by General of Division Joseph Souham defend against an attack by a Coalition army led by Emperor Francis II and Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. T ...
in northern France on 18 May 1794, his left arm was injured by a cannonball which passed close by him. In the days after the battle, the sight in his left eye faded. In June, he was sent to Britain to convalesce, his first stay there since 1786. Ernest resumed his duties in early November, by now promoted to major-general. He hoped his new rank would bring him a corps or brigade command, but none was forthcoming as the Allied armies retreated slowly through the Netherlands towards Germany. By February 1795, they had reached Hanover. Ernest remained in Hanover over the next year, holding several unimportant postings. He had requested a return home to seek treatment for his eye, but it was not until early 1796 that the King agreed and allowed Ernest to return to Britain. There, Prince Ernest consulted a notable eye doctor, Wathen Waller, but Waller apparently found his condition inoperable, as no operation took place. Once back in Britain, Ernest repeatedly sought to be allowed to join the British forces on the Continent, even threatening to join the Yeomanry as a private, but both the King and the Duke of York refused him permission. Ernest did not want to rejoin the Hanoverian forces, as they were not then involved in the fighting. In addition, Freytag was seriously ill and Ernest was unwilling to serve under his likely successor, Count von Wallmoden.


Duke of Cumberland


Military commander

On 23 April 1799, George III created Prince Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh, and Ernest was granted an allowance of £12,000 a year, equivalent to £ in . Though he was made a lieutenant-general, of both British and Hanoverian forces, he remained in England and, with a seat in the House of Lords, entered politics. Ernest had extreme Tory views and soon became a leader of the right wing of the party. King George had feared that Ernest, like some of his elder brothers, would display Whig tendencies. Reassured on that point, in 1801, the King had Ernest conduct the negotiations which led to the formation of the Addington government. In February 1802, King George granted his son the colonelcy of the 27th Light Dragoons, a post which offered the option of transfer to the colonelcy of the 15th Light Dragoons when a vacancy arose. A vacancy promptly occurred and the Duke became the colonel of the 15th Light Dragoons in March 1802. Although the post could have been a sinecure, Ernest involved himself in the affairs of the regiment and led it on manoeuvres. In early 1803, the Duke of York appointed Ernest as commander of the Severn District, in charge of the forces in and around the Severn Estuary. When war with France broke out again after the Peace of Amiens, Frederick appointed Ernest to the more important Southwest District, comprising
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, Dorset and Wiltshire. Though Ernest would have preferred command of the King's German Legion, composed mostly of expatriates from French-occupied Hanover, he accepted the post. The Duke of Cumberland increased the defences on the South Coast, especially around the town of Weymouth, where his father often spent time in the summer. The Acts of Union 1800 had given Ireland representation in Parliament, but existing law prevented Irish Catholics from serving there because of their religion. "
Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
" was a major political issue of the first years of the 19th century. The Duke of Cumberland was a strong opponent of giving political rights to Catholics, believing that emancipation would be a violation of the King's Coronation Oath to uphold Anglicanism and spoke out in the House of Lords against emancipation. Protestant Irish organisations supported the Duke; he was elected Chancellor of the University of Dublin in 1805 and Grand Master of the Orange Lodges two years later. The Duke repeatedly sought a post with Allied forces fighting against France, but was sent to the Continent only as an observer. In 1807, he advocated sending British troops to join the Prussians and Swedes in attacking the French at Stralsund (today, in northeastern Germany). The Grenville government refused to send forces. Shortly afterwards, the government fell and the new prime minister,
the Duke of Portland William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, (14 April 173830 October 1809) was a British Whig and then a Tory politician during the late Georgian era. He served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1792–1809) an ...
, agreed to send Ernest with 20,000 troops. However, they were sent too late: the French defeated Prussia and Sweden at the Battle of Stralsund before Ernest and his forces could reach the town. Ernest was promoted to full general of the army in 1808, backdated to 1805.


Sellis incident and Weymouth controversy

In the early hours of 31 May 1810, Ernest, by his written account, was struck in the head several times while asleep in bed, awakening him. He ran for the door, where he was wounded in the leg by a sabre. He called for help and one of his valets, Cornelius Neale, responded and aided him. Neale raised the alarm and the household soon realised that Ernest's other valet, Joseph Sellis, was not among them and that the door to Sellis's room was locked. The lock was forced and Sellis was discovered with his throat freshly cut, a wound apparently self-inflicted. Ernest received several serious wounds during the apparent attack and required over a month to recover from his injuries. The social reformer and anti-monarchist Francis Place managed to join the inquest jury and became its foreman. Place went to the office of a barrister friend to study inquest law and aggressively questioned witnesses. Place also insisted that the inquest be opened to the public and press, and so cowed the coroner that he basically ran the inquest himself. Nevertheless, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of suicide against Sellis. Much of the public blamed Ernest for Sellis's death. The more extreme Whig papers, anti-royal pamphleteers, and caricaturists all offered nefarious explanations for Sellis's death, in which the Duke was to blame. Some stories had the Duke cuckolding Sellis, with the attack as retaliation, or Sellis killed for finding Ernest and Mrs. Sellis in bed together. Others suggested that the Duke was the lover of either Sellis or Neale, and that blackmail had played a part in the death. Both
Roger Fulford Sir Roger Thomas Baldwin Fulford (24 November 1902 – 18 May 1983) was an English journalist, historian, writer and politician. In the 1930s, he completed the editing of the standard edition of the diaries of Charles Greville. From the 1930s t ...
and John Van der Kiste, who wrote books about George III's children, ascribe part of the animus and fear towards the Duke to the fact that he did not conduct love affairs in public, as did his older brothers. According to them, the public feared what vices might be going on behind the locked doors of the Duke's house and assumed the worst. In early 1813, Ernest was involved in political scandal during an election contest in Weymouth following the general election the previous year. The Duke was shown to be one of three trustees who were able to dictate who would represent Weymouth in Parliament. It being considered improper for a peer to interfere in an election to the House of Commons, there was considerable controversy and the government sent Ernest to Europe as an observer to accompany Hanoverian troops, which were again engaged in war against France. Though he saw no action, Ernest was present at the Battle of Leipzig, a major victory for the Allies. Following this, Ernest received ultimate promotion, to Field Marshal, on 26 November 1813.


Marriage

Ernest met and fell in love in mid-1813 with his first cousin, Duchess
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Frederica Louise Caroline Sophie Alexandrina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (german: Friederike Louise Caroline Sophie Alexandrine; 3 March 1778 – 29 June 1841) was a German princess who married successively Prince Louis Charles of Prussia, Prince ...
, wife of
Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels (22 October 1770 in Braunfels – 13 April 1814 in Slawentzitz) was a Prussian Major General and by birth member of the House of Solms-Braunfels. Early life He was the fourth son of Ferdinand William ...
and widow of Prince Louis of Prussia. The two agreed to wed if Frederica became free to marry. Her marriage to Frederick William had not been a success; her husband, seeing the marriage was beyond hope, agreed to a divorce, but his sudden death in 1814 removed the necessity. Some considered the death too convenient and suspected Frederica of poisoning her husband. Queen Charlotte opposed the marriage: before Frederica had married Frederick William, she had jilted Ernest's younger brother, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, after the engagement was announced. Following the marriage in Germany on 29 May 1815, Queen Charlotte refused to receive her new daughter-in-law, nor would the Queen attend the resolemnisation of the Cumberlands' marriage at Kew, which Ernest's four older brothers attended. The Prince of Wales (who had been Prince Regent since 1811) found the Cumberlands' presence in Britain embarrassing, and offered him money and the governorship of Hanover if they would leave for the Continent. Ernest refused and the Cumberlands divided their time between Kew and
St. James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Al ...
for the next three years. The Queen remained obstinate in her refusal to receive Frederica. Despite these family troubles, the Cumberlands had a happy marriage. The government of Lord Liverpool asked Parliament to increase the Duke's allowance by £6,000 per year in 1815 (equal to about £ today), so he could meet increased expenses due to his marriage. The Duke's involvement in the Weymouth election became an issue and the bill failed by one vote. Liverpool tried again in 1817; this time the bill failed by seven votes. At the time of the Duke's marriage in 1815, it seemed to have little dynastic significance to Britain. Princess Charlotte of Wales, only child of the Prince Regent, was the King's only legitimate grandchild. The young princess was expected to have children who would secure the British succession, especially after she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1816. Both the Prince Regent and the Duke of York were married but estranged from their wives, while the next two brothers, Prince William, Duke of Clarence, and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, were unmarried. On 6 November 1817, Princess Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. King George was left with twelve surviving children and no surviving legitimate grandchildren. Most of the unmarried royal dukes hurriedly sought out suitable brides and hastened to the altar, hoping to secure the succession for another generation. Seeing little prospect of the Queen giving in and receiving her daughter-in-law, the Cumberlands moved to Germany in 1818. They had difficulty living within their means in Britain and the cost of living was much lower in Germany. Queen Charlotte died on 17 November 1818, but the Cumberlands remained in Germany, living principally in Berlin, where the Duchess had relatives. In 1817, the Duchess had a stillborn daughter; in 1819 she gave birth to a boy, Prince George of Cumberland. The Duke occasionally visited England, where he stayed with his eldest brother, who in 1820 succeeded to the British and Hanoverian thrones as George IV. George III's fourth son, the Duke of Kent, died six days before his father, but left a daughter, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent. With the death of George III, Ernest became fourth in line to the British throne, following the Duke of York (who died without legitimate issue in 1827), the Duke of Clarence and Princess Alexandrina Victoria. Returning to England, his political power was again considerable, as it seemed likely that he would succeed to the throne.


Politics and unpopularity

In 1826, Parliament finally voted to increase Ernest's allowance. The Liverpool government argued that the Duke needed an increased allowance to pay for Prince George's education; even so, it was opposed by many Whigs. The bill, which passed the House of Commons 120–97, required Prince George to live in England if the Duke was to receive the money. In 1828, Ernest was staying with the King at Windsor Castle when severe disturbances broke out in Ireland among Catholics. The Duke was an ardent supporter of the Protestant cause in Ireland and returned to Berlin in August, believing that the government, led by the
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...
, would deal firmly with the Irish. In January 1829, the Wellington government announced that it would introduce a Catholic emancipation bill to conciliate the Irish. Disregarding a request from Wellington that he remain abroad, Ernest returned to London and was one of the leading opponents to the Catholic Relief Act 1829, influencing King George IV against the bill. Within days of his arrival, the King instructed the officers of his Household to vote against the bill. Hearing of this, Wellington told the King that he must resign as Prime Minister unless the King could assure him of complete support. The King initially accepted Wellington's resignation and Ernest attempted to put together a government united against Catholic emancipation. Though such a government would have had considerable support in the House of Lords, it would have had little support in the Commons and Ernest abandoned his attempt. The King recalled Wellington. The bill passed the Lords and became law. The Wellington government hoped that Ernest would return to Germany, but he moved his wife and son to Britain in 1829. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' reported that they would live at Windsor in the "Devil's Tower"; instead, the Duke reopened his house at Kew. They settled there as rumours flew that Thomas Garth, thought to be the illegitimate son of Ernest's sister Princess Sophia, had been fathered by Ernest. It was also said that Ernest had blackmailed the King by threatening to expose this secret, though Van der Kiste points out that Ernest would have been ill-advised to blackmail with a secret which, if exposed, would destroy him. These rumours were spread as Ernest journeyed to London to fight against Catholic emancipation. Whig politician and diarist Thomas Creevey wrote about the Garth rumour in mid-February and there is some indication the rumours began with Princess Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador. Newspapers also reported, in July 1829, that the Duke had been thrown out of
Lord Lyndhurst John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, (21 May 1772 – 12 October 1863) was a British lawyer and politician. He was three times Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Background and education Lyndhurst was born in Boston, Massachusetts, ...
's house for assaulting Lyndhurst's wife Sarah. In early 1830, a number of newspapers printed articles hinting that Ernest was having an affair with Lady Graves, a mother of fifteen, now past fifty. In February 1830, Lord Graves, Ernest's lord of the bedchamber and comptroller of his household, wrote a note to his wife expressing his confidence in her innocence, then cut his own throat. Two days after Lord Graves's death (and the day after the inquest), ''The Times'' printed an article connecting Lord Graves's death with Sellis's. After being shown the suicide note, ''The Times'' withdrew its implication there might be a connection between the two deaths. Nonetheless, many believed the Duke responsible for the suicide—or guilty of a second murder. The Duke later stated that he had been "accused of every crime in the
decalogue The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
". Ernest's biographer Anthony Bird states that while there is no proof, he has no doubt that the rumours against the Duke were spread by the Whigs for political ends. Another biographer, Geoffrey Willis, pointed out that no scandal had attached itself to the Duke during the period of over a decade when he resided in Germany; it was only when he announced his intention to return to Britain that "a campaign of unparalleled viciousness" began against him. The Duke of Wellington once told Charles Greville that George IV had said of Ernest's unpopularity, "there was never a father well with his son, or husband with his wife, or lover with his mistress, or a friend with his friend, that he did not try to make mischief between them." According to Bird, Ernest was the most unpopular man in England. The Duke's influence at court was ended by the death of George IV in June 1830 and the succession of the Duke of Clarence as William IV. Wellington wrote that "the effect of the King's death will ... be to put an end to the Duke of Cumberland's political character and power in this country entirely". King William had no legitimate children (two daughters having died in infancy) and Ernest was now heir presumptive in Hanover, since the British heir presumptive, Princess Victoria, as a female could not inherit there. William realised that, so long as the Duke maintained a power base at Windsor, he could wield unwanted influence. The Duke was Gold Stick as head of the Household Cavalry; William made the Duke's post responsible to the Commander in Chief rather than to the King, and an insulted Ernest, outraged at the thought of having to report to an officer junior to himself, resigned. King William again emerged triumphant when the new queen, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wished to quarter her horses in the stables customarily used by the consort, but which were then occupied by Ernest's horses. Ernest initially refused the King's order to remove the horses, but gave in when told that William's grooms would remove them if Ernest did not move them voluntarily. However, Ernest and William remained friendly throughout the latter's seven-year reign. Ernest's house at Kew was too small for his family; the King gave the Duke and Duchess lifetime residence in a nearby, larger house by the entrance to Kew Gardens. Ernest, who was against the extension of civil and religious liberties, opposed the Reform Act 1832 and was one of the "diehard" peers who voted against the bill on its final reading in which most Tories abstained under threat of seeing the House of Lords flooded with Whig peers. His unpopularity was deepened by the suggestion that he favoured the creation of Orange lodges in the army. Ernest was the subject of more allegations in 1832, when two young women accused him of trying to ride them down as they walked near Hammersmith. The Duke had not left his grounds at Kew on the day in question and was able to ascertain that the rider was one of his equerries, who professed not to have seen the women. Nevertheless, newspapers continued to print references to the incident, suggesting that Ernest had done what the women stated and was cravenly trying to push blame on another. The same year, the Duke sued for libel after a book appeared accusing him of having his valet Neale kill Sellis and the jury found against the author. The Cumberlands suffered further tragedy, as young Prince George went blind. The prince had been blind in one eye for several years; an accident at age thirteen took the sight of the other. Ernest had hoped that his son might marry Princess Victoria and keep the British and Hanoverian thrones united, but the handicap made it unlikely that George could win Princess Victoria's hand and raised questions about whether he should succeed in Hanover. The Duke spent William's reign in the House of Lords, where he was assiduous in his attendance. Newspaper editor
James Grant James Grant may refer to: Politics and law * Sir James Grant, 1st Baronet (died 1695), Scottish lawyer *Sir James Grant, 6th Baronet (1679–1747), Scottish Whig politician *Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet (1738–1811), Scottish member of parliament ...
wrote that "He is literally—the door-keeper of course excepted—the first man in the House and the last out of it. And this not merely generally, but every night." Grant, in his observations of the leading members of the House of Lords, indicated that the Duke was not noted for his oratory (he delivered no speech longer than five minutes) and had a voice that was difficult to understand, though "his manner is most mild and conciliatory". Grant denigrated the Duke's intellect and influence, but stated that the Duke had indirect influence over several members, and that "he is by no means so bad a tactician as his opponents suppose". Controversy arose in 1836 over the Orange Lodges. The lodges (which took anti-Catholic views) were said to be ready to rise and try to put the Duke of Cumberland on the throne on the death of King William. According to Joseph Hume, speaking in the House of Commons, Victoria was to be passed over on the grounds of her age, sex, and incapacity. The Commons passed a resolution calling for the dissolution of the lodges. When the matter reached the Lords, the Duke defended himself, saying of Princess Victoria, "I would shed the last drop of my blood for my niece." The Duke indicated that the Orange Lodge members were loyal and were willing to dissolve the lodges in Great Britain. According to Bird, this incident was the source of the widespread rumours that the Duke intended to murder the princess and take the British throne for himself.


King of Hanover (1837–1851)


Domestic affairs


Constitutional controversy

On 20 June 1837, King William IV died; Victoria succeeded him as Queen of the United Kingdom, while Ernest Augustus became King of Hanover. On 28 June 1837, Ernest entered his new domain, passing under a triumphal arch. For the first time in over a century, Hanover would have a ruler living there. Many Hanoverians were of a liberal perspective and would have preferred the popular
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, to become king, but the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge refused to lend themselves to any movement by which they would become king rather than their elder brother. According to Roger Fulford in his study of George III's younger sons, ''Royal Dukes'', "In 1837, King Ernest was the only male descendant of George III who was willing and able to continue the connection with Hanover." Hanover had received its first constitution, granted by the Prince Regent, in 1819; this did little more than denote Hanover's change from an
electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district or c ...
to a kingdom, guaranteed by 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 ...
. The Duke of Cambridge, as King William's viceroy in Hanover, recommended a thorough reorganisation of the Hanoverian government. William IV had given his consent to a new constitution in 1833; the Duke of Cumberland's consent was neither asked nor received, and he had formally protested against the constitution's adoption without his consent. One provision of the constitution transferred the Hanoverian Domains (the equivalent of the British
Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...
) from the sovereign to the state, eroding the monarch's power. Immediately upon his arrival in Hanover, the King dissolved the Hanoverian Parliament, which had been convened under the disputed constitution. On 5 July, he proclaimed the suspension of the constitution, on the grounds that his consent had not been asked and that it did not meet the kingdom's needs. On 1 November 1837, the King issued a
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
, declaring the constitution void, but upholding all laws passed under it. The 1819 constitution was restored. His son, Crown Prince George, endorsed the action. In carrying the King's patent into effect, the Cabinet required all officeholders (including professors at
Göttingen University Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...
) to renew their oaths of allegiance to the King. Seven professors (including the two
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...
) refused to take the oaths and agitated for others to protest against the King's decree. Since they did not take the oaths, the seven lost their positions and the King expelled the three most responsible (including Jacob Grimm) from Hanover. Only one of the seven, orientalist Heinrich Ewald, was a citizen of Hanover, and he was not expelled. In the final years of the King's reign, the three were invited to return. Ernest wrote of the incident to his brother-in-law, Frederick William III of Prussia, "If each of these seven gentlemen had addressed a letter to me expressing his opinion, I would have had no cause to take exception to their conduct. But to call a meeting and publish their opinions even before the government had received their protest—that is what they have done and that I cannot allow." Ernest received a deputation of Göttingen citizens who, fearing student unrest, applauded the dismissals. However, he was widely criticised in Europe, especially in Britain. In the British House of Commons, MP Colonel Thomas Perronet Thompson proposed to Parliament that if the as-yet-childless Queen Victoria died, making Ernest the British king, Parliament should declare that King Ernest had forfeited all rights to the British throne by his actions. A more significant protest against the revocation of the 1833 constitution was the refusal of a number of towns to appoint parliamentary deputies. However, by 1840 a sufficient number of deputies had been appointed for the King to summon Parliament, which met for two weeks in August, approving a modified version of the 1819 constitution, passing a budget and sending a vote of thanks to the King. The Parliament met again the following year, passed a three-year budget and adjourned again.


National development and trade; 1848 crisis

At the time the King took the throne, the city of Hanover was a densely packed residential town and did not rise to the grand style of many German capitals. Once the political crises of the first years of his reign had subsided, he set out to remedy this state of affairs. Ernest's support led to gas lighting in the city streets of Hanover, up-to-date sanitation and the development of a new residential quarter. He had the plans altered in 1841, after Queen Frederica's death, to leave standing the ''Altes Palais'', where the two had lived since arriving in Hanover. Ernest's interest in and support of the railroads led to Hanover becoming a major railway junction, much to the nation's benefit. However, when court architect
Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (17 December 1788 – 30 April 1864) was a German architect, civil engineer and urban planner. Born in Uslar, Lower Saxony, he lived and worked primarily in the city of Hanover and also died there. He was appointe ...
in 1837 proposed the building of an opera house in Hanover, the King initially refused, calling the proposal "this utterly absurd idea of building a court theatre in the middle of this green field". The King finally gave his consent in 1844 and the opera house opened in 1852, a year after the King's death. Every week, the King travelled with his secretary to different parts of his kingdom, and anyone could lay a petition before him—although Ernest had petitions screened by the secretary so he would not have to deal with frivolous complaints. Ernest opened high ministerial positions to those of any class, securing the services of several ministers who would not have been eligible without this reform. Though the King had, while Duke of Cumberland, fought against Catholic emancipation in Britain and Ireland, he made no objection to Catholics in government service in Hanover and even visited their churches. Ernest explained this by stating that there were no historical reasons to restrict Catholics in Hanover, as there had been in the United Kingdom. He continued to oppose admission of Jews into the British Parliament, but gave Jews in Hanover equal rights. The King supported a postal union and common currency among the German states, but opposed the
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
n-led customs union, the '' Zollverein'', fearing that it would lead to Prussian dominance and the end of Hanover as an independent state. Instead, the King supported the '' Steuerverein'', which Hanover and other western German states had formed in 1834. When the ''Steuerverein'' treaties came up for renewal in 1841, Brunswick pulled out of the union and joined the ''Zollverein'', greatly weakening Hanover's position, especially since Brunswick had enclaves within Hanover. Ernest was able to postpone the enclaves' entry into the ''Zollverein'' and, when a trade war began, was able to outlast Brunswick. In 1845, Brunswick, Hanover and Prussia signed a trade agreement. In 1850, Ernest reluctantly permitted Hanover to join the ''Zollverein'', though the entry was on favourable terms. Ernest's forebodings about Prussia were warranted; in 1866, fifteen years after his death, Hanover chose the Austrian side in the Austro-Prussian War, was defeated and was annexed by Prussia. Hanover was little affected by the
revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...
; a few small disturbances were put down by the cavalry without bloodshed. When agitators arrived from Berlin at the end of May 1848 and there were demonstrations outside the King's palace, Ernest sent out the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister warned that, if the demonstrators made any inappropriate demands on the King, Ernest would pack up his things and leave for Britain, taking the Crown Prince with him. This would leave the country at the mercy of expansionist Prussia and the threat put an end to the agitation. Afterwards, the King granted a new constitution, somewhat more liberal than the 1819 document.


Relations with Britain

Ernest Augustus is supposed to have asked the advice of the Duke of Wellington as to what course he should take after Victoria's accession, with Wellington supposedly saying "Go before you are pelted out." However, Bird dismisses this story as unlikely, given Wellington's customary respect to royalty and the fact that Ernest had little choice in what to do—he had to go to his kingdom as quickly as possible. One decision the new king did have to make was whether, in his capacity as Duke of Cumberland, to swear allegiance to Victoria in the House of Lords. Shortly after William's death, Ernest heard from Lord Lyndhurst that Lord Cottenham, the
Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
, had stated that he would refuse to administer the Oath of Allegiance to the King, as a foreign sovereign. The King hurriedly appeared in the House of Lords, before his departure for Hanover, and subscribed to the Oath before the Chief Clerk as a matter of routine. Ernest was heir presumptive to Queen Victoria until the birth of her daughter
Victoria, Princess Royal Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of German Emperor Frederick III. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdo ...
, in November 1840. The Lord Privy Seal,
Lord Clarendon Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire. First creation of the title The title was created for the first time in the Peer ...
, wrote, "What the country cares about is to have a life more, whether male or female, between the succession and the King of Hanover." Almost immediately upon going to Hanover, the King became involved in a dispute with his niece. Queen Victoria had a strained relationship with her mother
Victoria, Duchess of Kent , house = , father = Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death_p ...
, and wanted to give the Duchess accommodation near her, for the sake of appearances—but not too near her. To that end, she asked the King to give up his apartments at St James's Palace in favour of the Duchess. The King, wishing to retain apartments in London in anticipation of frequent visits to England and reluctant to give way in favour of a woman who had frequently fought with his brother, King William, declined and the Queen angrily rented a house for her mother. At a time when the Queen was trying to pay off her father's debts, she saw this as an unnecessary expense. Her ill-feeling towards the King increased when he refused, and advised his two surviving brothers to refuse as well, to give precedence to her intended husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Ernest argued that the standing of the various royal families had been settled at the Congress of Vienna and that the King of Hanover should not have to yield to one whom he described as a "paper Royal Highness". The act which naturalised Albert as a British subject left the question of his precedence unresolved. Matters came to a head when Ernest returned for what would prove to be his only visit to England as King of Hanover, in 1843. He was welcomed warmly, everywhere but at the Palace. At the wedding of Princess Augusta of Cambridge, he attempted to insist on a superior place to that of Prince Albert. The prince, 48 years Ernest's junior, settled things with what Albert described as a "strong push" and carefully wrote his name on the certificate under the Queen's, so close to his wife's as to leave no space for the King's signature. The King apparently held no grudge, as he invited the prince for a stroll in the park. When Albert demurred on the grounds that they might be jostled by crowds, the King replied, "When I lived here I was quite as unpopular as you are and they never bothered me." Shortly after the wedding, the King injured himself in a fall, with Albert writing to his brother, "Happily he fell over some stones in Kew and damaged some ribs." This injury spared him further contact with Victoria and Albert. During his visit, the King found time to take his place as Duke of Cumberland in the House of Lords. Victoria recorded in her journal that the King had stated when asked if he would speak in the Lords, "No, I shall not, unless the Devil prompts me!" The Queen also recorded that though the King greatly enjoyed listening to the debates, he did not himself speak. The King made a point of welcoming British visitors to Hanover and when one Englishwoman told him that she had been lost in the city, the King denied that this was possible, as "the whole country is no larger than a fourpenny bit." The monarchs engaged in one more battle—over jewels left by Queen Charlotte. Queen Victoria, who possessed them, took the position that they belonged to the British Crown. King Ernest maintained that they were to go to the heir male, that is, himself. The matter was arbitrated, and just as the arbitrators were about to announce a decision in Hanover's favour, one of the arbitrators died, voiding the decision. Despite the King's request for a new panel, Victoria refused to permit one during the King's lifetime and took every opportunity to wear the jewels, causing the King to write to his friend,
Lord Strangford Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford (31 August 178029 May 1855) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat. Early life He was the son of Lionel Smythe, 5th Viscount Strangford (1753–1801) and Maria Eliza Philipse. In 1769, his sixteen-year ...
, "The little Queen looked very fine, I hear, loaded down with ''my'' diamonds." The King's son and successor, King George V, pressed the matter, and in 1858, after another decision in Hanover's favour, the jewels were turned over to the Hanoverian ambassador.


Later life, death, and memorial

In 1851, the King undertook a number of journeys around Germany. He accepted an invitation from the Queen of Prussia to visit Charlottenburg Palace, near Berlin. He visited
Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...
for the christening of the Grand Duke's son and Lüneburg to inspect his old regiment. In June, Ernest celebrated his 80th birthday by playing host to the King of Prussia. Late that summer, he visited Göttingen, where he opened a new hospital and was given a torchlight procession. The King continued his interest in British affairs and wrote to Lord Strangford about the Great Exhibition of 1851:
The folly and absurdity of the Queen in allowing this trumpery must strike every sensible and well-thinking mind, and I am astonished the ministers themselves do not insist on her at least going to Osborne during the Exhibition, as no human being can possibly answer for what may occur on the occasion. The idea ... must shock every honest and well-meaning Englishman. But it seems everything is conspiring to lower us in the eyes of Europe.
The King died on 18 November 1851 after an illness of about a month. He was mourned greatly in Hanover; less so in the United Kingdom, where ''The Times'' omitted the customary black border to its front page and claimed "the good that can be said of the Royal dead is little or none." Both he and Queen Frederica rest in a mausoleum in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Gardens. A large equestrian statue of King Ernest Augustus may be found in a square named after him in front of Hanover Central Station, inscribed with his name and the words (in German) "To the father of the nation from his loyal people." It is a popular meeting place; in the local phrase, people arrange to meet ''unterm Schwanz'' or "under the tail" (that is, of the horse which the King rides). Although ''The Times'' denigrated Ernest's career as Duke of Cumberland, it did speak well of his time as King of Hanover and of his success in keeping Hanover stable in 1848:
Above all, he possessed a resolute decision of character, which, however unfortunately it may have operated under different conditions, appeared to extraordinary advantage at the crisis of continental thrones. Bewildered by the revolutionary din, and oscillating ignominiously between fear and rage, resistance and concession, the clique of crowned heads suffered greatly by contrast with a Sovereign who at least knew his own mind and was prepared to abide by his opinions. In the European convulsions, therefore, King Ernest maintained the stability of his throne and the tranquillity of his people without damage from revolution or reaction. As Kings, indeed, are computed on the continent, he was an able and even a popular Monarch, and his memory may find, perhaps, in his ancestral dominions a sympathy which it would be vain to bespeak for it in the scenes of his manhood or the land of his birth.


Titles, styles and honours


Titles and styles

* 5 June 1771 – 23 April 1799: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince Ernest Augustus * 23 April 1799 – 20 June 1837: ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale * 20 June 1837 – 18 November 1851: ''His Majesty'' The King of Hanover


Honours


British and Hanoverian

* Knight of the Garter (KG) – nominated 2 June 1786 * Privy Council of Great Britain (later of the United Kingdom) (PC) – 5 June 1799. (He was senior PC of the United Kingdom from 1847 until his death.) *
Knight of the Order of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order. The ...
(KT) * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) – 2 January 1815 *
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...
(GCH in British usage) (Kingdom of Hanover) – 12 August 1815; became sovereign of the order on succeeding to the Hanoverian throne 20 June 1837. * Knight of St Patrick (KP) – 20 August 1821 *
Order of St George The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...
(Kingdom of Hanover) - founder and sovereign of the order, 23 April 1839. *
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
(FRS) – 24 April 1828


Foreign

* Grand Cross of Albert the Bear – 13 January 1839 ( Ascanian duchies) * Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen – 1839 (
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
) * Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity – 1829 (
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
) *
Knight of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...
– 7 July 1838 (
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
) * Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order – August 1839 ( Ernestine duchies) * Knight of the Black Eagle – 21 May 1815 (
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
) * Grand Cross of the Red Eagle (Prussia) * Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order (
Hesse and by Rhine The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
) * Grand Cross of the Golden Lion – 20 September 1818 (
Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the L ...
) * Knight of St. Hubert – 1826 (
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
) * Grand Cross of the Military William Order – 3 July 1849 (
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
)
Militaire Willems-Orde: Ernst August
' (in Dutch)
* Knight of St. Andrew – September 1819 (
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
)


Ancestry


References

Explanatory notes Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * Online sources * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ernest Augustus 01 of Hanover 1771 births 1851 deaths 15th The King's Hussars officers British field marshals Burials at Berggarten Mausoleum, Herrenhausen (Hanover) Chancellors of the University of Dublin British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Dukes of Cumberland and Teviotdale Peers of Great Britain created by George III Peers of Ireland created by George III Princes of Great Britain Hanoverian princes Heirs to the British throne House of Hanover Kings of Hanover Knights Grand Cross of the Military Order of William Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights of St Patrick Knights of the Garter Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Westminster Princes of the United Kingdom Royal Horse Guards officers University of Göttingen alumni Grand Masters of the Orange Order Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary British princes Children of George III of the United Kingdom