| Ernest Augustus | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince of Hanover Hereditary Prince of Brunswick | |||||
 | |||||
| Head of the House of Hanover | |||||
| Reign | 30 January 1953 – 9 December 1987 | ||||
| Predecessor | Duke Ernst August I | ||||
| Successor | Prince Ernst August | ||||
| Born | (1914-03-18)18 March 1914 Braunschweig,Duchy of Brunswick,German Empire | ||||
| Died | 9 December 1987(1987-12-09) (aged 73) Schulenburg,Pattensen,Lower Saxony,West Germany | ||||
| Burial | 11 December 1987 Schloss Marienburg, Germany | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Christian von Humboldt-Dachroeden(illegitimate) Princess Marie Prince Ernst August, Prince of Hanover Prince Ludwig Rudolph Princess Olga Princess Alexandra, Princess of Leiningen Prince Heinrich | ||||
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| House | Hanover | ||||
| Father | Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick | ||||
| Mother | Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia | ||||
| Military career | |||||
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany | ||||
| Service |  German Army | ||||
| Years of service | 1941–1945 | ||||
| Rank |  Oberleutnant | ||||
| Battles / wars | World War II | ||||
Ernst August, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Hanover[1] (German:Ernst August Prinz von Hannover; 18 March 1914 – 9 December 1987) was head of theHouse of Hanover from 1953 until his death in 1987. From his birth until theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919 he was theheir apparent to theDuchy of Brunswick, a state of theGerman Empire.
He was born atBraunschweig, Germany, the eldest son ofErnest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick andPrincess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of EmperorWilhelm II, Ernest Augustus's third cousin in descent fromGeorge III the United Kingdom. Ernst August's parents were, therefore,third cousins, once removed. From his birth, he was theHereditary Prince ofBrunswick. He was also, shortly after birth in 1914, made aBritish prince by KingGeorge V of the United Kingdom,[2] and was heir to the titlesDuke of Cumberland and Teviotdale andEarl of Armagh. His German titles were abolished in 1919 by theWeimar Republic, while the British peerages to whom he was heir were suspended under theTitles Deprivation Act 1917. Nonetheless, he held title of Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, grantedad personam to the children of the then-Duke of Brunswick by the letters patent of 1914, which remained unrevoked.[3]
The christening of Ernst August in the summer of 1914 was the last great gathering of European monarchs before the start ofWorld War I. He had an illustrious list of godparents:George V of the United Kingdom,Franz Joseph I of Austria,Nicholas II of Russia,Ludwig III of Bavaria,Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Prince Adalbert of Prussia,Prince Oskar of Prussia,Prince Maximilian of Baden, the1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry Regiment, and all four of his grandparents: theGerman Emperor andEmpress and theDuke andDuchess of Cumberland.
He ceased being heir to the duchy of Brunswick at the age of four, when his father abdicated in 1918. After his father's death in 1953, he became head of theHouse of Hanover.
During World War II, he fought at the Russian Front asOberleutnant in the staff of GeneraloberstErich Hoepner. He was seriously injured nearKharkiv in spring 1943. After the20 July plot in 1944, he was imprisoned for a few weeks by the Gestapo in Berlin.[4]
He had joined the SS in 1933 and remained a member for one year.[5] His official "denazification" certificate from 1949 vetting his Third Reich associations classified him as "a nominal Nazi supporter",[5] without being a Nazi party member,[5] and according to a Foreign Office record.[5]
In 1938 his sister,Princess Frederica had married the later KingPaul of Greece and in 1946 his younger brotherPrince George William marriedPrincess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, thus becoming the brother-in-law ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and QueenElizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
Ernest Augustus was himself an heir to the British titles ofPrince of Great Britain and Ireland, recognisedad personam for Ernst August's father as well as for him and his siblings by KingGeorge V of the United Kingdom on 17 June 1914,[6]Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale,Earl of Armagh, which however were all suspended under theTitles Deprivation Act 1917. In addition to being a German, he also held British nationality, after successfully claiming it under theSophia Naturalization Act 1705 in the case ofAttorney-General v. Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover.[7] Nonetheless, a problem arose as foreign royal titles cannot be entered into a British passport. Therefore, the titlesPrince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg could not be mentioned there, nor could the British titles due to the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917. The name which was finally entered into his British documents, was thusErnest AugustusGuelph, with the addition ofHisRoyal Highness.[contradictory]Guelph is thus also the British last name of his siblings and children, all styledRoyal Highnesses in the United Kingdom.[8]
In 1961 he sold his remaining properties atHerrenhausen Gardens, including the site ofHerrenhausen Palace which had been destroyed by a British bombing raid in 1943. He kept however thePrincely House, a small palace built in 1720 byGeorge I of Great Britain for his daughter Anna Louise. Ernest Augustus convertedMarienburg Castle into a museum in 1954, after having moved to nearbyCalenberg Demesne, which caused a row with his mother, who was forced to move out. He also sold the family's exile seat,Cumberland Castle atGmunden, Austria, to the state ofUpper Austria in 1979, but his family foundation based inLiechtenstein kept vast forests, a game park, a hunting lodge,The Queen's Villa and other property at Gmunden. The family property is now managed by his grandsonErnst August.
In 1941 during theSecond World War, his cousinPrince Hubertus of Prussia married the noted society beauty and aristocrat Baroness Maria Anna von Humboldt-Dachroeden (1916–2003). The couple, however, divorced in 1943, after her affair with Ernest Augustus resulted in the birth of a son. Ernest Augustus however did not marry Maria Anna because his parents would not have approved, since she was considered of inadequate birth and was also a divorcée, and the marriage would have made his younger brotherPrince George William heir to the headship of the House of Hanover. The child, christened Christian Ernst August Hubertus, Freiherr von Humboldt-Dachroeden, was born in 1943 and is currently a bank consultant.[9]
On 5 September 1951, Ernest Augustus married Princess Ortrud ofSchleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1925–1980).[10] The wedding was attended by many important royal figures, including his sisterQueen Frederica and her husbandKing Paul of Greece, and the heads of the houses of Saxony, Hesse, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, and Baden.[10] The wedding was followed with a reception in the Gallery Building atHerrenhausen Gardens, the only part of the House of Hanover's former summer palace still intact, as the palace itself had been burned down duringWorld War II.[10]
His children by his first wife[1] are:
In 1954, the couple, together with Ernest Augustus's three younger brothers, took part in the ship tour organized by his sister, Queen Frederica, and her husband King Paul of Greece, which became known as the "Cruise of the Kings" and was attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe.
Princess Ortrud died in 1980.
Ernest Augustus married again in 1981,Countess Monika zu Solms-Laubach (1929–2015),[1] daughter of Georg, 9th Count ofSolms-Laubach (1899–1969) and his wife, Princess Johanna ofSolms-Hohensolms-Lich (1905–1982).
He died at Schulenburg,Pattensen,Lower Saxony, Germany, aged 73, and was buried next to his first wife on a round bastion ofMarienburg Castle (Hanover).
He was portrayed byDaniel Betts in the first season of the Netflix seriesThe Crown.[11]
| Ancestors of Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover (born 1914) |
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Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover (born 1914) Cadet branch of theHouse of Welf Born: 18 March 1914 Died: 9 December 1987 | ||
| Titles in pretence | ||
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| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of Hanover 30 January 1953 – 9 December 1987 Reason for succession failure: Hanover annexed by Prussia in 1866 | Succeeded by |
| — TITULAR — Duke of Brunswick 30 January 1953 – 9 December 1987 Reason for succession failure: Duchy abolished in 1918 | ||
Heads of theHanoverian royal family since1866 | ||
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See alsoHouse of Hanover Potential claimants of the Dukedom of Cumberland and Teviotdale since 1917 and the Duchy of Brunswick since 1918 1also aBritish prince;2alsoDuke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh;3alsoDuke of Brunswick until 1913;4alsoDuke of Brunswick until 1918 | ||
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