George V of Hanover - King of Hanover

King of Hanover

The Crown Prince succeeded his father as the King of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, as well as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and Earl of Armagh, in the Peerage of Ireland, on 18 November 1851, assuming the style George V.

From his father and from his maternal uncle, Prince Charles Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, one of the most influential men at the Prussian court, George had learned to take a very high and autocratic view of royal authority. During his 15-year reign, he engaged in frequent disputes with the Hanoverian parliament. Having supported Austria in the Diet of the German Confederation in June 1866, he refused, contrary to the wishes of his parliament, to assent to the Prussian demand that Hanover should observe an unarmed neutrality during the Austro-Prussian War. As a result, the Prussian army occupied Hanover and the Hanoverian army surrendered on 29 June 1866, the King and royal family having fled to Austria. The Prussian government formally annexed Hanover on 20 September, but the deposed King never renounced his rights to the throne nor acknowledged Prussia's actions. From exile in Gmunden, Austria, he appealed in vain for the European great powers to intervene on behalf of Hanover. From 1866, George V maintained the Guelphic Legion at his own expense.