Ernest Augustus von Hannover (1771-1851)

British Royalty. He was the King of Hanover, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, along with the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale. He was the son of King George III of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover and his queen, Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1837 he succeeded his brother King William IV as King of Hanover. The kingdom of Hanover did not accept female succession, and as his niece Victoria became queen of Great Britain and Ireland, thus ending the personal union between the British Isles and Hanover that had existed since 1714. He married his cousin and twice-widowed, Friederike von Mecklenburg-Strelitz; they were happy. The couple had a stillborn daughter and one son, Prince George of Cumberland, who had a boyhood accident that caused blindness in one eye, and when he was fourteen, he lost sight in the remaining eye. His blind son, Prince George, succeeded him becoming the last King of Hanover.

Bio by: Linda Davis