Prince Ernst August II of Hannover 1880 BMM09

ERNST AUGUST BORN SEPTEMBER 21, 1845 DIED NOVEMBER 14, 1923. THE ELDEST CHILD AND ONLY SON OF KING GEORGE V OF HANNOVER AND HIS WIFE, PRINCESS MARIA OF SAXE-ALTENBURG.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS GENERAL PRINCE ERNEST AUGUSTUS WILLIAM ADOLPHUS GEORGE FREDERICK KG, CROWN PRINCE OF HANNOVER, DUKE OF BRUNSWICK-LUNEBURG, PRINCE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND, 3RD DUKE OF CUMBERLAND AND TEVIOTDALE AND EARL OF ARMAGH. WAS BORN AT HANNOVER DURING THE REIGN OF HIS GRANDFATHER, KING ERNST AUGUST I. HE BECAME CROWN PRINCE OF HANNOVER UPON HIS FATHER’S ASCENSION AS KING GEORGE V IN 1851. KING WILHELM I OF PRUSSIA AND HIS MINISTER-PRESIDENT von BISMARCK, DEPOSED GEORGE V FOR HAVING SIDED WITH THE DEFEATED AUSTRIA IN THE 1866 AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR. DURING THAT WAR THE CROWN PRINCE SAW ACTION AT THE BATTLE OF LANGENSALZA.
AFTER THE 1866 WAR THE EXILED HANOVERIAN ROYAL FAMILY TOOK UP RESIDENCE IN HIETZING, NEAR VIENNA AUSTRIA. THE PRINCE WHILE LIVING THERE WAS LATER APPOINTED A GENERAL IN THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

QUEEN VICTORIA CREATED HIM A KNIGHT OF THE GARTER ON AUGUST 1, 1878. HE MARRIED PRINCESS THYRA OF DENMARK ,THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF KING CHRISTIAN IX IN DECEMBER OF THAT YEAR, THEY HAD SIX CHILDREN.

QUEEN VICTORIA APPOINTED THE DUKE A MAJOR GENERAL IN THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1886 AND PROMOTED HIM TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL IN 1882 AND GENERAL IN 1892. ALTHOUGH A BRITISH PEER AND A PRINCE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, HE CONSIDERED HIMSELF AN EXILED GERMAN MONARCH, MAKING HIS HOME IN GMUNDEN, AUSTRIA. HE REFUSED TO DISCLAIM HIS SUCCESSION RIGHTS TO HANNOVER.

THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND WAS PARTIALLY RECONCILED WITH THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN DYNASTY IN 1913 WHEN HIS SURVIVING SON PRINCE ERNST AUGUST III MARRIED THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF GERMAN KAISER WILHELM II. HE RENOUNCED HIS SUCCESSION RIGHTS TO THE BRUNSWICK DUCHY (WHICH HAD BELONGED TO THE GUELPH-d’ESTE DYNASTY OR HOUSE OF HANNOVER SINCE 11235) IN OCTOBER 1913. IN EXCHANGE, THE YOUNGER ERNST AUGUST BECAME THE REIGNING DUKE OF BRUNSWICK AND WILHELM II CREATED THE ELDER ERNST A KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF THE BLACK EAGLE. THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II CREATED A BREACH BETWEEN THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILIES AND ITS HANOVERIAN COUSINS. IN MARCH 1919, KING GEORGE V OF GREAT BRITAIN ORDERED THE REMOVAL OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND FROM THE ROLL OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER, UNDER THE TERMS OF THE TITLES DEPRIVATION ACT. HIS NAME WAS ALSO REMOVED FROM THE ROLL OF PEERS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND OF IRELAND BY THE ORDER OF THE KING IN COUNCIL FOR “BEARING ARMS AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN”

THE BUST IS BASED ON THE UNIFORM WORN BY THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND, IN THE CRAMER MUSEUM, THE UNIFORM COMPLETE IN ITS ENTIRETY WAS PURCHASED FROM THE ROYAL HOUSE OF HANNOVER, SCHLOSS MAIRENBURG, 2005 SOTHEBY’S AUCTION