Säule Nr. 2: Die „Personalunion“ zwischen Großbritannien und Hannover

Only Protestants could wear the English crown, but Queen Anne (1665–1714) left no heirs to the throne. Consequently, the search turned to the continent: Electress Sophie (1630–1714), as the granddaughter of the Anglo-Scottish King James I (1566–1625), was eligible for the throne. However, the Electress died in 1714, just a few weeks before Queen Anne, so that it was not she, but her son, Elector George Louis (1660–1727), who, as George I, established the British royal line of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover”).

A defining feature of the Hanoverian-British personal union was that the two countries continued to exist separately and were therefore governed independently. The only commonality was that they were both ruled by the same monarch: simultaneously Elector of the German Empire and King of Great Britain, the emerging world power.

Would you like to learn more about this topic? Visit Column No. 2 at Kröpcke!