Regents of Hanover

The Hanoverian state was created 1692 when duke Ernst August of Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Kalenberg was elevated to elector, whereby his duchy changed its name to Hanover (Which was the name of his capital). The duchy B-L-Kalenberg was a secundogenitur to House of Welf , which ruled Braunschweig-Lüneburg. That meant that the younger members of the dynasty ruled B-L-Kalenberg while the main line ruled Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Celle. These two duchies were often called the Lüneburg duchies. But Ernst August had 1682 introduced primogenitur within his branch of the dynasty, so Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Celle was permanently united with Hanover when his son inherited that duchy 1705.

Hanover was conquered by France during the Napoleonic Wars but restored as a kingdom at congress of Vienna 1814. Half a century later Hanover lost its independence permanently when Prussia conquered it.

Dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg-
-Kalenberg		-Celle
1636-1641 1641-1648 1648-1665 1665-1679	Wilhelm Ernst Christian August Friedrich Georg Christian Ludwig Georg Wilhelm Johann Friedrich	1569-1592 1592-1611 1611-1633 1633-1636 1636-1648 1648-1665 1665-1705
Electors of Hanover (from 1692)
1679-1698	Ernst August
1698-1727	Georg Ludwig
1727-1760	Georg II
1760-1803	Georg III
1803-1805 1805-1806 1807-1814	Occupied by France Occupied by Prussia Occupied by France
Kings of Hanover
1814-1820	Georg III (restored)
1820-1830	Georg IV
1830-1837	Wilhelm IV
1837-1851 1851-1866	Ernst August Georg V

Hanover was originally a part of the Brunswick lands and has thereby a continuity that goes back to 1127. To read the lists of the predecessors to the electors of Hanover click on this page.