Duke Of Brunswick Ernst August

Notable

Family

Hanoverian prince who reigned as Duke of Brunswick from 2 November 1913 to 8 November 1918. Prince Ernst August was the sixth and youngest child of Crown Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover and his wife, Princess Thyra of Denmark. He was a grandson of Georg V of Hanover, whom the Prussians deposed in 1866, and Christian IX of Denmark. On 24 May 1913, Ernst married Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, his third cousin once removed through descent from George III (King of England)'s sons King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover and Edward, Duke of Kent. This marriage ended the decades-long rift between the Houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover. The Duke and Duchess of Brunswick had five children. During World War I, the duke rose to the rank of major-general. On 8 November 1918, he was forced to abdicate his throne along with the other German kings, grand dukes, dukes, and princes. For the next thirty years Ernest Augustus would remain as head of the House of Hanover, living in retirement on his various estates. He lived to see one of his children come to a European throne – in 1947 his daughter Frederica became Queen of the Hellenes when her husband Prince Paul of Greece and Denmark succeeded his brother as King. The Duke of Brunswick is the maternal grandfather of Queen Sophia of Spain and the former King Constantine II of Greece. He died at Marienburg Castle near Hanover on 30 January 1953, aged 65. Link to Wikipedia biography