CUMBERLAND 575 V. 1799. I- H.R.H. Ernest Augustus, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, also Duke of Brunswick-Laneburg, 5th s. of King George III, by Charlotte Sophie, da. of Karl Ludwig^ Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was b. at the Queen's Palace,' Buckingham House, 5 June, and bap. i July 1 771, at St. James's Palace] one of his sponsors being Prince Ernst of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whose name he received; ed. at the Univ. of Gottingen; nom. K.G. (together with 3 of his brothers) 2 June I786;() in 1790 entered the 9th Hanoverian Hussars as Lieut., becoming Lieut. Col. thereof in 1793, and Major Gen., in the Hanoverian service, Feb. 1794, being wounded at Tournay, 10 May, and distinguishing himself at Nimeguen 10 Dec. following; Lieut. Gen. 1799 (antedated to 1798); General 1808 (antedated to 1803), and Field Marshal, 26 Nov. 18 13, being Col. of the 15th Light Dragoons (Hussars 1806) 1801-27, and of the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues) 1827 till his resignation thereof in Nov. i830.() On 24 Apr. 1799 he was cr. EARL OF ARMAGH [I.] and DUKE OF CUMBERLAND AND TIVIOTDALE.(0 P.C. 5 June 1799; Chancellor of Trinity Coll. Dublin 1805 till his death; G.C.B. 2 Jan. 181 5; G.C.H. 12 Aug. 18 15; Knight of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle of Prussia; K.P. 20 Aug. 1 82 1. F.R.S. 24 Apr. 1828. On the death of his br.. King William IV, 20 June 1837, he, under the Salic law, succeeded, as heir male of his father, to the German dominions of his family as King of Hanover. He at once cancelled a constitution founded on extreme ^^ liberal" notions, that had been granted to that Kingdom in 1833 by the late King, replacing it, however, in 1840, with one so judiciously framed that it was able to bear the brunt of the great revolutionary reforms on the continent in 1848. He ;«., 29 May 18 15, at Neustrelitz, and again 29 Aug. 18 15, at Carlton House, St. James's, Westm., Friderike Louise Karoline Sophie Alexandrine, formerly wife of Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Solms-Braunfels (who had divorced her,('*) and who d. 13 Apr. 18 14), and before that of Prince Friedrich Ludwig Karl of Prussia (who d. 28 Dec. 1796), 3rd da. of Karl Ludwig Friedrich, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the bride- groom's maternal uncle), by his ist wife, Friderike Karoline Louise, da. of (*) See vol. ii, p. 497, sub Cambridge. C") The regiment had recently been placed under the authority of the commander- in-chief, which he resented as a personal insult. V.G. (■=) See ante, p. 573, note "c." ("*) She was a beautiful woman, like her elder sister, Louise, the famous Queen Consort of Prussia, to whom she was, however, inferior in every respect. Her conduct in Berlin, after her first husband's death, was light, and she made a secret marriage with her second husband, some time before the formal one. "Elle a de I'esprit, de I'instruction, les plus belles manieres, les plus royales, de la grace, de la douceur, des restes de beaut^, surtout dans la taille . . . enfin quelque jugement qu'on porta sur son caractere, qui n'est pas egalement honor^ par tout le monde, il est impossible de ne pas lui reconnaitre de grandesqualit6s." (Duchesse de Dino, CArawyu^, 31 July 1834). V.G. Queen Charlotte was much opposed to her son's marriage with her (already twice wedded) niece, and absolutely refused to receive the Duchess.
