From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst August, Prince of Hanover (German: Ernst August Albert Otto Rupprecht Oskar Berthold Friedrich-Ferdinand Christian-Ludwig Prinz von Hannover, in English also known as Ernest Augustus of Hanover) (born 26 February 1954 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany) is the eldest son of Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover (1914–1987) and his first wife, Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1925–1980).

He is usually styled His Royal Highness The Prince of Hanover and sometimes as Ernest Augustus V.

Pretender Ernest Augustus V of Hanover
Born	February 24, 1954 (1954-02-24) (age 53)
Regnal name claimed	none
Title(s)	Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland
Throne(s) claimed	Hanover
Pretend from	December 9, 1987 - present
Monarchy abolished	1866
Last monarch	George V
Connection with	great-great-grandfather
Royal House	Hanover
Father	Ernest Augustus IV
Mother	Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Spouse	Chantal Hochuli, Hereditary Princess Caroline of Monaco
Children	Ernst August, Christian, Alexandra
Predecessor	Ernest Augustus IV

He is the third and present husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco. He is the pretender to the throne of Hanover.

Contents 1 Name and ancestry 2 Family 3 Controversy 4 Recent events 5 Ancestry 6 External links

As the senior male-line descendant of George V of Hanover and hence also of George III of the United Kingdom, Ernst August is head of the House of Welf and is enumerated as Ernest Augustus V. As such he is the Hanoverian pretender to the royal throne of Hanover and the ducal throne of Brunswick. Hence, he according to German tradition styles himself His Royal Highness The Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland[1]. None of these titles are valid under either German, British or Irish modern law, but the titles are used for courtesy at European courts and formally recognized by the state of Monaco. In Germany royal and noble titles were abolished in 1918, legally being considered only as surnames.

As heir of the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Ernst August has the right to petition under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 for the restoration of his ancestors' British peerages but has not done so, even though his father, also called Ernst August, successfully claimed British nationality after World War II by virtue of long-dormant provisions of the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705.

The Prince is also a great-grandson of the last German emperor, William II. Until his marriage to Princess Caroline he was 385th in the line of succession to the British throne. Upon his marriage to Caroline, a Roman Catholic, he was excluded from the line of succession under provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701. His three children remain in the line of succession since they are being raised as Protestants.

He first married, civilly on 28 August 1981 and religiously on 30 August 1981, Chantal Hochuli, heiress to a Swiss chocolate fortune. They had two children:

• Prince Ernst August of Hanover (b. 19 July 1983)
• Prince Christian of Hanover (b. 1 June 1985)

Ernst August and Chantal Hochuli divorced on 23 October 1997.

He married secondly, on 23 January 1999, Princess Caroline of Monaco, who was pregnant at the time with their daughter:

• Princess Alexandra of Hanover (b. 20 July 1999)

Since he was born in the line of succession to the British crown he was bound by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Thus before his marriage to Princess Caroline he made a formal request to obtain permission from Queen Elizabeth II, which request was granted by the Queen in Council. Without the Royal Assent, the marriage would have been void in Britain, and may have threatened Ernst August's right to petition for resumption of the dormant Duchy of Cumberland. Similarly the Monégasque court officially notified France of Caroline's marriage to Prince Ernst August and received assurance that there was no objection, in compliance with the 1918 Franco-Monégasque Treaty.

Ernst August has had moments of controversy. In 1998 he was fined £30,000 after breaking the nose of a television cameraman, and has had other scuffles with photographers and with a police officer. He was photographed urinating on the Turkish Pavilion at the Expo 2000 event in Hanover, causing a diplomatic incident and a complaint from the Turkish Embassy accusing him of insulting the Turkish people. He sued those who published (Bild-Zeitung) the photo for invasion of privacy. He was awarded 33,900 euros. [2] The paper had previously published a photo of the prince urinating outside a hospital in Austria. [3]

On Monday, 3 April 2005, the prince was admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis. The next day, he fell into a deep coma, one day before the death of his father-in-law, Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. On Friday, 8 April 2005, hospital officials reported that the prince was no longer in a coma but remained in intensive care. A report the same day on BBC World described his present condition as "serious but not irreversible." On 9 April 2005, according to a report on BBC, a hospital spokesman reported that the prince was receiving "permanent medical care."^{[citation needed]} He has since been released and is often seen in public with his wife. He stopped drinking after this incident, resulting in a considerable improvement of his public behaviour: no attacks on journalists have been reported since.^{[citation needed]}

16. George V of Hanover

8. Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover

17. Marie of Saxe-Altenburg

4. Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick

18. Christian IX of Denmark

9. Princess Thyra of Denmark

19. Louise of Hesse-Cassel

2. Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover

20. Frederick III, German Emperor

10. William II, German Emperor

21. Victoria, Princess Royal

5. Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia

22. Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein

11. Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein

23. Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

1. Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover

24. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

12. Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

25. Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel

6. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

26. Georg I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe

13. Princess Adélaïde of Schaumburg-Lippe

27. Princess Ida of Waldeck and Pyrmont

3. Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

28. Ernst Casimir II, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen

14. Bruno, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen

29. Countess Thekla of Erbach-Fürstenau

7. Princess Hertha of Ysenburg and Büdingen

30. Adolf, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen

15. Countess Berta of Castell-Rüdenhausen

31. Baroness Marie of Thüngen

• Official site of the House of Welf (in German)

Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover House of Hanover Cadet branch of the House of Welf Born: 26 February 1954
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Ernest Augustus IV	— TITULAR — King of Hanover 1987–Present	Incumbent Designated heir: Prince Ernst August of Hanover
	— TITULAR — Duke of Brunswick 1987–Present