Duke of Normandy as the reign of William II (1035–87), the ruler of Normandy could style himself "prince and duke, count of Normandy" as if unsure what his title should be. The literal Latin equivalent of "Duke of Normandy", "dux Normanniae", was in use by 1066, but it did not supplant "dux Normannorum" until the Angevin period (1144–1204), at a time when Norman identity was fading. Richard I experimented with the title "marquis" ("marchio") as early as 966, when it was also used in a diploma of King Lothair. Richard II occasionally used it, but he seems to have preferred the title duke.
William, Duke of Brunswick the ruling duke permanently. William left most government business to his ministers, and he spent most of his time outside of his state at his possessions in Oels. While William joined the Prussian-led North German Confederation in 1866, his relationship to Prussia was strained, since Prussia refused to recognize Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, his nearest male-line relative, as his heir, because of the Duke of Cumberland's claim to the throne of Hanover. William died in 1884; he passed on his private possessions to the Duke of Cumberland. His death caused a constitutional crisis for Brunswick that lasted until