Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover 21/22 December 1878, he and Princess Thyra married at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Queen Victoria appointed the Duke of Cumberland a colonel in the British Army in 1876 and promoted him to major general in 1886, lieutenant general in 1892 and general in 1898. Although he was a British peer and a prince of Great Britain and Ireland, he continued to consider himself an exiled monarch of a German realm and refused to disclaim his succession rights to Hanover, making his home in Gmunden, Upper Austria. The Duke of Cumberland was also first in the line of succession to the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover religion and state by the Weimar Constitution (1919), the Head of the Church of Hanover is the bishop (Landesbischof) who is elected by the Synod. The bishop usually retires at the age of 65. Until 1918 there was supreme governorship (summepiscopacy) by the respective monarch, whereas the actual executive of the church (Landeskonsistorium) was led by its presidents, competent to sign contracts of the church. The bishop also has his or her headquarters in Hanover, the Marktkirche there is the bishop's preaching venue. The Bishop is chairman of the College in the church office (see below). On all matters concerning