House of Hanover Great Britain and Ireland:" "Of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:" George I, George II, and George III also served as electors and dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, informally, Electors of Hanover (cf. "personal union"). From 1814, when Hanover became a kingdom, the British monarch was also King of Hanover. In 1837, the personal union of the thrones of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended with the death of William IV. Succession to the Hanoverian throne was regulated by semi-Salic law (agnatic-cognatic), which gave priority to all male lines before female lines, so that it passed not to Queen Victoria
The Merry Monarch The Merry Monarch The Merry Monarch (1842 – after 1859) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from July 1844 to May 1846 he ran four times and won only one race. That race, however, was the 1845 Epsom Derby, in which he recorded an unexpected victory. After one race in 1846 he was retired to stud where he made no impression as a sire. The Merry Monarch was a bay horse bred by his owner, William Gratwicke of Ham Manor, near Angmering in Sussex. Gratwicke also bred his dam, The Margravine, who was a