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
Kingdom of Hanover with some smaller states to form the current state of Lower Saxony in West Germany, later Germany. The territory of Hanover had earlier been a principality within the Holy Roman Empire before being elevated into an electorate in 1708, when Hanover was formed by union of the dynastic divisions of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, excepting the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. After his accession in 1714, George Louis of the House of Hanover ascended the throne of Great Britain as George I, and Hanover was joined in a personal union with Great Britain. Descendants of Hanoverians who fought alongside the British in