Kingdom of Romkerhall

The Kingdom of Hanover began the Early Modern era as the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and was governed by the Royal House of Hanover as part of a personal union from the time George I of Great Britain ascended the British throne. Consequently Hanover's rulers had also ruled Great Britain for a period of 123 years (Georges I to IV and William IV) spanning even the tumultuous upheavals of the Napoleonic wars and the reorganisation of Europe during the Congress of Vienna which had enlarged the duchy (styled the Electorate of Hanover by then) to the newly created Kingdom of Hanover, until under salic law Queen Victoria was unable to inherit the provinces in 1837, and her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, inherited the German kingdom as salic heir of William IV of the United Kingdom. Duke-king Earnest's heir, styled King George V of Hanover, enjoyed staying in the Okertal valley in the Harz and established his hunting lodge in 1862 in Romkerhall. On his instruction the small river Romke River was re-routed in order to create a waterfall near the hunting lodge. At 64 metres in height, this waterfall is still the largest in the Harz mountains region. King George V made Romkerhall municipality-free and subordinated it directly to the crown in Hanover.

The Royal House of Saxony

During the Austro-Prussian War, Bismarck, king of Prussia seized most of the properties of the Hanoverians by force after the battle of Langensalza. However, he did not seize the hunting lodge at Romkerhall. He probably feared the reaction of the Royal House of Saxony to the provocation of an illegal annexation of Romkerhall, since King George V had given Romkerhall as a gift to his wife Queen Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1818-1907), a princess from the Royal House of Saxony. Romkerhall therefore retained its free status.

The rightful king of Hanover, George V, accompanied by his three children and his wife Queen Marie, went into exile in Austria. Refusing to recognise the illegal annexation, he did not resign and did not renounce the throne. In 1878, while in exile in Austria, his only son Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover (1848-1923) accepted the British title Duke of Cumberland and also did not renounce the throne of Hanover. (The Hanoverian crown had passed to the Duke of Cumberland in 1837 under salic laws of inheritance, the uncle of Queen Victoria who'd inherited those non-Frankish properties and dignities not constrained by salic law.

Independent State of Hanover

August 23rd 1946 brought with it a long-desired liberty for the former Prussian provinces. Through Law 46 of the Allied Control Council, Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein as well as the newly formed North Rhine-Westphalia were declared independent states. In other words, the former Kingdom of Hanover was released from Prussian hegemony and reinstated as the State of Hanover. Romkerhall remained free until 1988.

The Kingdom of Romkerhall

On the basis of this historical peculiarity, the new owner declared the Kingdom of Romkerhall in 1988. On 23 July 1988, Princess Erina von Sachsen, Duchess of Saxony, was crowned and proclaimed Queen.

In 1992, Queen Erina passed on the office to Countess Sabina. Her appointment took place in the castle of Drachenburg in Königswinter on the Rhine.

External links

* [http://www.welfen.de/ Die Welfen] (de) Official homepage of the House of Welf
* [http://www.koenigreich-hannover.de/ Kingdom Hanover] History of the Kingdom of Hanover
* [http://www.koenigreich-romkerhall.de Kingdom Romkerhall] History of the Kingdom of Romkerhall