His Royal Highness The Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Royal Prince of Great Britain and Ireland (born 26 February 1954 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany) is the son of Ernst August IV, Prince of Hanover (1914-1987) and his first wife, Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1925-1980). He is best known for his much-publicized bouts of temper, lawsuits, and for being the third and present husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco and eldest child of Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

His birth names are Ernst August Albert Paul Otto Rupprecht Berthold Friedrich Ferdinand Christian Ludwig. The family's historic surname is Welf, which is never used. In Germany, since the Weimar Constitution took effect on 14 August 1919, former titles are now legally regarded as surnames, so the prince's surname is now "von Hannover" (German spelling).

As the senior male descendant of George III of the United Kingdom, Ernst August is head of the House of Hanover, which ruled the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901, and is enumerated as Ernst August V. As such he is the Hanoverian pretender to the thrones of Great Britain, Ireland, and Hanover in Germany. He also is descended from the German-Prussian Emperor-King Wilhelm II.

In addition to the title Prince of Hanover, he claims the titles Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg and Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, in accordance with German courtesy and nobility law (Adelsrecht). However, Great Britain and Ireland no longer exists as such; it was succeeded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which does not legally recognize him as a royal prince. As heir of the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale , the prince has the right to petition under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917, for the restoration of his ancestor's royal British titles but has not done so.

His father Ernst August IV successfully claimed British nationality after World War II by virtue of long-dormant provisions of the Sophia Naturalization Act.

Family

He first married, civilly on 28 August 1981 and religiously on 30 August 1981, Chantal Hochuli , heiress to a Swiss chocolate fortune. They had two children, Ernst August (b. 1983) and Christian (b. 1985), and divorced on 23 October 1997. In 2000, Tatler magazine named the prince's former wife one of the "hottest dates" of the year.

He married secondly, on 23 January 1999, HSH the Princess Caroline of Monaco, eldest child of Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly and the widow of Stefano Casiraghi, a sportsman heir to an Italian oil fortune. In accordance with the Act of Settlement 1701, by marrying a Catholic, he was removed from the line of succession to the British throne but he retains his hereditary claims to the throne of Hanover. His wife is now heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco.

Ernst August and Caroline have one daughter, Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia (b. 1999).

Recent health problems

On Monday, April 3, 2005, the prince was admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis. The next day, he fell into a deep coma, one day before the death of his father-in-law. On Friday, April 8, 2005, hospital officials reported that the prince was no longer in a coma but remained in intensive care. A report the same day on BBC World described his present condition as "serious but not irreversible." On April 9, 2005, according to a report on BBC, a hospital spokesman reported that the prince was receiving "permanent medical care."

External links

• Web site of the Welfen (in German)
• http://www.welfen.de/each.htm