Liberation of Hanover

The Electorate of Hanover had been invaded and occupied in 1803 and since then had been divided between the First French Empire and the Kingdom of Westphalia ruled by Napoleon's younger brother Jerome.

[1] In 1812 following Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the tide turned against the French Empire and Britain which for many years had continued the war largely isolated, was joined by several European allies.

After Leipzig Sir Charles Stewart, the British envoy to Prussia and younger brother of the Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh was ordered to be on the spot.

The Duke of Cambridge, George III's youngest son who had commanded Hanoverian troops during the failed attempt to defend Hanover in 1803, was made Viceroy.

The Hanoverian Army, defeated and scattered in 1803, was reformed and alongside the KGL took part in the final victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.

The direct connection to Britain was severed in 1837, when George's younger brother Ernest Augustus became King and in 1866 the Kingdom was invaded and annexed by Prussia ending country's independence.