Electorate of Hanover

The Electorate of Hanover, formally known as the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was a principality and electorate of the Holy Roman Empire located in northwestern Germany. It was founded in 1692, arising from the Principality of Calenberg, and had Hanover as its capital city. For much of its existence, the electorate was ruled in personal union with Great Britain and Ireland following the Hanoverian Succession in 1714, when its prince-elector became King of Great Britain. Hanover remained a separately ruled territory until it was merged into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. It was re-established as the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, with the personal union with the British crown lasting until 1837.