Ernst August, King of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Kew, 1771-1851, Hanover), was the fifth son of George III of Great Britain. He studied at Göttingen, and served in the Hanoverian forces in the Netherlands in 1793-4, losing an eye at Tournai. He then served in England, being promoted lieutenant-general in 1799. He was an extreme Tory, totally opposed to reform, and in 1810 an attempt was made to assassinate him. He commanded the Hanoverian forces in 1813-14. The unpopularity of his political views in England led to the parliamentary curtailment of his allowance, and he spent some years in Berlin, returning to England, however, under his brother George IV.

On the death of William IV in 1837, the accession of a queen in Great Britain dissolved the union with Hanover, and Ernst August succeeded to the throne as king of Hanover. He immediately embarked on a reactionary policy, revoking the constitutional law of 1833, and dismissing seven Göttingen professors who protested (see Göttinger Sieben). He promulgated a new, illiberal constitution in 1840. In spite of great unpopularity he skilfully survived the revolutionary year of 1848.

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