Complete with fairybook castle

Yes, I am a day late but a bear can only do so much. [If you are new here, the bear is my totem animal and a cartoon alter ego.]

Today we feature someone very distantly in line to the British throne (# 396) but next in line to head the House of Hannover (not that this cuts it in Germany since the whole noble thing was legally eliminated early in the 20th century). You can see the relation to the Brits in the arms above with the gold lioncels on red of England, the red lion of Scotland, and the harp of Ireland (also in the arms of Prince William of Wales).

Yes, we are talking about Prince Ernst August Andreas Philipp Constantin Maximilian Rolf Stephan Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. His familiar nickname is Ernsti, which easily distinguishes him from his father Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, the current head of the house of Hanover. His mother is Chantal Hochuli.

Ernsti "was born on 19 July 1983 in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany.... He has a younger brother Christian and a half sister Alexandra. He attended Malvern College." [Wikipedia]

This is one of those darling childhood pictures one tries to forget later.

You can see even in this earlier photo that Prince Ernst August (aka EA in the royal gossip circles) is a tall young man.

EA has consistently favored longer hair as does his brother and his step-brothers.

Although it is being opened to the public, this is the family home to which he holds title. He does not live there but, even so....

Here he is with his brother Prince Christian when they had Sotheby's run an auction at Marienburg, divesting of some 20,000 Hanover possessions to raise a little ready cash. Evidently there is lots more "stuff" so we need not weep for the heritage, though an uncle grumbled at the time and there was a flap over some weapons that were still functional (and I guess there is a law against functioning weapons displayed decoratively - didn't bother to chase that legal matter down).

Doing this weekly feature sends me into way more royal gossip than my natural taste inclines to. Along the way I learn all sorts of things. It seems the Guelphs/Welfs (yes, that's the family line) had the good sense not to divvy things up. Firstborn male gets it all. This is harsh on the siblings but it preserves the family wealth. So if you are gold digging, ladies, I recommend Ernst August and not his cute blond brother Christian. Ernsti, btw, looks like their dad and Chris like their mom.

It is rumored that Ernsti is a good lover. How the magazine that said so knows this is beyond my ken, but he seems to attract pretty women who don't mind that he isn't slated to be king of anything.

For the non-German-readers out there, you needn't pore over the photo for someone named Kunst. It's German for "art."

I love the expression on this photo. Something amused him. He is also looking a bit naughty here, which appeals to me. His father was quite the bad boy and attracted a lot of negative publicity, though public urination is hardly the worst thing royals might do. The greater scandal was divorcing EA and Christian's mother and marrying Chantal's [former] friend Princess Caroline of Monaco in January 1999. Ernsti's half-sister Alexandra arrived in July 1999.

Their Royal Highnesses Princes Ernst August and Christian thus have as step-siblings the princely Casiraghis - Andrea, Pierre, and Charlotte - and HRH Princess Caroline as stepmother. Since His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco's children are not in line for the throne, Princess Caroline is next, followed by HRH Prince Andrea.

I've gotta say, that is one glamorous stepmom! From all accounts the blended family gets along very well.

Because, however distantly, Ernst August V of Hanover is in the British royal succession, he had to receive consent from Elizabeth II for his marriage to Caroline, without which he would have lost not only that claim but the possibility for his heirs of various claims to titles and property in England (Duke of Cumberland among them). Additionally, Princess Caroline obtained a "no objections" statement from France in accordance with the 1918 Franco-Monégasque Treaty. Since Princess Caroline is Roman Catholic, the Prince of Hanover did drop from British succession but his sons, having been baptized and raised Protestant, are still in the succession.

Here you can see Prince EA next to the young Casiraghis at the investiture of his step-uncle Prince Albert as sovereign of Monaco. When I posted a cropped version of this in the post on Andrea, I did not realize who the young man next to them was.

A royal version of the Brady bunch. Oh, I encountered two versions of the family name: Hanover and Hannover. This article uses both and y'all can deal with it. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I really like this casual photo of Prince EA.


This is from the spread when he was featured in Vogue.

Sorry, I did not find him on YouTube.
--the BB