Crown of the Kingdom of Hanover
According to the design by H. Schaedtler, the Kingdom of Hanover's first own crown and the relief of the crown in the Guelph Order were completed in 1815 . The crown represented the Kingdom of Hanover at the laying out and burial of Kings George III (1820), George IV (1830) and Wilhelm IV (1837) in England. She is missing. In 1843 a new crown, scepter and bridal crown of the Hanoverian royal house were completed by the Hanoverians Georg Julius Friedrich Knauer (1790–1855) and Wilhelm Lameyer (1808–1882). The Kingdom of Hanover was also in possession of the crowns and crown jewels of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg .
History of the Crown Jewels of the Kingdom of Hanover
The lost first crown of the Guelphs
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in 1814 at the Congress of Vienna as the successor state to the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In the personal union of the kings of Great Britain and Hanover until 1837, the Hanoverian king was also the king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Around 1815 H. Schaedtler designed a Hanoverian crown, which was to be shown in England during the personal union on official occasions together with the English crown. Schaedtler describes their appearance as follows:
- It consists of a golden ring on which there are 16 teeth all around, of which the middle one on each side is decorated with a broad cross, the other alternately with fleurons . Eight golden arches resting on these studded points close the crown, which bears a golden imperial apple on the summit .
Schaedtler's design was used in the Guelph Order as an image of the Hanoverian Crown. Around 1815, the first crown of the Hanoverian royal family was probably also made according to Schaedtler's design. It was used along with the Crown of the United Kingdom for the funerals and funerals of George III (1820), George IV (1830) and William IV (1837). Nothing is known about the date of origin, the place of origin, the nature and whereabouts of the crown. After the end of the personal union in 1837, the Hanoverian kings were only kings of the Hanoverian kingdom.
The royal crown, the scepter and the bridal crown of the Kingdom of Hanover
The origin and meaning of the crown jewels
The order to produce the crown insignia of the Kingdom of Hanover went to the court jewelers and goldsmiths Georg Julius Friedrich Knauer (1790–1855) and Wilhelm Lameyer (1808–1882). In addition to these court jewelers, the court kürschner Johann Krüger was also involved in furnishing the royal crown, which he provided with fine ermine for the amount of twenty-five thalers courant and with a crown cap made of red velvet.
The decision to have a new royal crown made for the Hanoverian Kingdom was made in the late autumn of 1842. The occasion was the impending marriage of Crown Prince George V of Hanover with Marie von Sachsen-Altenburg . In addition, a scepter and another smaller crown with more modest furnishings were also commissioned. Traditionally, this small crown should serve as the bridal crown at the upcoming wedding in the royal family.
The crown and scepter insignia should become a visible symbol of the idea, person and institution of the Guelph monarchy. On appropriate occasions, they should represent the power and dignity of the Guelph monarchy. The constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover did not provide for a coronation like in England; therefore the crown and scepter should not be worn by the king.
The crown was to be made of 14 carat gold, weighing 36 to 40 lots (14.6 g), and set with 4 emeralds, 4 sapphires and 10 oriental garnets. Finally, the number of stones was changed to 6 blue sapphires, 4 green emeralds and 10 red rubies, and the goldsmith created several niches where brilliants, garnets, larger diamonds or pearls could be inserted as required. So the Guelph crown became more than a crown frame, instead a dignified crown, in which additional exquisite stones could be added for special events. In terms of its shape and some details, the crown was modeled on the simpler English St. Edwards crown . Since the restoration for the exhibition Victoria & Albert, Vicky & The Kaiser - A Chapter of German-English Family History in Berlin in 1997, pearls have been on the prongs of the crown circlet.
The king's scepter is traditionally made up of a handle, shaft and crown and follows the model of the English king's scepter, which was made for the coronation of Charles II and has since been used for all English coronations. It is made of 18 carat gold and richly set with jewels. At the top it bears the cross on the imperial orb, illustrating the king's claim that God alone gave the king worldly power in the Kingdom of Hanover. George V was so permeated by this thinking that after the annexation of the kingdom by Prussia he was not ready to give up his claim to the Kingdom of Hanover and resign as king.
The princess crown was made of 14 carat gold, 10 to 11 lots, without precious stones. She got several niches where diamonds could be inserted as needed. Instead of the planned 4,960 to a maximum of 5,380 Taler Courant, the crown with the smaller princess crown and the scepter cost 5,499 Taler Courant.
When the Crown Prince and later King George V married the bride Marie on February 18, 1843, the princess crown was worn by the bride as a bridal crown in the castle church of Hanover and the crown and scepter were placed on the steps of the throne in the castle's throne room . When Queen Marie died on January 9, 1907 in Gmunden , Upper Austria , this crown was placed on a presentation cushion as a queen's crown on her deathbed.
The repository of the crown jewels
The place where the insignia of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg was kept was the crown vault in the Leineschloss in Hanover, a vaulted room that could only be opened with a complicated key ritual . The Kingdom of Hanover ended in 1866 when it was defeated in the Battle of Langensalza on June 27, 1866. After the surrender, the Kingdom of Hanover was occupied by Prussian troops. The Prussian law of September 20, 1866 formalized the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover. Now the former Kingdom of Hanover was only the Prussian Province of Hanover . Because of the rapid occupation of the city of Hanover by Prussia, the insignia were brought from the crown vault in the Leineschloss to the Herrenhausen summer palace, which Queen Marie lived in.
On September 27, 1866, Queen Marie moved with her youngest daughter, Princess Mary, and her Hanoverian court, which comprised around forty people, from Herrenhausen Palace to her own Marienburg Palace , which was still a building site at the time. There she had the treasures of the Guelphs brought to protect them from Prussia's access. The Queen's most important task soon consisted of smuggling the Guelphs' crown jewels past the Prussian guards of Marienburg Castle and into England.
The crowns and crown jewels of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and the crown, scepter and princess crown of the Kingdom of Hanover were under the protection of Queen Marie in Marienburg Castle. When fears arose that the occupying power of Prussia might confiscate the crown jewels of the Guelphs, Queen Marie decided to have them secretly brought to England in 1867 and later into royal exile in Austria. How this happened, reported W. von Hassell in 1901 in his "History of the Kingdom of Hanover":
- In February, the Privy Councilor von Stockhausen appeared at the Minister's a. D. Count Kielmannsegge in Blumenau with the inquiry whether he, resp. his wife wanted to take it over to bring the valuables to England in the care of the Duke of Cambridge. As loyal servants of the king, they both gladly agreed to take on this dangerous job. It was agreed that the next evening a maid of the Queen should bring the crown treasure in a traveling carriage from the Marienburg via Linden and Herrenhausen to the Hanover-Wunstorfer Chaussee. There an equipage led by the minister himself was supposed to meet the royal carriage and receive the things. Everything went according to plan, and in the evening the treasure was safely in the basement of Blumenau . A fortnight passed thinking about how the innumerable items of jewelery could most safely be packed away. In the end there was no other option than to take some of the diamonds out of their setting and, packed in small bags, sew them into the countess's traveling suit. The clever woman carried the little English jeweled crown in a handbag, hidden in a ball of wool, with her as knitting, a rayon diadem sewn flat under her hat as an ear warmer, several pearl necklaces around her neck, bracelets on her arms. "I was so heavily armored with diamonds," she wrote herself , "just eight rivets of solitaires around me that I couldn't sit comfortably." The count took the large bows of jewelery and the stones from the English tiara. Only the scepter and three jeweled crowns were left behind as a precaution. However, in the summer they were handed over to Princess Louise of Hesse in Rumpenheim , who later handed them over to her sister, the Duchess of Cambridge. The Count's couple arrived safely in London with the rest of the belongings , and handed the jewels over to the Duke of Cambridge, who deposited them in the vault of Coutts. They lay there until 1869. Then, at the request of the Queen, they were taken out of their custody and again brought to Vienna by Countess Kielmannsegge , this time her son, the Austrian naval attaché in London, giving her a helpful hand and in particular the difficulties of the skillfully eliminated many customs audits.
In between 1869 and 1886, the crown jewels were in the Villa Huegel in the 13th Vienna district in Hietzing , the Duke William of Brunswick was one and the George V and his family served as exile. After George V died in Paris on June 12, 1878, his coffin was transferred to the Protestant church de la Redemption on June 17 with a military escort . Onno Klopp wrote that nearly 200,000 people lined the streets when the French Republic prepared a truly royal burial for the expelled king . The body was transferred to England and the burial took place in the presence of Queen Victoria on June 24th in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle . In the funeral procession that formed in the vestibule of the house of God, the crown of the Kingdom of Hanover was worn by the former Oberhofmarschall Carl Ernst von Malortie , who placed it on the royal coffin for the funeral service.
From 1886 to 1930 the crown jewels were in Cumberland Castle northeast of Gmunden near the Traunsee in Austria . Cumberland Castle served as the exile residence of Ernst August, Crown Prince of Hanover and 3rd Duke of Cumberland . After Blankenburg Castle was returned to the Welfenhaus in 1925 as part of a property regulation by the state of Braunschweig, the crown jewels in the Harz region rested in Blankenburg Castle, which Duke Ernst August von Braunschweig is now head of the Welfenhaus and his wife, Duchess Victoria Luise Princess von Inhabited Prussia from 1930 until their flight and expropriation in 1945.
Schloss Blankenburg came after the end of World War II to the Soviet occupation zone . At first the British occupation troops kept the Harz region occupied, so that the move of the Guelph family with the crown jewels of the Guelphs could be carried out by the British army. For four weeks, a good 30 trucks drove back and forth between Blankenburg and Marienburg Castle , escorted by three armored vehicles, and cleared the castles in Blankenburg almost completely. Most of the removal goods, along with the Guelphs' crown jewels, went to Marienburg Castle, where the inventory of the Braunschweig , Hanover and Gmunden castles and the furnishings of the royal receiving station in Nordstemmen were already stored.
The crown jewels are still owned by the Guelph family. Ernst August von Hanover (1954) , husband of Princess Caroline of Hanover , is currently the head of the House of Hanover . For the transfer and laying out of George V in the Protestant Church de la Redemption in Paris on June 17, 1878, a distant imitation of the royal crown was created as a coffin decoration, which is now in the Historical Museum on the Hohen Ufer in Hanover . It is made of gold-plated brass with inserted stones made of colored glass. The location of the crown jewels of the Hanover royal family is not disclosed.
Exhibition of the Krone in Germany
Hannovers Krone was on public display in 1997 in an exhibition at the German Historical Museum in Berlin. The crown, the scepter and the bridal crown of the Kingdom of Hanover were also shown in 2017 by the Welfenhaus in Marienburg Castle in the exhibition “The Path to the Crown”. A main attraction in the show are the insignia of the Kingdom of Hanover - the crown from 1842 with scepter and bridal crown, which King Ernst August had made and later bequeathed to his son Georg V.
literature
- The Hanoverian royal crown. Gold and precious stones. Knauer and Lameyer. 1843. In: Hanover Archive. Archiv-Verlag, Braunschweig, 32.
- William von Hassell: History of the Kingdom of Hanover. Second part, second division: From 1863 to 1866. Publishing house by M. Heinsius successor, Leipzig 1901, ISSN 0078-0561 , pp. 657–658.
- Walther Kabel : The Cumberlander crown treasure. In: The book for everyone. Illustrated family newspaper. Chronicle of the present. 49th year 1914. Issue 9. Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart. (Note: The author was not aware that the crown, scepter and princess crown of the Kingdom of Hanover from 1843 also existed.)
- Dietmar Storch: The Hanover royal crown. Lax Verlag, Hildesheim 1995. (Reprint: Dietmar Storch: The Hanoverian King's Crown: Origin, History and Fate of an Unknown Monarchical Sign of Rule of the 19th Century. In: Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Volume 54, 1982, pp. 217-250.)
- Wilfried Rogasch : Victoria & Albert, Vicky & The Kaiser. A chapter in German-English family history. Verlag Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern-Ruit 1997, ISBN 3-7757-0636-2 , p. 12, 192-196.
- Alheidis von Rohr: The way to the crown. Symbols of power and rule of the Guelphs. MatrixMedia, Göttingen May 2014, ISBN 978-3-932313-62-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walther Kabel : The crown treasure of the Cumberlander. In: The book for everyone. Illustrated family newspaper. Chronicle of the present. 49th volume, issue 9, Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1914.
- ^ H. Schaedtler: Brief description of the Kgl. Hanover Guelphen Order with illustration, statutes and lists of knights. Hanover 1816, p. 2.
- ↑ Dietmar Storch: The Hanover royal crown. Lax Verlag, Hildesheim 1995. (Reprint: Dietmar Storch: Die hannoversche König crown: Origin, history and fortunes of an unknown monarchical symbol of rule of the 19th century. In: Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Volume 54, 1982, pp. 225–228.)
- ↑ Erich Graf von Kielmannsegg (ed.): Family chronicle of the lords, barons and counts of Kielmannsegg . Second, supplemented and improved edition. Vienna 1910. Supplement No. III, 22, pp. 792 ff.
- ^ Quote from the book: W. von Hassell: History of the Kingdom of Hanover. Second part. Second section: From 1863 to 1866. Verlag von M. Heinsius successor, Leipzig 1991, pp. 657–658.
- ^ Onno Klopp : King George V. Hanover 1878, pp. 56 and 110.