as necessary for its validity,
had not at the time been asked. The act caused great odium to be
attached to his name by all Liberals, both English and Continental,
and it was disapproved of even by his old Tory associates. None the
less he soon won great popularity in his own dominions by his zeal,
good-humour, and energy, and in 1840 he came to terms with the
Estates. A new Constitution was drawn up which preserved more of the
Royal prerogatives than the instrument of 1833. Few German princes
suffered so little in the revolution of 1848. The King died in 1851,
at the age of eighty, and left one son, George, who had been blind
from his boyhood. He was the last King of Hanover, being expelled by
the Prussians in 1866. On the failure of the Ducal line of Brunswick,
the grandson of Ernest Augustus became heir to their dominions, he and
his sons being now the sole male representatives of all the branches
of the House of Brunswick, which a few generations ago was one of the
most numerous and widely-spread ruling Houses in Germany.[1]

[Footnote 1: Of the daughters of George III., Princess Amelia
had died in 1810, and the Queen of Wuertemberg in 1828; two
married daughters survived--Elizabeth, wife of the Landgrave
of Hesse-Homburg, and Mary, who had married her cousin, the
Duke of Gloucester, and lived in England. There were also two
unmarried daughters, the Princesses Augusta and Sophia, living
in England.]

The Duke of Sussex was in sympathy with many Liberal movements, and
supported the removal of religious disabilities, the abolition of the
Corn Laws, and Parliamentary Reform.

The Duke of Cambridge was a moderate Tory, and the most conciliatory
of all the princes. But for more than twenty years he took little part
in English politics, as he was occupied with his duties as Regent of
Hanover, where he did much by prudent reforms to retain the allegiance
of the Hanoverians. On his return to England he resumed the position
of a peacemaker, supporting philanthropic movements, and being a
generous patron of art and letters. He was recognised as "emphatically
the connecting link between the Crown and the people." Another member
of the Royal Family was the Duke of Gloucester, nephew and son-in-law
of George III.; he was more interested in philanthropic movements than
in politics, but was a moderate Conservative, who favoured Catholic
Emancipation but was opposed to Parliamentary Reform.

Thus we