HOUSE of HANOVER
William IV, 1830-1837
Accession of William IV 1830
White Metal Medal 54mm (54.60 grams) Dies by E. Thomason
Reference: BHM 1423; Eimer 1221
HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJEST WILLIAM IV 1830, Head of William IV right.
HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN ADELAIDE 1830, Queen Adelaide right.

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The House of Hanover  is a German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German: Braunschweig-Lüneburg), the Kingdom of Hanover , the Kingdom of Great Britain , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . It  succeeded the House of Stuart as monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 and held that office until the  death of Queen Victoria in 1901. They are sometimes  referred to as the House of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Hanover line.

The House of Hanover is the only surviving branch of the House of Welf , which is the senior branch of  the House of Este .

Queen Victoria was the granddaughter of George III and was an ancestor of most major  European royal houses. She arranged marriages for her children and grandchildren  across the continent, tying Europe together; this earned her the nickname "the  grandmother of Europe". She was the last British monarch of the House of  Hanover; her son King Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , the line of his  father, Albert, Prince Consort . Under semi-Salic  law, Victoria could not inherit the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchies unless the  entire male line became extinct; those possessions passed to the next eligible  male heir, her uncle Ernest Augustus I of Hanover , the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale —the fifth son  of George III.

The current head of the House of Hanover is Ernst August, Prince of Hanover .

William  IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his  death. The third son of George III and younger brother and successor to George IV , he was the last king and penultimate  monarch of Britain's House of Hanover .

William served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during  his reign and afterwards, nicknamed the "Sailor King". He served in North  America and the Caribbean . In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews . Since his two  older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old.  His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire , and the British electoral  system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832 . Although William did not  engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last monarch  to appoint a prime minister contrary to the will of Parliament. Through his brother , the Viceroy of Hanover, he granted his German  kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution.

At  the time of his death William had no surviving legitimate children, but he was  survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea Jordan , with whom he cohabited for  twenty years. William was succeeded in the United Kingdom by his niece, Victoria , and in Hanover by his brother, Ernest Augustus I .

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline; 13  August 1792 – 2 December 1849) was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom . Adelaide was  the daughter of George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , and Luise Eleonore , daughter of Prince Christian of  Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Adelaide , the capital city of South Australia , is named after her.