Hanover (German name Hannover), was formerly a kingdom in the north-west of Germany, later a province of Prussia. Hanover was long connected with the Brunswick family, and latterly more especially with the line of Brunswick-Luneburg. Ernest Augustus, a prince of the latter line, became in 1692 the first Elector of Hanover, married a granddaughter of James I of England, and was succeeded in 1698 by his son, George Louis, who in 1714 became George I of England. Henceforth it was ruled in connection with England. In 1814 the Congress of Vienna raised Hanover to the rank of a kingdom, the crown of which was worn by George IV and WilliamIV, but on the accession of Queen Victoria, passed by Salic law to Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland. In 1851 he was succeeded by his son, George V, but in 1866, Hanover having become involved in the Austro-Prussian contest, his kingdom was occupied by Prussian troops, and absorbed into the dominions of Prussia.