George William, Duke of Brunswick

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George William (

Nevertheless, he only kept the sub-division of

George William was born in

By 1676, it had become quite clear that among the four brothers (George William and three others), only the youngest, Ernest Augustus, had produced any heirs male, and that the entire duchy of Luneburg was likely to be united under Ernest Augustus's eldest son George Louis. George William therefore wanted George Louis to marry his daughter Sophia, whose marriage prospects were otherwise not bright, given the circumstances of her birth. To George William's annoyance, George Louis and his parents refused the proposal on the grounds of status. At this point (in 1676), to improve the status of Eleonore and their daughter, and in open violation of his promise, George William legitimized his daughter and declared that his marriage to Eleonore was not morganatic but valid to both church and state. This development greatly alarmed his relatives, as it threatened to hinder the contemplated union of the Lüneburg territories. Indeed, if George William had had a son, a serious succession crisis could have arisen. No son however was born, and in 1682, George Louis' parents finally agreed to the proposed marriage as a way of avoiding uncertainty and dispute. Sophia married George Louis in 1682. They had a son and heir the following year, named George after his father and maternal grandfather: the future George II of Britain.

Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg

In 1689,

However, only George William and Christian V of Denmark (whose mother was George William's own sister) engaged militarily on this question. An accord was soon reached between them, and on 9 October 1693 they agreed (in the Hamburg Comparison, or Hamburger Vergleich) that George William - who now de facto held most of Saxe-Lauenburg - would retain the duchy in a personal union.

Meanwhile, the

• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. 8, p. 634-635^{[permanent dead link]}

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