Britain and the Kingdom of Hanover

I have nothing against Britain and the British, not at all, really. I mean, my childhood would have been much more boring without C. S. Forester´s books or the BFBS, and lamb chop with mint sauce is as cool as baked beans.

I have nothing against the British. Except for that thing in 1997, when they were on the brink of beheading the world´s greatest grandma because she showed her respectable stiff upper lip, while the rest of the country was reeling in hysteria for the loss of the world´s most moronic kindergarten teacher, who happened to sit in the rear compartment of the wrong car at the wrong time in the wrong place.
And yes, almost at the same time, they withdrew their troops from my home town, thus kicking it back into provincialism. I mean, on my 16th birthday, Princess Anne (Colonel in Chief) was staying overnight in our street (I mean, in a house in our street), and that has left some lustre on our neighbourhood to this day.

And they left Hanover to the Prussians, in 1966, without firing a single shot. They would have had reasons enough to do better.
It was our King George I after all who stabilised your United Kingdom, and in the second year of the Hanoverians on the British Throne, they knocked the shit out of the Scots, then and again thirty years after, because there was some miscommunication with those guys, and they didn´t seem to see their situation clearly.
Think of the Hanoverian help during the Seven-Years war, of Menorca, of Gibraltar. Think of East India from 1782 to 1792, and the first coaliton war against France. And as the King´s German Legion, they fought against the Corsican Tyrant. They were the only troops to do so continuously until 1815 – Hanover, and not the Luetzow Free Corps.

OK, the exit of the Guelphs in 1866 was no great loss (when looking at it today), but the annexation was. Hanover as a Prussian province – and you guys did nothing about it! Hanover´s exchequer was turned into the Prussian Reptiles Fund (including Ludwig II Bavarian Castles in turn for that chap´s support for founding the German Reich).

Anyway – they didn´t come back before 1945. Let´s hope that the recent withdrawal won´t turn out as just as fatal as the one in the 19th century.

Then again, I´m wondering if Britain would still make a difference – with a near-miss queen like the moronic kindergarten teacher who died in 1997, or an airport like Heathrow.
I don´t mind the chaos on its new terminal. I´m referring to the smoking ban all over the place. That´s a sign of collective hysteria, too.

Anyway. Get well soon, folks. Learn from your Queen, before she´s gone, too.

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Related Link: One of The King´s Last Men in Hanover

Tags: Britain, Germany, Guelphs, Hanover, history, monarchy, Prussia, Scotland