Credit: Julius GiereA lithographed portrait of King George V of Hanover, his wife Marie of Saxe-Altenburg and their children Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince (right), Frederica (centre), and Marie (left). George succeeded his father Ernest Augustus I as King of Hanover on 18 November 1851. His 15-year reign came to an end in 1866 when Prussia forcibly annexed Hanover in response to Hanover's support for Austria during the Austro-Prussian War.