Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg

former principality of the Holy Roman Empire

In 1692 the Duke of Hanover was made an Elector of the Holy Roman Emperor. After then the Dukes were usually called Electors of Hanover, German: Kurfürst von Hannover.

Queen Anne of England and Great Britain had no children, Sophia-Dorothea was chosen as her protestant heir. When Anne died in 1714, Sophia Dorothea's son the Elector of Hanover became King George I of Great Britain.