Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover

Infobox Hanoverian Royalty|highness
name = Prince Welf Ernst
title = Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover
spouse = Wibke van Gunsteren
issue = Princess Saskia, Mrs. Edward Hoope
titles = "HRH" Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover
royal house = House of Hanover
full name = Welf Ernest Augustus Andrew Philip George William Louis Berthold
" _de. Welf Ernst August Andreas Philipp Georg Wilhelm Ludwig Berthold"
father = Prince George William of Hanover
mother = Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark
date of birth = birth date|1947|1|25|df=yes
place of birth = Schloss Marienburg, Nordstemmen, Lower Saxony, Germany
date of death = death date and age|1981|1|10|1947|1|25|df=yes
place of death = Poona, Maharashtra, India|

Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover ("Welf Ernst August Andreas Philipp Georg Wilhelm Ludwig Berthold Prinz von Hannover"cite web | url=http://thepeerage.com/p10335.htm#i103345| title=Welf Ernst Hanover, Prince of Hanover | date=10 May 2003 | accessdate=2008-08-17 | publisher= [http://thePeerage.com thePeerage.com] | author=Darryl Lundy] ), Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (born 25 January 1947 at Schloss Marienburg, Nordstemmen, Lower Saxony, Germany; died 10 January 1981 in Poona, Maharashtra, India) was the eldest son of Prince George William of Hanover and his wife Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Welf was a first cousin of Charles, Prince of Wales. The prince used the name Welf Prinz von Hannover.

Personal life

Born in Lower Saxony at the Hanover family seat of Schloss Marienburg, Welf was raised in Munich.cite web | url=http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=14316328&top=SPIEGEL| title=Ein Welfe im Nirwana: Der Tod eines deutschen Prinzen, der für Bhagwan lebte | date=3 February 1981 | accessdate=2008-09-20 | publisher= [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/ Der Spiegel] | author=Wilhelm Bittorf] In 1969, the prince married Wibke van Gunsteren. Welf and his wife became followers of a syncretic movement led by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. In 1975, Welf and Wibke, along with their five-year-old daughter Tania Saskia, made a pilgrimage to Poona, India to live in a ashram with other followers of Bhagwan. Once there, Bhagwan gave Welf the name "Vimalkirti" ("Spotless splendour") and Wibke"Turiyä" ("Spiritual love").

Welf died at the age of 33 at a clinic in Poona from a cerebral haemorrhage after collapsing during a morning karate practice session and becoming paralyzedcite web | url=http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Hanover_Royal_Family.htm| title=Hanover Royal Family | date=24 June 2008 | accessdate=2008-08-17 | publisher= [http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm Monarchies of Europe website] | author=Allan Raymond] at the ashram.

Marriage and issue

Welf married Wibke van Gunsteren (born 26 November 1948 at Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), daughter of Harry van Gunsteren and Ursula Schmidt-Prange, on 23 May 1969 in a civil ceremony. They were remarried two days later in a religious ceremony at Essen-Bredeney in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Welf Ernst and Wibke were divorced in 1979. They had one daughter:

*HRH Princess Tania "Saskia" Viktoria-Luise of Hanover (born 24 July 1970 at Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). Princess Saskia's first husband was Michael Alexander Naylor-Leylandcite web | url=http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genhanover2.html| title=HRH Prince Georg Wilhelm and his descendants | date=22 October 2001 | accessdate=2008-08-18 | publisher= [http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/ Henri van Oene's Royal Genealogies Page] | author=Henri van Oene] (born 14 July 1956 in Londoncite web | url=http://organization-xiii.net/lynsey/royals/aqwg36.htm#266| title=Descendants of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland: Seventh Generation | date=08 May 2007 | accessdate=2008-08-18 | publisher= [http://organization-xiii.net/lynsey/royals/ Descendants of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland] | author=Lynsey Ayers] ) whom she married on 6 July 1990. The couple had two children:
**"Jake" John Naylor-Leyland (born 22 September 1993 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London)
**"Gabriel" George Naylor-Leyland (born 26 March 1996 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London)

Princess Saskia married her second husband, Edward Hoope, on 27 January 2001.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

*25 January 1947 – 10 January 1981: "His Royal Highness" Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Ancestry

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1=1. Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover
2=2. Prince George William of Hanover
3=3. Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark
4=4. Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
5=5. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
6=6. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
7=7. Princess Alice of Battenberg
8=8. Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover
9=9. Princess Thyra of Denmark
10=10. William II, German Emperor
11=11. Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
12=12. George I of Greece
13=13. Olga Constantinovna of Russia
14=14. Prince Louis of Battenberg
15=15. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
16=16. George V of Hanover
17=17. Marie of Saxe-Altenburg
18=18. Christian IX of Denmark
19=19. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
20=20. Frederick III, German Emperor
21=21. Victoria, Princess Royal
22=22. Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
23=23. Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
24=24. Christian IX of Denmark (= 18)
25=25. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (= 19)
26=26. Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia
27=27. Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg
28=28. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
29=29. Julia von Hauke
30=30. Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
31=31. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

References