The Accession to the British Throne of the House of Hanover : The Final Solution to end the Religious Conflicts

Abstract

The article deals with the background of the blood relationship between the House of Hanover, the House of Palatinate and the House of Stuart, and how George l, a German elector, acceded to the British throne Stuart, and how George The hereditary right was determined by the Act of Settlement of in 1714. The hereditary right was determined by the Act of Settlement of 1701 which excluded Prince James Edward Stuart, half brother of Queen Anne, the last Stuart sovereign, from the throne. The act was passed to prevent England from being ruled by any catholic monarch and chose Princess Sophia, a protestant Dowager Electress of Hanover and a granddaughter of James I, the first Stuart king, to be the future monarch. The choice fell on Princess Sophia, a junior line of the Stuarts, and her descendants because they were protestant, and the act had passed over other more rightful heirs because either they themselves or their spouses were catholic. The study also examines the religious conflicts between the catholics and the protestants in England prior to the accession to the throne of George I, the eldest son of the late Princess Sophia who died a few months before Queen Anne.