One of the reasons for the early unpopularity of George I was that he brought with him a large suite from Hanover.

The household that accompanied him numbered sixty-three.  There was Baron von Kielmansegg, who was Master of the Horse; Count von Platen, son of the late Prime Minister of Hanover; and Baron von Hardenburg, Marshal of the Court.  With them came the Lutheran clergyman, Braun; a group of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries; five body-servants, including the Turks, Mahomet and Mustapha; four pages, two trumpeters, a carver, twelve footmen, eighteen cooks, three cellarmen, two housemaids, and one washerwoman.  It may be mentioned that in 1696 there were only two washerwomen for the three hundred and seven persons, exclusive of royalty, that at this date made up the Court of Hanover.

The political staff that came included twenty-three persons.  Baron von Bothmer was already in England.  Now arrived Baron von Bernstorff, Prime Minister of Hanover; Baron von Schlitz-Goertz, Hanoverian Finance Minister; Baron von Hattorf, Hanoverian Minister of War; and John Robethon.

To these men, who advised the King in his capacity of Elector of Hanover, there would have been no objection had they confined their energies to administering that country.  This, unfortunately, was not the case.  Some of them, at least, notably Bernstorff and Robethon, meddled in English politics, and most of them desired high office, lucrative appointments, peerages, and other grants.  It is certain that they must have known that they were barred from such delights by an Act of 1700 which carefully guarded against foreigners acquiring any share in the government of this country.  Nothing, in fact, could be more definite than clause three of the “Act for the further limitation of the Crown”:  “No person born out of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or the dominions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalised or made a denizen, except such as are born of English parents),” so runs clause three of the above-mentioned Act, “shall be capable of the Privy Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself or to any other or others in trust for him.”  Still, Acts of Parliament have been repealed, and the invaders may well have hoped that, with the King’s support, their influence might increase until they were strong enough to have the clause revoked.

As a matter of fact, nothing of the kind happened, and no Hanoverian statesman or court officer was appointed to any place of profit under the Crown or rewarded for his services in the Electorate by the grant of a British peerage.  It may be noted that the Hanoverian officials, fond as all Germans were and are of wordy distinctions, styled themselves “Koenigliche-Gross-bri
tannische-Kurfuerstlich-Braunschweig-Lueneburgische” (Royal-British-Electoral-Brunswick-Luenburg) councillors or magistrates.