The British royal family was closely related to many of the royal and princely families of Germany. In particular, when
Victoria became queen in 1837, the
Kingdom of Hanover (formerly the
Electorate of Hanover), which had been in
personal union with the British crown for over a century, passed to her uncle
the Duke of Cumberland, who also retained his British titles and princely rank. Similarly, Queen Victoria married
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, whose German titles passed eventually to the descendants of their youngest son
Leopold, Duke of Albany. Thus, during World War I, both
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and
Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, were British princes and dukes, even while they were also officers in the German Army (as was the latter's son,
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, who also held British princely rank). In Parliament, beginning on 18 November 1914,
Swift MacNeill, a
Protestant Irish Nationalist and constitutional scholar and MP for
South Donegal, condemned the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale as traitors and demanded to know "what steps will be taken to secure that [they] shall no longer retain United Kingdom peerages and titles and a seat in the
House of Lords." Despite meeting resistance from Prime Ministers
Asquith and
Lloyd George, MacNeil continued his campaign until he lost his seat in the 1918 election. After MacNeill lost his seat,
Horatio Bottomley, Member for
Hackney South, took up the charge. On 13 May 1915,
King George V struck the names of seven German and Austrian royals (some of whom had never been British) from the roll of Knights of the
Most Noble Order of the Garter; but peerage titles cannot be withdrawn except by Act of Parliament. In 1917, therefore, Parliament passed the Titles Deprivation Act authorising the deprivation of peerage titles, as well as princely dignities. ==Special committee of the Privy Council==