Personal Unions and the Question of Diplomacy in the 18 th Century

This article sheds new light on the personal ties between several Hanoverian and English ministers of George II, as well as on the nature of their diplomatic collaboration, and consequently, on the political dimension of the Anglo-Hanoverian Personal Union. Beyond the English case, the aim of this article is to propose a new interpretation of the diplomacy of European personal unions during the eighteenth century; to understand how political actors were doing and understanding diplomacy in the very frequent context of personal unions. The existence of two ‘territorial’ interests is undeniable – an Hanoverian and an English one – which could be more or less separated or unified. However, if we take more into account the political culture of these ministers, it enables us to bring into relief the importance of another aspect of their duties: a defence of the King’s interest, of this common master to whom both the German and English ministers were personally bound. Thus, the well-known friendship between the Duke of Newcastle and the Hanoverian Prime Minister Münchhausen in fact concerned an entire group of ministers who were friends and relatives. I argue that these personal relations, which still had a deep political significance, helped create an ‘informal’ Council which had as a political basis the idea of serving this shared master, and which sometimes even led to the development of a common diplomacy of the Personal Union as a whole. The principal sources for this article are Münchhausen’s Papers (Hanoverian Archives) and his correspondence with Newcastle (British Library)

Context (archaeology · Diplomacy · European union · Friendship · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History · Law · Scottish History and National Identity