George III (George William Freerick; 4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820 [N.S.]) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter of the United Kingdom, formed by the union of Great Britain and Ireland, until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and thus prince-elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire, until he became King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, and the first of Hanover to be born in Britain and speak English as his first language. In fact, he never visited Germany.