Confession was vitally important to both Britons and Hanoverians in the eighteenth century. Probing the nature of confessional relationships throws light on several aspects of the Hanoverian connection, as this chapter illustrates. The chronological focus is predominantly on the reign of the first two Georges. The power of confession, for reasons discussed subsequently, changed in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. This chapter also considers the idea of the ‘protestant interest’ and how this affected the nature of interactions between Britain and Hanover.

Studying confession indicates an area of common interest and experience between Britain and Hanover. This may seem surprising, given that the official confession of Hanover was Lutheranism and Britain was confessionally diverse, with an established Presbyterian church in Scotland and an Episcopalian in England and Ireland. Some argued that there was an incompatibility between the Lutheranism of the Hanoverian electors and the creed of their new British subjects, although this usually reflected a particular political position. On the other hand some wanted to look beyond narrow confessional boundaries and stress either the similarity of Lutheran and Anglican beliefs or the value of shared protestant experience and heritage.

Both Hanover and confession featured prominently within partisan political debate in Britain. However, confession also impinged on foreign policy making.