Actually, Queen Victoria ended up keeping most of the Hanoverian jewels she inherited from William IV. In 1857, she returned Queen Charlotte's diamond wedding crown, diamond stomacher and diamond necklace and cross to her German cousins in full settlement of the dispute.
The jewels in question were left to the Duke of Cumberland by his father, George II. The Duke then sold them to his nephew, George III, in 1761. George III gave them to Queen Charlotte as a wedding gift and she left them to the House of Hanover after her death in 1818.
Because of the Salic Law passed in the German principalities and kingdoms, Victoria could not succeed to the throne of Hanover as a woman. Her uncle, Ernst-Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, demanded half of William IV's jewel collection, as the new King of Hanover and a son of Queen Charlotte. Victoria probably owed him the jewels, but refused to cooperate for many years.
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