Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations, which means that the historically accurate royal house of monarchs of the House of Hanover was the House of Lucca (or Obertenghi, or Este, or Welf).
Eastern Liguria at this time contained the counties of Genoa, Luni, Tortona, Bobbio, Parma and Piacenza, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Ascoli Piceno.
A member of the Obertenghi family, he succeeeded his father, Otbert I, as margrave after his father's death in 975, together with his brother Adalbert.
He was the second son of the Marquis Guglielmo Pallavicino (also known as Pelavicino), a descendant of the Obertenghi of Liguria, who ruled over a series of fiefs in the area between Parma and Piacenza which were known collectively as the Pallavicino State.