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Editor says, what if Wilhelm Hohenzollern had been crowned King of England? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the June 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1901, on this day Queen Victoria II (pictured) died in Balmoral Castle aged sixty years old.
This post is an article from the Good Old Willie thread.
Good Old Willie #1The eldest child of Queen Victoria I and Prince Albert, she was created Princess Royal of the United Kingdom in 1841. Ten years later, she met her future husband, Prince Frederick William of Prussia and they married in 1855. Her parents hoped that the union would cement close ties between London and Berlin, and possibly lead to the emergence of a unified and liberal Germany. At the time of their wedding, Londoners chanted "God save the Prince and Bride! God keep their lands allied!".
However the Prussian attempt to form a unified German Empire ended in shambolic failure on the battlefields of Sedan and Metz. The House of Hohenzollern was forced to flee to England and live in exile with their English Cousins the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family. But because they did not officially abdicate the throne, a future restoration had a better than reasonable chance of success.
Nevertheless, the French military build-up demanded prompt action. Alarmed by the possibility of a continent ruled from Paris, the line of English succession was quickly amended1 to allow the oldest child of either gender to assume the throne. But as matters transpired, Queen Victoria II only ruled for eight months after her mother finally passed away on 22nd January 1901. She would be succeeded by Wilhelm Hohenzollern, enthusiastically proclaimed King of England by the awaiting crowd, "Good Old Willie!".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Good Old Willie Source: Wikipedia Labels: Queen Victoria II, Wilhelm II, Hohenzollern, England, Britain. Editor says, in this article we explore some original ideas from Jackie Rose and Jeff Provine and have repurposed significant amounts of content from Wikipedia.
1) This modernisation reform for succession was only proposed in 2012.
~ Much depends on what replaces Prussia, but Napoleon III's heirs strongarming the German Confederation _and_ Austria would make London nervous.
~ The wouldn't be a unitted germany if Napoleon II wins the Franco-Prussian War. Who will rule Prussia and will it be divided into western and eastern territories?
What will Austria-Hungary do?
Another thing is Hannover will still exist. Will the British crown in some way inherit them?
I take it there is either a republic or a regent in Prussia, which the French insist on.
This meand if a war hasn't happened yet in 1901, it will be the war between Britain and its A-H ally and France and Russia.
There will be a considerable naval war as France and Russia had such plans with the Russian fleet coming out of the DBosphorus and uniting with the french Mediterranean fleet, and the Russian Baltic fleet coming out whilst the British navy is tied up in the Mediterranean.
These plans are in James Book of Fighting Ships Millenial Edition.
The Pre-Dread naval race between Britain and France and Russia is still going on in 1901.
There is still a Naval Convention as part of the Russo-French Entente against Britain in 1901.
Any war would meamn a British expedition landing in Hannover to liberate the German Confederation, and like Marlborough, join up with the Austians.
Finally, when would the war break out - looks like when the Russo-Japanese war is going on and the Russians are tied up in the East.
Will the Dogger Bank incident occur and be used to start the war with no back-downs by anyone this time?
~ A crushing French victory in the Franco-Prussian War is intriguing. We could very well end up with another set of Napoleonic Wars. The more things change...
~ That's what I was thinking. After William V and II succession there are a second set of Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon IV is still ruling the French II Empire.
~ William Hohenzollern as King of Great Britain? With the RN at his beck and call? He'd be happier than a lamprey with a facefull of trout.
~ He would. He gets his navy - well actually grannie's - and Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight to stay in and inspect them.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
