Personal union continued.

"During the British Regency and the reigns of kings George IV and William IV from 1816 to 1837, their younger brother Adolph Frederick officiated as Viceroy of Hanover, representing the British king. When Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne in 1837, the 123-year personal union of Great Britain and Hanover ended. Semi-Salic law operated in Hanover, excluding accession to the throne by a female while any male of the dynasty survived".

But what if salic law had been not applied in Hanover,and personal union had continued?

I suppose Victorian Britain becomes the greatest obstacle to German reunification.

Not really, Parliament had considered the personal union with Hanover to be a bloody nuisance for donkeys ages and would have been more than happy if a way could have been found to get rid of it. If Prussia went ahead with their plans in 1866 and things played out mostly as our timeline Parliament certainly isn't going to be sending any troops or money to protect a foreign country. Besides, the smart money at the time was on Austria to win. It might cause a few diplomatic hiccups over claims to the throne is Prussia annexes Hanover but the German and British governments will work around them I would expect.

Hanover and Brunswick could probably be thrown in as a dowry for one of Victorians children in a marriage.

Simon said:

Not really, Parliament had considered the personal union with Hanover to be a bloody nuisance for donkeys ages and would have been more than happy if a way could have been found to get rid of it. If Prussia went ahead with their plans in 1866 and things played out mostly as our timeline Parliament certainly isn't going to be sending any troops or money to protect a foreign country. Besides, the smart money at the time was on Austria to win. It might cause a few diplomatic hiccups over claims to the throne is Prussia annexes Hanover but the German and British governments will work around them I would expect.

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A British intervention on the side of Austria in the1866 war can be interesting...

There's two ways the personal union could have continued.

1) Is that the inheritance laws of Hanover were synchronized with the laws of Britain.

2) Victoria was born male, thus the personal union continued without interruption.

In both instances the Kingdom of Hanover would become a major stumbling block for German Unification. The Prussians (and the Austrians if they had won) wouldn't have tolerated an independent Germanic kingdom of Hanover's size right in the middle of their new empire.

And while yes the Brits found the personal union annoying, there's no way in hell that they'd let a major European power invade 'their' territory without a fight.

So 'the Hanover Question' would most likely be resolved with diplomacy, the Prussians (or Austrians for that matter) wouldn't want an actual war with Britain. The British really wouldn't want to have to fight that war over something that they didn't even want. So there'd be a 'Congress of Paris', a treaty drawn up, the Kingdom exchanged for money (and/or a British bride for a certain German Emperor) and that would be the end of the matter.

lounge60 said:

A British intervention on the side of Austria in the 1866 war can be interesting...

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Why would they intervene on Austria's side? Everyone expected the Austrians to beat the Prussians handily. There would be no reason to send troops as soon as the fighting started and with the war being over in two months by the time things started to go wrong for the Austrians and their allies it would be too late to send troops to support them. And you'd still need to find a decent reason for them to do it in the first place.

Shiva said:

1) Is that the inheritance laws of Hanover were synchronized with the laws of Britain.

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Well William IV granted a constitution for Hanover in 1833 so simple enough for him to change the succession laws at the same time. He takes the opinion that if his niece is good enough to be queen of one of the most powerful empires in the world then she's good enough for a small German kingdom. The local aristocracy and middle classes would probably like it since having the monarch in London ruling via Viceroy gave them a lot more freedom of movement than a sole monarch who lived there which is what they could expect come William's death.

Shiva said:

And while yes the Brits found the personal union annoying, there's no way in hell that they'd let a major European power invade 'their' territory without a fight.

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That's just it though it's not 'their' territory. The only connection they have is that the person who sits on their throne also happens to sit on Hanover's throne as well, as far as I'm aware other than that there are no legal, financial or military links at all. Whilst Victoria still had a fair amount of influence by this time the monarch can't declare war off their own bat, especially for something that domestically is likely to have little public support, and send troops to protect their own personal property abroad.

Wasn't there some kind of rule saying that the German Confederation states had to be Semi-Salic? There was definitely something of the sort under the Empire, during the Lippe succession thing, which went to Imperial arbitration. Anyway, if so, all we need is Victoria being male or dying young. If she is succeeded by Ernst August of Hannover, that has implications for Britain - some melodramatic people say that the Chartists would overthrow the monarchy in 1848, for instance.

If Hannover joins the German Empire, that would put the British monarchy in a similar position as they were in as Dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine, etc. which ended quite badly for them. Therefore, Victor or whoever would be more likely to stay out of the the North German Confederation and the Empire, perhaps prompting an Anglo-Prussian War in the 60s or 70s, but I don't think even Prussia would dare pissing off all of their neighbours and taking on the biggest empire in the world. That said, would the British parliament necessarily go to war over Hannover?

Also, Hannover is hardly in the middle of the prospective German nation: the only places that would be cut off would be the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Free City of Bremen - Bismarck may just cut his losses if that's the only reward for a possible war against the UK (especially a UK with a bridgehead on the Continent).