WI:Francis V Duke of Modena marries Queen Victoria

kasumigenx

kasumigenx

What if Francis V Duke of Modena converts to Anglicanism and marries Queen Victoria, wouldn't this unite the jacobite and sophia successions, if this marriage does happen, how would a Habsburg-Lorraine Britain would look like.

In OTL one of the officials serving under Queen Victoria insulted him..
 
JonasResende

JonasResende

Not so good for British liberty, since Francesco was a renowned conservative. Then again, most Hapsburgs in the 19th century were. But Francesco was so radical, that on hearing of a whisper of a whisper of a plot in 1848, he had the men arrested and said: "The culprits have been caught, send for the hangman/headsman".
 

Will Kürlich Kerl

Banned
kasumigenx said:
What if Francis V Duke of Modena converts to Anglicanism and marries Queen Victoria, wouldn't this unite the jacobite and sophia successions, if this marriage does happen, how would a Habsburg-Lorraine Britain would look like.

In OTL one of the officials serving under Queen Victoria insulted him..
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Republic of Britain. In 1848.

That guy is worse than Ernest Augustus, the conservative King of Hanover.
 

Londinium

kasumigenx,
While I give some credit for the idea of Francis actually being willing to consider Victoria [and Great Britain] worth an Anglican High Mass to make him technically eligible for her to wed him [and thereby having the potential of uniting Jacobite with Hanoverian lines], I have to wonder what would have been the MO for Victoria to want to marry him. I understand that she may have had some romantic intrigue re the Italian peninsula for its historic, musical and artistic heritage but would that [and Francis's conversion] made it worth it to her risking the alienation of a good number of subjects who were somewhat xenophobic. Even in the official portrait, he doesn't appear to have endowed with close to the good looks that Victoria prized in Albert nor does his personality seem that agreeable so I'd be interested to see if you could find something that make Victoria willing to fight for him.
 
JonasResende

JonasResende

Londinium said:
kasumigenx,
While I give some credit for the idea of Francis actually being willing to consider Victoria [and Great Britain] worth an Anglican High Mass to make him technically eligible for her to wed him [and thereby having the potential of uniting Jacobite with Hanoverian lines], I have to wonder what would have been the MO for Victoria to want to marry him. I understand that she may have had some romantic intrigue re the Italian peninsula for its historic, musical and artistic heritage but would that [and Francis's conversion] made it worth it to her risking the alienation of a good number of subjects who were somewhat xenophobic. Even in the official portrait, he doesn't appear to have endowed with close to the good looks that Victoria prized in Albert nor does his personality seem that agreeable so I'd be interested to see if you could find something that make Victoria willing to fight for him.
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Albert, bleh.

The British public was as xenophobic about him as any other. The thhought of the day was foreigner = Catholic.

And lets not forget the last Modenese royal who married into the English Royal Family. Warming pan baby to go, anyone?
 

JedidiahStott

Oh wonderful. Just what Britain wanted. A chance to get permanently bogged down in Italian politics and Continental wars. Like,Ireland isn't enough, lets add another running sore.

I confidently predict the FO and PM answer to that suggestion.
 

Blurgle

JonasResende said:
Albert, bleh.
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The British Public didn't hate him as much as modern republicans assume; it was the ruling classes who loathed him because he was an avowed liberal. The regular people thought he was stiff and overly formal but on the whole preferred him to any of Victoria's uncles. (Generally, though, the overall opinion was more apathy than love or hate.)

Far more importantly, Victoria was passionately, deeply in love with him, to the point that once she'd met him he was the only one for her. There's your POD: kill Albert off before Victoria marries him. Otherwise she's marrying the man.
 

Emperor Constantine

Blurgle said:
The British Public didn't hate him as much as modern republicans assume; it was the ruling classes who loathed him because he was an avowed liberal. The regular people thought he was stiff and overly formal but on the whole preferred him to any of Victoria's uncles. (Generally, though, the overall opinion was more apathy than love or hate.)

Far more importantly, Victoria was passionately, deeply in love with him, to the point that once she'd met him he was the only one for her. There's your POD: kill Albert off before Victoria marries him. Otherwise she's marrying the man.
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Um I don't know what book you read that in but its not true by ANY means. EVERYONE hated Albert, from the ruling class down. They all thought he was an bratty German who was usurping their Queen and Sovereign Victoria's rightful powers, getting to involved in politics for a consort and was plotting against the British empire. Look at the Crimean war. There was MASSIVE riots against him, calls for him to be locked up in the Tower or banished. Really the ONLY person who liked him was Victoria and even then it was more of an obsession.
 

Welshroyalhistory

kasumigenx said:
What if Francis V Duke of Modena converts to Anglicanism and marries Queen Victoria, wouldn't this unite the jacobite and sophia successions, if this marriage does happen, how would a Habsburg-Lorraine Britain would look like.

In OTL one of the officials serving under Queen Victoria insulted him..
Click to expand...

I imagine that British/Anglican morality would struggle with their monarch marrying a man who was the product of a marriage between an uncle and his niece.

Certainly in later life Victoria herself was no fan of the Habsburgs and considered them to have "bad blood" from excessive inbreeding, using them as an excuse to justify marrying her younger children and grandchildren off to pretty low grade royalty or even nobility. I'm not clear how much of this was projection of her own issues later in life and how she felt earlier in her reign is not clear especially since she herself was the product of significant inbreeding, albeit not quite on the Austrian/Spanish level.
 

Welshroyalhistory

Blurgle said:
The British Public didn't hate him as much as modern republicans assume; it was the ruling classes who loathed him because he was an avowed liberal. The regular people thought he was stiff and overly formal but on the whole preferred him to any of Victoria's uncles. (Generally, though, the overall opinion was more apathy than love or hate.)

Far more importantly, Victoria was passionately, deeply in love with him, to the point that once she'd met him he was the only one for her. There's your POD: kill Albert off before Victoria marries him. Otherwise she's marrying the man.
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There is no real way to measure opinions of ordinary people at that time, however it is notable that the media was especially agreeable to the marriages of Victoria and Albert's son to Alix of Denmark (it helped she was beautiful) because she was not German and that of Princess Louise to the heir to the Duke of Argyll because he was not a foreigner and was financially independent and was not some minor German princeling come to depend on the British state.
 
JonasResende

JonasResende

Blurgle said:
The British Public didn't hate him as much as modern republicans assume; it was the ruling classes who loathed him because he was an avowed liberal. The regular people thought he was stiff and overly formal but on the whole preferred him to any of Victoria's uncles. (Generally, though, the overall opinion was more apathy than love or hate.)

Far more importantly, Victoria was passionately, deeply in love with him, to the point that once she'd met him he was the only one for her. There's your POD: kill Albert off before Victoria marries him. Otherwise she's marrying the man.
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Victoria was hardly "in love" with Albert, more "in lust". She was 21 years old and had recently graduated from being a schoolroom miss to queen of the London drawingroom. Leopold of Belgium pushed Albert forward on grounds of her favorable impression of him at an earlier point. Though one needs to remember that Albert was simply favorable to the other matches offered - George of Cumberland (half-blind) and a Dutch prince with "considerably plain, with a face like a Kalmuck". Put a better looking match (but perhaps less competent at usurping her powers due to her being ALWAYS pregnant) at her disposal and Albert would be thrown over.
 
kasumigenx

kasumigenx

JonasResende said:
Victoria was hardly "in love" with Albert, more "in lust". She was 21 years old and had recently graduated from being a schoolroom miss to queen of the London drawingroom. Leopold of Belgium pushed Albert forward on grounds of her favorable impression of him at an earlier point. Though one needs to remember that Albert was simply favorable to the other matches offered - George of Cumberland (half-blind) and a Dutch prince with "considerably plain, with a face like a Kalmuck". Put a better looking match (but perhaps less competent at usurping her powers due to her being ALWAYS pregnant) at her disposal and Albert would be thrown over.
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Yeah, I think Francis V duke of Modena is more handsome, however, he looks less virile than Victoria's OTL husband.
 
JonasResende

JonasResende

Emperor Constantine said:
Not necessarily a bad thing. Victoria loved sex but hated pregnancy, so she'd probably be happier.
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She referred to babies as looking like frogs.

Also, it seems to have been a Coburg stratagem when marrying a reigning queen - knock her up numerous times and often so you've got the power. It might've happened in Spain too if Isabel II had married Franz of Coburg, brother to the king of Portugal and duchesse de Nemours.

Actually, given what a tragedy Isabel's reign was, a BIT of Coburg medicine might not be a bad thing.
 
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