Just a little something thrown out there
So the following is a tangent from my "Western British Empire TL" that is currently being reworked.
Long story short, a post-War of 1812 Canada and Britain opt to improve British North America, which results in higher immigration, faster self-rule and more confrontations with the USA. Over the years, the Kingdom of Canada forges its own unique identity, with its own Royal House (which is just an off-shoot of the British Monarchy/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) that is still closely tied to the British Empire. With Canada being the "Steward" of British possessions in the Americas, as well as having a mission to limit American expansion and influence whenever and wherever possible, Canada begins to become its own Empire, but ties are still strong with Britain culminating with a statement that the world is now witness to two British Empires; the Western British Empire (Kingdom of Canada, its territories, colonies, protectorates, etc. in the Americas, the Atlantic, and parts of West Africa) and the Eastern British Empire (Britain, and the rest).
A tonne of crazy shit happens, and WWI more or less happens as per OTL, but Versailles is VERY different which results in an angry and bitter France, and a surviving German Monarchy as well as a form of Brest-Litovsk. This causes allegiances to be rather different in a build-up to this TL's version of WWII. France goes fascist, and along with fascist Italy, Spain, Portugal, and all their respective territories, form a fascist proto-NATO of sorts, leaving the British Empires, the German Empire, the Empire of Japan, Turkey and a few others to stand in the path of fascist western-European colonial expansion. The Soviet Union is still bitter about Brest-Litovsk and they enter into a tepid "alliance" of sorts with the fascists. America, like in TTL's WWI, doesn't care and is a neutral and isolationist nation.
After the fascists and communists lose the war (German Empire took care to properly prop-up, equip and train their eastern European puppet states, who routinely embarrassed the Soviets. Since it happened earlier, this is basically a bigger version of the Winter War for the Soviets. The fascists outside of France were also embarrassingly bad at warfare and expansionism.), a question emerges with regards to the Kingdom of Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
When Canada became the Steward of the Gold Coast Colony, Dutch settlements also existed. The Dutch could not continue to operate their forts and settlements in the existing fasion, but Canada would struggle to keep the colony if it were to go it alone. In a reflection of governance and dominion seen in the Oregon Country, Canada and the Netherlands opted for joint dominion over the colony, meaning that the Dutch, Canadians, and British could operate freely in the agreed upon territory and claims. While the system worked well for decades with few hiccups, the issue came to a head at the end of WWII.
The war had seen a massive ramping up of industry and development in Canada, but the war brought devastation to the Netherlands, which suddenly could not afford to properly maintain its colonies and redevelop after the war. Dutch culture and customs were now established in the Gold Coast, and after seeing what had happened in the Cape Colony, they were not eager to be handed over to Canadians and the British. "The Gold Coast Crisis" would have gone on longer, had it not been for an almost fairy-tale romance between Princess Adelheid of the Netherlands and Prince Octavius of Canada. It was known that the two intended to marry, which would mean that their child could and would be the heir to both the Dutch and Canadian thrones.
It was negotiated by both nations, and approved by the Governments and Royal Houses, that the Kingdom of Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands shall enter into personal union, as well as uniting the Houses of Orange and Rideau (Canadian off-shoot of the now renamed House of Windsor) to form the new Royal House of Orange-Rideau/Rideau-Orange. This led to the formation of the Canada-Netherlands Commonwealth, which was a colonial empire, but one of the most progressive, tolerant, and inclusive, if only by virtue of not being able to afford to put down endless rebellions. Here are the Kingdoms, Dominions, Colonies and Territories of the Canada-Netherlands Commonwealth at the birth of Prince William/Wilhelm:
