A Crown of Thorns (Spanish Succession TL)

Chapter 4.2: The British Empire (The Royal Family)
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The Royal Family of Britannia itself was a small but happy family thanks to the family matriarch, Queen Anne. For her time, she was quite unusual as she cared and was an instrumental part of her children's upbringing and educations and so they were close to both their parents.

Prince George of Denmark was a content man and enjoyed his marriage with Queen Anne being one of the few true marriages for the era and they would be devoted to each other until his death in 1708. The prince only cared for two things in his life that being his love to Anne and his love for his children. He would like Anne care and raise their children like modern day parents which was unprecedented during that age. And so when he died, it brought grief unto the Queen which allowed one of her favorites, Abigail Masham to take power and get rid most of her opposition including the Royal children.

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Prince George and then Princess Anne's first child was a daughter named Mary, named after her aunt and then Queen Mary II. Princess Mary was doted by her mother and fervently educated by her father being by then the eldest child and later on received high and good education from her governess and even from her parents. Even though she was later preceded to the line of succession thanks to the births of her brothers, William and George many would see that the both the Queen and her husband cared for their eldest child even though later on it was her father, Prince George that was more caring to her thanks to the Queen focusing her attention to her sickly younger brother. Her education was still of high education as if she was the heir because the Royal couple knew of their son's sicknesses and so she learned the arts of philosophy, history and even military tactics when she was tutored by her father. She also learnt not only the English language but also French and even German.

When she stepped 20 years old, she was known as a shrewd and intelligent woman with wits like a trickster and smarts of Aristotle himself when her mother claimed it. She was one of the most sought after princess in Europe and when Queen Anne announced that she was to wed the King of Sweden, Charles XII, it was said men wept at their failures. She was skeptical at first at the Swedish King but when she went to Sweden and met the him and talked to him she was both impressed and fell for him as well as the Swedish King fell for the British Princess. They were wed in 1710 after Robert Harley and Abigail Masham took power from the Churchills and even the Royal Family. She was sent away at the behest of Masham knowing the princess was smart and shrewd and she didn't anyone with that power by her side and so she was quickly married off and sent to Sweden with her new husband. She would give birth to her first child, a son named Gustav Eric.

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Their second born and first son, Prince William of Gloucester was a sickly boy and was cared for mostly by his mother with his father being busy carrying the weight of raising their first born, Princess Mary. The boy was sickly and so his cure was either the open air or the house in which he stayed under strict rules by his mother. William was more open to the sea and followed in his father's footstep and enlisting in the Royal Navy. He was a kind and charitable man but was an arrogant and quick to assumptions making him easily manipulated but he too learned the ways of politics and shrewd diplomacy and so later in his life he wasn't as gullible as he was. His sickness, even though reduced thanks to the help of his childhood and parents, would still face health problems into adulthood making him a fragile man by his mother's standards while his father wanted him to be more opened to the sea and even accompanied him during his raid on France during the War of Spanish Succession. His education was one of priority and necessity as he was the heir to the throne of Britannia. He would eat the knowledge given to him and soon came to be known as the Royal Court's unofficial historian and naval strategist mainly because of his unique ability to grasp and develop the knowledge given to him. He would see Alexander the Great and Caesar as his heroes and thanks to them it brought to him his thinking of a far better and improved British military and that is why he pushed for the Military Reforms. He was a good man but with a few friends thanks to him being heir and sickly but he got a best friend thanks to the Queen's favorite, Sarah Churchill and that was John Churchill, Marquess of Blandford. They were inseparable and he would serve later as the King's second in command.

The Prince faced questions on whom he was to wed and came a few suggestions like Caroline of Ansbach, Princess Sophia of Spain and Infanta Francisca of Portugal. Caroline was from a minor family while Francisca was too young and William sickly and expected not to live long even though he would succeed his mother and so he was married to the closest in age with Sophia being born in 1694 and William in 1689 and them being close to each other since Queen Maria visited Britannia in 1699. The couple soon were wed in 1709 and Sophia converted to the Anglican Church.

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Their youngest child and second son, Prince George, named after his father the prince Consort. Prince George according to later historians and the court records indicated that the youngest child was the one most dotted by his mother being the youngest and most desired by her. He was more overseen by Queen Anne than his siblings and his personality would be influenced thanks to his mother's overbearing him and not letting him out of his side. He would grow to be a famous womanizer and pompous man but in the process he also became a diplomat and shrewd in the Royal Court thanks to his many deals with either nobleman and noblewomen.

It was said that the only freedom from his mother was in Ireland where he enlisted to be in the Royal Army in Ireland where his mother only agreed to. In Ireland he fell in love with it and its beautiful lands. He would later say that the Emerald Isle was the Island that God created the most perfect. Even though it was rumors back then, it was said that he was romantically involved with an Irish Lord's daughter and even some say that his womanizing behavior would stop after meeting this beautiful irishwoman. He also saw the plight of the Irish and would advocate for more Irish rights when he went back to his mother and thanks to his influence on the Queen, he and Robert Walpole would successfully create the Irish Reforms.

And That's the Royals!
Next Up?
Politics Boi!!
 
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Clearly, a lot of research went into this. Unfortunately, it is all but unreadable for long stretches due to extremely long run-on sentences. This made it impossible for me to follow the intricate detail being presented.
 
Clearly, a lot of research went into this. Unfortunately, it is all but unreadable for long stretches due to extremely long run-on sentences. This made it impossible for me to follow the intricate detail being presented.

I'll take that into consideration next time! Bu thanks for your input and thanks for your love in the TL
 
Mini Update: The Stuarts in Lotharingia
Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay! Had Exams and then Eid came and then a Vacation to Turkey! Expect regular updates after my long break! Once Again sorry! To make up for my missing time, comes a unexpected update


The Jacobites
Since the Treaty of Berlin in 1707 and after a secret arrangements between the British and the French it was agreed that the French would stop supporting the Jacobites and to kick them out of the country but the French secretly gave money and help to the Jacobites, especially the new Jacobite claimant, James III and provided them lands in the newly conquered lands north near Bruges where his half-brother, Duke of Berwick was given land.

The land was soon occupied by most of the Jacobite court and their supporters of English Catholics, exiled Highlanders and Irishmen. The land was soon called by the Stuarts and the local populace as Stewartville with a two palaces being built there named St. Thomas Palace for the Stuart Royal Family and the Berwick Castle for James FitzJames. The area near the palace as mentioned in earlier updates were made into a military academy where a large chunk of the later top graduates and great generals came from and from where the local populace could get their education.

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Modern day photograph of St. Thomas Palace

After the Rebellion in Flanders with a large part of the population either moved or dead, the British quickly took over the population of western Flanders with the King of Lotharingia, the name replacing the old Belgique, Philip I calling the area, Little London. Even Bruges in later years, the population would be speaking more in either Irish or English rather than French. The King was initially reluctant to accept the British people into his nation but after pressure from his grandfather and astonishment for these people speak both in their native tongues and also French which would help into his later francophone programs.

The Royals also grew in size when King James III's wife, Maria gave birth to two children, Charles Edward Stuart in 1720 and Henrietta Mary Stuart in 1725. These births were celebrated by the Jacobite and their supporters but was horrified by the nobility and especially the King who worried for the rise of the Jacobites in the name of the new heirs. Another celebration came with the marriage of the King's younger sister Louisa to Jan Klemens Branicki, a poweful Polish noble which grew concerns for the royalty in London and also a growing interest in the Jacobite and the exiled Stuarts [1].

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The Two Children of James III, Charles Edward Stuart (Left) & Henrietta Mary Stuart (Right)

The Jacobite also knew that their stay in Lotharingia was fragile and required support from the new kings in Brussels and so with the help of the exiled nobility which included brilliant minds of finance and management helped the new kingdom in running the finances of the kingdom and to manage the unruly Flemish into submission and also with the help of Berwick, the principal leader of the Lotharingian military the Jacobite ensured themselves that they were to stay in Lotharingia and especially in Stewartsville. Their contribution was like the founding of a national bank to keep control of the finance of the country and to group the Flemish into a position where they themselves were stuck into and easily place the plan for assimilation. Because of these actions, both King Philip and Jean would tolerate the languages of English and Irish in their pocket in West Flanders.

Also the Jacobites in Lotharingia would grow with the rising discontent in the home islands where a lot of Irishmen and Anglo-Norman old families of Ireland came into the bracing embrace of King James III and his court. James would grow his base of supporters and had even compiled his own court of followers and a cabinet in which he would gather support from other nations. The most notable of these were Sir John Erskine or the Earl of Mar who was banished after a squabble with both Robert Harley and Abigail Masham. He was appointed by James as the Secretary of State and Erskine would plunge himself into the job with him easily convincing the new king of France, Louis XV [2] and secretly convinced the King of Lotharingia, King Jean I [3] to give support of ships and weapons to the Jacobites. He also made a secret meetings with the Highlanders and discontent Anglo-Norman Lords of Ireland to support the Jacobite when the time came with the condition of if they gained power they would be granted autonomy and more land and power which Erskine easily accepted. The seeds of a Rebellion have been planted.

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John Erskine, Earl of Mar & Jacobite Secretary of State


Note:
1: Louisa OTL died in 1712 because of smallpox, ITTL she survives and marries Jan Klemens Branicki, a rich and powerful Polish Noble who OTL became a powerful Hetman and contended for the throne in 1764 whose role would be greater ITTL
2: Louis XV ITTL is the Grand Dauphin who lives a longer age and surviving his early death, including his son, the Duke of Burgundy and his wife survives whose OTL death of measles made him contracted it and died but ITTL they both survives and have greater roles in the future
3: Philip I abdicated ITTL like OTL because of his mental health but unlike Luis I of Spain OTL, Jean would live a longer live and so his father would live a normal life of an abdicated monarch
 
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