[FONT="][/FONT][FONT="]I decided that I wanted to attempt and restart this timeline.
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Part I: A Sickly and Doomed Usurper[/FONT]
(From The Foundation of an Empire: A History of the Oldenburg Dynasty by Lord Fredrick Blackfoot and Dr. Jacob Newton, Hampton University Press, Hampton, England 2012)
Chapter I: Web of Alliances
It was the birth of Prince William the Duke of Gloucester on July 24 1689 that insured the succession of the childless King William III and Mary II. Furthermore it guaranteed that the Catholic heirs of the deposed James II would never again sit upon the throne of England. Up to this point the heirs had been Princess Anne’s daughters Mary and Anne Sophia both sickly children. Prince William would be the last of Princess’s Anne children to survive past a few days. All in all Princess Anne had 18 pregnancies that resulted in 3 children and an outstanding 14 miscarriages. While contemporaries blamed her for her numerous miscarriages, today it is widely believed to be the result of her husband Prince George of Denmark suffering from syphilis.
The young Duke of Gloucester was from birth declared to be the defender of the Anglican Church and given the greatest education a Prince of Denmark and heir of England was entitled to. The problem that lingered over the Defender of the Anglican Church was his health, a problem that afflicted his sisters. A Jacobite supporter once quipped that Prince William was a “sickly and doomed usurper”.
William III used his nieces to expand his web of Alliances in which he hoped to ensnare King Louis 14th within. To this end King William III planned to insure the Protestant succession to the English Throne should the young and sick Duke of Gloucester die from one of his numerous illnesses. To this end he married his eldest niece Mary to Prince George of Hanover, son of King George of Hanover. This brought the House of Hanover closer to the English Throne without placing them on the Throne. This marriage would initially be happy but would end in mutual hatred [2].
King William then used his niece Anne Sophia to prolong the Anglo-Dutch Alliance by marrying her to John William Friso. John William Friso was William’s Dutch heir and expected to become the next Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. John William Friso only age 13 became a lifelong friend with Prince William. The 11-year-old Prince William nearly succumbed to an unknown illness while dancing at the celebration marking the marriage of Anne Sophia to John William Friso. It was amidst all the revelry and dancing that the young Prince overheated but by nightfall was suffering from chills and fevers. By July 30th the young Prince’s fever had broken and he began to recover [3].
King William III began to assert more and more control over his heir’s household reviving an old feud he had with his sister-in-law Princess Anne. The resulting compromise was that William would select the young princes Household but that John Churchill would head the household until the Prince came of age [4].
Prince William favored the advice of John Churchill over his teacher Bishop Burnett of Salisbury as John Churchill had military knowledge. The young Prince used this knowledge to improve his ‘House Guard’ a group of kids the Prince had organized as 180 man miniature army. John Churchill would remain the young Princes favorite throughout his reign and wherever the King’s army went the odds of John Churchill leading it were high. The young Prince also maintained a close relationship with his Uncle King William III, who mentored him in the art of politics. It was in 1701 that King William invested the young prince with the title Prince of Wales.
In 1702 during a morning ride King William III’s horse stepped into a mole hole the resulting fall broke the King’s collarbone and the King quickly took ill. Jacobite supporters around the nation toasted “the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat”. The King eventually died of pneumonia, which was meet with celebrations by many of peerage of England. Some accused William’s old enemy Louis 14th of poisoning his long time enemy [5]. With King William III’s death Princess Anne finally became Queen.
Next Chapter: Hapsburg Spain
[1] Prince William’s sisters Mary (1685) and Anne Sophia (1686) survive the Smallpox epidemic that killed them OTL
[2] More on this later
[3] OTL this was the date that Prince William succumbed to his illness
[4] This is a rehashing of a fight between King William III and Anne that happened in 1698
[5] Modern Science has recently disproved this rumor but it gained considerable support during the early reign of William IV