A Swedish-Stuart Match

At some point towards the tail-end of the 1700ies, a match was spoken of between Carl XII, King of Sweden, and Louisa Maria Therese 'la Consolatrice' Stuart, the Princess over the Water. Unfortunately, the Swedish king was never interested enough in his own matrimonial prospects and it remained a match only on paper.

Now, recently, an idea I was toying with, was what if Louisa Maria had married Carl. The Bill of Rights states anyone who "shall marry a Papist" is barred from succession and heritance of the Crown (by the Bill of Rights 1688/9, Not the Act of Settlement 1701, as often said. The latter merely repeated the prohibition on Papist marriages ,and referred the penalties thereof to the earlier act). Any children of Carl-Louisa would be undoubtedly Protestant, and as such could be inserted into the succession ahead of Sophia's heirs.

Let's use handwavium to get them to the altar and see what happens if Louisa and Carl get married?
 
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*tail-end of the 1600s (since I was confused the first time I read through this)

A potential personal union with Sweden would be interesting, but I'd think it would seriously threaten the balance of power in the Baltic enough to cause concerns among quite a few people, including Anne's Danish in-laws.

On the other hand, Karl XII figured in at least one major Jacobite conspiracy; depending on whether he is offered a deal to succeed peacefully after Anne's death, he might be a more or less active supporter of Jacobitism, which would affect England's position in his various wars.
 
I thought he meant 1700-1710 period as 1700ies. Like when people write 2000ies for 2000-2010 period, though I may be mistaken due to not being native speaker...
As for the Karl XII as a Jakobite supporter - that's definitely an interesting thing to consider here, to be honest. And I think personal union with Sweden or a prospect of this can end up very messy for Britain.
 
I thought he meant 1700-1710 period as 1700ies. Like when people write 2000ies for 2000-2010 period, though I may be mistaken due to not being native speaker...

Yeah, sorry, I meant the first decade of the 1700s. I'll go stand in the corner now:eek:
 
Are you proposing to have Charles XIII of Sweden & III of England?

Louisa Maria Teresa Stuart, or romantically called the Princess over the Water, being the mother, of the next king of England would make a brilliant time line.

Louisa was on friendly terms with her half-sister Anne. However Louisa Maria had two possible matches for her were considered, with Louis XIV's grandson Charles, Duke of Berry (1686–1714), and with King Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718). Neither took place, the first apparently due to Louisa Maria's equivocal position, and the second because the young King of Sweden was not a Roman Catholic.

The only way I could foresee, Princess Louisa Maria Teresa Stuart, being raised a Protestant, would be if Queen Mary of Modena died on 28 June 1692, during child birth, King James II then dies from his brain haemorrhage in 1693, rather then 1701 and Princess Louisa is adopted as Princess Anne's ward, which with a 27 year difference is not unthank able and it should also stop her from contracting smallpox.

This does however affect the match as the English and Scottish government would most likely want her to marry a native nobleman rather then a foreign prince/king.
 
@ Jonathan: actually, the way I understood it was that Mary Beatrice had no problem with either of her kids marrying a Protestant, she had a problem of them having to convert. And considering that Carl XII had other Catholic princesses offered to him, I hardly think he would care. But as I said, lets handwave the how we get an disinterested bachelor and a maiden princess to the altar, but the effects of said match.

Also, Anne would have no say over whether she's allowed wardship of her half-siblings or not. And by them (since I very much doubt you could get La Consolatrice back and let the French keep Jamie the Rover) setting foot in London, it would cause an extensive muddle on W&M's part, since how are you king if the legitimate king is living in your house as your ward? And if anything happens to JFES and Louisa is spared, immediately WIII will be considered analogue to Richard III.

And if Anne's marrying Louisa off anywhere, she's marrying her to OTL George II as she intended, so as to prevent George I from ever reigning. Not to a Swedish king who's the nephew of her late husband, and the enemy of her brother-in-law's country.
 
And if Anne's marrying Louisa off anywhere, she's marrying her to OTL George II as she intended, so as to prevent George I from ever reigning. Not to a Swedish king who's the nephew of her late husband, and the enemy of her brother-in-law's country.

I don't think Anne had any say in who Louisa would have married. AT ALL. I have to disagree with Jonathan. Anne and Louisa were not on "friendly" terms. Anne pretended her half-siblings didn't exist (except as imposter pretenders). Anne was the primary instigator of the Warming Pan theory that Louisa's beloved brother was not James II's son (nor Mary of Modena's). It was Anne who convinced Mary (in Holland) that the young Prince of Wales was a fraud. Anne NEVER acknowledges that her half-siblings were even her half-siblings in her lifetime. The only time Anne ever acknowledged Louisa's existence was when Louis XIV's ambassador informed her of Louisa's death. Anne went to her grave pretending that the James Francis was not in fact her brother (despite the rumors she preferred him over the Hanoverians). And Louisa would never had married the Hanoverian heir and sat on the English throne while her brother lived. Neither she, nor Mary of Modena would have ever agreed to it.
 
@ Jonathan: actually, the way I understood it was that Mary Beatrice had no problem with either of her kids marrying a Protestant, she had a problem of them having to convert. And considering that Carl XII had other Catholic princesses offered to him, I hardly think he would care. But as I said, lets handwave the how we get an disinterested bachelor and a maiden princess to the altar, but the effects of said match.
But the how determines what the effects will be. If she marries and starts a counter revolution, this would be worse the a simple succession act.
Does Prince James convert to Protestant just to gain the throne and has children who end up childless. Leaving the throne to a decedent of Queen Louisa of Sweden?

Also, Anne would have no say over whether she's allowed wardship of her half-siblings or not. And by them (since I very much doubt you could get La Consolatrice back and let the French keep Jamie the Rover) setting foot in London, it would cause an extensive muddle on W&M's part, since how are you king if the legitimate king is living in your house as your ward? And if anything happens to JFES and Louisa is spared, immediately WIII will be considered analogue to Richard III
If she gained the children as closest living relative, why wouldn't she?
As for James this is why we need to know how this came about and what butterflies it caused instead of just waving a hand.
And if Anne's marrying Louisa off anywhere, she's marrying her to OTL George II as she intended, so as to prevent George I from ever reigning. Not to a Swedish king who's the nephew of her late husband, and the enemy of her brother-in-law's country.
Why would she marry her off to the Hanoverian heirs when Anne detested them.

I have to disagree with Jonathan. Anne and Louisa were not on "friendly" terms. Anne pretended her half-siblings didn't exist (except as imposter pretenders). Anne was the primary instigator of the Warming Pan theory that Louisa's beloved brother was not James II's son (nor Mary of Modena's). It was Anne who convinced Mary (in Holland) that the young Prince of Wales was a fraud. Anne NEVER acknowledges that her half-siblings were even her half-siblings in her lifetime. The only time Anne ever acknowledged Louisa's existence was when Louis XIV's ambassador informed her of Louisa's death. Anne went to her grave pretending that the James Francis was not in fact her brother (despite the rumors she preferred him over the Hanoverians). And Louisa would never had married the Hanoverian heir and sat on the English throne while her brother lived. Neither she, nor Mary of Modena would have ever agreed to it.

I'm going by the information that most royal historians to be true that of the many siblings and half-siblings born of Louisa's father's two marriages, only her brother James Francis Edward (pictured right) and her half-sisters, Queen Mary II and*Queen Anne, had survived infancy. Mary died while Louisa Maria was still a very young child, but two years old, Louisa was on friendly terms with her half-sister Anne, although they never met.*

The warming pan, was proven wrong. If Louisa married Charles XII of Sweden. We could see a war of British succession between England, Netherlands and Hanover vs France, Sweden, Jacobite Scotland and Ireland.

All I can imagine is James and Louisa being similar to Game of Thrones characters Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen.
 
Sources I've seen mention that Anne seriously considered marrying Louisa to George II due to her personal dislike of George I (who had once shunned her as a bride due to her mother's low birth) and a suspected jealousy of the Electress. And the marriage to Carl XII was offered by the French - not the English - even while they were considering marrying her and the duc de Berri.

I'd see with a Jacobite wife at his side, and knowing that she's what he's got to go home to (as well as the prospect that his kids can inherit England so long as her brother doesn't have issue), Carl XII might at least do his duty by her. Stateless' TL has at least one pregnancy by Mrs. Carl XII, for instance.

And once the future Carl XIII could be Charles III as well, the Swedish support might be more than lukewarm in either the '15 or the '19. (More likely the '19, since in '15 they're still busy fighting, by '19 Carl's dead (OTL) and peace talks are underway.)
 
Sources I've seen mention that Anne seriously considered marrying Louisa to George II due to her personal dislike of George I (who had once shunned her as a bride due to her mother's low birth) and a suspected jealousy of the Electress. And the marriage to Carl XII was offered by the French - not the English - even while they were considering marrying her and the duc de Berri.

I still say that Louisa and Berri probably would have made an excellent match (especially since Louisa was close to Marie-Adelaide and the Petit Dauphin). Berri was usually considered a good natured average/mediocre fellow but without the overt piety of his brother Louis or the melancholy/depression of his brother Philip. He probably would have stayed interested in Louisa longer than the Orleans wife he married. It would have meant the Bourbons would eventually become the Jacobite pretenders if there are male children, and if Berri becomes Regent for Louis XV instead of Orleans (easy to butterfly his death away if he is married to a different wife and doesn't go hunting that day) then the most powerful man in France would become interested in James Francis's claims and lend him support. And it would also mean Louis XV would grow up with a court not adverse to Stuart claims (so support in '45 from France?).

I still have no idea how Anne could have married off Louisa to George II even if she wanted. Anne had ZERO contact with her half-siblings during their lifetimes, never met Louisa, detested the Catholicism that Louisa (and her brother and mother Mary of Modena) espoused and continued to claim even until her dying day that James Francis (who Louisa was devoted to) was NOT her brother but a fraud.Heck, England under William/Mary and then Anne still refused to cough up the dowry money of Mary of Modena which legally by international law they were not entitled to keep and never gave it back. Louisa, nor Mary of Modena, would probably have given Anne the time of day as long as James Francis was alive.
 
The problem with a Berri match is that despite her status, one biographer writes that both JFES and Louisa suffered from being too important to marry just anybody, and not important enough, to marry a grandchild of France (since it was contemplated as part of a double marriage where JFES would marry either the OTL duchesse de Berri or her next sister, the Abbess of Chelles).

So, somehow after Berri's marriage to the Orléans girl, the king of Sweden has a "thou art mortal" moment, and decides he has to marry. France offers Louisa (as opposition candidate to the Habsburg-related Maria Casimire Sobieska). Louisa comes with a more attractive dowry to continue his war (maybe Louis XIV can sponsor her?). And she gets married to Carl by proxy, setting off for wherever he is.
 
What about having her marry the King of Spain, Louisa Marie would displace Elisabetta Farnese who would marry someone else.
 
While I'm aware Louisa would make a fine match for Berri or Felipe V of Spain, the whole aim of this is to get her descendants in-line for the British throne ahead of George I and his mother. The only way I can see that happening is if she marries a Protestant, and the only one ever proposed for her was Carl XII. And since he was "friendly" to the idea of a Jacobite restoration, he seems a good candidate.
 
Something I've read made me think of a way IT MIGHT happen:

Marlborough was seemingly sent on a diplomatic mission to persuade Carl XII to stay out of the WotSS. When Mr. Freeman got there, it seems that the French ambassador or at least someone in French pay had already been to see the Swedish king, offering to mediate between Carl and his enemies to at least negotiate a temporary truce. Carl would then be freed from his obligations in the north for a while, so he could take the Swedish juggernaut and invade parts of Germany (I assume this was pre-Poltava). So, if Carl has had his mortality moment recently (in several of his battles he came very close to dying, one he only escaped barely clinging to his horse, so not unlikely) and agrees to a French mediated truce which will be sealed by the offer of either one of LXIV's granddaughters or Louisa Maria Stuart, so he can maybe attack certain regions in the north of Germany that Sweden considers that they were "cheated" out of at Osnabrück or some other point in the last 50yrs. Marlborough's fall from grace is accelarated by him being unsuccessful in his mission to the Swedish king, and his wife's falling out with Anne happens sooner.
 
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