AHC: A Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Kaiser

Is it in any way possible for enough male members of the House of Hohenzollern to die or be born girls for a member Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to become King of Prussia and eventually Kaiser of the German Empire?
 
From what I can tell, the key is to get rid of the male line of Frederick William III of Prussia(1770-1840). That alone would mean you would have to go all the way to the 1400's at least to find another line of the House of Hohenzollern to replace them.
 
Is it in any way possible for enough male members of the House of Hohenzollern to die or be born girls for a member Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to become King of Prussia and eventually Kaiser of the German Empire?

They are Catholic, so a Sigmaringen heir has to convert first to Protestantism.
 
Would they even have a claim to Prussia (and Brandenburg)? IIRC the division between the Sigmaringen and the Brandenburg branches goes back to the 13th century, and the Sigmaringen was the senior line of the family. They didn't have any prior claim to Brandenburg (and after to Prussia) as those territories were given to the junior line almost 200 years after their division.
 
Would they even have a claim to Prussia (and Brandenburg)? IIRC the division between the Sigmaringen and the Brandenburg branches goes back to the 13th century, and the Sigmaringen was the senior line of the family. They didn't have any prior claim to Brandenburg (and after to Prussia) as those territories were given to the junior line almost 200 years after their division.

That's how the Brandenburg got Prussia in the first place.
 
Let my quote myself from another recent thread:

In 1871, there were in order of succession:
1. Wilhelm I. (regnant)
2. Friedrich (III.), Son of 1
3. Wilhelm (II.), Son of 2
4. Heinrich, Son of 2
5. Waldemar, Son of 2
6. Carl, Brother of 1
7. Friedrich Karl, Son of 6
8. Friedrich Leopold, Son of 7
9. Albrecht (until 1872), Brother of 1
10. Albrecht, Son of 9
11. Alexander, Great-Grandson of King Wilhelms Grandfather FW III
12. Georg, Great-Grandson of King Wilhelms Grandfather FW III

(By 1880, 10 will have three sons.)

That is quite a massacre.
They might to jump to the Swabian branch, whose head in 1871 is
Sw1. Prince Karl Anton (dies 1885)
Sw2. Leopold, Son of Sw1
Sw3. Wilhelm, Son of Sw2
Sw4. Ferdinand, Son of Sw2
Sw5. Karl Anton, Son of Sw2
Sw6. Karl, Son of Sw1
Sw7. Friedrich, Son of Sw1

So I agree with Kowita that Friedrich Wilhelm III. is the key here. He is the Prussian king of the Napoleonic age.
His sons were born between 1795 and 1809, all by Queen Luise from Mecklenburg-Strelitz.I don't think the would have sought a divorce had they been childless, and anyway, we can make him infertile.

But: Let us say that by 1820, when FW3 turns fifty, people start to plan for his childless demise.

Oh. I was apparently wrong. In 1820 has two living brothers, but his heir will be the son of the already dead brother Ludwig, Prinz Friedrich (1794–1863). In OTL, Friedrich would be married since 1817 and have two sons, Alexander in 1820 and Georg in 1826. Let us say that the dynasty would be safe.
 
Going backwards:

Freidrich Wilhelm I.:

Hiseldest son Friedrich II., remains childless

What if the next son, August Wilhelm, is infertile?

The next son, Heinrich, will probably remain childless as well - he did not like his wife (or women in general).

This leaves Prinz August Ferdinand. Married OTL, had at least five sons, two (Louis Ferdinand, *1772; and August, *1779) lived until adulthood. LF had only illegitime children, August had a whole bunch of kids from two (serial, not parallel) out-of-wedlock relationships.
The second one with Aguste Arend is remarkable. She and her children were ennobled under the name "von Prillwitz" in 1825, despite the fact that her father had been a Jewish banker.

But generally, there is the problem that without a crazy "King Ralph" extinction event, when a monarch proves presumably childless, with the Hiohenzollern there are always younger satill living brothers who can be made to marry some princess. Killing the dynasty off is hard. Especially has there is also the Franconian branch in Ansbach and Bayreuth ...
 
But generally, there is the problem that without a crazy "King Ralph" extinction event, when a monarch proves presumably childless, with the Hiohenzollern there are always younger satill living brothers who can be made to marry some princess. Killing the dynasty off is hard. Especially has there is also the Franconian branch in Ansbach and Bayreuth ...

Yeah it is hard, but Salic Law sure makes it a lot easier to have Henry IV of France style succession. Anyway, didn't the Ansbach and Bayreuth die out in OTL before 1800?
 
Would they even have a claim to Prussia (and Brandenburg)? IIRC the division between the Sigmaringen and the Brandenburg branches goes back to the 13th century, and the Sigmaringen was the senior line of the family. They didn't have any prior claim to Brandenburg (and after to Prussia) as those territories were given to the junior line almost 200 years after their division.


Would that necessarily matter?

It was a pretty absolute kind of monarchy, and if the last King in the old line named the elder branch as his heirs, that would probably be made to stick - esp if he'd got his army officers to take an oath to uphold the settlement.

And if the male line looked like failing in this way, the nearest female relative could be married off to a Sigmaringen.
 
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Would that necessarily matter?

It was a pretty absolute kind of monarchy, and if the last King in the old line named the elder branch as his heirs, that would probably be made to stick - esp if he'd got his army officers to take and oath to uphold the settlement.

And if the male line looked like failing in this way, the nearest female relative could be married off to a Sigmaringen.


AFAIK, a change in the Hohenzollern House Law would only become valid if all adult princes of the house agreed, but since the lack of such princes is the point of this WI; there seems to be no formal problem. A monarch who sees that there are no other princes (or only very old ones who will remain childless) can easily change the law to basically appoint a heir, just by picking the new system of inheritance that will produce the result he wants.

From a European point of view, a Sigmaringen inheritance is very unproblematic as no one could claim that it upset a balance of power.
 
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