Queen Victoria is even more stubborn and inclined to try meddling in politics than in RL: The monarchy is overthrown in 1848, the year when so many other European thrones are also threatened by their peoples, and a republic is established. Those of the colonies that have significant British settlement are offered a choice between incorporation into this republic (the 'Second Commonwealth') and progressing to independence, and most of the other colonies are never developed beyond trading posts. The Honourable East Indian Company eventually accepts the republic's control, but this weakens British rule in India and that is overthrown by native revolutionaries in the mid-1850s.