AHC: Habsburg America

What it says on the tin. Have a Habsburg as monarch of the *US, with a POD no earlier than 1773.
 
What it says on the tin. Have a Habsburg as monarch of the *US, with a POD no earlier than 1773.

There's an extra Habsburg heir to Charles V, who gets the Netherlands. The Netherlands Habsburgs become Protestant.

As OTL:

  • England colonizes North America
  • The Stuarts inherit both British crowns
  • Marriage of a Stuart heiress into the Dutch Habsburgs
  • The ECW
  • The extinction or removal of the Stuarts
Then

  • Succession to the British crowns of a Habsburg prince of the Netherlands
Hey presto, a Habsburg is King over America.

Oh. Post 1773.

Well, one could have the Revolution crisis somehow resolved without American independence. (George III goes mad earlier?) America eventually becomes a Dominion, with a King or Queen.

But how to get a Habsburg into the mix? The Habsburgs are Catholic, and no Catholic can get to the British crown. If a Hapsburg scion converted to Protestant... Then some male of that line marries a British royal daughter, and when the Hanover line goes extinct, their son inherits. But I can't imagine any scenario for such a conversion. Also, I assume that a scion of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is sufficient, as the male line of Habsburg went extinct before 1773. All subsequent "Habsburgs" are descendants of Maria Theresa and her husband Francis of Lorraine.

Well, let's go around Robin Hood's barn. Some Habsburg scion is adopted as King of Greece. He converts to Greek Orthodox. Four generations later, a younger son of this house marries a British royal princess - the youngest of three siblings, converting to Protestant. A brother succeeds but his only child dies childless. An older princess has one child who dies childless. The crown passes to the son of the third princess.

Fleshing this out:

George III goes hopelessly mad in 1773. The resulting political crisis leads to the regency of... no paternal uncles of George III, so his next eldest living brother, William Henry, Duke of Gloucester. (Whose extremely injudicious marriage has just been revealed, but who else is there?) I can't find out much about him. Assume he opposes coercion. At the very least there will be a political shakeup delaying action for a few months. I really don't know this period very well, so I can't really invent a path to compromise.

Assume one is found, and the Revolution is headed off with the creation of the Kingdom of America, with a Parliament meeting in New York.

1782 - Leopold, second son of Maria Theresa, has a sixth son *Johann.

1809 - Archduke Johann marries *Jeanne de Beauharnais, youngest stepdaughter of Napoleon. (Note: OTL, Johann married a postmaster's daughter.)

1815 - Johann and Jeanne have a third son, *Alexander.

1831 - *Alexander von Habsburg is chosen as King of Greece.

1841 - *Alexander marries *Sophie von Saxe-Alfeld, sister of *Queen Charlotte of Great Britain (wife of *King Albert I)

1845 - *Crown Prince Alexander of Greece born

1847 - *William, Prince of Wales born

1869 - *Crown Prince Alexander marries *Princess Dagmar of Sweden

1879 - *Prince William marries *Princess Ingrid of Sweden (niece of Dagmar)

1888 - *Prince George of Greece born (4th son of Alexander and Dagmar)

1881 - *Alexander II succeeds to the Greek throne

1884 - *Princess Anne of Britain born

1887 - *Prince Edward of Britain born

1894 - *Princess Alice of Britain born

1895 - *William V succeeds to the British throne

1907 - *Princess Anne marries *Lord Frederick Cavendish (3rd son of Duke of Devonshire)

1910 - *Martin Cavendish born

1913 - *Prince Edward of Wales marries Lady Margaret Gordon (daughter of the Marquess of Huntley)

1915 - *Frederick Cavendish KIA (his widow never remarries)

1916 - *Prince Charles of Britain born to Edward and Margaret

1918 - *Princess Margaret injured in a motor accident; left infertile.

1922 - *Princess Allce marries *Prince George; they are maternal cousins once removed, and paternal 2nd cousins once removed

1925 - *Prince Alexander Habsburg born

1938 - *Edward VII succeeds to the British throne

1941 - *Charles, Prince of Wales, dies of cancer (aged 25); *Princess Alice becomes heir presumptive, with *Prince Martin as her heir apparent

1942 - *Prince Martin marries hastily, to *Lady Emily Bentinck; the marriage is a failure and produces no children

1951 - *Princess Anne dies (aged 67); *Prince Martin is now heir presumptive to King Edward; *Prince Alexander is heir presumptive to *Martin

1962 - *Martin I succeeds to the British throne; *Prince Alexander is heir presumptive to *King Martin, who is childless after 20 years of marriage to *Queen Emily

1973 - *Alexander I of Habsburg succeeds to the British throne. He is also King of the Dominions of America, Australia, and South Africa.

Exactly 200 years after the PoD.
 
What it says on the tin. Have a Habsburg as monarch of the *US, with a POD no earlier than 1773.

If you still want the US to bear any resemblance to OTL*, 1773 might be a bit too late. Your best bet is to go back to at least as early as 1750, and have an extra Habsburg be born. That way, when the Americans are considering offering the crown to a foreign nobleman, (insert name here) von Habsburg will be an option.

Ideally, though, this Habsburg would have to be somehow involved in the American Revolution. It would be tough enough to get OTL Americans to accept a monarch from America, let alone from Austria. They would need to believe that the Habsburg was one of them.

So, how about this scenario:

Some extra Habsburg prince (will call him Johnny von Habsburg) is born in the 1730s or 40s. Somehow, this doesn't butterfly away the 7YW. Let's assume that he's interested in Enlightenment ideals, and fluent in English and French.

Once some version of the American Revolution begins in the 1770s, Johnny comes to America to help the rebels. Basically, he's like Von Steuben or Lafayette on steroids. Johnny leads the Americans to victory in a number of tough battles, gaining the respect and admiration of the rebels. When the war finally ends, he's such a big hero that they offer the crown to him, as long as he accepts a very restrictive constitution. He does, and is crowned Johnny I of America.

*Violent revolution from Britain, Representative Democracy, territory at least as large as the 13 colonies, etc.
 
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Eh, I don't see the American crown being offered to a Catholic monarch (even one willing to convert to Protestantism of some flavor) in the 1700s. Anti-Catholicism is still very much a thing in the 13 Colonies; there were prominent Catholics (e.g. Charles Carroll of Carrollton), but having one for a monarch is different; an American monarchy is already a hard enough sale already.

I agree that a converted Habsburg marrying into the British line at some later point is much easier. I suppose you could imagine an American monarchy with the same thing happening later on (e.g. in the mid-1900s Queen Eleanor of America weds Prince Charles of Habsburg in a lavish wedding that will be the fashion event of the decade; their kids will be Habsburgs). But a lasting American monarchy isn't the easiest thing in the world either.

Relaxing the 1773 restriction makes things significantly easier, of course.
 
A Hohenzollern might be doable after 1750, and the country won't be all that like the U.S., but a Hapsburg (with that late of a POD) is ASB.
 
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