AHC: King Henry of America

Thanks to a thread in Chat, I just discovered a proposal to make Prince Henry of Prussia the king of the US. This idea was proposed by President Nathaniel Gorham but the offer to him was revoked before he could make a response. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to have this man be the King of America. Any POD is acceptable (I really want this to occur). I'd say at the very least, we'd need George Washington dead soon after the ARW ends.
 
Thanks to a thread in Chat, I just discovered a proposal to make Prince Henry of Prussia the king of the US. This idea was proposed by President Nathaniel Gorham but the offer to him was revoked before he could make a response. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to have this man be the King of America. Any POD is acceptable (I really want this to occur). I'd say at the very least, we'd need George Washington dead soon after the ARW ends.
I don't think Fredrick Henry wanted to become king, he has a quote that goes something like "We fought for democracy, so why choose a king?"

But who knows, it is probably possible.
 
This is Prince Henry of Prussia - who seemed to resent that he was one of those consignred to be the younger brother of a great man. He had schemed with Catherine the Great to be named king of a principality that she was going to carve out in Wallachia, Fritz put a stop to that as soon as he heard about it.

So there would be no lack of ambition on Henry's part, and Voltaire wrote of him that while Frederick the Great was the man of the Enlightenment, Henry was the man that the Enlightenment had hoped to produce. Although IMHO Henry seems to have been a sort of mini-Fritz.

One thing though, Henry and his wife, Wilhelmine, didn't have children due to rumored infidelity on her part shortly after the wedding. So a divorce and marriage to a new bride might be necessary. Maybe Charlotte of England, George III's oldest daughter?
 
One thing though, Henry and his wife, Wilhelmine, didn't have children due to rumored infidelity on her part shortly after the wedding. So a divorce and marriage to a new bride might be necessary. Maybe Charlotte of England, George III's oldest daughter?

Instead of having a divorced Prince on the throne of America, have Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Kassel killed before around 1742 of smallpox.

This leaves the 24 year old with out a bride. I would suggest him marring his 13 year old niece, Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt 27 September 1751 (who in OTL married her other uncle Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia) so its not a crazy idea. And she was able to produce 8 children (so an heir and spare) and was described as nice, witty and kind, a brilliant match for the "Philosopher King"

Maybe Charlotte of England, George III's oldest daughter?
:eek: Are you mad sir, the American have just won a war against her father, firstly she would see this as an insult to her father and secondly the Americans would not want it.
 
@Jonathan,
wouldn't it work better if the new king married an American? Good press and shows the common touch.
 
@Jonathan,
wouldn't it work better if the new king married an American? Good press and shows the common touch.

Not to European Nobility, you never married below your own house, look at King Edward VII and Wallis Simpson.

Also he would be 60 when crowned king, so the woman would be need to be young to produce children (if he still can.)
And who would he marry?
- Rachel Donelson (OTL wife to Andrew Jackson) was 19 years old.
- Abigail Adams (daughter of John Adams) If you can kill off Colonel William Stephens Smith, then she cant marry him in 1786 so is free for marriage.
 
Not mad. Someone did a TL where Edward, Duke of Kent, ended up being chosen as king of the USA. That said, his niece was not exactly faithful either - or so the rumor goes - since all except her eldest child had a baby-daddy that wasn't her husband/uncle. And let's face it, I can't really say I blame her - I wouldn't want my uncle's kids either.
 
This is Prince Henry of Prussia - who seemed to resent that he was one of those consignred to be the younger brother of a great man. He had schemed with Catherine the Great to be named king of a principality that she was going to carve out in Wallachia, Fritz put a stop to that as soon as he heard about it.

So there would be no lack of ambition on Henry's part, and Voltaire wrote of him that while Frederick the Great was the man of the Enlightenment, Henry was the man that the Enlightenment had hoped to produce. Although IMHO Henry seems to have been a sort of mini-Fritz.

One thing though, Henry and his wife, Wilhelmine, didn't have children due to rumored infidelity on her part shortly after the wedding. So a divorce and marriage to a new bride might be necessary. Maybe Charlotte of England, George III's oldest daughter?
indeed embodiment of the "philosopher King"
 
His open homosexuality might have been an issue back then.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that attitude would stay that as long as he created some other Henry's, people would look away. Actually, the fact that America's first leader was a homosexual may have done wonders for the eventual gays rights movement
 
If I could get Search to work for me today, I'd provide a list of threads where this has been discussed before, but it's not working for me right now.
 
I don't think Fredrick Henry wanted to become king, he has a quote that goes something like "We fought for democracy, so why choose a king?"

But who knows, it is probably possible.

The thing is, I think them "fighting for democracy" was more propaganda. It seems to me that the Americans were fighting because they didn't want to pay taxes. Really anything else was added after the war. I mean, Washington was offered a crown, though he turned it down. So I'm not saying that they weren't for democracy, some were some weren't, but they would have taken a King just as quickly as a President I think.
 
I don't think Fredrick Henry wanted to become king, he has a quote that goes something like "We fought for democracy, so why choose a king?"

But who knows, it is probably possible.

When did Prince Henry ever fight for democracy? He fought for an absolute monarchy against other absolute monarchies. And the revolutionary leaders were pretty receptive to the idea of a monarch back then, as were the American people in general. IMO, the biggest reason for the US becoming a republic was that Washington wasn't interested in the idea.
 
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