I know this what if is mean, even different companies under different monarchs don't end up as nasty.
But what other monarchs could plausibly have set up colonizing ventures outside of their home governing structure, like Leopold did?
How did Leopold even have the money that he did? What gave him so much more money to play with than other European monarchs? Was it his personal fortune or his ability to get the buy-in of other people's money that allowed him to do his thing in the Congo?