AHC/WI: A surviving Prince Alfred of Great Britain

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What exactly would the effect be of a surviving Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria?

This was a man renowned for being a Peacemaker, during the Crimean War and even during the American Civil War when he softened the British response after the Trent affair.

So how exactly would this man impact history with such events as the Franco-Prussian or even the Austro-Prussian war and other conflicts that may arise?


 
Well, until when would you want him to survive? I doubt he'll live as long as Victoria, considering the amount of stress he was under with taking over her job.

She might have a better relationship with Bertie since she won't blame him for his father's death, and her daughters might not be married to homeless German princes so she could keep them close by. The only reason Alice, the last of her daughters to marry and settle abroad, married the duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, was because the match was already organized, therefore the wedding took place at Osbourne, with mourning colors.
 
and her daughters might not be married to homeless German princes so she could keep them close by. The only reason Alice, the last of her daughters to marry and settle abroad, married the duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, was because the match was already organized, therefore the wedding took place at Osbourne, with mourning colors.
So, apart from anything else, plausibly no Mountbattens.
 
Personally I don't know why anyone would WANT Prince Albert to live longer. He was nothing more then a spoiled child. He fantasied himself an intellectual savior for Britain but was really a smug, arrogant jackass who had little idea what he was actually doing. I mean the guy thought he knew better then experienced politicians like Lord Palmerston and usually ended up making an ass out of himself and having to be bailed out by his wife. He isolated Victoria and their children from the aristocracy, damaging the traditional support of the monarchy. Albert's holier-then-tho attitude infuriated most of Britain's political establishment and indeed most of Europe. Really his death was one of the BEST things to happen for the British monarchy. And don't get me started on his family. They were nothing more then a bunch of low-life social climbing paper Royal Highnesses who liked to pretend they were better then the rest of Europe when they really weren't. If it wasn't for Leopold marrying Princess Charlotte they would have NEVER risen to any position of influence or power. Really the Saxe-Coburgs should have stayed in Germany and never attempted to usurp power in Britain and Portugal and never should have been made Kings of Belgium.
 
Not one of your favourite heroes, then?

But, yeah, seriously, the guy was a prick, and an incompetent one. His surviving would probably seriously damage the monarchy.
 
Personally I don't know why anyone would WANT Prince Albert to live longer. He was nothing more then a spoiled child. He fantasied himself an intellectual savior for Britain but was really a smug, arrogant jackass who had little idea what he was actually doing. I mean the guy thought he knew better then experienced politicians like Lord Palmerston and usually ended up making an ass out of himself and having to be bailed out by his wife. He isolated Victoria and their children from the aristocracy, damaging the traditional support of the monarchy. Albert's holier-then-tho attitude infuriated most of Britain's political establishment and indeed most of Europe. Really his death was one of the BEST things to happen for the British monarchy. And don't get me started on his family. They were nothing more then a bunch of low-life social climbing paper Royal Highnesses who liked to pretend they were better then the rest of Europe when they really weren't. If it wasn't for Leopold marrying Princess Charlotte they would have NEVER risen to any position of influence or power. Really the Saxe-Coburgs should have stayed in Germany and never attempted to usurp power in Britain and Portugal and never should have been made Kings of Belgium.

I agree. Queen Victoria was nicknamed Queen Albertine for a reason. And in Portugal, Maria II's doctors told her another baby would kill her, and Ferdinand still knocked her up again.

Interesting would be if Al died BEFORE the wedding with Victoria, or she marries elsewhere entirely. Perhaps a George of Cumberland, and Auguste de Beauharnais survives in Lisbon. Thus, 2 Coburg princes removed from Europe's power halls.
 
Well, until when would you want him to survive? I doubt he'll live as long as Victoria, considering the amount of stress he was under with taking over her job.

She might have a better relationship with Bertie since she won't blame him for his father's death, and her daughters might not be married to homeless German princes so she could keep them close by. The only reason Alice, the last of her daughters to marry and settle abroad, married the duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, was because the match was already organized, therefore the wedding took place at Osbourne, with mourning colors.

That is not correct, Alice was already engaged (with her father's blessing) to the future Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt at the time of her father's death. They would have married whether Albert lived or not.

Victoria's relationship with Bertie was always strained, even during his father's lifetime. Albert had a model of what his sons should be and none of them (maybe Arthur) were ever going to live up to it. Had Albert lived, he would have despaired of Bertie's extra curricular behavior and scandals even more so than Victoria did.

He was very pro Bertie's marriage to Alix of Denmark and was very taken by her photographs to the point he was prepared to risk a Danish marriage for his son. Albert's support for the marriage was the only reason Victoria pursued it after his death (she hated Alix's family) when it was something of a political hot potato because of the Danish-Prussian conflict and he would have probably encouraged his other daughters Helena and Louise to marry internationally, probably Germany, possibly the Netherlands or Denmark. No noble marriage for Louise for sure. I suspect Beatrice would have still been kept at home, if only to distract Victoria, Albert found her constant attention very trying.

Victoria was naturally possessive and her mental state would probably continue to deteriorate if Albert lived, Albert made her totally reliant upon him and he emotionally abused her by withdrawing his attention from her if she didn't do what he wanted, this lead to Victoria being very jealous of anyone who had Albert's attention, even of her own children, she was quite keen to marry her eldest daughter off because she was jealous of the bond that Albert had with Vicky.

You can almost imagine that if Albert had liked Alix of Denmark in person as much as he liked her photograph, Victoria would have made her life a living hell.
 
That is not correct, Alice was already engaged (with her father's blessing) to the future Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt at the time of her father's death. They would have married whether Albert lived or not.

Victoria's relationship with Bertie was always strained, even during his father's lifetime. Albert had a model of what his sons should be and none of them (maybe Arthur) were ever going to live up to it. Had Albert lived, he would have despaired of Bertie's extra curricular behavior and scandals even more so than Victoria did.

He was very pro Bertie's marriage to Alix of Denmark and was very taken by her photographs to the point he was prepared to risk a Danish marriage for his son. Albert's support for the marriage was the only reason Victoria pursued it after his death (she hated Alix's family) when it was something of a political hot potato because of the Danish-Prussian conflict and he would have probably encouraged his other daughters Helena and Louise to marry internationally, probably Germany, possibly the Netherlands or Denmark. No noble marriage for Louise for sure. I suspect Beatrice would have still been kept at home, if only to distract Victoria, Albert found her constant attention very trying.

Victoria was naturally possessive and her mental state would probably continue to deteriorate if Albert lived, Albert made her totally reliant upon him and he emotionally abused her by withdrawing his attention from her if she didn't do what he wanted, this lead to Victoria being very jealous of anyone who had Albert's attention, even of her own children, she was quite keen to marry her eldest daughter off because she was jealous of the bond that Albert had with Vicky.

You can almost imagine that if Albert had liked Alix of Denmark in person as much as he liked her photograph, Victoria would have made her life a living hell.

Well, considering the other option for Bertie was the rather dull and plain Princess Marie of the Netherlands, OTL princess of Wied - Bertie's extracirriculars are most likely to be even more pronounced (maybe a repeat of George IV and Caroline). Although, Victoria declined Marie because she was unattractive.

And AFAIK, Victoria hated Alix's royal family (particularly the king of Denmark at the time), not her and the rest of Christian IX's children. Although, she found them rather pretentious when they tried to get her daughters Louisa or Helena married to Alix's brother Frederik VIII.

If Albert lives, and Bertie marries Alix, we might see some interesting fights in the royal family - Bertie vs. Victoria, Albert vs. Victoria, Alix vs. Victoria - and Victoria might develop a completely different reputation than the "Widow of Windsor" and be more of a "Bitch of Buckingham".:D
 
Well, considering the other option for Bertie was the rather dull and plain Princess Marie of the Netherlands, OTL princess of Wied - Bertie's extracirriculars are most likely to be even more pronounced (maybe a repeat of George IV and Caroline). Although, Victoria declined Marie because she was unattractive.

And AFAIK, Victoria hated Alix's royal family (particularly the king of Denmark at the time), not her and the rest of Christian IX's children. Although, she found them rather pretentious when they tried to get her daughters Louisa or Helena married to Alix's brother Frederik VIII.

If Albert lives, and Bertie marries Alix, we might see some interesting fights in the royal family - Bertie vs. Victoria, Albert vs. Victoria, Alix vs. Victoria - and Victoria might develop a completely different reputation than the "Widow of Windsor" and be more of a "Bitch of Buckingham".:D

Alix was beautiful and very kind natured which endeared her to the whole British royal family but she was not stimulating, either intellectually or emotionally for Edward VII. A wife who had a personality to match Edward's might have been better for him, Alix's sister Dagmar, later Empress of Russia, may have been better suited to Edward.

Victoria liked Alix very much but she was cautious about Alix's family, not her siblings of course, Alix was the second eldest and therefore her siblings were just children at the time of the marriage and an irrelevance at the time but Victoria thought the Danish court immoral in light of Frederick VII and Countess Danner and strongly disliked the Hesse Kassel branch to which Alix's mother belonged. She thought Christian IX nice enough in a bland sort of way (they had history, he attended her Coronation and some say had come to London in the hope of catching Victoria's eye) but she found Queen Louise very pushy and she was very cautious of being allied to the Rumpenheim clan and it would appear at times that she went out of her way to be deliberately insensitive to Alix at times to emphasise how pro-Prussian she was.

Victoria seems to have briefly considered Alix's youngest sister Thyra marrying her third son Arthur, until full disclosure :)eek:) was made and Victoria quickly put a stop to such an idea, although if recent rumours are true about Victoria's daughter Louise, she might have had other reasons.
 
Alix was beautiful and very kind natured which endeared her to the whole British royal family but she was not stimulating, either intellectually or emotionally for Edward VII. A wife who had a personality to match Edward's might have been better for him, Alix's sister Dagmar, later Empress of Russia, may have been better suited to Edward.

Victoria liked Alix very much but she was cautious about Alix's family, not her siblings of course, Alix was the second eldest and therefore her siblings were just children at the time of the marriage and an irrelevance at the time but Victoria thought the Danish court immoral in light of Frederick VII and Countess Danner and strongly disliked the Hesse Kassel branch to which Alix's mother belonged. She thought Christian IX nice enough in a bland sort of way (they had history, he attended her Coronation and some say had come to London in the hope of catching Victoria's eye) but she found Queen Louise very pushy and she was very cautious of being allied to the Rumpenheim clan and it would appear at times that she went out of her way to be deliberately insensitive to Alix at times to emphasise how pro-Prussian she was.

Victoria seems to have briefly considered Alix's youngest sister Thyra marrying her third son Arthur, until full disclosure :)eek:) was made and Victoria quickly put a stop to such an idea, although if recent rumours are true about Victoria's daughter Louise, she might have had other reasons.

What rumors?:confused:

I seem to recall that she also put a stop to Leopold's plans of marriage to Princess Friederike of Hannover. IDK why. The lady was Protestant and an extended family member to boot. I know she was pissed about Arthur's marriage to Luise of Prussia since Britain was already linked to Prussia by marriage.
 
What rumors?:confused:

I seem to recall that she also put a stop to Leopold's plans of marriage to Princess Friederike of Hannover. IDK why. The lady was Protestant and an extended family member to boot. I know she was pissed about Arthur's marriage to Luise of Prussia since Britain was already linked to Prussia by marriage.

Thyra had a baby before marriage. The baby was adopted and her lover, who was a Danish soldier and commoner, killed himself as they were unable to marry.

Recent allegations in the British media suggested that Victoria's daughter Princess Louise found herself in the same situation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25085356
http://www.historyextra.com/news/did-queen-victorias-princess-louise-give-birth-illegitimate-baby

I think Victoria's issues about Louise of Prussia were more to do with her particular branch of the family than the fact she was Prussian. Louise's father was an aggressive horrible man who beat his wife, this was known to Victoria, via her daughter. Victoria had concerns about the impact this may have and it appears she was proven accurate, Louise it appears was not a good mother - please see the link for an obit for her younger daughter Patricia, the author Kenneth Rose is an esteemed royal biographer.

http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=31581&back=

No idea about the Hanoverian Princess, Victoria was a strange one, she could take against someone for no apparent reason and then find something special in someone who was quite unliked by everyone else.
 
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Victoria, while scandalized, would probably accept such a matter. Albert, in his usual puritanical manner would not. There exists a story that when Victoria found out that a certain German princess (I think it was Jutta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz or her sister) was enceinte by a footman whose job it was to light the lamps, she intervened with the parents, and wrote "maybe they love each other".
 
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