The American rebels originally claimed loyalty to the crown and argued that they were only fighting parliament. This was partly just a fiction, of course, but it wasn't all fiction. For awhile there was in fact some sentiment that parliament was the problem, not the monarchy. OTL the Americans figured out that the king was part and parcel of the British establishment they were fighting, so the Declaration of Independence blames the king for everything.
The challenge: how to make the Americans continue to believe that they are revolting against parliament and for King George. For Crusaders Kings fans, they want to be in personal union with Great Britain but not ruled by Great Britain.
My thought would be to maybe have King George III have an earlier and prolonged bout of madness than OTL, so that in the entire run up to the war and during the war itself he is believed in America to be non compos mentis and he pretty much in fact is. Additionally, maybe have one of his last sane acts be to say something vaguely pro-American that the Americans widely seize on as evidence that the King is on their side.
Thoughts?
The effects of the WI: how does this affect the American Revolution? I think it makes a straightforward OTL Declaration of Independence difficult. The problem for the colonists is that they need to declare independence to get foreign aid. I think they end up declaring something like "Independence under the Crown" to get foreign aid.
Or else with the king being out of action, the war is prosecuted even less vigorously on the British end. OTL the war was not prosecuted all the vigorously, but there is still lots of room for having it be even more half-hearted. If so, the Americans could conceivably win without foreign aid. What is interesting about a super half-hearted war that the Americans win is that it could result in America getting Canada and even Bermuda/Bahamas--basically whatever part of the West Indies weren't extremely profitable.
Either way, you probably end up with an independent America that claims allegiance to the British king. When a functional monarch returns to the throne (George III recovers or dies), what does the British royal family do about it? Do they just rule America via a viceroy, or do they try to get a younger son crowned in America?
What are the effects on international affairs? I think this ATL America is still independent but acts much more like a Commonwealth nation. The ties are a lot closer, especially in the extremely half-hearted war scenario.
Thoughts?
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