Assassination attempt on Queen Victoria successful
- Thread starter DMA
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There is a theory now that the 1887 "Jubilee Plot" was a set up by British Intelligence to discredit the Irish Nationalists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_Plot
A better "Victoria gets assasinated" POD might be 10th June 1840 when Edward Oxford fired two shots at Victoria. He was tried for high treason the next month but was acquited on grounds of insanity.
None of Victoria and Albert's children has been born at the time of Oxford's attempt so if Victoria was to die without issue that could change a lot of things
That's right.
Tsarevich Alexei's mother Alexandra was born Princess Victoria of Hess and Rhine and was the daughter of Queen Victoria's 2nd daughter Alice.
If I remember right in the event of Queen Vicky dying without issue the British throne would have passed to her cousin, Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge
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Victoria was (4 months) pregnant at the time of the June 1840 assination attempt with her first child Victoria. Her heir at that time was her uncle Ernest Augustus (King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland &Teviotdale). He was an unpleasant and ruthless individual.
Does that mean there is a chance of union between the UK and Hanover if he becomes King?
Flocculencio
Donor
Well presumably they would be in personal union just as they were from George I to William IV. Victoria couldn't inherit the throne of Hanover because Hanover used Salic law so it passed to William's closest male relative, Ernest Augustus.
Personal Union, however, means that the two countries are separate sovereign states which simply share the same monarch (just like the UK does with Canada, Australia &c. today). I'm not sure if actually incorporating Hanover into the UK would be possible.
So we have Ernest Augustus on the throne...king of Hanover, couldn't that affect the people's language?
Apart from there being a few more German loan-words in the English language I don't think it will change much
Nevertheless, a possession of the Crown in mainland Europe would hinder any "Splendid Isolation"-type policies, as any action threatening the Hanoverian domains would demand British intervention, lest Hanover rebel and find a better monarch, or even a republic.
I Think The BIGGEST Butterfly will be The Fortunes of Prussia ...
With a Stake in TTL's Version of The Austro-Prussian War, Britain will Declare for Austria to Counter-Balance The Intervention of Italy ...
Even if this Doesn't Lead to a General European War Hot on The Heels of The American One, Prussia will NEVER be able to Unify Germany if it Can't Even Enlarge itself!
In any event Killing Vicky junior before she is born butterflies out Willie the Stupid.
True Enough ...
Perhaps a BETTER Time-Line, Will be The Result ...
No Germany, And a Stronger Czarist Bloodline!
That assassination attempt was to be explosives at Westminster. If it's like other historical examples, some of the bystanders will be killed as well, and in this case the bystanders include much of Victoria's family and of British nobility. How big a change occurs depends on who else dies.
If Edward VII survives, he would have had a lot more time to try to soothe the tensions in Europe. If he dies, his son Albert Victor becomes king until his death in 1892, after which George becomes king at 27 instead of 45, like in OTL. If Edward's wife dies, who will he remarry?
If Victoria's son-in-law Frederick of Prussia dies, his son Wilhelm gets the thone a year earlier. If Wilhelm dies in the explosion, his younger brother Heinrich was a lot more level-headed and pleasant, but also a fan of naval expansion.
If Salisbury is killed, who becomes Prime Minister?
1842 might be an interesting divergence point, too. It leaves Prince Albert as an unpopular regent, with only Princess Victoria and the infant Edward VII having been born. England is no longer tied to as many royal houses as OTL, and Queen Victoria has not passed on the gene for hemophilia.
Would you mind elaborating on this? Why do you characterize him as unpleasant and ruthless?
From wikipedia:
I'm not sure about the veracity of the rather gossip-esque rumours regarding his personal life, but his politics were certainly reactionary.
Susano
Banned
As it was before Victoria IOTL, too. Even further apart than Canada and the UK, because Canada started out as not being independant, whereas Hannover has always been independant (well, as long as all German territorial states). But try to explain THAT to SOME Britwankers here