i've noticed on this forum, that when one person posts something about a topic; their tends to be about 20 more threads pop up asking similar questions. So i decided to ask a question that i haven't yet seen on this site.
(although i'm sure it has been asked)
What if, through some means, Queen Victoria comes to rule Hanover like her ancestors did?
Highly improbable. The Salic Law had been in place for centuries and was not going to be overturned.
Who would want it to be lifted? The British political elite found the connection to Hanover annoying and inconvenient. Britain had no interest in Hanover - no authority, no revenue, nothing. It was a personal possession of the monarch, which Britain therefore had to deal with.
The separation of Hanover at Victoria's accession was welcomed in Britain; it passed to her father's younger brother, her uncle Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.
However, that separation could have been avoided in several ways, all of them involving a male heir to both crowns. Victoria could have been male, or her father could have lived longer and fathered a son. Or Victoria might never have been born or died young (so Cumberland succeeds in Britain as well).
Assuming there is still a 7 weeks war, what happens to Hanover?
Does it (in union with the UK) remain neutral?
Or does it join in on the side of Prussia, or Austria?
How does this effect German unification?
The British connection to Hanover will force Bismarck to be cautious. He can't stomp Hanover the way he did OTL. Or at least can't assume he can. OTOH, if "Victor" as King of Hanover jumps into a war, Britain isn't going to intervene automatically.
It becomes a question of who is perceived as starting the war (between Hanover and Prussia). Prussia's actions may be seen as intolerable to Hanover, without being an explicit casus belli. Britain
really doesn't want to get involved in German affairs. OTOH, Britain cannot stand by while Prussia tromps all over her King, even if not in his British role.
If Hanover
has to fight, Britain will, reluctantly, back them.
Or maybe not. In which case Hanover gets crushed as OTL, and relations with Britain will be semi-poisoned for quite a while. It's interesting to note that OTL, Prussia's crushing of Hanover, ruled by Victoria's cousin, didn't bother her much; her daughter was married to the Prussian Crown Prince.