Beauharnaises in Brussels

When the election was held by the Belgian National Congress to decide who would be the new king of the Belgians, first place went to Louis d'Orléans, duc de Nemours, second to Auguste de Beauharnais, duke of Leuchtenberg and then to the duke of Teschen (I'm not sure where Leopold of Coburg came in this election).

Unfortunately, the Great Powers were afraid that Beauharnais with his Napoleonic roots would draw Belgium too close to the revolutionary monarchy now in place in France (the July Monarchy) and Britain pushed Leopold of Coburg forward.

The POD of him being chosen as the Belgian monarch would mean that he would be unavailable to marry Maria II of Portugal (who might well marry his younger brother Maximilian though) and thereby dying in Lisbon of diphtheria. So, what might a Beauharnais Belgium look like?
 
Probably even more Francophile, possibly meaning earlier problems with the Flemish in the North, possibly a renewed attempt by the Dutch to liberate the Flemings?
 
The most important question is: Would Britain accept him? If Britain fears that Belgium would become too pro-French, there is a good chance they are not going to recognize the monarch and possibly even the current borders of Belgium. Maybe they would in an attempt to weaken a pro-French monarch give belgian Limburg and Luxemburg to the Netherlands.
 

dead_wolf

Banned
How would Britain 'give' those territories away? Oh sure Britain could say they recognize them as Dutch territory, but the Dutch hadn't exactly been successful in their military endeavors against the Belgians, re: Ten Days' Campaign. A diplomatic solution will have to be found, and one that doesn't recognize territories under Belgian control as Belgian probably isn't going to fly.
 
How would Britain 'give' those territories away? Oh sure Britain could say they recognize them as Dutch territory, but the Dutch hadn't exactly been successful in their military endeavors against the Belgians, re: Ten Days' Campaign. A diplomatic solution will have to be found, and one that doesn't recognize territories under Belgian control as Belgian probably isn't going to fly.
The Dutch were actualy pretty succesful against the Belgians. Basicly the Dutch entered Belgium occupied territory, defeated the belgians and retreated only when the French got involved.

And how would the British give those territories away? the same way Dutch Limburg ended up Dutch, even though all of it except Maastricht (and I think Venlo or Venray) was occupied by Belgium.
 

dead_wolf

Banned
Yes, but that was the diplomatic solution for OTL. I guess my point more is this; in an ATL where the Belgians elect Beauharnais as King, which implies a more French-leaning/Wallonian Belgium, why would the Belgians accept a British proposition giving away Belgian territories? Limburg I suppose I could see, but OTL's Belgian Luxemburg is solidly Walloon.
 
Top