Charles dies

Not sure where he actually was when Mountbatten died, but what if on 27 August, 1979 Charles drops in to see Mountbatten and is killed when the bomb goes off?
 
If it is Prince Charles, you have radically changed the succession line of the Commonwealth monarchy.

If it is Charles Sheen, nobody would notice.
 
Then Prince Andrew becomes heir to the throne. Which is too ghastly to contemplate really.
 
Anti-Irish attacks skyrocket on the mainland. The British public, who were IOTL really pissed off about Mountbatten, are not going to take kindly to the murder of the heir to the throne at the same time. I would imagine a strong, concentrated anti-Irish feeling resembling the immediate hysteria in September 2001 against Muslims from some sections of the US population.

Would Andrew be King Andrew I? Doesn't sound very good. His middle names are Albert, Christian and Edward. Edward IX, perhaps?
 

MrP

Banned
Charles, Prince of Wales maybe?

Charles Manson was in jail, so it couldn't be him.

Torqumada
:D
Anti-Irish attacks skyrocket on the mainland. The British public, who were IOTL really pissed off about Mountbatten, are not going to take kindly to the murder of the heir to the throne at the same time. I would imagine a strong, concentrated anti-Irish feeling resembling the immediate hysteria in September 2001 against Muslims from some sections of the US population.

Would Andrew be King Andrew I? Doesn't sound very good. His middle names are Albert, Christian and Edward. Edward IX, perhaps?

Oh, that's a dreadful selection. Charles apparently intends to use George as his regnal name to avoid links to Charles and Charles. What can poor Andrew do when the only name which slots into the system is that of a chap who's only known for loving Hitler?

As V-J says, it's an alarming idea to have Andrew as the heir. The Duchess, that mad money-lending friend &c, &c - it makes Charles' chatting with the flora seem positively fine!
 
Speaking as a republican, I'd rather have 50 years of Charles than 50 days of Andrew.

Would be interesting to see how the BBC tries to spin King Andy in a positive light. Charles has an element of aristocratic dignity to him, Andrew's just a spod.
 
Andrew has a long time to clean up his act, remember, if Charles dies in the 1970s. 40 years being groomed for the throne could change him, and we have no idea how his personality would react to the murder of his brother. He might be better or worse than we fear OTL.
 
He is a sloane. They never improve. They are anti-improvement. If anything, him becoming heir would make him worse.
 
Folks, let's also remember that if Charles dies in 1979 and Andrew still has his life in the following few years go as IOTL, we'll have the Prince of Wales as a combat veteran in the Falklands. Aside from the Argentines trying to target him for that reason (a possibility but not a likely one), he'll return home with people pointing out that Britain's King-to-Be is a combat veteran. He'll have a long time to clean up his act, and his life could go very different from OTL.
 
There is no chance whatsoever that the Prince of Wales will be allowed to take part in the Falklands, especially after his brother has been killed in this fashion. None.
 
Chances are Andrew wouldn't marry Fergie. Maybe things would go better for him. I kind a get a kick out of her and would probably like her if I knew her personally but she was a disaster for the British Monarchy.
 
Yeah Fergie would not be considered suitable queen consort material and this is back when it was still a case of suitability rather than actual love being more of a factor in the marriage of the heir to the throne. You can forget about his taking part in the Falklands campaign though, there's no way in hell that the heir to the throne is going to be allowed to go into combat. I think a large part of how Andrew has turned out nowadays comes from his marriage and the fact that he's the younger brother of the heir to the throne but doesn't really have anything substantive to do aside from charity stuff. As heir to the throne he's not going to have the freedom to meet dodgy people and his circle of friends and acquaintances is going to be much more regulated. Growing into the role I think he'd make a decent monarch but nothing special
 
Suppose Andrew gets interested in Diana Spencer; after all, his late brother had been linked to her elder sister Sarah.
 
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