House of Hanover Question

Say the House of Hanover remains on the throne of Great Britain and Ireland until the modern day, if a version of WW1 happens in this timeline, would the King of the time change the family name if the country was fighting Germany? If so what would he change it to? OTL Windsor? Or something else?

Secondly, how likely is it that Hanover itself could cause a war between Britain and Prussia?
 
Too much butterflies, the whole dynamic of the German unification is gone, since the King of Great Britain has a saying in the whole thing.

For war with Prussia, you should note that Britain and Hanover weren't the same country, so war with Hanover doesn't immediately translates in war with Britain, though the Parliament may decide between its King's prestige or wanking Prussia.
 
Too much butterflies, the whole dynamic of the German unification is gone, since the King of Great Britain has a saying in the whole thing.

For war with Prussia, you should note that Britain and Hanover weren't the same country, so war with Hanover doesn't immediately translates in war with Britain, though the Parliament may decide between its King's prestige or wanking Prussia.

Alright interesting. So say that the King of Great Britain does retain an interest in German affairs, how much pull can he exert over Parliament, in order to protect his Kingdom?
 
For what it's worth, Hanover wasn't a surname. It was the name of the state the kings came from. In Germany, they used the family name (Welf or Guelph; both versions were used). Same goes for their Saxe-Coburg successors (family name Wettin). The change in name was prompted by an article by H. G. Wells in which he said something about "this alien and uninspiring monarchy". George V growled that "I might be uninspiring but I'm not alien" and promptly changed the name of his house to that of his favorite castle. A different king could easily pick a different name.

It's more likely than not that Britain wouldn't get sucked into the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866: Britain had favored Denmark in the Schleswig-Holstein conflict in 1864, and had found itself unable to provide any meaningful assistance, so why get humiliated again. In that case, the king would remain king of Hanover, too, but Prussia would dominate Germany as in OTL. If Britain did try to intervene on the Austrian side in 1866 or the French in 1870, it's unlikely to change the outcome, so dominant were the Prussians in both conflicts. Eventually there would be a peace treaty; possibly the king of Britain would retain retain all or part of Hanover or Britain would be compensated by territories outside Europe.
 
For what it's worth, Hanover wasn't a surname. It was the name of the state the kings came from. In Germany, they used the family name (Welf or Guelph; both versions were used). Same goes for their Saxe-Coburg successors (family name Wettin). The change in name was prompted by an article by H. G. Wells in which he said something about "this alien and uninspiring monarchy". George V growled that "I might be uninspiring but I'm not alien" and promptly changed the name of his house to that of his favorite castle. A different king could easily pick a different name.

It's more likely than not that Britain wouldn't get sucked into the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866: Britain had favored Denmark in the Schleswig-Holstein conflict in 1864, and had found itself unable to provide any meaningful assistance, so why get humiliated again. In that case, the king would remain king of Hanover, too, but Prussia would dominate Germany as in OTL. If Britain did try to intervene on the Austrian side in 1866 or the French in 1870, it's unlikely to change the outcome, so dominant were the Prussians in both conflicts. Eventually there would be a peace treaty; possibly the king of Britain would retain retain all or part of Hanover or Britain would be compensated by territories outside Europe.
Okay intetesting, if they do retain Hannover does that mean then that's they do fealty for it?

And what could other potential names other than Windsor be for a renamed royal family
 
If they do lose Hannover, and find that there's no point in hell to get it back anymore (either because of giving it to a younger branch or whatever, like Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha) or the animosity towards anything German is that big - then yes they might change it.

But I don't 'think just because they're the Welfs would make them change anything different from Windsor. Maybe they'll choose something like Westminster, but it wouldn't be anything too creative. For all we know they might even go with London.
 
If they do lose Hannover, and find that there's no point in hell to get it back anymore (either because of giving it to a younger branch or whatever, like Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha) or the animosity towards anything German is that big - then yes they might change it.

But I don't 'think just because they're the Welfs would make them change anything different from Windsor. Maybe they'll choose something like Westminster, but it wouldn't be anything too creative. For all we know they might even go with London.

Okay interesting, and do you think it is very likely they would lose Hanover?
 
Too much butterflies, the whole dynamic of the German unification is gone, since the King of Great Britain has a saying in the whole thing.

For war with Prussia, you should note that Britain and Hanover weren't the same country, so war with Hanover doesn't immediately translates in war with Britain, though the Parliament may decide between its King's prestige or wanking Prussia.


There could be butterflies even earlier than that.

OTL, Prussia and Austria just pushed the other German states aside and acted unilaterally. That will be a lot harder if one of those states is ruled by the King of England. There is also the possibility that Britain/Hanover, either in 1864 or 1866, could talk Napoleon III into joining them in insisting on a peaceful solution, which could have any number of consequences.
 
There could be butterflies even earlier than that.

OTL, Prussia and Austria just pushed the other German states aside and acted unilaterally. That will be a lot harder if one of those states is ruled by the King of England. There is also the possibility that Britain/Hanover, either in 1864 or 1866, could talk Napoleon III into joining them in insisting on a peaceful solution, which could have any number of consequences.

OIh now that would be interesting. I suppose it depends entirely on how determined the King of Britain is on maintaining Hanover.
 
Hannover did decently well against the Prussian army in 1866, until they were overwhelmed by Prussian reinforcements. A single division of British troops may very well turn the tide in the North and send the Prussians back to Prussia, which would give the other German states new confidence and perhaps make Austria fight on. The Prussians had problems with replacing the firing needles on their rifles, which wore out tather quickly. This could have casued them considerable problems in a prolonged conflict.
 
Hannover did decently well against the Prussian army in 1866, until they were overwhelmed by Prussian reinforcements. A single division of British troops may very well turn the tide in the North and send the Prussians back to Prussia, which would give the other German states new confidence and perhaps make Austria fight on. The Prussians had problems with replacing the firing needles on their rifles, which wore out tather quickly. This could have casued them considerable problems in a prolonged conflict.

Alright interesting. I suppose a British unit being sent over would be more likely if the King demanded it. Especially if said King was very involved with the army.
 
If they wanted to be more English than English and choose a name hearkening to the past but not used by then, Wessex is always available. :p
 
Which seems more likely if a name change ever came about:

Westminster, London, Britain, Buckingham or Wessex
 
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