How can the Protectorate survive?

After Oliver Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament the Protectorate emerged in the British Isles. This quasi dictatorship lasted until Oliver's less adept son, Richard came to power as Lord Protector. After this the Protectorate collapsed as the army and Parliament squabbled and General Monck was able to march into London and restore the monarchy. But how can the collapse of the Protectorate be avoided and how long can it realistically last?
 
Be honest, people were pretty much hating the Protectorate at the end, so no matter the successor the royalists would soon have an excuse and the numerical edge. If not Monck, someone else was going to march in with a bigger army than his.

Still, 3 to 1 odds isn't impossible. it doesn't help the royalist support tended to be disbursed while the protectorate can count on local supremacy in at least three regions of England.
 
The Protectorate needs a Protector to protect it.

All jesting aside, republicanism was pretty unpopular in England. It was supported only by the army, so any Republic of Britain would be a military dictatorship.
 
Basically, you need a very different Protectorate such that it might not even be called that for it to survive long term, with it's IOTL set-up the best bet is to do a couple of things to keep it going either a bit more or for forever.

  • Keep the protectorate going until Charles II dies and his successor remains Catholic, Anti-Papism wasn't quite as high until the last of the Stuarts (bar Anne) mucked up the kingdom but this might help keep people in favour of avoiding a return to Rome, especially if the Monarch's plan for being restored relied upon foreign support and a return to Rome.
  • Change the Commonwealth/Protectorate to be much more civilian and have Cromwell allow the development of something like the semi-monarchical Dutch Republic and maybe even have him and his family become something akin to the House of Orange and the Orangist faction.
  • Somewhat cheating but see Cromwell or his successors lose Ireland/Scotland, either initially or eventually, and thus allow them to choose a different path for England/Great Britain without Ireland and/or Scotland.
 
The only way is for Oliver to live forever. He was the only one holding the whole thing together. He was a military strongman with an iron fist reputation, trusted by the puritan saints but also trusted by the petty nobles, the merchants and the squirearchy not to sell them out to radical republicans. Britain got Charlie boy back because nobody could follow Cromwell.
Not a nice man but a great one.
 
Perhaps if instead of Cromwell there were a few similar men so there is a ruling council of Protectors (Guardians?).
This could extend the Protectorate by a decade or 2.
 
In essence, anything similar to Cromwell's Protectorate wasn't going to outlive Cromwell?

But could the Commonwealth (basically no King for England, Scotland, and Ireland) have survived. Would it have been possible for parliament to outmaneuver, ally with, or subdue the army and lift the restrictions on the commoners so that they would support continued parliamentary rule?
 
When this topic came up before, people suggested having one of his more competent sons succeed him instead of Richard. Does this not work?
 
What would be your POD? In 1651, The future Charles II escaped after losing the battle of Worcester. He could have been caught and killed.


Basically, you need a very different Protectorate such that it might not even be called that for it to survive long term, with it's IOTL set-up the best bet is to do a couple of things to keep it going either a bit more or for forever.

  • Keep the protectorate going until Charles II dies and his successor remains Catholic, Anti-Papism wasn't quite as high until the last of the Stuarts (bar Anne) mucked up the kingdom but this might help keep people in favour of avoiding a return to Rome, especially if the Monarch's plan for being restored relied upon foreign support and a return to Rome.
 
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