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The Kingdom of Virginia, and of His Majesty, The King of Virginia's Other Colonies
The government as established in the last decade of the reign of James II ran as follows:
Each colony was itself a kingdom with the monarch, James II and then Louis I, as Head of State. Each former colony was free to maintain its own methods of government with the crown being given different degrees of power depending on the former colony.
Each former colony would also elect five members to the Citizens Assembly, and of these five, two would be appointed to the Federal Council. The Federal Council was the executive, with no single person holding more power than the others, with an individual within the council nominated by the council members and voted on by the assembly as Spokesperson.
To an outsider, the Spokesperson could appear to akin to a Prime Minister but that equivalent was the Federal Council itself.
To avoid any deadlocks on the council and to give the crown some sort of voice, the monarch could nominate an individual as King's Speaker. The Speaker could not vote except at the point of deadlock, but could present the views and opinions of the crown on all matters.
Louis I nominated George Washington, the former Commander of the National Guard, as his first King's Speaker. Louis I's reign was peaceful when compared to the last ten years of his father's and the King did much work to compensate for any civilian concerns regarding absolutism. His major project was to continue the construction of the King James Network of canals to ease trade between the kingdoms, inspired by the French and British models.
He was also responsible for moving the royal seat to the Niagara Palace in the Kingdom of New York, with the Matoaka Palace becoming the first meeting place for the new government.
Niagara likewise became crown territory, not unlike the islands of St Pierre et Miquelon, outside of colonial authority and under direct control of the Crown.
The only true contentious issue was the name of the country with preferential treatment given to Virginia until this point, the official title underwent a handful of changes from "Kingdom of Virginia, and of His Majesty, the King of Virginia's Other Colonies", them simply replacing "Other Colonies" with "Other Kingdoms". The first Assembly and Council were gathered under this name.
The Assembly and Council decided that the country was a Federal Kingdom, but we're stuck on the name - Federal Kingdom of ... What? Of where? Suggestions were made, and for a while, a coloqialism for the former Kingdom - Colonia - was used in official documents. But that still suggested colonies, which chafed for some of the Assemblymen.
Others suggested America, the term for the land mass as a whole. But could the former colonies take the name of a continent especially when they protested the name of the Kingdom being one of the colonies. Eventually it was settled by the Citizens Assembly. It would be the Federal Kingdom of Albion, with its dual capitals of New Modena and Niagara.
Aside from the Naming "Crisis" and the continued work on the canal network, Crown Prince Philip had turned 18 in 1764 and with his father's accession, his mother looked towards a marriage for him. With the new friendship between Britain and, the now named, Albion, the ideal candidate was Caroline Matilda, daughter of King Frederick. Caroline was far enough down the line of succession that a union of the crowns was not a worry, but as am insurance policy, Caroline was forced to abdicate her claims to the British crown as part of the marriage contract.
Caroline and Philip married in 1769, and in 1770, their first child, Louis, Viscount Langlade, was born. Caroline and Philip made a grand tour of the kingdoms during the 1770s, partly via the canal network, and comment was made about how vivid and charming the Crown Princess was and how very much in love they appeared.
This could not have been further from the truth. Philip and Caroline tolerated each other and put on a public face, but they led relatively separate lives within their apartments at the Niagara Palace. In this respect, the marriage was not unlike James II and Margaret of France, but Margaret had the leverage of having provided troops and the islands of St Pierre et Miquelon, and the dowry that Caroline had brought could not be leveraged against her own happiness in the same way.
No further children were born to the Crown Prince and Princess, so Queen Teresa turned her sights over to her nieces and nephews - Augustine and Elizabeth Washington-Stuart - as a sort of contingency plan.
These matches were more successful than her own sons, with Augustine and Elizabeth producing six children between them.
Elizabeth had married William Louis of Baden Durlach, without terms in the marriage contract like those of Philip and Caroline. The Stateholder of New England was theoretically an elected position and a future Stateholder could be invited in much like the Holy Roman Emperor. Her brother, Augustine married the daughter of a local landowner and member of the Citizens Assembly.
By 1780, the first ten people in line to the crown of Albion were, as follows:
1 - Crown Prince Philip, Comte de St Pierre et Miquelon
2 - Prince Louis, Viscount Langlade
3 - Prince Charles
4 - Prince Augustine Washington-Stuart
5 - Augustine Washington-Stuart II *
6 - Charles Washington-Stuart *
7 - Margaret Washington-Stuart *
8 - Princess Elizabeth Washington-Stuart
9 - Ludwig of Baden-Durlach *
10 - Prince Benedict Calvert
As great grandchildren of James II, the children of Prince Augustine and Princess Elizabeth were not entitled to use the style Prince of Albion following the rules laid down early in James II reign, the children of Prince Benedict would also loose this style.
Crown Princess Caroline took up residence in the royal retreat of Bacon's Castle, only returning to court in Niagara when her father-in-law died and her husband ascended the throne. Queen Teresa died a handful of years after her husband.
The Dominion of New England
William Louis had arrived to a depleted Dominion, with Rhode Island seceding and selecting their own monarch. Separated from his elder sibling in their youths due to being a bad influence, he had found his niche as a governor whilst in charge of the Dutch territory of Gelderland. He had developed an interest in industrialisation which he brought with him. Boston developed it's shipping industry in competition with the ports of Charleston and New York City.
William needed a wife and after many years, he married Elizabeth Washington-Stuart at the behest of Queen Teresa of Albion, twenty years his junior. They had two children, Ludwig and Amalia, who were low down in the line of succession. Amalia's birth pushed Prince Benedict out of the first ten in the line of succession and a year later, Amalia herself slid out of the first ten when her fourth and final cousin, James Washington-Stuart was born in 1883. Although Queen Teresa had orchestrated the match, it had been welcomed by King Louis because William shared his desire to build and maintain a great American canal network.
The New Modena-Boston Grand Canal would not be completed until the turn of the 18th Century but after the chaotic fight for independence of thirty years earlier, New England and Albion had struck up a strong alliance.
Unfortunately, before Louis died in 1788, William had died in 1786. Elisabeth swiftly proposed her twelve year old son for the post, and the governing council of New England considered Ludwig for barely five minutes before they swiftly rejected him.
After a brief period in which the council itself governed the Dominion, Archibald Hamilton arrived as the next Stateholder. Archibald was already married and with a son of his own - and should the title become inherited, there was no chance of any crown unions.
Elizabeth returned to Albion with Ludwig and Amalia with the promise that Archibald would not renege on the work that had been done to the canal network and that Ludwig would be married to Susan Hamilton, the new Stateholders youngest daughter, when they both turned 18 in 1792.
The Grand Duchy of Rhode Island
Albert Casimir of Saxony had barely been in his twenties when he had been made Sovereign Duke of Rhode Island. His rule would see him have four counterparts in Albion and two in New England. Rhode Island being the smallest of the three countries, barely able to scrape a militia together, let alone a navy and therefore it was in the most vulnerable position.
Therefore Alberts main concern was the recruitment of soldiers and sailors from Europe, and whilst the King of Albion, and the Stateholder of New England had palaces and castles, the Duke of Rhode Island would make do with a simple house in Newport and a vastly reduced sovereign grant to fund his lifestyle and enjoyment of the arts.
And therefore, marrying a rich wife was high on his list of priorities. Victoire de Rohan was presented as a possibility and in 1761, she arrived in Newport and was married. This meant that she would not be outshone by her half sister who was a princesse du sang in France as she had married the Prince of Condi. Charlotte might have married a Prince, but Victoire was a Queen in all but name.
With the reasonable dowry that Victoire brought, Albert invested in a handful of ships - second hand of course, from Britain and France - to build a basis for a Rhode Island Defence Force, making it the second military after the Albionaisse National Guard in America to be founded. The Dominion of New England was still reliant on the colonial militias from its constituent territories, but believed that would be sufficient should war ever sweep the coast again.
But the next war would not erupt within America, but in Europe. And it would test the alliances - familial, marital, trade and military - on both sides of the ocean.