List of monarchs III
- Thread starter Shiva
- Start date
-
- Tags
- alt history lists ruler game
Mary, Countess of Harewood saw her son remain an Earl. Louise, Duchess of Fife saw her husband raises from an Earldom to a Dukedom, and Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, had her husband made an Earl but neither saw their children receive any other titles.
I'd say the most likely case here would be a marriage to a descendant of Alfred, a great grandson, who is either the current Duke of, or a brother of the current Duke and simply of, Edinburgh and Kendall.
Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom
1857 - 1892: Albert I (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [1]
1892 - 1907: Albert II (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [2]
1907 - 1941: Ernest (House of Saxon) [3]
1941 - 1994: Victoria II (House of Saxon) [4]
1994 - 2013: Albert III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [5]
King Albert and his Private Secretary, Major General Sir Henry London by in 1875
[1] Born in 1841, Prince Albert Edward was not yet seventeen when his mother died in childbirth with her ninth child. The Regency Act put in place when his eldest sister was born in 1840, meant that theie father, the former Prince Consort, acted as Regent until he turned 18 on 9th November 1859.
Albert, for he had taken his first name as his regnal name, would need a wife and whilst his mother and father had hoped to engineer a match with Alexandra of Denmark, the young monarch acted out against the parental control, rejected the idea and sought his own marital match, settling on Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, who was two years older than him.
His father disapproved due to the woman's scandalous family, but the marriage went ahead regardless as Albert was then above the age of majority and Albert sent his father to live at Claremont House with his younger siblings in tow and the lifetime peerage of the Duke of Kendall.
The pair had four children - the eldest was born in 1861, the youngest in 1871. Queen Charlotte (as she was known, the Prime Minister convinced her that Queen Susan was not appropriate) did a lot of charity work to build the trust of the British public and eventually the papers were grudgingly forced to admit that they didn't dislike her.
Queen Charlotte in 1892, shortly before her husband's fateful tour of England ...
In 1871, he visited Malta, Brindisi, Greece and India and a decade earlier than that, he had visited the United States of America as part of his honeymoon. He was, simply put, the most well travelled monarch the country had seen, and his younger brother, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Kendall (he had been granted their father's title when he had died in 1861) was more than capable of acting on his behalf whilst the King was away from London - to such an extent that Alfred was offered the crown of Greece himself, but the Treaty of London required he refuse it.
In 1892, whilst on a tour of England, Albert caught typhoid. He had previously suffered from it almost exactly two decades earlier, shortly after the birth of his fourth child, and had survived. This time, he was not so lucky - his wife was informed of his passing shortly after midnight when a messenger delivered a note to Buckingham Palace. She, in turn, immediately sent word to her children and Prince Edward was informed that he was now King of the United Kingdom.
King Albert II
[2] Edward Albert Victor was born in 1861 and was raised to be king some day. He became the Prince of Wales on his 18th birthday in 1879 and expected he'd remain such until well into the 20th Century. He was in Scotland when epidemics of typhoid and influenza swept through England and avoided these diseases. He was shocked that his father hadn't and he was now king in 1892.
He took the regal name of Albert in honor of his father and grandfather. He married a cousin, Mary Princess of Teck, but they had no children. Later in life the dowager Queen would supposedly confide to a confidant, the young Lady Sommerville, who revealed this information many decades later, that the king never visited her bed. There were rumors that he was homosexual, but there is no proof. Other scholars purport the confession by Queen Mary was not real and made up by Lady Sommerville.
King Albert led the country through the Boer War and the beginning of the naval arms race in Battleships with the German Empire. He died in 1907 from Tuberculosis. Both Queen Mary, his wife, and Queen Charlotte, now nearly 70, outlived him.
King Ernest c. 1920 at Osborne House
[3] Ernest, born 1887, the Duke of Clarence was nephew to Albert II and grandson to Albert I. His father (also Ernest, after Queen Victoria's brother-in-law/cousin) had been made Duke of Clarence. Aged 20 when he became King, he had already been Duke of Clarence for four years after his father died in a boating accident in 1902, leaving the Dowager Duchess to raise Ernest and his younger sister.
A course of changes to the succession laws in Albert II's reign, designed to pacify the growing independence movement in Ireland saw the consort of a monarch allowed to be a Catholic, but not the monarch themselves. This paved the way for Ernest to marry Louise Francois Marie Laure d'Orleans, daughter of the Count of Paris (Orleanist claimant to the French throne until his death) who although five years older was unmarried (a match with Infante Carlos, Prince of Bourbon Two Sicilies had been under consideration) and willing to meet the marriage terms. Queen Louise provided Ernest with four children.
The continent almost erupted into war in 1914 with an attempt on the life of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, but the grenade intended to kill him missed their car and when Ferdinand returned to the site, one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princeps, had been struck with food poisoning and was suffering from explosive vomiting when Ferdinand was passing by the cafe he was in.
But still, the militarization of the German Empire continued, with the naval arms race moving at speed. The developments caused Ernest to be conscious of his Germanic name, and he officially changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Saxon in 1920, simultaneously rescinding the British titles of his German relatives.
By 1925, both Wilhelm II and Wilhelm III had passed away with Kaiser Adalbert, Wilhelm III's younger brother, taking the German throne. Adalbert was more liberal than his father and brother which causes dissent amongst the German military leading into the German Civil War in 1928, with Adalbert at the head of the imperialists and the 81 year old Paul von Hindenburg. By 1935, the conflict had ground to a stalemate and in the Yalta Conference, the two sides ceased hostilities with the British Empire and the Russian Republic recognising both the Kingdom of Germany (under the Kaiser) and the People's Republic of Germany (under Franz von Papen).
However, whilst open hostilities may have been brought to an end, hostilities would consider covertly with the People's Republic openly allying with the powerful Russian Republic.
Ernest died in 1941, at the age of 54, having contracted lung cancer due to smoking.
Queen Victoria II in 1952[4] Princess Victoria Elizabeth Charlotte was born in 1917. (Her friends and family called her Vicky.) Her older brother, Prince George, born in 1914 was removed from the line of succession on his 12th birthday in 1926 when he was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, following his mother's faith. He never thus became Prince of Wales four years later, but instead was given the Dukedon that had become part of the crown, being made the Duke of Clarence. His son, Edward Saxon, age 73, is the current Duke of Clarence.
Victoria's younger brother, Prince Richard, born 1920, now became the heir at age 6. However, in 1938, shortly after being made the Prince of Wales, he was visiting his second cousin once removed, Kaiser Adalbert, in Imperial Germany and his motorcade came under fire from revolutionaries from the German Peoples' Republic and the Prince of Wales was killed. The United Kingdom immediately increased military aid to Imperial Germany, but no war broke out as the Peoples' Republic aided in the capture and trial of the revolutionaries.
Victoria was now the heir to the throne at age 21 and was made the first Princess of Wales. (Her only surviving sibling was her younger sister, Princess Mary Margaret Charlotte, born in 1924.)
In 1940, the Princess married the 16th Duke of Norfolk's son, Henry Fitzalan-Howard (named after his grandfather the 15th Duke), known then as the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. Henry was born in 1910. [OOC: Unlike in OTL Philip, the 15th Duke's son from his first marriage, doesn't die in 1902, but marries and has Henry. He thus becomes the 16th Duke on the death of his father in 1917. He's 61 and Henry is 30 when the royal wedding happens. /OOC] On their marriage the Earl was made "Prince Consort" by the King. He later became the Duke of Norfolk on his own father's death in 1952.
Prince Henry, Duke of Norfolk
Queen Victoria was Queen during the Great War of West and East that began in 1943 when the German Empire and the German Peoples' Republic finally went to war and the various treaties of the great nations of Europe that had been made with the two German states put all Europe at War. Britain, France, and Italy honored their treaties with the Empire, being the Western Alliance, while the Turkish Republic, the Bulgarian Republic, and the Russian Republic honored theirs with the People's Republic, being the Eastern Alliance. The Japanese Empire used the out break of war in Europe to seize British and French and Imperial German colonies in East Asia and the Pacific, creating a de facto alliance with the Eastern Alliance. This brought the United States into the war also as a part of the Western Alliance. The war was fought in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa as well as the Pacific and Europe.
Victoria was a steady voice for her nation as the West faced terrible battles in Eastern Europe. Despite the rapid conquest of the German People's Republic, the attempt to invade the Russian Republic stalled in the Winter of 1943 and casualties piled up. She and Prince Henry became beloved by her people as her watchword in constant radio speeches was "Courage."
When the stalemate in Europe clearly was now going to be in favor of the West after the United States took the surrender of Japan in 1947 and could devote itself to Europe, the East sued for peace. Most of Eastern Europe, except for German and Austria, were now Russian style Peoples' Republics. Although the hot war was over, a 'cold war' continued.
Then the Empires of France, Germany, and Britain began to face turmoil as their overseas colonies in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa began the decolonization movement. Victoria surrendered the title "Empress of India" that had been part of the crown since her grandfather, Albert I, had adopted it. By 1960 most British overseas colonies were independent. A few had gone the way of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, staying part of the British Commonwealth and acknowledging Victoria as their Queen. The most notable were Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Victoria then led her kingdoms through a period of social and cultural change in the 60s and 70s with the sexual revolution and Women's liberation and Gay Liberation.
By the 80s Victoria was seen more as a mother. Her role then was in simply being the face of royalty and a steady monarch. Her and the Duke's children were now adults and the focus of the tabloids was on that generation as they married and had children. Prince Henry passed in 1987 at the age of 76 from a heart attack. After that Victoria wore nothing but black. Then after a reign of 53 years, she passed too at the ripe old age of 77.
Queen Victoria with her sister, Princess Mary Margaret, at the funeral of Prince Henry.
To the left of the Queen is her nephew Edward Duke of Clarence.
To the right of the Princess is the oldest son of the Princess, George, Duke of Edinburgh.
[5] The Eldest son of Victoria II and the Prince-Consort, Henry Duke of Norfolk, Albert Louis John Was born in 1943, and recognised as heir to the British Throne, and Prince of Wales upon his baptism.
For much of his life, Albert was an officer in the British Navy serving largely in the Gibraltar Squadron, and it would be in this role where he met his future wife; Infanta Luisa of Spain. The pair would marry in 1967, but the marriage would remain childless, and yet was most happy until her death in 2008.
Upon the death of Victoria II, Albert would take the throne, and would largely face a peaceful reign, aside from the Brixton riots in the late 90s, a period of mass rioting by the Large Afro-caribbean population of London.
In late 2010, his majesty was diagnosed with Prostate cancer, and for the remaining years of his rule, donated vast funds to numerous Cancer organisations, and in 2013, his Majesty finally passed after much agony, and pass the throne to ________.
1857 - 1892: Albert I (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [1]
1892 - 1907: Albert II (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [2]
1907 - 1941: Ernest (House of Saxon) [3]
1941 - 1994: Victoria II (House of Saxon) [4]
1994 - 2013: Albert III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [5]
King Albert and his Private Secretary, Major General Sir Henry London by in 1875
[1] Born in 1841, Prince Albert Edward was not yet seventeen when his mother died in childbirth with her ninth child. The Regency Act put in place when his eldest sister was born in 1840, meant that theie father, the former Prince Consort, acted as Regent until he turned 18 on 9th November 1859.
Albert, for he had taken his first name as his regnal name, would need a wife and whilst his mother and father had hoped to engineer a match with Alexandra of Denmark, the young monarch acted out against the parental control, rejected the idea and sought his own marital match, settling on Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, who was two years older than him.
His father disapproved due to the woman's scandalous family, but the marriage went ahead regardless as Albert was then above the age of majority and Albert sent his father to live at Claremont House with his younger siblings in tow and the lifetime peerage of the Duke of Kendall.
The pair had four children - the eldest was born in 1861, the youngest in 1871. Queen Charlotte (as she was known, the Prime Minister convinced her that Queen Susan was not appropriate) did a lot of charity work to build the trust of the British public and eventually the papers were grudgingly forced to admit that they didn't dislike her.
Queen Charlotte in 1892, shortly before her husband's fateful tour of England ...
In 1871, he visited Malta, Brindisi, Greece and India and a decade earlier than that, he had visited the United States of America as part of his honeymoon. He was, simply put, the most well travelled monarch the country had seen, and his younger brother, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Kendall (he had been granted their father's title when he had died in 1861) was more than capable of acting on his behalf whilst the King was away from London - to such an extent that Alfred was offered the crown of Greece himself, but the Treaty of London required he refuse it.
In 1892, whilst on a tour of England, Albert caught typhoid. He had previously suffered from it almost exactly two decades earlier, shortly after the birth of his fourth child, and had survived. This time, he was not so lucky - his wife was informed of his passing shortly after midnight when a messenger delivered a note to Buckingham Palace. She, in turn, immediately sent word to her children and Prince Edward was informed that he was now King of the United Kingdom.
King Albert II
He took the regal name of Albert in honor of his father and grandfather. He married a cousin, Mary Princess of Teck, but they had no children. Later in life the dowager Queen would supposedly confide to a confidant, the young Lady Sommerville, who revealed this information many decades later, that the king never visited her bed. There were rumors that he was homosexual, but there is no proof. Other scholars purport the confession by Queen Mary was not real and made up by Lady Sommerville.
King Albert led the country through the Boer War and the beginning of the naval arms race in Battleships with the German Empire. He died in 1907 from Tuberculosis. Both Queen Mary, his wife, and Queen Charlotte, now nearly 70, outlived him.
King Ernest c. 1920 at Osborne House
[3] Ernest, born 1887, the Duke of Clarence was nephew to Albert II and grandson to Albert I. His father (also Ernest, after Queen Victoria's brother-in-law/cousin) had been made Duke of Clarence. Aged 20 when he became King, he had already been Duke of Clarence for four years after his father died in a boating accident in 1902, leaving the Dowager Duchess to raise Ernest and his younger sister.
A course of changes to the succession laws in Albert II's reign, designed to pacify the growing independence movement in Ireland saw the consort of a monarch allowed to be a Catholic, but not the monarch themselves. This paved the way for Ernest to marry Louise Francois Marie Laure d'Orleans, daughter of the Count of Paris (Orleanist claimant to the French throne until his death) who although five years older was unmarried (a match with Infante Carlos, Prince of Bourbon Two Sicilies had been under consideration) and willing to meet the marriage terms. Queen Louise provided Ernest with four children.
The continent almost erupted into war in 1914 with an attempt on the life of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, but the grenade intended to kill him missed their car and when Ferdinand returned to the site, one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princeps, had been struck with food poisoning and was suffering from explosive vomiting when Ferdinand was passing by the cafe he was in.
But still, the militarization of the German Empire continued, with the naval arms race moving at speed. The developments caused Ernest to be conscious of his Germanic name, and he officially changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Saxon in 1920, simultaneously rescinding the British titles of his German relatives.
By 1925, both Wilhelm II and Wilhelm III had passed away with Kaiser Adalbert, Wilhelm III's younger brother, taking the German throne. Adalbert was more liberal than his father and brother which causes dissent amongst the German military leading into the German Civil War in 1928, with Adalbert at the head of the imperialists and the 81 year old Paul von Hindenburg. By 1935, the conflict had ground to a stalemate and in the Yalta Conference, the two sides ceased hostilities with the British Empire and the Russian Republic recognising both the Kingdom of Germany (under the Kaiser) and the People's Republic of Germany (under Franz von Papen).
However, whilst open hostilities may have been brought to an end, hostilities would consider covertly with the People's Republic openly allying with the powerful Russian Republic.
Ernest died in 1941, at the age of 54, having contracted lung cancer due to smoking.
Queen Victoria II in 1952
Victoria's younger brother, Prince Richard, born 1920, now became the heir at age 6. However, in 1938, shortly after being made the Prince of Wales, he was visiting his second cousin once removed, Kaiser Adalbert, in Imperial Germany and his motorcade came under fire from revolutionaries from the German Peoples' Republic and the Prince of Wales was killed. The United Kingdom immediately increased military aid to Imperial Germany, but no war broke out as the Peoples' Republic aided in the capture and trial of the revolutionaries.
Victoria was now the heir to the throne at age 21 and was made the first Princess of Wales. (Her only surviving sibling was her younger sister, Princess Mary Margaret Charlotte, born in 1924.)
In 1940, the Princess married the 16th Duke of Norfolk's son, Henry Fitzalan-Howard (named after his grandfather the 15th Duke), known then as the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. Henry was born in 1910. [OOC: Unlike in OTL Philip, the 15th Duke's son from his first marriage, doesn't die in 1902, but marries and has Henry. He thus becomes the 16th Duke on the death of his father in 1917. He's 61 and Henry is 30 when the royal wedding happens. /OOC] On their marriage the Earl was made "Prince Consort" by the King. He later became the Duke of Norfolk on his own father's death in 1952.
Prince Henry, Duke of Norfolk
Queen Victoria was Queen during the Great War of West and East that began in 1943 when the German Empire and the German Peoples' Republic finally went to war and the various treaties of the great nations of Europe that had been made with the two German states put all Europe at War. Britain, France, and Italy honored their treaties with the Empire, being the Western Alliance, while the Turkish Republic, the Bulgarian Republic, and the Russian Republic honored theirs with the People's Republic, being the Eastern Alliance. The Japanese Empire used the out break of war in Europe to seize British and French and Imperial German colonies in East Asia and the Pacific, creating a de facto alliance with the Eastern Alliance. This brought the United States into the war also as a part of the Western Alliance. The war was fought in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa as well as the Pacific and Europe.
Victoria was a steady voice for her nation as the West faced terrible battles in Eastern Europe. Despite the rapid conquest of the German People's Republic, the attempt to invade the Russian Republic stalled in the Winter of 1943 and casualties piled up. She and Prince Henry became beloved by her people as her watchword in constant radio speeches was "Courage."
When the stalemate in Europe clearly was now going to be in favor of the West after the United States took the surrender of Japan in 1947 and could devote itself to Europe, the East sued for peace. Most of Eastern Europe, except for German and Austria, were now Russian style Peoples' Republics. Although the hot war was over, a 'cold war' continued.
Then the Empires of France, Germany, and Britain began to face turmoil as their overseas colonies in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa began the decolonization movement. Victoria surrendered the title "Empress of India" that had been part of the crown since her grandfather, Albert I, had adopted it. By 1960 most British overseas colonies were independent. A few had gone the way of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, staying part of the British Commonwealth and acknowledging Victoria as their Queen. The most notable were Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Victoria then led her kingdoms through a period of social and cultural change in the 60s and 70s with the sexual revolution and Women's liberation and Gay Liberation.
By the 80s Victoria was seen more as a mother. Her role then was in simply being the face of royalty and a steady monarch. Her and the Duke's children were now adults and the focus of the tabloids was on that generation as they married and had children. Prince Henry passed in 1987 at the age of 76 from a heart attack. After that Victoria wore nothing but black. Then after a reign of 53 years, she passed too at the ripe old age of 77.
Queen Victoria with her sister, Princess Mary Margaret, at the funeral of Prince Henry.
To the left of the Queen is her nephew Edward Duke of Clarence.
To the right of the Princess is the oldest son of the Princess, George, Duke of Edinburgh.
For much of his life, Albert was an officer in the British Navy serving largely in the Gibraltar Squadron, and it would be in this role where he met his future wife; Infanta Luisa of Spain. The pair would marry in 1967, but the marriage would remain childless, and yet was most happy until her death in 2008.
Upon the death of Victoria II, Albert would take the throne, and would largely face a peaceful reign, aside from the Brixton riots in the late 90s, a period of mass rioting by the Large Afro-caribbean population of London.
In late 2010, his majesty was diagnosed with Prostate cancer, and for the remaining years of his rule, donated vast funds to numerous Cancer organisations, and in 2013, his Majesty finally passed after much agony, and pass the throne to ________.
I'd do the last of the Alberts but I wouldn't be able to do it until later this evening so if someone else fancies a go, that's cool.
Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom
1857 - 1892: Albert I (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [1]
1892 - 1907: Albert II (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [2]
1907 - 1941: Ernest (House of Saxon) [3]
1941 - 1994: Victoria II (House of Saxon) [4]
1994 - 2013: Albert III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [5]
2013 - present: Victoria III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [6]
King Albert and his Private Secretary, Major General Sir Henry London by in 1875
[1] Born in 1841, Prince Albert Edward was not yet seventeen when his mother died in childbirth with her ninth child. The Regency Act put in place when his eldest sister was born in 1840, meant that their father, the former Prince Consort, acted as Regent until he turned 18 on 9th November 1859.
Albert, for he had taken his first name as his regnal name, would need a wife and whilst his mother and father had hoped to engineer a match with Alexandra of Denmark, the young monarch acted out against the parental control, rejected the idea and sought his own marital match, settling on Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, who was two years older than him.
His father disapproved due to the woman's scandalous family, but the marriage went ahead regardless as Albert was then above the age of majority and Albert sent his father to live at Claremont House with his younger siblings in tow and the lifetime peerage of the Duke of Kendall.
The pair had four children - the eldest was born in 1861, the youngest in 1871. Queen Charlotte (as she was known, the Prime Minister convinced her that Queen Susan was not appropriate) did a lot of charity work to build the trust of the British public and eventually the papers were grudgingly forced to admit that they didn't dislike her.
Queen Charlotte in 1892, shortly before her husband's fateful tour of England ...
In 1871, he visited Malta, Brindisi, Greece and India and a decade earlier than that, he had visited the United States of America as part of his honeymoon. He was, simply put, the most well travelled monarch the country had seen, and his younger brother, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Kendall (he had been granted their father's title when he had died in 1861) was more than capable of acting on his behalf whilst the King was away from London - to such an extent that Alfred was offered the crown of Greece himself, but the Treaty of London required he refuse it.
In 1892, whilst on a tour of England, Albert caught typhoid. He had previously suffered from it almost exactly two decades earlier, shortly after the birth of his fourth child, and had survived. This time, he was not so lucky - his wife was informed of his passing shortly after midnight when a messenger delivered a note to Buckingham Palace. She, in turn, immediately sent word to her children and Prince Edward was informed that he was now King of the United Kingdom.
King Albert II
[2] Edward Albert Victor was born in 1861 and was raised to be king some day. He became the Prince of Wales on his 18th birthday in 1879 and expected he'd remain such until well into the 20th Century. He was in Scotland when epidemics of typhoid and influenza swept through England and avoided these diseases. He was shocked that his father hadn't and he was now king in 1892.
He took the regal name of Albert in honor of his father and grandfather. He married a cousin, Mary Princess of Teck, but they had no children. Later in life the dowager Queen would supposedly confide to a confidant, the young Lady Sommerville, who revealed this information many decades later, that the king never visited her bed. There were rumors that he was homosexual, but there is no proof. Other scholars purport the confession by Queen Mary was not real and made up by Lady Sommerville.
King Albert led the country through the Boer War and the beginning of the naval arms race in Battleships with the German Empire. He died in 1907 from Tuberculosis. Both Queen Mary, his wife, and Queen Charlotte, now nearly 70, outlived him.
King Ernest c. 1920 at Osborne House
[3] Ernest, born 1887, the Duke of Clarence was nephew to Albert II and grandson to Albert I. His father (also Ernest, after Queen Victoria's brother-in-law/cousin) had been made Duke of Clarence. Aged 20 when he became King, he had already been Duke of Clarence for four years after his father died in a boating accident in 1902, leaving the Dowager Duchess to raise Ernest and his younger sister.
A course of changes to the succession laws in Albert II's reign, designed to pacify the growing independence movement in Ireland saw the consort of a monarch allowed to be a Catholic, but not the monarch themselves. This paved the way for Ernest to marry Louise Francois Marie Laure d'Orleans, daughter of the Count of Paris (Orleanist claimant to the French throne until his death) who although five years older was unmarried (a match with Infante Carlos, Prince of Bourbon Two Sicilies had been under consideration) and willing to meet the marriage terms. Queen Louise provided Ernest with four children.
The continent almost erupted into war in 1914 with an attempt on the life of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, but the grenade intended to kill him missed their car and when Ferdinand returned to the site, one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princeps, had been struck with food poisoning and was suffering from explosive vomiting when Ferdinand was passing by the cafe he was in.
But still, the militarization of the German Empire continued, with the naval arms race moving at speed. The developments caused Ernest to be conscious of his Germanic name, and he officially changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Saxon in 1920, simultaneously rescinding the British titles of his German relatives.
By 1925, both Wilhelm II and Wilhelm III had passed away with Kaiser Adalbert, Wilhelm III's younger brother, taking the German throne. Adalbert was more liberal than his father and brother which causes dissent amongst the German military leading into the German Civil War in 1928, with Adalbert at the head of the imperialists and the 81 year old Paul von Hindenburg. By 1935, the conflict had ground to a stalemate and in the Yalta Conference, the two sides ceased hostilities with the British Empire and the Russian Republic recognising both the Kingdom of Germany (under the Kaiser) and the People's Republic of Germany (under Franz von Papen).
However, whilst open hostilities may have been brought to an end, hostilities would consider covertly with the People's Republic openly allying with the powerful Russian Republic.
Ernest died in 1941, at the age of 54, having contracted lung cancer due to smoking.
Queen Victoria II in 1952[4] Princess Victoria Elizabeth Charlotte was born in 1917. (Her friends and family called her Vicky.) Her older brother, Prince George, born in 1914 was removed from the line of succession on his 12th birthday in 1926 when he was confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, following his mother's faith. He never thus became Prince of Wales four years later, but instead was given the Dukedon that had become part of the crown, being made the Duke of Clarence. His son, Edward Saxon, age 73, is the current Duke of Clarence.
Victoria's younger brother, Prince Richard, born 1920, now became the heir at age 6. However, in 1938, shortly after being made the Prince of Wales, he was visiting his second cousin once removed, Kaiser Adalbert, in Imperial Germany and his motorcade came under fire from revolutionaries from the German Peoples' Republic and the Prince of Wales was killed. The United Kingdom immediately increased military aid to Imperial Germany, but no war broke out as the Peoples' Republic aided in the capture and trial of the revolutionaries.
Victoria was now the heir to the throne at age 21 and was made the first Princess of Wales. (Her only surviving sibling was her younger sister, Princess Mary Margaret Charlotte, born in 1924.)
In 1940, the Princess married the 16th Duke of Norfolk's son, Henry Fitzalan-Howard (named after his grandfather the 15th Duke), known then as the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. Henry was born in 1910. [OOC: Unlike in OTL Philip, the 15th Duke's son from his first marriage, doesn't die in 1902, but marries and has Henry. He thus becomes the 16th Duke on the death of his father in 1917. He's 61 and Henry is 30 when the royal wedding happens. /OOC] On their marriage the Earl was made "Prince Consort" by the King. He later became the Duke of Norfolk on his own father's death in 1952.
Prince Henry, Duke of Norfolk
Queen Victoria was Queen during the Great War of West and East that began in 1943 when the German Empire and the German Peoples' Republic finally went to war and the various treaties of the great nations of Europe that had been made with the two German states put all Europe at War. Britain, France, and Italy honored their treaties with the Empire, being the Western Alliance, while the Turkish Republic, the Bulgarian Republic, and the Russian Republic honored theirs with the People's Republic, being the Eastern Alliance. The Japanese Empire used the out break of war in Europe to seize British and French and Imperial German colonies in East Asia and the Pacific, creating a de facto alliance with the Eastern Alliance. This brought the United States into the war also as a part of the Western Alliance. The war was fought in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa as well as the Pacific and Europe.
Victoria was a steady voice for her nation as the West faced terrible battles in Eastern Europe. Despite the rapid conquest of the German People's Republic, the attempt to invade the Russian Republic stalled in the Winter of 1943 and casualties piled up. She and Prince Henry became beloved by her people as her watchword in constant radio speeches was "Courage."
When the stalemate in Europe clearly was now going to be in favor of the West after the United States took the surrender of Japan in 1947 and could devote itself to Europe, the East sued for peace. Most of Eastern Europe, except for German and Austria, were now Russian style Peoples' Republics. Although the hot war was over, a 'cold war' continued.
Then the Empires of France, Germany, and Britain began to face turmoil as their overseas colonies in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa began the decolonization movement. Victoria surrendered the title "Empress of India" that had been part of the crown since her grandfather, Albert I, had adopted it. By 1960 most British overseas colonies were independent. A few had gone the way of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, staying part of the British Commonwealth and acknowledging Victoria as their Queen. The most notable were Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Victoria then led her kingdoms through a period of social and cultural change in the 60s and 70s with the sexual revolution and Women's liberation and Gay Liberation.
By the 80s Victoria was seen more as a mother. Her role then was in simply being the face of royalty and a steady monarch. Her and the Duke's children were now adults and the focus of the tabloids was on that generation as they married and had children. Prince Henry passed in 1987 at the age of 76 from a heart attack. After that Victoria wore nothing but black. Then after a reign of 53 years, she passed too at the ripe old age of 77.
Queen Victoria with her sister, Princess Mary Margaret, at the funeral of Prince Henry.
To the left of the Queen is her nephew Edward Duke of Clarence.
To the right of the Princess is the oldest son of the Princess, George, Duke of Edinburgh.[5] The Eldest son of Victoria II and the Prince-Consort, Henry Duke of Norfolk, Albert Louis John Was born in 1943, and recognised as heir to the British Throne, and Prince of Wales upon his baptism.
For much of his life, Albert was an officer in the British Navy serving largely in the Gibraltar Squadron, and it would be in this role where he met his future wife; Infanta Luisa of Spain. The pair would marry in 1967, but the marriage would remain childless, and yet was most happy until her death in 2008.
Upon the death of Victoria II, Albert would take the throne, and would largely face a peaceful reign, aside from the Brixton riots in the late 90s, a period of mass rioting by the Large Afro-caribbean population of London.
In late 2010, his majesty was diagnosed with Prostate cancer, and for the remaining years of his rule, donated vast funds to numerous Cancer organisations, and in 2013, his Majesty finally passed after much agony, and pass the throne to his great niece, Victoria.
[6] As the eldest child of the kings brother (whom passed away in a plane crash over the alps in 1998), Elaine Victoria Margaret was always assumed as the heir of the childless monarch. Upon her ascension to the throne she would use the royal moniker of Victoria. So far her short reign has been relatively peaceful, and the commonwealth has begun to accept new members (both former colonies and new nations) into its ranks, further strengthening the economy of Britain. The seas of Britain look calm and clear for the foreseeable future.
What if Oda Nobunaga had crushed the Honno-ji coup?
Shoguns of Japan
1582-1605: Oda Nobunaga (House of Oda) [1]
[1] When Akechi Mitsuhide attempted to overthrow Nobunaga in 1582, many in and around kyoto thought that it would finally be the end of the mighty daimyo. Instead, as Nobunaga appeared victorious once again, Japan cowered in fear. In response to the attempted coup, Nobunaga would begin to clean house among his retainers. Those whose loyalty was doubted would be executed. As the events that would become known as the "Nights of Terror" (Kyofu no yoru) spread cross Oda territory, Nobunaga would make an announcement that would finally show the rest of japan just how serious he was. With the Imperial Seat and the emperor in his hands, Nobunaga had the emperor declare the Oda Shogunate with himself Shogun. over the next 20 years, Nobunaga would unify all of japan under his rule, leaving a unified and secure shogunate with an alliance with the dutch to his son, _________.
1857 - 1892: Albert I (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [1]
1892 - 1907: Albert II (House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) [2]
1907 - 1941: Ernest (House of Saxon) [3]
1941 - 1994: Victoria II (House of Saxon) [4]
1994 - 2013: Albert III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [5]
2013 - present: Victoria III (House of Fitzalan-Howard) [6]
King Albert and his Private Secretary, Major General Sir Henry London by in 1875
[1] Born in 1841, Prince Albert Edward was not yet seventeen when his mother died in childbirth with her ninth child. The Regency Act put in place when his eldest sister was born in 1840, meant that their father, the former Prince Consort, acted as Regent until he turned 18 on 9th November 1859.
Albert, for he had taken his first name as his regnal name, would need a wife and whilst his mother and father had hoped to engineer a match with Alexandra of Denmark, the young monarch acted out against the parental control, rejected the idea and sought his own marital match, settling on Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, who was two years older than him.
His father disapproved due to the woman's scandalous family, but the marriage went ahead regardless as Albert was then above the age of majority and Albert sent his father to live at Claremont House with his younger siblings in tow and the lifetime peerage of the Duke of Kendall.
The pair had four children - the eldest was born in 1861, the youngest in 1871. Queen Charlotte (as she was known, the Prime Minister convinced her that Queen Susan was not appropriate) did a lot of charity work to build the trust of the British public and eventually the papers were grudgingly forced to admit that they didn't dislike her.
Queen Charlotte in 1892, shortly before her husband's fateful tour of England ...
In 1871, he visited Malta, Brindisi, Greece and India and a decade earlier than that, he had visited the United States of America as part of his honeymoon. He was, simply put, the most well travelled monarch the country had seen, and his younger brother, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Kendall (he had been granted their father's title when he had died in 1861) was more than capable of acting on his behalf whilst the King was away from London - to such an extent that Alfred was offered the crown of Greece himself, but the Treaty of London required he refuse it.
In 1892, whilst on a tour of England, Albert caught typhoid. He had previously suffered from it almost exactly two decades earlier, shortly after the birth of his fourth child, and had survived. This time, he was not so lucky - his wife was informed of his passing shortly after midnight when a messenger delivered a note to Buckingham Palace. She, in turn, immediately sent word to her children and Prince Edward was informed that he was now King of the United Kingdom.
King Albert II
He took the regal name of Albert in honor of his father and grandfather. He married a cousin, Mary Princess of Teck, but they had no children. Later in life the dowager Queen would supposedly confide to a confidant, the young Lady Sommerville, who revealed this information many decades later, that the king never visited her bed. There were rumors that he was homosexual, but there is no proof. Other scholars purport the confession by Queen Mary was not real and made up by Lady Sommerville.
King Albert led the country through the Boer War and the beginning of the naval arms race in Battleships with the German Empire. He died in 1907 from Tuberculosis. Both Queen Mary, his wife, and Queen Charlotte, now nearly 70, outlived him.
King Ernest c. 1920 at Osborne House
[3] Ernest, born 1887, the Duke of Clarence was nephew to Albert II and grandson to Albert I. His father (also Ernest, after Queen Victoria's brother-in-law/cousin) had been made Duke of Clarence. Aged 20 when he became King, he had already been Duke of Clarence for four years after his father died in a boating accident in 1902, leaving the Dowager Duchess to raise Ernest and his younger sister.
A course of changes to the succession laws in Albert II's reign, designed to pacify the growing independence movement in Ireland saw the consort of a monarch allowed to be a Catholic, but not the monarch themselves. This paved the way for Ernest to marry Louise Francois Marie Laure d'Orleans, daughter of the Count of Paris (Orleanist claimant to the French throne until his death) who although five years older was unmarried (a match with Infante Carlos, Prince of Bourbon Two Sicilies had been under consideration) and willing to meet the marriage terms. Queen Louise provided Ernest with four children.
The continent almost erupted into war in 1914 with an attempt on the life of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, but the grenade intended to kill him missed their car and when Ferdinand returned to the site, one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princeps, had been struck with food poisoning and was suffering from explosive vomiting when Ferdinand was passing by the cafe he was in.
But still, the militarization of the German Empire continued, with the naval arms race moving at speed. The developments caused Ernest to be conscious of his Germanic name, and he officially changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Saxon in 1920, simultaneously rescinding the British titles of his German relatives.
By 1925, both Wilhelm II and Wilhelm III had passed away with Kaiser Adalbert, Wilhelm III's younger brother, taking the German throne. Adalbert was more liberal than his father and brother which causes dissent amongst the German military leading into the German Civil War in 1928, with Adalbert at the head of the imperialists and the 81 year old Paul von Hindenburg. By 1935, the conflict had ground to a stalemate and in the Yalta Conference, the two sides ceased hostilities with the British Empire and the Russian Republic recognising both the Kingdom of Germany (under the Kaiser) and the People's Republic of Germany (under Franz von Papen).
However, whilst open hostilities may have been brought to an end, hostilities would consider covertly with the People's Republic openly allying with the powerful Russian Republic.
Ernest died in 1941, at the age of 54, having contracted lung cancer due to smoking.
Queen Victoria II in 1952
Victoria's younger brother, Prince Richard, born 1920, now became the heir at age 6. However, in 1938, shortly after being made the Prince of Wales, he was visiting his second cousin once removed, Kaiser Adalbert, in Imperial Germany and his motorcade came under fire from revolutionaries from the German Peoples' Republic and the Prince of Wales was killed. The United Kingdom immediately increased military aid to Imperial Germany, but no war broke out as the Peoples' Republic aided in the capture and trial of the revolutionaries.
Victoria was now the heir to the throne at age 21 and was made the first Princess of Wales. (Her only surviving sibling was her younger sister, Princess Mary Margaret Charlotte, born in 1924.)
In 1940, the Princess married the 16th Duke of Norfolk's son, Henry Fitzalan-Howard (named after his grandfather the 15th Duke), known then as the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. Henry was born in 1910. [OOC: Unlike in OTL Philip, the 15th Duke's son from his first marriage, doesn't die in 1902, but marries and has Henry. He thus becomes the 16th Duke on the death of his father in 1917. He's 61 and Henry is 30 when the royal wedding happens. /OOC] On their marriage the Earl was made "Prince Consort" by the King. He later became the Duke of Norfolk on his own father's death in 1952.
Prince Henry, Duke of Norfolk
Queen Victoria was Queen during the Great War of West and East that began in 1943 when the German Empire and the German Peoples' Republic finally went to war and the various treaties of the great nations of Europe that had been made with the two German states put all Europe at War. Britain, France, and Italy honored their treaties with the Empire, being the Western Alliance, while the Turkish Republic, the Bulgarian Republic, and the Russian Republic honored theirs with the People's Republic, being the Eastern Alliance. The Japanese Empire used the out break of war in Europe to seize British and French and Imperial German colonies in East Asia and the Pacific, creating a de facto alliance with the Eastern Alliance. This brought the United States into the war also as a part of the Western Alliance. The war was fought in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa as well as the Pacific and Europe.
Victoria was a steady voice for her nation as the West faced terrible battles in Eastern Europe. Despite the rapid conquest of the German People's Republic, the attempt to invade the Russian Republic stalled in the Winter of 1943 and casualties piled up. She and Prince Henry became beloved by her people as her watchword in constant radio speeches was "Courage."
When the stalemate in Europe clearly was now going to be in favor of the West after the United States took the surrender of Japan in 1947 and could devote itself to Europe, the East sued for peace. Most of Eastern Europe, except for German and Austria, were now Russian style Peoples' Republics. Although the hot war was over, a 'cold war' continued.
Then the Empires of France, Germany, and Britain began to face turmoil as their overseas colonies in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa began the decolonization movement. Victoria surrendered the title "Empress of India" that had been part of the crown since her grandfather, Albert I, had adopted it. By 1960 most British overseas colonies were independent. A few had gone the way of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, staying part of the British Commonwealth and acknowledging Victoria as their Queen. The most notable were Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Victoria then led her kingdoms through a period of social and cultural change in the 60s and 70s with the sexual revolution and Women's liberation and Gay Liberation.
By the 80s Victoria was seen more as a mother. Her role then was in simply being the face of royalty and a steady monarch. Her and the Duke's children were now adults and the focus of the tabloids was on that generation as they married and had children. Prince Henry passed in 1987 at the age of 76 from a heart attack. After that Victoria wore nothing but black. Then after a reign of 53 years, she passed too at the ripe old age of 77.
Queen Victoria with her sister, Princess Mary Margaret, at the funeral of Prince Henry.
To the left of the Queen is her nephew Edward Duke of Clarence.
To the right of the Princess is the oldest son of the Princess, George, Duke of Edinburgh.
For much of his life, Albert was an officer in the British Navy serving largely in the Gibraltar Squadron, and it would be in this role where he met his future wife; Infanta Luisa of Spain. The pair would marry in 1967, but the marriage would remain childless, and yet was most happy until her death in 2008.
Upon the death of Victoria II, Albert would take the throne, and would largely face a peaceful reign, aside from the Brixton riots in the late 90s, a period of mass rioting by the Large Afro-caribbean population of London.
In late 2010, his majesty was diagnosed with Prostate cancer, and for the remaining years of his rule, donated vast funds to numerous Cancer organisations, and in 2013, his Majesty finally passed after much agony, and pass the throne to his great niece, Victoria.
[6] As the eldest child of the kings brother (whom passed away in a plane crash over the alps in 1998), Elaine Victoria Margaret was always assumed as the heir of the childless monarch. Upon her ascension to the throne she would use the royal moniker of Victoria. So far her short reign has been relatively peaceful, and the commonwealth has begun to accept new members (both former colonies and new nations) into its ranks, further strengthening the economy of Britain. The seas of Britain look calm and clear for the foreseeable future.
What if Oda Nobunaga had crushed the Honno-ji coup?
Shoguns of Japan
1582-1605: Oda Nobunaga (House of Oda) [1]
[1] When Akechi Mitsuhide attempted to overthrow Nobunaga in 1582, many in and around kyoto thought that it would finally be the end of the mighty daimyo. Instead, as Nobunaga appeared victorious once again, Japan cowered in fear. In response to the attempted coup, Nobunaga would begin to clean house among his retainers. Those whose loyalty was doubted would be executed. As the events that would become known as the "Nights of Terror" (Kyofu no yoru) spread cross Oda territory, Nobunaga would make an announcement that would finally show the rest of japan just how serious he was. With the Imperial Seat and the emperor in his hands, Nobunaga had the emperor declare the Oda Shogunate with himself Shogun. over the next 20 years, Nobunaga would unify all of japan under his rule, leaving a unified and secure shogunate with an alliance with the dutch to his son, _________.
Considering that the last post was yesterday, what do you think?
it was also mine, and in the last post before that was three days ago, which is a fairly long dry spell
I'll admit that it's hard to get an Asian list going in this thread, a lot of the lists are VERY western centric.
Fair enough, thought Japan being one of the Asian nations more popular in the western view would be easier to jump start
Another quick one ...
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905 Filip (House of Flanders) [1]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his ....
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905 Filip (House of Flanders) [1]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his ....
Last edited:
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son _____.
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son _____.
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to ...
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to ...
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to _________.
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to _________.
Kaze
Banned
[I said:What if Oda Nobunaga had crushed the Honno-ji coup?
[/I]
Shoguns of Japan
1582-1605: Oda Nobunaga (House of Oda) [1]
Oda Nobutada [r. 1625-?] [2]
[1] When Akechi Mitsuhide attempted to overthrow Nobunaga in 1582, many in and around kyoto thought that it would finally be the end of the mighty daimyo. Instead, as Nobunaga appeared victorious once again, Japan cowered in fear. In response to the attempted coup, Nobunaga would begin to clean house among his retainers. Those whose loyalty was doubted would be executed. As the events that would become known as the "Nights of Terror" (Kyofu no yoru) spread cross Oda territory, Nobunaga would make an announcement that would finally show the rest of japan just how serious he was. With the Imperial Seat and the emperor in his hands, Nobunaga had the emperor declare the Oda Shogunate with himself Shogun. over the next 20 years, Nobunaga would unify all of japan under his rule, leaving a unified and secure shogunate with an alliance with the dutch to his son, Oda Nobutada
[2] Oda Nobutada
Eldest son of Oda Nobunaga. He was not as competent as his father. Seeing that his father's plans for Korea / China was unrealized, he attempted to annex Korea. He first tried to arrange a marriage to a Korean princess, but the negotiations fell through. Angered, Nobuntada launched the first invasion of Korea. The first invasion was a disaster that only resulted in Nobutada marrying a cousin of Tototomi Hideyoshi. Preparing a second invasion of Korea, he foolishly decided to lead the invasion personally. He was killed by a Chinese sniper at the Second Siege of Suncheon. He was succeeded by his five year old child, ____________.
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his ....... attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his ....... attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa I (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
1952 - 1953: Charlotte I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [6]
Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome, Countess of Flanders (c.1951)
[6] Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome was crowned Queen Charlotte I of Romania on the 8th of June, 1952, and abdicated January 4th, 1953. She reigned just long enough to see her father have a full state funeral, find an heir, and then was able to leave the country of Romania in order to marry the King of Portugal. Young Charlotte-Louisa was just 19 when she was crowned, and had been secretly engaged to Manuel IV of Portugal, going as far as to have him placed in an adjoining suite when he arrived for the state funeral of her father. Thus, she left her position within 6 months, and had to name an heir. The decision was made that her many younger sisters would be passed over, due to their extreme youth (Charlotte-Louisa had been followed by 3 miscarriages and a brother who had died young before her siblings had begun to be born healthy).
Maria Francisca of Brazil, Queen Dowager of Romania, walks behind the funeral procession of her husband with her younger children. Left to Right: the Princess Marie-Francoise Claudette de Orleans-Vendome, the Queen Dowager, the Princess Helene Catherine Nicole de Orleans-Vendome (baby), the Princess Victorie Dido Antoinette de Orleans-Vendome (front), the Princess Therese Eleanor Alys de Orleans-Vendome (back) and the Princess Joan Marianne Isabelle de Orleans-Vendome (head in bottom-right corner).
The crown was thus passed onto ____, and Charlotte-Louisa would return to Romania in 1988, after the annulment of her marriage due to adultery on her side with the King of England. She died in 2003, of bowel cancer.
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa I (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
1952 - 1953: Charlotte I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [6]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his eldest daughter, Charlotte-Louisa attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his eldest daughter, Charlotte-Louisa attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome, Countess of Flanders (c.1951)
[6] Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome was crowned Queen Charlotte I of Romania on the 8th of June, 1952, and abdicated January 4th, 1953. She reigned just long enough to see her father have a full state funeral, find an heir, and then was able to leave the country of Romania in order to marry the King of Portugal. Young Charlotte-Louisa was just 19 when she was crowned, and had been secretly engaged to Manuel IV of Portugal, going as far as to have him placed in an adjoining suite when he arrived for the state funeral of her father. Thus, she left her position within 6 months, and had to name an heir. The decision was made that her many younger sisters would be passed over, due to their extreme youth (Charlotte-Louisa had been followed by 3 miscarriages and a brother who had died young before her siblings had begun to be born healthy).
Maria Francisca of Brazil, Queen Dowager of Romania, walks behind the funeral procession of her husband with her younger children. Left to Right: the Princess Marie-Francoise Claudette de Orleans-Vendome, the Queen Dowager, the Princess Helene Catherine Nicole de Orleans-Vendome (baby), the Princess Victorie Dido Antoinette de Orleans-Vendome (front), the Princess Therese Eleanor Alys de Orleans-Vendome (back) and the Princess Joan Marianne Isabelle de Orleans-Vendome (head in bottom-right corner).
The crown was thus passed onto ____, and Charlotte-Louisa would return to Romania in 1988, after the annulment of her marriage due to adultery on her side with the King of England. She died in 2003, of bowel cancer.
What if Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders accepted the invitation to become Domnitor of Romania in 1866?
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa I (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
1952 - 1953: Charlotte I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [6]
1953 - 1973: Adrian (House of Orleans-Vendome) [7]
[7] Adrian of Romania was the eldest son of Adrian of Vendome, second son of Henrietta of Romania and Emmanuel, the Duke of Vendome. As such he was a great grandson of King Filip I, nephew of King Emmanuel and 'cousin' of Queen Charlotte.
He was born in 1927 and was 25 when he became King. His first course of action was to have his sister Henrietta marry Ludwig of Belgium, a man that some still considered the rightful King of Romania and that the pre-emptive abdication forced upon him by his father and the government illegal. The marriage had the effect of nullifying the abdication - bringing his children back into the line of succession as it would descend through Princess Henrietta and not through Ludwig of Belgium.
He was still King of Belgium after Leopold III produced no surviving issue and the crown then descended via the Romanian monarchy to Ludwig, as he had not been forced to abdicate his Belgian claim.
In turn, Adrian married Princess Isabelle, a daughter of King Henry-Robert of France (b. 1908) who by the time of Adrians coronation had been on the throne for two decades. She was a distant relation as they were both descended from King Louis-Phillipe. This meant that the royal families of Brazil, Belgium, France and Romania were all tightly interlocked - and the possibility existed (however unlikely) that a single person could occupy all three thrones. This panicked the German states and the British monarchy and a temporary ceasefire was declared to hold the Treaty of Hong Kong which stated that should a monarch of a country find that they inherit the throne of another country, they must abdicate their claim to one of the countries.
Reluctantly it gained ascent from all major countries, including Ludwig of Belgium, Adrian of Romania, Pedro V of Brazil, and Henry-Robert of France as well as Margaret of Britain.
After the conference, the Great War swung back into ongoing hostilities whilst never actually erupting into outright combat. Was this even really a war, the people started to ponder, or just the status quo?
Adrian broke the curse of short reigns in the Romanian monarchy, ruling for twenty years. However, his death in 1973 was at the wheel of a race car whilst visiting the royal family of Monaco and the age of 45, father of five (eldest born 1954), he was replaced by .........
The complicated family tree ...
Edited to insert a neater family tree (except I now realise I've put King Adrian's father as Adrian of Romania rather than Adrian of Vendome - apologies).
Kings and Queens of Romania
1866 - 1905: Filip I (House of Flanders) [1]
1905 - 1923: Leopold I (House of Flanders) [2]
1923 - 1934: Filip II (House of Flanders) [3]
1934 - 1941: Louisa I (House of Wittelsbach) [4]
1941 - 1952: Emmanuel I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [5]
1952 - 1953: Charlotte I (House of Orleans-Vendome) [6]
1953 - 1973: Adrian (House of Orleans-Vendome) [7]
[1] Philippe of Belgium was the second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium, born 1837 and created Count of Flanders in 1840. In early March of 1866, he was invited to be Domnitor or Prince of Romania - formerly Moldavia and Wallachia - after the forced abdication of his predecessor. Romania was still technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1877, the country declared itself fully independant and in 1881 it declared itself as the Kingdom of Romania. Filip I (he had styles his regnal name in the Romanian fashion) transitioned from Prince of Romania to King of Romania as the independence of his country was established.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his eldest daughter, Charlotte-Louisa attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome, Countess of Flanders (c.1951)
[6] Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome was crowned Queen Charlotte I of Romania on the 8th of June, 1952, and abdicated January 4th, 1953. She reigned just long enough to see her father have a full state funeral, find an heir, and then was able to leave the country of Romania in order to marry the King of Portugal. Young Charlotte-Louisa was just 19 when she was crowned, and had been secretly engaged to Manuel IV of Portugal, going as far as to have him placed in an adjoining suite when he arrived for the state funeral of her father. Thus, she left her position within 6 months, and had to name an heir. The decision was made that her many younger sisters would be passed over, due to their extreme youth (Charlotte-Louisa had been followed by 3 miscarriages and a brother who had died young before her siblings had begun to be born healthy).
Maria Francisca of Brazil, Queen Dowager of Romania, walks behind the funeral procession of her husband with her younger children. Left to Right: the Princess Marie-Francoise Claudette de Orleans-Vendome, the Queen Dowager, the Princess Helene Catherine Nicole de Orleans-Vendome (baby), the Princess Victorie Dido Antoinette de Orleans-Vendome (front), the Princess Therese Eleanor Alys de Orleans-Vendome (back) and the Princess Joan Marianne Isabelle de Orleans-Vendome (head in bottom-right corner).
The crown was thus passed onto ____, and Charlotte-Louisa would return to Romania in 1988, after the annulment of her marriage due to adultery on her side with the King of England. She died in 2003, of bowel cancer.
A year after becoming Prince of Romania, he married Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Bucharest. She was the sister of Karl of Hoenzollern-Sigmaringen, the man who probably would have been made Prince had Filip refused.
The couple had five children - and for a few years, there remained the possibility that Filip or one of his sons might inherit the Belgian throne. However, his brother Leopold II had a son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who survived to adulthood and replaced his father on the Belgian throne as Leopold III.
He encouraged modernisation and helped construct a rail network and several bridges over the Danube (the first, the Queen Marie Bridge connecting Muntenia and Dobruja was ordered as a tenth wedding present for the Princess Consort in 1877), easing travel and industrialisation. Unlike his brother-in-law, he was less formal and encouraged the development of a people's constitution in 1881 when the Kingdom of Romania was declared.
After the declaration of the Kingdom of Romania, the country became a major player in the region and the transport links authorised by King Filip and his Parliament made him popular. However, eventually Filip died in 1905 at the Peles Castle near Sinaia in Romania, leaving the throne to his son, Leopold of Romania.
[2] Leopold I of Romania was the third child and second son of King Filip, and was born in 1870. Afflicted with a distinct limp via a much shorter right leg, he wore specially made heels to ensure no one saw the problems he dealt with. With the death of his brother in 1891, Leopold took position of heir to the Throne at 21. Within the next 5 years, he had married the sister of his brother's fiance, and with his new wife, Clara of Bavaria, he had the first of 8 children. He would have 4 sons and 4 daughters.
The King of Romania and his sons. Left to Right: King Leopold, Prince Filip, Prince Albert, Prince Charles and Prince Victor Leopold. (c.1921)
His rule lasted 18 years, and little was accomplished, but when the King of Romania died at the age of 53, he died a hero. This was due to one factor: the Great War. Beginning in 1917, Germany invaded Belgium due to trade disputes, and thus Romania began to support their ally. In 1918, England and France entered the fight, and by 1920, 57 countries across the globe were taking part in the ongoing war. That was why, in 1922, the King of Romania, a man who had recently learnt to fly an aeroplane, decided to take part. Against the wishes of his family and country, he went into the war, and was shot down in 1923. His body was never recovered, and it wasn't until 1924 that he was officially recorded as dead. His was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Filip, Count of Flanders.
[3] Filip of Romania, born 1900 and made Count of Flanders by his father in 1921 after the death of his brother, Prince Albert, became Prince Regent in 1923 and was officially proclaimed King a year later. He had a short reign, but never married, his marriage to Princess Maud of Norway, sister of the future Olaf V of Norway, had been planned for 1935 but Filip died in a mountaineering accident with his youngest brother, Charles of Romania. Much like his father, his reign was preoccupied with the ongoing nature of the Great War, the slow but inevitable collapse and fracturing of the German Empire into it's constituent city states and the surprise resurrection of the French monarchy under King Henry-Robert and the House of Paris as an attempt to stave off the encroachment of the power and territory hungry Germanic states. With his death, and having no children of his own, the Romanian crown moved sideways to his Elder sister; Louisa Innocentia, The Duchess-Consort-in-Bavaria.
[4] The Eldest child of Leopold I of Romania, Princess Louisa married for love rather than politics and so took the Wittelsbach Duke-in-Bavaria, Augustus Ludwig, as her husband and largely resided in Munich alongside her husband existing as noble Socialites.
Such a life existed until 1934, with the Death of Filip II, and Louisa being requested by the Romanian Parliament as the most senior heir, to take the Romanian Throne, which she accepted and so travelled to Romania with her husband and young son.
The short reign of Louisa would last a mere seven years, and yet it would be a golden few. The Romanian Navy expanded mercilessly, and soon became a premier power of the Black sea, so much so that Romanian Troops would intervene in the Armenian Uprising of 1937, alongside the Ailing Ottomans.
Sadly Louisa would fall from her horse in a military parade, and would pass the day after. The throne of Romania passed to Emmanuel of Vendome.
[5] Queen Louisa had only a single child, a young son called Ludwig after his father, who was - thought the Romanians - rather difficult. So when his mother died, Ludwig would have been the new King at only ten years old, and a Regency required for the following eight years under his Bavarian father or a relative via Filip I, who would also be Heir Presumptive until Ludwig married and provided an heir. Given that the widowed Bavarian consort was not that popular, and his son a trouble making tearaway, the decision was made to request his abdication whilst his mother was having critical medical treatment. His father decided that it would probably be for the best, and the crown jumped (as except Louisa, the children of Leopold had all died and had no issue) over to Emmanuel, the eldest son of Kinh Leopolds sister, Henrietta the Duchess of Vendome, and a distant relation to Henry-Robert, the still ruling King of France.
Emmanuel was born in 1902, which meant that he was 39 upon being made King of Romania. The ongoing war ground further onwards, the independent Germanic states had been pacified by stalwart opposition, the Ottoman Empire had collapsed into a number of independent countries - it seemed like the age of the vast Empires was over, even Britain was forced to give up it's imperial pretensions and cede independence to its former colonies such as India and Australia. He had married Maria Francisca of Brazil in 1934, she was grand daughter of the former Empress Isabella, daughter of the former Emperor Pedro III, sister of the current Emperor Pedro IV and sister of Princess Isabelle, Queen Consort of France.
Emmanuel didn't last long on the throne either, passing away in 1952 of lung cancer - with six monarchs in six decades, jokes were being made about the royal family being cursed (plane crash, climbing accident, falling from a horse, lung cancer). But Emmanuel had at the very least, been determined to live long enough to see his eldest daughter, Charlotte-Louisa attain majority and take the throne and avoid the complexity that a Regency would bring to the country.
Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome, Countess of Flanders (c.1951)
[6] Charlotte-Louisa Marguerite Henrietta de Orleans-Vendome was crowned Queen Charlotte I of Romania on the 8th of June, 1952, and abdicated January 4th, 1953. She reigned just long enough to see her father have a full state funeral, find an heir, and then was able to leave the country of Romania in order to marry the King of Portugal. Young Charlotte-Louisa was just 19 when she was crowned, and had been secretly engaged to Manuel IV of Portugal, going as far as to have him placed in an adjoining suite when he arrived for the state funeral of her father. Thus, she left her position within 6 months, and had to name an heir. The decision was made that her many younger sisters would be passed over, due to their extreme youth (Charlotte-Louisa had been followed by 3 miscarriages and a brother who had died young before her siblings had begun to be born healthy).
Maria Francisca of Brazil, Queen Dowager of Romania, walks behind the funeral procession of her husband with her younger children. Left to Right: the Princess Marie-Francoise Claudette de Orleans-Vendome, the Queen Dowager, the Princess Helene Catherine Nicole de Orleans-Vendome (baby), the Princess Victorie Dido Antoinette de Orleans-Vendome (front), the Princess Therese Eleanor Alys de Orleans-Vendome (back) and the Princess Joan Marianne Isabelle de Orleans-Vendome (head in bottom-right corner).
The crown was thus passed onto ____, and Charlotte-Louisa would return to Romania in 1988, after the annulment of her marriage due to adultery on her side with the King of England. She died in 2003, of bowel cancer.
[7] Adrian of Romania was the eldest son of Adrian of Vendome, second son of Henrietta of Romania and Emmanuel, the Duke of Vendome. As such he was a great grandson of King Filip I, nephew of King Emmanuel and 'cousin' of Queen Charlotte.
He was born in 1927 and was 25 when he became King. His first course of action was to have his sister Henrietta marry Ludwig of Belgium, a man that some still considered the rightful King of Romania and that the pre-emptive abdication forced upon him by his father and the government illegal. The marriage had the effect of nullifying the abdication - bringing his children back into the line of succession as it would descend through Princess Henrietta and not through Ludwig of Belgium.
He was still King of Belgium after Leopold III produced no surviving issue and the crown then descended via the Romanian monarchy to Ludwig, as he had not been forced to abdicate his Belgian claim.
In turn, Adrian married Princess Isabelle, a daughter of King Henry-Robert of France (b. 1908) who by the time of Adrians coronation had been on the throne for two decades. She was a distant relation as they were both descended from King Louis-Phillipe. This meant that the royal families of Brazil, Belgium, France and Romania were all tightly interlocked - and the possibility existed (however unlikely) that a single person could occupy all three thrones. This panicked the German states and the British monarchy and a temporary ceasefire was declared to hold the Treaty of Hong Kong which stated that should a monarch of a country find that they inherit the throne of another country, they must abdicate their claim to one of the countries.
Reluctantly it gained ascent from all major countries, including Ludwig of Belgium, Adrian of Romania, Pedro V of Brazil, and Henry-Robert of France as well as Margaret of Britain.
After the conference, the Great War swung back into ongoing hostilities whilst never actually erupting into outright combat. Was this even really a war, the people started to ponder, or just the status quo?
Adrian broke the curse of short reigns in the Romanian monarchy, ruling for twenty years. However, his death in 1973 was at the wheel of a race car whilst visiting the royal family of Monaco and the age of 45, father of five (eldest born 1954), he was replaced by .........
The complicated family tree ...
Edited to insert a neater family tree (except I now realise I've put King Adrian's father as Adrian of Romania rather than Adrian of Vendome - apologies).
Last edited:
Sorry for the wait, I've had a lot of schoolwork to attend to. However, here's the next update to the Shoguns of Japan list.
Shoguns of Japan
1582-1605: Oda Nobunaga (House of Oda) [1]
1605-1625: Oda Nobutada (House of Oda) [2]
1625-1668: Oda Konsutantin (House of Oda) [3]
[1] When Akechi Mitsuhide attempted to overthrow Nobunaga in 1582, many in and around kyoto thought that it would finally be the end of the mighty daimyo. Instead, as Nobunaga appeared victorious once again, Japan cowered in fear. In response to the attempted coup, Nobunaga would begin to clean house among his retainers. Those whose loyalty was doubted would be executed. As the events that would become known as the "Nights of Terror" (Kyofu no yoru) spread cross Oda territory, Nobunaga would make an announcement that would finally show the rest of japan just how serious he was. With the Imperial Seat and the emperor in his hands, Nobunaga had the emperor declare the Oda Shogunate with himself Shogun. over the next 20 years, Nobunaga would unify all of japan under his rule, leaving a unified and secure shogunate with an alliance with the dutch to his son, Oda Nobutada.
[2] Eldest son of Oda Nobunaga. He was not as competent as his father. Seeing that his father's plans for Korea / China was unrealized, he attempted to annex Korea. He first tried to arrange a marriage to a Korean princess, but the negotiations fell through. Angered, Nobuntada launched the first invasion of Korea. The first invasion was a disaster that only resulted in Nobutada marrying a cousin of Tototomi Hideyoshi. Preparing a second invasion of Korea, he foolishly decided to lead the invasion personally. He was killed by a Chinese sniper at the Second Siege of Suncheon. He was succeeded by his five year old child, Oda Noboru.
Statue of Shogun Oda Konsutantin
[3] Following the early death of Oda Nobutada, his 5 year old son, Oda Noboru, inherited the Shogunate. Noboru was placed in a regency council for the first decade of his reign, under which he was tutored and raised to be a great ruler of Japan. Interestingly, however, after relations with Western powers such as the Dutch and Portuguese had been built up under Nobunaga and Nobutada, several of the members of the regency council, in addition to the traditional samurai and priests, were prominent European merchants, there to educate the young Shogun on the state of the rest of the world. It was from these individuals that Noboru was first exposed to Christianity. Over the course of the 17th century, Christianity - mostly Catholicism - had begun to gain a presence in Japan, as the Shogunate had allowed Jesuit missionaries to evangelize in the country. By the time of Noboru's regency, several prominent daimyo had even converted to Christianity, though more often than not this new religion was practiced alongside the predominant Shinto-Buddhist traditions of the country, being heavily ingrained into Japanese culture.
Noboru was almost immediately taken in by the Christian religion, learning Latin and Portuguese later during his regency in order to be able to read the Bible. By the age of 14, Noboru was attending Catholic Mass at the local Portuguese mission as well as the Shinto religious ceremonies the regency council mandated he attend. After Noboru came of age and the regency council lost most of its power, he continued to attend the Shinto ceremonies for a time, however at the age of 20 he would be formally baptized by Jesuit missionaries, taking the name Oda Konsutantin, after the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who brought Rome under Christendom. Konsutantin was a very devout Christian; unlike some of the daimyo who only partially converted, Konsutantin abandoned most of the Shinto religion and Buddhism, though he made sure to keep in good graces with the old clergy so as to not upset his non-Christian vassals. Konsutantin would sponsor the Jesuits in Japan, encouraging missionary work throughout the island. According to legends, Konsutantin himself would disguise himself as a lowborn Japanese convert in order to evangelize the Gospel personally to his subjects. Regardless of the validity of these legends, it was known that Konsutantin would use his position as Shogun to preach, and he was recorded by Jesuit missionaries and local Japanese converts to be a fiery preacher. In addition to sponsoring missionary work, Konsutantin would also fund the construction of several churches throughout Japan, including Konsutantin Cathedral in Kyoto, which remains the largest Catholic church within Japan.
In addition to having to deal with Shinto and Buddhist vassals, Konsutantin also had to contend with a new religious presence; Protestantism. As Konsutantin began to patronize Christianity, Dutch Protestant priests used this opportunity to preach their form of Christianity, and while it still wasn't as popular in Japan as Catholicism, it still gained several converts. Konsutantin, however, would prove reconciliatory; despite the ongoing religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, Konsutantin would advocate for ecumenism, frequently holding debates between Catholic and Protestant priests, not showing heavy bias to either side, arguing that they were all Christians. Konsutantin would even host debates between Christian missionaries and the old Shinto and Buddhist clergy, and while he showed more bias due to there being more differences between the religions, he was still reported to have been fairly objective, earning him the praise of several of his vassal daimyo, be they Catholic, Protestant, Shinto, or Buddhist.
Unlike his predecessors, Konsutantin's reign was marked with general peace; he focused far more on internal affairs, mainly spreading Christianity, as opposed to any plans to invade the mainland. The only time he mentioned invasion was pertaining to the idea of spreading Christendom to China and Korea, but it was in the context of him lamenting over how he couldn't even unite Japan under Christendom. Despite being a fairly popular ruler, being credited with bringing peace to Japan after many years of war, he was assassinated in 1668 by a Shinto zealot at the age of only 48. Centuries later, Konsutantin would be canonized as a Catholic saint, becoming the patron saint of Japan.
While the nation mourned, as he was near universally accepted as a great leader, a succession crisis would begin, as the throne was contested between his 16 year old son ____________, a Catholic like his father, and Konsutantin's younger brother ____________, who, while having supported his brother in life, remained a devout follower of the traditional Shinto religion and contested the succession of his nephew, fabricating evidence that he was illegitimate. As tensions would raise between the Catholic and Shinto factions, a third faction would form, composed of Protestant daimyo who desired to be ruled by a follower of their faith, electing the Protestant ____________ to the position of Shogun with the support of the Dutch. It was clear that despite Konsutantin's peaceful reign, blood would be spilt, and the fate of the Land of the Rising Sun would depend upon who would succeed Konsutantin as Shogun; would Japan be Catholic, Protestant, or Shinto?
Shoguns of Japan
1582-1605: Oda Nobunaga (House of Oda) [1]
1605-1625: Oda Nobutada (House of Oda) [2]
1625-1668: Oda Konsutantin (House of Oda) [3]
[1] When Akechi Mitsuhide attempted to overthrow Nobunaga in 1582, many in and around kyoto thought that it would finally be the end of the mighty daimyo. Instead, as Nobunaga appeared victorious once again, Japan cowered in fear. In response to the attempted coup, Nobunaga would begin to clean house among his retainers. Those whose loyalty was doubted would be executed. As the events that would become known as the "Nights of Terror" (Kyofu no yoru) spread cross Oda territory, Nobunaga would make an announcement that would finally show the rest of japan just how serious he was. With the Imperial Seat and the emperor in his hands, Nobunaga had the emperor declare the Oda Shogunate with himself Shogun. over the next 20 years, Nobunaga would unify all of japan under his rule, leaving a unified and secure shogunate with an alliance with the dutch to his son, Oda Nobutada.
[2] Eldest son of Oda Nobunaga. He was not as competent as his father. Seeing that his father's plans for Korea / China was unrealized, he attempted to annex Korea. He first tried to arrange a marriage to a Korean princess, but the negotiations fell through. Angered, Nobuntada launched the first invasion of Korea. The first invasion was a disaster that only resulted in Nobutada marrying a cousin of Tototomi Hideyoshi. Preparing a second invasion of Korea, he foolishly decided to lead the invasion personally. He was killed by a Chinese sniper at the Second Siege of Suncheon. He was succeeded by his five year old child, Oda Noboru.
Statue of Shogun Oda Konsutantin
[3] Following the early death of Oda Nobutada, his 5 year old son, Oda Noboru, inherited the Shogunate. Noboru was placed in a regency council for the first decade of his reign, under which he was tutored and raised to be a great ruler of Japan. Interestingly, however, after relations with Western powers such as the Dutch and Portuguese had been built up under Nobunaga and Nobutada, several of the members of the regency council, in addition to the traditional samurai and priests, were prominent European merchants, there to educate the young Shogun on the state of the rest of the world. It was from these individuals that Noboru was first exposed to Christianity. Over the course of the 17th century, Christianity - mostly Catholicism - had begun to gain a presence in Japan, as the Shogunate had allowed Jesuit missionaries to evangelize in the country. By the time of Noboru's regency, several prominent daimyo had even converted to Christianity, though more often than not this new religion was practiced alongside the predominant Shinto-Buddhist traditions of the country, being heavily ingrained into Japanese culture.
Noboru was almost immediately taken in by the Christian religion, learning Latin and Portuguese later during his regency in order to be able to read the Bible. By the age of 14, Noboru was attending Catholic Mass at the local Portuguese mission as well as the Shinto religious ceremonies the regency council mandated he attend. After Noboru came of age and the regency council lost most of its power, he continued to attend the Shinto ceremonies for a time, however at the age of 20 he would be formally baptized by Jesuit missionaries, taking the name Oda Konsutantin, after the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who brought Rome under Christendom. Konsutantin was a very devout Christian; unlike some of the daimyo who only partially converted, Konsutantin abandoned most of the Shinto religion and Buddhism, though he made sure to keep in good graces with the old clergy so as to not upset his non-Christian vassals. Konsutantin would sponsor the Jesuits in Japan, encouraging missionary work throughout the island. According to legends, Konsutantin himself would disguise himself as a lowborn Japanese convert in order to evangelize the Gospel personally to his subjects. Regardless of the validity of these legends, it was known that Konsutantin would use his position as Shogun to preach, and he was recorded by Jesuit missionaries and local Japanese converts to be a fiery preacher. In addition to sponsoring missionary work, Konsutantin would also fund the construction of several churches throughout Japan, including Konsutantin Cathedral in Kyoto, which remains the largest Catholic church within Japan.
In addition to having to deal with Shinto and Buddhist vassals, Konsutantin also had to contend with a new religious presence; Protestantism. As Konsutantin began to patronize Christianity, Dutch Protestant priests used this opportunity to preach their form of Christianity, and while it still wasn't as popular in Japan as Catholicism, it still gained several converts. Konsutantin, however, would prove reconciliatory; despite the ongoing religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, Konsutantin would advocate for ecumenism, frequently holding debates between Catholic and Protestant priests, not showing heavy bias to either side, arguing that they were all Christians. Konsutantin would even host debates between Christian missionaries and the old Shinto and Buddhist clergy, and while he showed more bias due to there being more differences between the religions, he was still reported to have been fairly objective, earning him the praise of several of his vassal daimyo, be they Catholic, Protestant, Shinto, or Buddhist.
Unlike his predecessors, Konsutantin's reign was marked with general peace; he focused far more on internal affairs, mainly spreading Christianity, as opposed to any plans to invade the mainland. The only time he mentioned invasion was pertaining to the idea of spreading Christendom to China and Korea, but it was in the context of him lamenting over how he couldn't even unite Japan under Christendom. Despite being a fairly popular ruler, being credited with bringing peace to Japan after many years of war, he was assassinated in 1668 by a Shinto zealot at the age of only 48. Centuries later, Konsutantin would be canonized as a Catholic saint, becoming the patron saint of Japan.
While the nation mourned, as he was near universally accepted as a great leader, a succession crisis would begin, as the throne was contested between his 16 year old son ____________, a Catholic like his father, and Konsutantin's younger brother ____________, who, while having supported his brother in life, remained a devout follower of the traditional Shinto religion and contested the succession of his nephew, fabricating evidence that he was illegitimate. As tensions would raise between the Catholic and Shinto factions, a third faction would form, composed of Protestant daimyo who desired to be ruled by a follower of their faith, electing the Protestant ____________ to the position of Shogun with the support of the Dutch. It was clear that despite Konsutantin's peaceful reign, blood would be spilt, and the fate of the Land of the Rising Sun would depend upon who would succeed Konsutantin as Shogun; would Japan be Catholic, Protestant, or Shinto?