Princess Charlotte Lives
1818: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) [1]
1822: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) [2]
1824: Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (Harrowby Tory leading Harrowby Tory-Whig Coalition) [3]
1826:Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Castlereagh Tory) [4]
1828: Lord John Russell (Whig with Harrowby Tory support) [5]
1831: Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Castlereagh Tory) [6]
1835: George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough (Harrowby Tory leading Harrowby Tory-Whig Coalition) [7]
1835: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (Whig with support from the Radicals and the Queen) [8]
1839: Sir Richard Cobden (Liberal with Royal Support) [9]
1843: Sir Richard Cobden (Liberal) [10]
1847: Richard Cobden, 1st Viscount Stockport (Liberal) [11]
[1] As the result of the butterflies resulting some different sperm, Princess Charlotte, the second in line to the British Throne, doesn't die in child birth and instead gives birth to two healthy twins, a boy, unsurprisingly named George, and a girl, rather surprisingly named Zoe.
[2] The King continues his alliance with Lord Liverpool against Catholic Emancipation. However the Tories threaten to split with Liverpool leading the anti-Catholics and Wellington leading the pro-Emancipationists.
[3] The Earl Liverpool and several important members of the cabinet, including the Duke of Wellington, are assassinated in 1824 as the result of a plot similar to the earlier Cato Street Conspiracy. Although the plotters fail to de-capitate the British Government and install a radical republic, there is much unrest and troops have to be called in to keep London under control. As a result, the fairly moderate Earl Harrowby is appointed Prime Minister. However, many of the more extreme Tories, led principally by Lord Castleraegh, refuse to serve under Harrowby and as a result, Harrowby is forced to invite a number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, leaving the Tory Party split into "Ultra" Tories led by Lord Castleraegh and the Harrowby Tories led by the Earl Harrowby and George Canning and a shaky yet moderate government in power.
[4] Harrowby was successful in restoring order, but his methods drew the ire of Britain's traditional landholding elite. Believing order to be restored, he began a policy of reform starting with the issue of Catholic Emancipation. This brought old enmities back to the surface. The King, had only grown more bitter with age and illness and now chose to overturn Harrowby's moderate government and established Castlereagh as Prime Minister. The political moderates were aghast at such a move and riots broke out in London and many other cities who had felt the cold hand of Robert Stewart. Newfoundland became a base for British revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the 'Castlereagh Tyranny'.
[5] As the United Kingdom teeters on the brink of revolution, reformists privately court Princess Charlotte and her consort, Leopold of Saxony. As Newfoundland erupts in outright rebellion in 1828, King George IV passes, seemingly from natural causes. Charlotte takes the throne, and quickly dissolves parliament. In the resulting election, the Whigs, under the fresh-faced leadership of the charismatic Lord John Russell, return a tentative minority administration, with the confidence and supply votes of Harrowby's Tories (and the tacit support of the Queen). Their first task: to reincorporate the fledgling 'Free Commonwealth of Newfoundland' back into the British Empire.
[6] Lord Russell is unable to command his own coalition of Whigs and radicals, with conservative Whigs and Harrowby Tories calling for military measures to be taken towards the Newfoundland rebels, while Radicals outright supports Newfoundland independence. When the legislatures of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all vote to join the United States in 1831, Lord Russell's government falls apart and the Queen is forced to call for new elections. Lord Castlereagh is soon enough First Lord of the Treasury again. Lord Castlereagh is of a far more hawkish opinion than the peace-loving Lord Russell. In August 1831, Lord Castlereagh send several fully armed steamboats from the British Navy to North America to reconquer the rebellious provinces after both Houses of Parliament votes for war with the United States.
[7] The war against the United States and the North American radicals is a stunning success, with not only Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick bought back into the Empire but territorial concessions gained in Maine and Oregon. However, the increasingly aged Castleraegh (in what some would later say were mysterious circumstances) dies almost immediately after the signing of the peace treaty. As a result, Queen Charlotte appoints the Duke of Marlborough, a moderate and "tame" Harrowby Tory, to preside over the victorious yet still heavily polarised country until elections can be called.
[8] Earl Grey, leader of the Whigs rides a tide of desire for democratic reform and change. However, his attempts to reform constituencies and abolish archaic boroughs forces the Harrowby Tories out of Coalition and back into the arms of the Castlereagh Tories reuniting the Tories. Instead, Earl Grey falls back on support from the Queen who promises to apply pressure on the Lords, and on the Radicals who promise to incite riots in Tory constituencies.
[9] In 1837, Earl Grey finally pushes through the Representation Reform Bill, granting representation to several new cities and removing the vast majority of pocket boroughs. However, suffrage is not extended as far as some more radical Radicals would like to have seen. Nonetheless, the coalition considers the Act a victory in every camp, and, riding on his popularity in both the Whig camp and the Radical camp, Lord Grey is able to merge the two groups into the Liberal Party before the election of 1839, which the Liberals win with a large margin, masterfully exploiting the still growing tensions within the Tory Party by running on a platform of economic reform, determined to rid the nation of the Corn Laws. However, citing that he feels his tenure as Prime Minister complete and his legacy more glorious than he could have hoped for, Earl Grey steps down to be succeeded as Prime Minister by the young statesman and leader of the Liberals in the House of Commons Sir Richard Cobden.
[10] Cobden continued Liberal governance, having annihilated the Tory bedrock of support with a widened suffrage and abolition of rotten boroughs. He abolished the Corn Laws and began moves to regionalise control of the United Kingdom and the wider Empire.
[11] Cobden is unsurprisingly re-elected for a third term, after the Conservative Party is further hurt by the defection of Robert Peel and William Gladstone to the Liberal Party, the latter of whom is soon elevated to the position of President of the Board of Trade. To keep Radical support up, Cobden appoints John Bright as Chancellor of the Exchequer and John Stuart Mill as Home Secretary. In recognition of his achievements, his Royal ally, Queen Charlotte makes Cobden Viscount Stockport. However, in a rather shocking surprise, the Welshman Robert Owen is elected to Parliament on behalf of the Cooperative Socialist Party.
1818: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) [1]
1822: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) [2]
1824: Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (Harrowby Tory leading Harrowby Tory-Whig Coalition) [3]
1826:Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Castlereagh Tory) [4]
1828: Lord John Russell (Whig with Harrowby Tory support) [5]
1831: Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Castlereagh Tory) [6]
1835: George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough (Harrowby Tory leading Harrowby Tory-Whig Coalition) [7]
1835: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (Whig with support from the Radicals and the Queen) [8]
1839: Sir Richard Cobden (Liberal with Royal Support) [9]
1843: Sir Richard Cobden (Liberal) [10]
1847: Richard Cobden, 1st Viscount Stockport (Liberal) [11]
[1] As the result of the butterflies resulting some different sperm, Princess Charlotte, the second in line to the British Throne, doesn't die in child birth and instead gives birth to two healthy twins, a boy, unsurprisingly named George, and a girl, rather surprisingly named Zoe.
[2] The King continues his alliance with Lord Liverpool against Catholic Emancipation. However the Tories threaten to split with Liverpool leading the anti-Catholics and Wellington leading the pro-Emancipationists.
[3] The Earl Liverpool and several important members of the cabinet, including the Duke of Wellington, are assassinated in 1824 as the result of a plot similar to the earlier Cato Street Conspiracy. Although the plotters fail to de-capitate the British Government and install a radical republic, there is much unrest and troops have to be called in to keep London under control. As a result, the fairly moderate Earl Harrowby is appointed Prime Minister. However, many of the more extreme Tories, led principally by Lord Castleraegh, refuse to serve under Harrowby and as a result, Harrowby is forced to invite a number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, leaving the Tory Party split into "Ultra" Tories led by Lord Castleraegh and the Harrowby Tories led by the Earl Harrowby and George Canning and a shaky yet moderate government in power.
[4] Harrowby was successful in restoring order, but his methods drew the ire of Britain's traditional landholding elite. Believing order to be restored, he began a policy of reform starting with the issue of Catholic Emancipation. This brought old enmities back to the surface. The King, had only grown more bitter with age and illness and now chose to overturn Harrowby's moderate government and established Castlereagh as Prime Minister. The political moderates were aghast at such a move and riots broke out in London and many other cities who had felt the cold hand of Robert Stewart. Newfoundland became a base for British revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the 'Castlereagh Tyranny'.
[5] As the United Kingdom teeters on the brink of revolution, reformists privately court Princess Charlotte and her consort, Leopold of Saxony. As Newfoundland erupts in outright rebellion in 1828, King George IV passes, seemingly from natural causes. Charlotte takes the throne, and quickly dissolves parliament. In the resulting election, the Whigs, under the fresh-faced leadership of the charismatic Lord John Russell, return a tentative minority administration, with the confidence and supply votes of Harrowby's Tories (and the tacit support of the Queen). Their first task: to reincorporate the fledgling 'Free Commonwealth of Newfoundland' back into the British Empire.
[6] Lord Russell is unable to command his own coalition of Whigs and radicals, with conservative Whigs and Harrowby Tories calling for military measures to be taken towards the Newfoundland rebels, while Radicals outright supports Newfoundland independence. When the legislatures of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all vote to join the United States in 1831, Lord Russell's government falls apart and the Queen is forced to call for new elections. Lord Castlereagh is soon enough First Lord of the Treasury again. Lord Castlereagh is of a far more hawkish opinion than the peace-loving Lord Russell. In August 1831, Lord Castlereagh send several fully armed steamboats from the British Navy to North America to reconquer the rebellious provinces after both Houses of Parliament votes for war with the United States.
[7] The war against the United States and the North American radicals is a stunning success, with not only Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick bought back into the Empire but territorial concessions gained in Maine and Oregon. However, the increasingly aged Castleraegh (in what some would later say were mysterious circumstances) dies almost immediately after the signing of the peace treaty. As a result, Queen Charlotte appoints the Duke of Marlborough, a moderate and "tame" Harrowby Tory, to preside over the victorious yet still heavily polarised country until elections can be called.
[8] Earl Grey, leader of the Whigs rides a tide of desire for democratic reform and change. However, his attempts to reform constituencies and abolish archaic boroughs forces the Harrowby Tories out of Coalition and back into the arms of the Castlereagh Tories reuniting the Tories. Instead, Earl Grey falls back on support from the Queen who promises to apply pressure on the Lords, and on the Radicals who promise to incite riots in Tory constituencies.
[9] In 1837, Earl Grey finally pushes through the Representation Reform Bill, granting representation to several new cities and removing the vast majority of pocket boroughs. However, suffrage is not extended as far as some more radical Radicals would like to have seen. Nonetheless, the coalition considers the Act a victory in every camp, and, riding on his popularity in both the Whig camp and the Radical camp, Lord Grey is able to merge the two groups into the Liberal Party before the election of 1839, which the Liberals win with a large margin, masterfully exploiting the still growing tensions within the Tory Party by running on a platform of economic reform, determined to rid the nation of the Corn Laws. However, citing that he feels his tenure as Prime Minister complete and his legacy more glorious than he could have hoped for, Earl Grey steps down to be succeeded as Prime Minister by the young statesman and leader of the Liberals in the House of Commons Sir Richard Cobden.
[10] Cobden continued Liberal governance, having annihilated the Tory bedrock of support with a widened suffrage and abolition of rotten boroughs. He abolished the Corn Laws and began moves to regionalise control of the United Kingdom and the wider Empire.
[11] Cobden is unsurprisingly re-elected for a third term, after the Conservative Party is further hurt by the defection of Robert Peel and William Gladstone to the Liberal Party, the latter of whom is soon elevated to the position of President of the Board of Trade. To keep Radical support up, Cobden appoints John Bright as Chancellor of the Exchequer and John Stuart Mill as Home Secretary. In recognition of his achievements, his Royal ally, Queen Charlotte makes Cobden Viscount Stockport. However, in a rather shocking surprise, the Welshman Robert Owen is elected to Parliament on behalf of the Cooperative Socialist Party.
