Oliver Cromwell makes himself King

Kaze

Banned
After the English Civil War... Oliver Cromwell dominated the Privy Council and was made "Lord Protector of the Realm" - basically, he was "king all but in name."

What would be the result if he was proclaimed King? Or crowned himself King Oliver the First? Would / could Richard Cromwell succeed as King Richard the Fourth?
 
Unlikely. He was a lower-tier noble at best. Plus, his entire shtick was protecting the powers of Parliament.

What better way to protect parliament than acting as the definitive constitutional monarch. - but I agree with your assessment, he made his name being anti-monarch, the 180 would not sell; one of his own people sticks a knife in him.
 
What better way to protect parliament than acting as the definitive constitutional monarch. - but I agree with your assessment, he made his name being anti-monarch, the 180 would not sell; one of his own people sticks a knife in him.

What if parliament crowns him king? Not much he can do then, eh?
 
Maybe he convinces his most loyal followers in Parliament to crown him king, saying he would refuse the crown to boost his standing even more, and then takes it?

The Lord-Protectorship was close enough to monarchal powers that this was effectively the case. Same as the Crusader title "Protector of the Holy Sephelcure", it was designed more as a show of principal than substance.
 
While I would say it is unlikely, just like in the American Revolution, people often forget that despite fighting against the former king having a monarch was seen as the proper way to run a country. 90% percent of the populace probably wouldn't even bat an eye at him if he did take it, unless of course they supported the former king, it would only be the most radical people he would have to worry about.
 
He was declared Emperor, more akin to the Roman Emperor than the King of France.

By that time there already were 2 emperors in Europe: HRE/Austrian and Russian so he did not have to go too far down the history line. The imperial title was higher than "simply" royal so he jumped higher than Cromwell in the ATL.
 
So what if he accepts it? That’s a great POD for this

If he accept it, then the devil is in the details. If he is declared a hereditary monarch then after his death the next King of England is Richard IV (?). OTOH, if he is a king for life then the monarchy is elective (as in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or, formally, in the HRE) and probably we are back to the Restoration scenario.
 
It the old saying "there were limits on the power of Kings but not the Lord Protector"

I've heard that claim, but I'm skeptical of it: Lord Protector wasn't a new title made up specifically for Cromwell, but rather the traditional title for a sole regent exercising royal authority on behalf of an underage or incapable King of England. The term presumably fell into disuse in favor of "Prince Regent" when it was next needed (the future George IV's regency for his father George III) since by that point it was strongly associated with the Cromwells, and since the previous two Lords Protector (Richard III and Edward Seymour) hadn't really covered themselves in glory in the eyes of posterity, either.

So Cromwell taking the title "Lord Protector" looks like a pretty clear claim to the authority of a monarch without actually recreating the monarchy, and any traditional limits of the monarchy he disregarded as Lord Protector Cromwell were just as much a break with tradition as if he'd disregarded them as King Oliver.
 
So what if he accepts it? That’s a great POD for this

He may strengthen his support by the residual monarchists who had made their peace with the Commonwealth (George Monck, etc), but they were already firmly in Cromwell's camp since they generally viewed Cromwell as the next best thing to restoring the Stuarts. He'd also gain the gratitude of the people represented in the Protectorate Parliament who looked to Cromwell as a check against the power of the Major Generals, as splitting Cromwell from the Major Generals and giving him more stature to oppose them was a major motivation for offering him the crown in the first place.

On the other hand, he'd set himself firmly against the hard-core Republican faction, which was strong within the army, and against the aforementioned Major Generals. And if Cromwell were to lose the support of most of the Army, he wouldn't keep his crown (or his head, most likely) very long.
 
He may strengthen his support by the residual monarchists who had made their peace with the Commonwealth (George Monck, etc), but they were already firmly in Cromwell's camp since they generally viewed Cromwell as the next best thing to restoring the Stuarts. He'd also gain the gratitude of the people represented in the Protectorate Parliament who looked to Cromwell as a check against the power of the Major Generals, as splitting Cromwell from the Major Generals and giving him more stature to oppose them was a major motivation for offering him the crown in the first place.

On the other hand, he'd set himself firmly against the hard-core Republican faction, which was strong within the army, and against the aforementioned Major Generals. And if Cromwell were to lose the support of most of the Army, he wouldn't keep his crown (or his head, most likely) very long.
IMHO a better POD would be if Cromwell chose a successor to the Protectorship before his death: I may be guessing too wild, but Monck might be the right guy for that.
Once the principle is adopted, a restoration of the monarchy becomes much less likely
 
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