Stadtholder John William Friso

MrHola

Banned
When the Stadholder-King William III died in 1702 without any heir, this ushered in the second stadholderless period in the history of the Dutch republic which lasted until 1747 (except in Friesland). In OTL William III's will left his estates and titles to his kinsman, Johan Willem Friso (1687-1711), of the Frisian branch of the family. The will was challenged, however, by King Frederick William I of Prussia, a descendant of Frederik Hendrik. Agreement still had not been reached when Johan Willem Friso went to The Hague to negotiate a settlement. However, he sadly drowned near the Moerdijk.

Apparently, him drowning was a very close run thing; the small boat he was on capsized due to the sails malfunctioning. So let's say the sails function properly and the prince arrives unharmed. Will the negotiations succeed in his favour? I personally think they would, him having fought in the War of the Spanish Succession greatly enhanced his prestige. What would be the effects of Stadtholder Friso?
 
What kind of settlement do you expect? Frederick William Iwould not have become stadholder what so ever, I don't think either where willing to give up the title Prince of Orange (after France conquered Orange, it was an empty title anyway). The only thing I can see happening is Lingen and/or Moers* remains with the Dutch stadholders (and possibly the Netherlands).

Still, a surviving Johan Friso could lead to some intersting situations. Ok, I suspect Holland still won't appoint him as stadholder as long as they can avoid it. But I could see Gelderland appointing him as stadholder, they were always more pro-stadholder than the other provinces.

Furthermore, I expect him to get more children than OTL, securing the Orange-Nassau line, assuming at least one of them is a boy. He would have a larger hand in the education of his son, the later stadholder Willem IV. I personally think that might be the largest butterfly. I am not really impressed by Willem IV (or actually the entire Frisian branch, including the Dutch kings). So maybe with his father's support he will turn into a better ruler, possibly avoiding (or possibly using) the patriot movement.




* the Dutch wikipedia also mentions Prussian Guelders next to Lingen and Moers, but I always though that was a completely different case.
 
Need some more info, of what you expect. I agree with Pompejus, that Lingen and Moers could remain a personal property of the Frisian branch of Orange Nassau. This could led to some small but interesting border changes in later generations.
Giving his bravery or recklessness, depend how you look at it during the Battle of Malplaquette and the bravado of his father and grand father Dutch history of the 18th century could be very different than we know.

After the Peace of Utrecht, which was a disaster for the Republic, the tensions between the republican oligarchs and the orangist common people and later on the more enlightened , nationalistic patriots came almost to boiling point and civil war. Manly due to in adaptiveness to reform the constitution of the Union of the Seven Provinces.
Maybe a Johan Friso could act as a catalysis to reforms.
 
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