- When did Portugal changed its official name to the Lusitan United Monarchy?
- What is the youngest Columbian Lordship?
- What are the most recent royal houses that have gone extinct?
- Are there any other notable branches of the House of Grimaldi besides the Grimaldi-Banks one?
- Has the Lenape Nation ever had a man be High Chief after Tamanend?
- Have any royals of Newden and Valhalla married into each other's royal family?
- Were any of the HR-GE Electorates in personal union with a foreign country besides Pappenheim and Britain?
- Is the United Kingdom of the Baltic still ruled by the House of Vasa?
The Cold-Hearted Swot
- Thread starter Peppe
- Start date
It seems that the author has a great love for decentralization and autonomy - I even feel sorry for the state of this world.
Just to be pedantic, it was less that Portugal changed it's name and more that the Portuguese Empire developed into a new entity with Portugal as a part of it.
Speaking seriously, the United Monarchy came to be firstly in 1807 when Portugal elevated it's main colonies to the rank of "Kingdom", making them officialy akin in level to the Algarve; then, after that, the United Monarchy came officially into existence a few decades later in 1877, when, in the 70th anniversary of the colonies' elevation, the state was created so as to officially make all of its components a "single" state (since from 1807 to 1877 they were technically Portugal, it's colonies, and kingdoms now akin to the various of Hapsburg or Bourbon Spain and de jure simply in personal union under the Portuguese monarch)
Of the High Lordships, the youngest to be created was that of the United Duchies, who unlike the others who were already in place by the time of independence was made by the first Columbian Emperor for his youngest son in 1850.
The most recently-made official fiefdom/lordship in Columbia isn't much younger either, as the country didn't really expand after Arthur I's time and most of the places it expanded to later became a separate country, being the County of Saint Peters, a small lordship that is located between the southernmost bit of the United Duchies, a bit of Piedmont, another fiefdom (from which it broke off) and the border of Columbia with Reme
Good question, a damn hard one to answer for me.
Generally speaking, royal houses ITTL have had a surprising good luck in relation to surviving (the Hapsburgs being the most noticeable example of that), and since the POD was in the 16th century things mean that many ITTL houses branched from OTL ones and later went extinct over the centuries, and there were also houses who became extinct over the course of the basically half a milennium since POD. This makes it damn hard to answer your question because I could go debating myself over which to speak, do I go solely about OTL houses, ITTL, both? And then the "recent" part makes me enter a small wondering on that area, like, what would I consider recent and what would be recent. Besides the fact that I of course must think about what would be considered a "royal house", do I consider a house as being simply a the main family line (like they do with the Capetians or the Oldenburgs, whose main branches died but whose cadets remained and are known by their own names instead of the family's original)or should I specifically consider cadets to say if a house became extinct or not?
But that's more me rambling for fun and to get a bit annoyed with myself.
Onto the actual houses (I'm admitedly keeping it to Europe and environ's for the sake of simplicity):
- The most recent, OTL-existing, royal house to go extinct on its main branch was the House of Savoy, who although possesing quite a few cadets saw the house of the kings of Savoy-Piedmont end on the male-line in 1994 with the death of Queen Margherita of Savoy (their last agnate being her older brother, Amadeus XIII, who died in 1963), the current house of the rulers of Savoy-Piedmont being the House of Savoy-Chablais
- In contrast, the most recent, OTL-existing, house to go extinct on all legitimate male lines was the House of Osman, who although still called that had its last legitimate male member die in 1929
- going to ITTL houses, the most recent (not caring for branches) to die out was the House of Báthory (or "Hapsburg-Báthory"), rulers of Transylvania, who died on the legitimate line with Gabriel III in 2011. The current rulers of Transylvania is his granddaughter, Constance, the first of the House of (Hapsburg-)Varcolac
- And in relation to ITTL houses who went extinct on their entirety, the most recent is the House of Belgium (which I know is technically a branch of the Tudors, but...), who had at it's largest in the early 20th century a total of 8 branches, but died-out on the male line in 2003
Much like OTL (and my Albion TL), the House of Grimaldi was and is rather prolific ITTL (although possibly even more so in relation to numbers, having as of 2030 a total of 129 known branches), most of the house's branches are nobility or well-known public figures (like the Dukes of Borgia in the Mediterranean, or the Princes of Remy-Simmon in Louisiane, or the Brazilian Grimaldis, who i can best describe as "the Kardashians, but with Betty White for grandmother") but they also have two thrones outside of Monaco:
- the Kingdom of Cuba, where after centuries under various branches of the Hapsburgs the throne was snatched by the Counts of Baracoa during the Great War (the Cuban Civil War was one of it's "fronts"), them being a branch of the Grimaldi's who got their claim from their head at the time being the son and husband of Cuban royal bastards and the great-grandson of a Cuban prince
- and the Principality of Cingapura, sometimes called "The Monaco of the East", created by a 18th century Grimaldi adventurer and internationally recognized with his great-grandson, who managed to gain that by becoming a British vassal
After Tamanend, the Lenape had male High Chiefs for a few more generations, and it was only in the early-to-mid 18th century that they came to only have female rulers due to a variety of reasons, the first of them being his great-great-granddaughter, Tamanend the Latter (who was actually born "Grace" but chose to take on her ancestor's name upon becoming High Chief in 1724)
Yes... but incredibly rarely.
Although ITTL Denmark and Sweden have mainly become close partners, the rivalry and enmity between the two seemingly passed to their colonial descendants, so the norm for Newden and Valhalla's ruling families' is to nearly hiss at the sight of each-other, with the marriages that have happened either being some sort of attempt at "peace", a Romeo/Juliet-esque affair or being between members so far down the family tree they are closer to cadets not connected to the rivarly
No, ITTL there have been states in personal union with foreign countries (or nobles) but never an Electorate (in fact, Pappenheim itself only became an Electorate after it's personal union with Britain ended)
No, although it was much less chaotic than OTL, the House of Vasa on the throne of Sweden still became extinct ITTL with a monarch named Christina, who inherited the throne in 1644 from her sister, Ingeborg I (herself king since their father's death in 1631 and more akin to OTL Christina), and started a new royal house with Thomas I of England's younger son
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It's much less a love of decentralization and much more me growing up being a bookworm who first became interested in history from watching Don Bluth's Anastasia and became obssessed with the Romanovs, which sent me into a path that resulted in becoming enamored with the sheer mess that were the borders of the HRE and pretty much all of Europe before states begun to really centralize as well as developing rose-tinted glasses for those times, which resulted on me trying to imagine countries based on them but located in "modern times"
(although ironically the HRE, the behemot who started it all, ITTL is in a way more centralized than OTL Germany)
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- Are there any countires that had long periods of female monarchs besides the Lenape Nation (1724-Present) and the United Isles (1889-2005)?
- Has the Columbian Emperor ever expanded the Imperial Crownlands though marriage or inheritance?
- What was the first royal funeral to be filmed/televised, British or otherwise?
- Were the Olympics ever canceled or delayed?
- Are there other royal houses that changed their names like what Columbia (Tudor to Pendragon) and Louisiana (Bourbon-Louisiana to just Louisiana) did?
- What's the most unusual title the British Emperor has?
- Who became the first secular Elector of Cologne following the Sixty-Six Years War?
- What's the Electorate of Liège's relationship with the HR-GE like?
Absolutely, while few countries come close to those two in relation to the matter there are still many countries with long periods of consecutive or semi-consecutive female rulers, like:
- Sweden (which has had many female kings through its history) was from 1631 to 1689 under the reign of the daughters of Karl III Sigismund, firstly Ingeborg I until 1644 and after that her sister, Kristina (who was co-monarch with her husband, then her son, and then her grandson), and then was once under a period of female kings of over 60 years during the 18th century. Sweden’s successor, the United Kingdom of the Baltic, in turn, has been under successive female monarchs since 1940
- ironically, Sweden’s “child” with Columbia, Newden/New Sweden has also had a long history of female viceroys, the first to be so being the state’s second ruler, who succeeded her father in 1679 and was followed in turn by two of her five sisters, starting a period of just under 70 years of consecutive female monarchs
- Although Venice is known as a republic, technically speaking the Serenissima is a highly ceremonial elective monarchy since it’s Doges traditionally rule for life and are only heads of state, and it had a nearly-uninterrupted period of 99 years were only women were elected for the office starting in 1874 (with only two “gaps” in the 1920s, both of which lasted only a few years)- and Ujian, which somewhat similarly to the above, has had quite a unique history in relation to having female monarchs, as to start things the country possesses two separate “monarchs”, the ‘Sovereign’ and the Shogun, and to complicate it even more both are officially restricted to their respective dynasties’ male lines – but both still have had women holding the position., as long as they are agnatic members of said dynasties and, more importantly, as long as their heirs are as well (with more than once women holding their positions due to being their predecessor’s only “acceptable” child and marrying cousins), which has also translated in women holding a position while having a young male relative as their “junior monarch”, being their “pseudo-regents” (generally for nephews, sons, or grandsons)
Overall, even with this rather convoluted system, the country has nonetheless seen not only long periods of female rulership both in relation to ‘Sovereigns’ and Shoguns but has a large chunk of its history being made of them (in great part due to males on both dynasties having a tendency for dying young), with the years between 1765 to 1901 seeing, for example, basically two lines of succession for the position of ‘Sovereign’, one passed through women and the other through men (and being remarkable by the nearly 3-to-1 ration of male to female monarchs); while from 1693 to 1867 most Shoguns not only were women but held their positions without a “junior” (although it did include a civil war in the 1790s fighting for who would be the “pseudo-regents” for a toddler male Shogun)
No, although they have expanded the Crownlands through things like buying or attainders, the only to which the Columbian Emperors have added through marriage or inheritance within the country’s territory is the Crown’s Estate, whose possessions are still considered parts of their “original” states and not immediate parts of the Crownlands
The first royal funeral to be filmed in any capacity was that of Princess Inés of Chactemal (also known as Santa Inés of the Criers), whose funeral procession in 1868 was filmed for a few minutes, while the first funeral to be filmed on its majority was that of King Alphonso of Cuba in 1901
The first royal funeral to be televised occurred a while later in 1924, being that of Empress Dowager Annunciata of Mexico
Yes, they were canceled due to the Great War in the early 20th century, but only then
Oh, very much yes, though interestingly the two examples you gave technically “changed” their names through different manners.
What I mean by that is that while the House of Pendragon in Columbia came to be recently (although nearly 2 centuries in the past for the present time, ITTL early-to-mid 19th century is still relatively young in “dynastic age” even for the Americas, where many royal families date to at least the 17th and some date to Pre-Columbian times in some way) and changed the name to gain “distance” from its “progenitor”, the Tudors, as well as become more “localized”, the House of Louisiana came to be during the 18th century and gained its name through the “European Old-Fashion” of a royal house gaining the name of its original territory, the taking out of the “Bourbon” becoming more of a shedding of unnecessary components or a full embracement of the name by which it was colloquially known than an actually name change.
Nonetheless, both “types” have other ITTL occurences, some examples being:
) From the first one
- the Albanian Royal Family, the House of Kastrioti (or Kastriotëve), which although known by that name isn’t actually a branch of the “OG” House of Kastrioti (which is in modern times a part of the Mediterranean Nobility and uses the spelling “Castriota”), being in actually started by a Portuguese prince (from one of the legitimate junior branches of the House of Avis) who gained the Albanian throne due to serving as a volunteer/mercenary during the country’s independence war and took on his wife’s surname (although he actually said he was taking on his grandmother’s, his wife and him being first cousins twice removed)
- the Royal House of Michigan (from which the various royal houses of the Lakelander Kingdoms originate), the House of Oberon (also called the Oberonic Dynasty, and sometimes the House/Line of Cygnet due to its founder’s heraldry), which admittedly is a weirder case, as it was founded by a Quebecois Bourbon scion (The Most Serene House of Bourbon-Condé) but while he kept the name, his dynasty came to be named after him colloquially instead of being seen as either some branch of the Bourbons or be colloquially named after the country, with his descendants, while keeping the “Bourbon-“ for personal surnames, taking on the nomenclature following the end of a united Michigan
- and the Burgundian Royal Family, the House of Burgundy (or Burgogne in Burgundian, Borgoigne in Francoburgundian, Borgogne in Arpitan, Burgônde in Germanoburgundian and Burgünde in Franc-Comtou) – which should not be confused with the 5 Houses “of Burgundy” that existed beforehand (3 of whom were cadets of the same dynasty and, not entirely the same, 3 ruled within the country’s borders) – which, in actuality, is the closest genealogical equivalent ITTL to the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine (taking the name “of Burgundy” upon gaining the throne of the newly-carved country)
) From the second one
- the Prussian Royal Family, which although still often called Hohenzollern (with a variety of hyphenations) is officially known as the House of Prussia (or Preussen/Preußen in German, Prusy/Pruskie in Polish, Prussyn in Prussian Polish, Prësë in Kashubian and Prüsei in Modern Prussian)
- the Belgian Royal Family, which is known simply as the House of Belgium (“of the Belgians” on occasion) but started with the marriage of an English Prince (from the time when the main House of Tudor was agnatically from the House of Stewart) and a Hapsburg Archduchess (the last scion of a ITTL branch of the Austrian Hapsburgs)
- and the Royal House of Andalusia, the House of Granada, which is a more “unusual” case since it actually started as an illegitimate branch of the Spanish Hapsburgs (and as such its members were called “of Austria”) and came to have the nickname “of Granada” due to descending from a ITTL son of Philip II of Spain who received the title of “Duke of Granada” (and later being granted that title), adding it to their surname only in the 18th century long before the family came to the Andalusian throne (and even then the house is often called of Austria y Granada instead of just the latter)
(if the "variations" in relation to the Burgundians and Prussians are confusing, it's because I decided to include a few references to ITTL linguistic changes/languages)
Well, I’ll admit that’s a bit subjective for a question. after all, even in OTL there are some rather unusual titles held by the Queen (my favorites are probably “Seigneur of the Swans” and “Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska”) or her family member (Princess Anne is “Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers”) which are also existent ITTL – and ITTL the British Monarch has quite a few more titles under their belt than OTL which makes the number of candidates even higher –, but if I had to choose which ITTL title is the most unusual, these would be my first picks:
- “Lord of Fucking”, a title inherited by the Crown from Empress Augusta’s husband, it refers to a village in Upper Austria
- “Grandmaster of the (Most Secret) Order of the Prancing Chamber”, a title held by the British Monarch since Mary II, it was created only a generation before by her father, the Earl of Ardglass, as the head of a secret society he founded with his friends while studying in Cambridge
- “He Who Must Not Be Named”, successively by the British Monarch since Elizabeth II, the title is granted by a small ethnoreligious community original of Acadia every generation, being in their culture a symbol of respect as they possess a cultural taboo over saying the name of your sovereign (they give, in turn, the title “Who May Be Nicknamed” to the British Heir Apparent, and the community’s own leader has the epithet of “Respectably Named”)
- and “The Fountain”
The first secular Elector of Cologne was Gerbhard III, Duke and Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and Duke of Palatinate-Kleeburg, an ITTL member of that branch of the Palatinate side of the House of Wittelsbach. Interestingly, originally it was Gerbhard’s father the one set to become Elector, but he died before it became official and it was decided the title would be instead given to a young Gerbhard (another interesting fact was that his mother, Ernestine of Isenburg-Grenzau, was the last living descendant of Salentin IX of Isenburg-Grenzau, the ecclesiastical Elector responsible for successfully converting Cologne to Protestantism ITTL)
Liège’s relationship with the HR-GE isn’t actually much beyond being an extension of the relationship between Belgium and the HR-GE, since although Liège is called an “Electorate” in English, it isn’t one on the same vein of the HR-GE’s Electorates, with its name in German, for example, not even being the same (instead of “Kurfürstentum” it is “Fürstwählerstaat”, or just “Wählereich”), with the Electorate coming to be following a “understated revolution” which saw Liège’s government becoming a full democracy (with the title “Prince of Liège” translating to “Constituent Prince”, which in this context means being “first among equals” in relation to the entire population)
- How did the Gutlandic monarchy come to be?
- When was the oldest Columbian Lordship established?
- Does Britain have any "domesticated" royals like they did in OTL with the Tecks and the Battenbergs?
- Is the Dodo still around ITTL?
- When did the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda become a Grand Duchy?
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The Gutlandic monarchy officially came to be with the death of the “Danish Empire” in the early 19th century, when the country managed to become independent with Swedish backing, but its roots date to the late 17th and early 18th centuries with the children of a Danish prince and Gutnish gentlewoman, which were titled “Counts of Visborg” and mostly settled down in the island, becoming the primus inter pares of the local aristocracy and society by the time Gotland became independent
The answer about who is Columbia’s oldest lordship is one that has more than one answer, and, in fact, has about four, as it depends heavily on what you would consider the “establishment date”
- Technically speaking, Newden is the eldest, having been founded by the Swedes with the establishment of the “Viceroyalty of New Sweden” in 1654, but only became an actual part of Columbia when it was “sold” to the British decades later
- The first of the lordships to be officially founded/recognized by the British, in turn, was the County Palatine of Providence, in 1659
- While only created in the 18th century, the Principality of the Banks can trace a direct line of its rulership to the late 16th century, having been created by the elevation/renaming of the County Palatine of Croatoan, which was on itself created in 1652 as a continuation of the Lordship of Croatoan, created in 1607 as a direct follow-up of the Colony of Roanoke (whose leadership had been de facto semi-hereditary nearly from the start in the 1580s)
- and the Viceroyalty of Tidewater, while created in the turn of the 18th century, was established as a semi-direct continuation of the Powhatan Confederacy, which was founded in the late 16th century
Yes, although the most famous case of that is actually a historical example.
While there are many examples of “domesticated” royal houses in modern times ITTL, like the Hapsburgs of Ormonde, the Houses of Savoy-Mar and Savoy de Moravia, or the Dumbledore Earls of Nithsdale (which are from the House of Welf), the most well-known example of such houses are the Paleologue Family, often called “of Barbados”.
Originated from a son of Thomas Palaiologos, last Despot of Morea, the family originally lived in Pesaro until being forced into exile during the late 16th century, reaching England in 1598. Settling in Cornwall, the family only stayed there for a generation before moving to the island of Barbados, gaining prominence as part of its gentry, and for the 17th and early 18th centuries they remained as such, only rising in status with Godscall Paleologue, who became a Rear Admiral and was made a baron after marrying a royal bastard.
Although there are still branches of the family that consider themselves British, descending from the members that stayed in Cornwall (like the Earls of Latchbrook), the main branch of the family became separate from the Isles during the 19th century when they “regained” the Greek throne with British backing.
Yes, the Dodo Bird, which is still seen in the wild in Mauritius (ITTL known as “Cisnália”), is a common sight in Southwestern Brazil, having been brought there by the Portuguese (whose royalty and aristocracy fell in love with the birds after they were “discovered” during the late 16th century and a few brought to Lisbon) and becoming a popular pet animal (although their feathers are considered extremely good for pillows, being described as “soft but sturdy”, and the birds are farmed for them, Dodos are not farmed for their meat or eggs, and even “feather farms” prefer non-deadly methods of extraction, due in majority to the animal’s slow reproduction, as normally a hen lays a single fertilized egg at a time)
In general, many of the Mascaranes’ native fauna and flora have survived when compared to ITTL (and some have become famous outside of it, with the Réunion Ibis, for example, being considered a minor symbol of the Portuguese Royal Family, while the Red Rail is seen as the only bird to match chicken in worldwide human consumption. The Rodrigues Solitaire, which is the Dodo’s closest genetical relative, is much like it seen as a common pet and source of good feathers), something that can interestingly be chalked up to religion
Fulda became a Grand Duchy during the late 18th century, changing from being “simply” a Prince-Bishopric during the various conflicts and developments that engulfed/occurred in the HRE through the 18th and 19th centuries that helped turn the country into what it is in modern times
Here are a few more Alyaskan Ethnic Monarchs (Krovykrol/Krovkory, plural Krovykroli)
- Svetlana (b.1980), the monarch of the Ktunaxa (also called Kutenai and Kotenyi) since 2027, commonly known as a socialite in Alyaska, but professionally a longstanding member of the military (the closest comparison I could make would be Paris Hilton if she was a mid-rank General)
- Victor V (b.1973), the monarch of the Agadik (OTL Lemhi Shoshone) since 1996, he is commonly known for being a bishop on the Alyaskan Catholic Church, having first entered it as a monk at the age of 18 and only becoming a monarch due to highly unexpected circumstances
- Helena VII (b.1959), the monarch of the Pikansika (OTL Piegan Blackfoot) since 2017, who is often more known not for her office but for having a decades-long career as an actor, musician, and politician, having served as both an elected representative (choosing to step down from her office in 2017) and as a diplomat for Alyaska
- Maria Kosnyetsya II (b.1998), the monarch of the Kullyspelm (OTL Kalispel/Pend d’Oreille) since 2022, who is known for being both a member of the Alyaskan Royal Family by marriage and by profession an elected member of the Alyaskan government (being in an office equivalent to in-between a mayor and a governor)
- Vladimir II (b.1944), the monarch of the Sladktrava Cree since 1953, the second-oldest among the ethnic monarchs, he is most commonly known for being the “head” of Alyaska’s “Supreme Court”
- Oleg IV (b.1962), the monarch of the Zeleyntsyi since 1981, who although an honorary Field Marshall in the Alyaskan Army is more known for either his personal wealth or the sheer mess that are his children’s personal lives
- and Yuri (b.2007), the monarch of the Transkitaskyi since 2012, currently the youngest of the ethnic monarchs
Can't believe I missed this. The maps of America and Europe are some of the best I've seen in years, holy shit.
- Who's the closet equivalent to OTL’s Queen Victoria in this TL?
- Have any of the Columbian Lordships ever expanded their domains though marriage or inheritance?
- What’s the most watched royal wedding?
- Who’s the longest-reigning HR-GE Elector of all time?
- Who’s the oldest French Dynastic Ruler?
ITTL, the closest equivalent to Queen Victoria is probably Elizabeth III of the Isles, who is that together with being one of the closest equivalents to George VI
Very much, although most lordships to have done so have been the smaller ones. Of the main ones, the two who had any major territorial expansion due to marriage or inheritance are the United Duchies, who gained their westernmost bit through inheritance during the mid-20th century. and Sleepy Hollow, whose much-larger exclave was gained through marriage in the turn of the 19th century
Probably the wedding of Prince James, Duke of Cardiff, to Infanta Constance of (Brazil and) Portugal in 1992, which was seen by at least 1,2 billion people
Ruper V, the Elector Palatine, reigned for 73 years in the 18th century, from 1723 to 1797
The oldest of the rulers of France's Dynastic States is Duke Engelbert II, who is a catankerous half-blind 81-year-old
Some would consider the Countess of Nantes', Bertha, to be the "real oldest", since she's Brittany's 103-year-old éminence grise
- What's the smallest country in the world?
- Who is the longest-reigning Columbian High Lord of all time (excluding Richard V of the Banks)?
- Are there any sovereign states on the pacific coast of North America besides Alyaska and Mexico?
- Are there any branches of the House of Orange in the Americas?
- Who’s the cloeset equivalent to OTL's Napoleon Bonaparte ITTL?
Well, while there are many small microstates in the world ITTL – with examples like the Sheikhdom of Acre whose city-state remnant is only a bit larger at 0.3, the Principality of Tensborg with his 0.7, or the Republic of Doba/Perladoba (located at OTL Dibba Al-Hisn in the UAE) with her glaring 1.1 square kilometer (which can admittedly be rather enlarged when you count man-made extensions) – the title for “smallest country in the world” is disputed between three/four states:
- The Republic of Senarica, whose 0.04 square kilometers of surface area make it the most-commonly-agreed-to smallest country (even if underground expansions have expanded her de facto size)
- The Monastic State of Tekasi, a buddhist island country in Oceania made of a single island in what is OTL the Penrhyn Atoll whose land area is about a fourth of a hectare smaller than Senarica, but the fact that the country’s territory extends into the water makes many see it as being larger in surface area
- The Republic of Simping, a Sino-Malay city state in Southeast Asia whose land is made of the eponymous Simping Island (actually an OTL island located in Singkawang, Indonesia) with about 0.035 square kilometers of surface area, but the fact that the republic’s status as an independent nation is a bit contentious due to it being a member of the British Empire and having a much larger maritime territory (where artificial territorial extensions are relatively common)
- and finally The Principality of Gaulung, which would be the world’s smallest country through having a territory smaller than 3 hectares comprised of a single landlocked walled town in Southern China if it wasn’t for the fact that it isn’t an internationally recognized country
You did well in adding “excluding Richard V of the Banks”, since ol’ Richie is the longest-reigning of all time among them.
If we don’t count him, then in first place comes High Duke Gorm III of Valhalla, who sat at the helm of the Granite Table of Hrotgar for 71 years and 182 days before dying at the age of 93 in 1904 (just a few weeks before his 94th birthday).
As his runner-up we have the equally deceased Lady of Sleepy Hollow, Katrina I, who although more remembered for having added the lordship’s much-larger exclave through her husband (and immediately taking the helm of running it) still reigned for 69 years and 341 days until 1869 – when she retired and moved to the Caribbean (where she lived a few decades more)
And finally in third place we have the still-living Vicereine of Worchester, Theophania, who although the oldest overall at 104, only begun her rule when she was already in her mid-thirties in 1963
Yes, a single one to be exact, the Republic of Orijon, which although named like that (and having the “same” etymological origin as “Oregon”) is actually a country between Alyaska and Mexico made of a territory similar to but not 100% matching that of the OTL theoretical “State of Jefferson” whose origins are being created as a buffer state
Yes, three of them existing in Columbia (and overall about eight existing across the continent, only one is legitimate, though)
The one I “consider” most interesting is that of the House of Orange of Sleepy Hollow (or “Orange Van Tassel” nowadays), which started with a bastard son of a Stadtholder of the Netherlands in the mid-17th century who decided to seek fortune in the New Netherlands and whose sons established a few family branches (the two other branches in Columbia being the other ones to survive to modern times), with the eldest becoming the Lord of a small territory that would become Sleepy Hollow (The branch wasn’t male-line Orange for quite a while though, between the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th)
Probably the Ironically-Also-French King-Emperor Jean III and his son, Auguste, who ruled France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Jean III in particular becoming the de facto sovereign of practically all of Western Europe (and Southern Europe) while Auguste followed on his footsteps and was the King-Emperor of France during most of the Great War
- How did Venice lose so much territory?
- Are there any Chinese treaty ports ITTL?
- Who was the first monarch to be photographed, British or otherwise?
- Have any of the Electorates in the HR-GE been ruled by female monarchs?
- Are there any male lines from the Swedish branch of the House of Vasa that survive to the present day?
- Are there any subnational monarchies in the Rochesan Confederacy?
By surviving.
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Ok, now speaking seriously, Venice ITTL only escaped French conquest during due to Austrian intervention, becoming a de facto protectorate of the HR-GR during the reign of Jean III, and by the end of the Great War most of the Terraferma was in practice either a wasteland or already administrated by the Austrians; so, not wishing to deal with the problem anymore and preferring to cut losses, the republic’s government made the decision to de facto give most of the Terraferma to the Austrians (by that time, though, Venice’s territory already was smaller than at its OTL end, having lost bits of it in the Italian Peninsula to what would become the modern Kingdom of Italy and her State of the Sea to the Italian and Austrian Hapsburgs separately)
Yes, although ITTL they were more like pre-1849 Portuguese Macau, being de facto under foreign control but not under their total foreign sovereignty (having either a power-sharing agreement that made it a condominium or some form of annual sum paid as ‘rent’) due to the Unequal Treaties not having a true ITTL counterpart
Empress Anne of the Isles is the first monarch to have a known photograph taken of them, in 1815
Yes, Swabia in particular is currently under a female Elector, while both Bavaria, Cologne and Hanover have had ones in the past
Yes, there are about three illegitimate branches that are known to exist, two being part of the nobility of Newden, and one *legitimate* one, the Bothnian Royal Family, which is directly descended from Gustav Eriksson Vasa, the legitimized son of Eric XIV with Karin Månsdotter (the Bothnian Vasas have a bunch of branches of their own)
Yes, about a third of the states of the Confederacy have some form of monarchical government (most of them being some for or another of elective or indirect succession)
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- When did Monaco become the Grimaldi Principality?
- Which currently reigning monarch has the highest regal number (excluding Reuss with their many Heinriches)?
- Are there any openly LBGT monarchs ITTL?
- Who’s the youngest French Dynastic Ruler?
- How come the period in British history where Empress Anne ruled is known as the Victorian Era?
- What was the first royal wedding of an Columbian Lord to be filmed/televised?
- Are there any regions in Asia that have been "Europeanized" like in North Africa?
- Do any of the Ottoman Sanjaks have Christian rulers?
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Well, if we go by technicalities the Principality of Monaco never stopped existing, what happened was that the Grimaldi Princes and their branch of the family became more well-known than it, being sometimes considered something of “international” due to how many pies they have fingers on across Europe and the globe, and because of that Monaco became known in many ways as “The Home of the Grimaldis” or “The state of The Prince Grimaldi*”, with “The Grimaldi Principality” being the semi-colloquial result of that.
* Although there are other branches of the House of Grimaldi that hold princely titles, the Monegasques are also more well known as an independent entity than them in a confusing sense
(Hope the answer wasn’t confusing, because it nearly was for me)
Good to make a point about the Reuss, in special since their ITTL Middle Line has never restarted counting, with it already starting at XVII in 1561 and just rolling with it (one of their branches doesn’t do that, though, having decided to count among siblings in a “personal” level and count the heads of all branches of the greater House of Reuss in the “dynastic” one after they snagged an Italian dukedom, but the rest of the family still includes them on the counting). Another family who follows the Reuss style are the House of Hapsburg-Honberg, with the 15-year old Maximillian Albrecht XXXVI, Duke of Pless and Prince of Jawor (who vary names but count all their instances, and have a certain fondness for a few)
Now speaking seriously:
If we speak of monarchs of autonomous states, and exclude regnal numbers caused by family customs, the highest numbered current monarch is either Panembahan XXV of Mataram (whose name is a regnal name of convenience employed by the monarchs of Mataram to deal with Europeans that has now stuck, similar to the Ramas of Thailand) or Bagrat XX of Imereti (who is also one of the two options for highest-numbered monarch overall).
And if we speak of monarchs, again excluding regnal numbers caused by family customs, who rule fully sovereign states, the highest-numbered current monarch is either Oba XLVI Eresoyen of Benin (Similarly to Mataram, the Monarchs of Benin started using their title in foreign relations with Europeans, and although not really used in modern times, with Oba XLVI being well known by his regnal name, Eresoyen, the custom has stuck) or Shahalud/Saladine XIX of Sulu
Just for funsies, I’ll specify that the current female monarch with the highest regnal number is Manuela VII Mistislava of Lagos
Well, yes, but it heavily depends on what you mean by “openly LBGT”.
Like, monarchs who are open about being interested on the same sex or having same sex relationships? We have that, the King of Tuscany is pretty open about his male paramours. Monarchs who are married to the same sex? Have that as well, the Basileia of Epirus is married to a woman, and the King of Panama is married to a man, although in his case that came to be when his queen consort came out as trans. Monarchs who have transitioned, have those too, the Padishah of Iran was assigned male at birth, but socially transitioned when she was in her twenties. Monarchs who aren’t cisgender? Well, the Sovereign of Wajo identifies as a Calalai, one of the five genders in Bugis society, while the Grand Duke of Calabria is an interesting case, being non-binary but not really caring about pronouns, so most people use male ones since they were assigned that at birth.
I’ll admit that acting like I didn’t get what you were saying was mostly because I discovered it made writing strangely smoother for me and because I found it funny to write it like I was a salesman
The Grand Duke of Champagne, Emilie, who’s eleven (we’re pretty sure his mother did some murdering in behalf of Fontainebleau)
It’s a bit of an interesting story how that came to be, caused by Empress Anne receiving the nickname of “Empress Victoria” or “Empress Victory” in the 1790s after a playwright/poet called her reign “An Age of Victory Started by Sorrow”, something which inspired a popular politician of the time to use the “Age of Victory” as a description of her reign in his speeches
While “This Age of Victory” or “Empress Anne’s Reign” were relatively common nicknames for the time (“The Annian Age” sadly never took off, even with all the wishes of Cambridge), “Victorian Era” ended up becoming more-and-more popular with time, and in special after “unlucky” reigns of the mid-19th century
The first wedding of a Columbian Lord to be filmed was that of Madeleine, Princess of the Banks to Prince Lucien Grimaldi in 1913, while the first to be televised was the wedding of Theophania of Worchester, at the time still not Vicereine, to the Viceroyal Prince Ludwig of Vandalia in 1957
Well, while I wouldn’t say any regions of Asia as large have underwent changes like North Africa, there are many dots and patches across the shores of the Indian Ocean that have been changed in similar levels, with the Maldives, Goa, and in parts Sri Lanka, being the largest of them by far.
While very much not to the same level as North Africa, the Malay Archipelago is another part of the continent to be heavily influenced by Europeans, with Christianity supplanting Islam in many regions.
Yes, although it can get complicated. Three of the Sanjaks in Rumelia, and one in Anatolia, have Christian rulers, while half of the remaining Rumelian Sanjaks, and three other Anatolian Sanjaks, are ruled by “Sort-of-Christians”, with their rulers being basically both Christian and Muslim in some way or another
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- Was Rugen once a constituent state of the HR-GE?
- Are there any culturally French constituent states in Columbia?
- Are there any branches of the Hapsburgs in Germany that are still Catholic?
- Do any monarchies have unique rules for the naming of their rulers?
- Who was the first Columbian High Lord to be photographed?
- Are there any Christian monarchies in the Levant?
Yes, as a part of the old Duchy of Pomerania.
To specify, until the late 1600s , the Principality of Rugen was in personal union with the Duchy of Pomerania, having been since 1325, but in the chaos of the 66 Years' War, the small principality officially became a vassal state of Denmark like it had been until the 14th century.
This system, with the Rugen and Pomerania being in personal union but having different overlords, lasted until some decades later, when the War of the Pomeranian Succession broke out in the mid-18th century, and in its aftermath saw most of the Old Duchy being inherited by Brandenburg while the secundogeniture of Pomerania-Barth was made its own state (and would later become the Grand Duchy of Pomerania) in personal union with Rugen*. This "new" personal union only lasted two generations, ending when differences between succession laws resulted in Rugen and 'Pomerania' coming under the rule of different brothers.
Rugen remained a vassal part of Denmark for only a few decades more, when it became a de facto independent country following the breakup of the Oldenburg Empire**
*Basically, following the ITTL unification of Pomerania with a survival of the Griffins Dynasty, the Duchy, instead of having new internal partitions under co-ruling dukes, remained a united entity ruled from Stettin and Woglast with a few subservient secundogenitures; this system lasted until the 18th century when the main ducal line died with its last duke having only a single daughter who married the Elector of Brandenburg, who claimed the duchy through her.
This claim was disputed by the Dukes at Barth, who were the seniormost of the dynasty's cadets, and with that a war ensued. In the end, although the Barths lost their claim, the peace saw their secundogeniture sprung as an independent smaller Duchy of Pomerania and receive the Principality of Rugen as a "consolation prize", as the principality had been in personal union with the line of the Main Dukes
**An alternative name for the personal union of Denmark and Norway under the Oldenburgs used when people feel "Dano-Norwegian Empire" is a mouthful
Yes.
Although most of the culturally-French or French-influenced states in Columbia were lost in the Great War, there still remain a few of them in the modern country, with most of the states in the OTL Toronto Peninsula being Francophone and/or having a mixed French and Native-American culture.
The northwestern states of Columbia (mainly around the United Duchies) also have some French cultural influences, although they admittedly are often not really noticed, and often don't go much beyond naming conventions and place names
Surprisingly, yes, in part due to the family's size making it somewhat anathema to being religiously monolithic (even if they have tried).
Although semi-catholic or protestant-catholic lines can be found in quite a few places, most branches of the Hapsburgs in Germany that are known of are mostly to be found in the State of the Three Leagues, where, due to the same chaos and shenanigans of the 17th century that saw them enter the Imperial Crownlands, the state's Catholic-majority areas exist as autonomous states mostly under hereditary rulers who share their faith (its complicated), with most of said rulers being either the descendants of Lepold I of 'Inner Austria' (whose father and grandfather are directly to blame for this situation) or misplaced members of the Italian side of the dynasty.
Ironically enough, the main part of the Three Leagues that was already a part of the Imperial Crownlands beforehand, Tarasp, is actually the domain of a quite fervently calvinist branch of the Hapsburgs
Yes, not even counting those previously mentioned in this thread, quite a lot of monarchies have at least some rules and traditions for naming or counting. Noticeable Examples Include:
- Columbia and Louisiana, who both have rulers specifying that regnal name must follow a certain "theme" (even if in both cases the rule isn't really in effect anymore due to most members of their respective imperial families having at least one given name that would be considered acceptable, often times it being their first name)
- In fact they are quite in line with the rest of the Americas, with many of the continent's monarchies, both sovereign and constituent, possessing rules (official or not) to that effect (ex. Valhalla with Nordic names)
- The Tarascan monarchs obligatorily must have both a "Spanish" and a "Indigenous" part to their regnal names- Similar to those two but not quite, the Viceroyal Family of Massachusetts has the custom, even if isn't a law, of giving their members at least one "Puritan Name" (like "Sorry-for-Sin" or "Humiliation-under-the-eyes-of-the-Lord")
- Florida also gives Queen consorts regnal numbers, and stipulates that they be included if/when numbering a female monarch
- Mauretania forbids the use of regnal numbers for any of their monarchs in any official fashion, with rulers with a previously-used first name either going by a compound name or with one of their middle names
- In Bothnia there is a ceremonial capacity to their regnal name, which is chosen at the monarch's coronation by being carved together with 50 others in small pieces of bone, which are then thrown into a fire; with the chosen regnal name being that on the least-damaged piece to be found when the fire burns out
- Similarly to the above, in Chile regnal names follow a "Name Number Name", with the first name being chosen by the monarch and being the one to use when counting while the second is decided through a rather secretive ritual that is known to involve Chile's three leading religious authorities (the Archbishop of Santiago, the Chancellor of Concepcíon, and the Elder Machi at Valdivia)
- Argentina's Royal Family only permits their members to have a first name chosen out of these seven: Alba, Ana, and Julia for girls; José/Juan, Gabriel and Luis for boys; and Maria for both), although their house rules don't have much in prohibitions against names that aren't the first
- And, to finish things off in the same vein as the House of Reuss, all female members of the Royal Family of Detroit must be named "Marie Thérèse", while the 'nearby' Vermilia only permits its rulers to have the name of "Annalise"
The first Columbian High Lord to be photographed was so even before Columbia became an independent nation, as he was Richard III of the Banks, who did so in 1815 due to being visiting the Imperial Court in London and ended-up being invited to a photo by the then Prince of Wales (I'm counting him as being one of the High Lords since the guy died after Arthur I's Declaration of Independence, since if we don't count those who ruled beforehand the answer is all of them due to a photograph taken of all of them with Arthur I shortly after the declaration)
Yes, although they aren't exactly sovereign.
To specify, due to a mix of how things wend down in the region and the Caliphate being uniquely friendly and open towards non-Muslims, the Levant is mostly a patchwork of often-small states that span the many religions and cultures of the region - from the most common like Sunni Muslims and Maronites all the way to the Samaritans - existing as in-between 'nominally independent' and 'autonomous state' under the Caliphate's hands-off authority.
While there admittedly aren't that many Christian states, and of them some aren't even monarchical, most of said Christian states are, with the most well-known probably being:
- The Emirate of Keserwan, who is known for its dancing-chairs religious history (going from a Shia-majority state ruled by a Sunni dynasty allied with Maronites Christians to a Maronite-majority state)
- The Kingdom of (Mount) Lebanon, which is the largest of the Christian states of the Levant and known for its well-recorded history of alliance with the neighboring Druze Sultanate (their histories being rather intertwined from nearly the start)
- and the Principality of Betlehem, which is just a spot above a city-state mostly famous for its status as a major tourism hub due to its pilgrimage sites and for having survived in great part by serving as the only neutral ground between its many neighbors
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