I thought it was kind of cool that the next heir to Russia was named Anastasia though.
The Union Forever: A TL
- Thread starter Mac Gregor
- Start date
Nerdman3000, I don’t have a list of all the monarchs and thier heirs ready. Give me some time and I can probably provide a partial list. Good question about Anastasia, I’m going to demure for the moment but she will be appearing in the TL in the next few years. Thanks for all your support. Cheers!
Well done Lalli! A few notes, most of Spain is a republic excluding the royalists on the Balleric and Canary Islands. Arab Emirates should be Gulf Emirates and we need to add the Maldives. Technically, there are several nations that are monarchies but not officially dominions but independent states such as South Africa, Australia, etc.
2019: Foreign and Domestic Developments
Hey y'all sorry the delay in posting. This update will finish out the decade for us. I have a few reader submissions to review and will then be posting some maps and adding threadmarks. Cheers!
On January 11, five motorized infantry and two cataphract divisions of the Republic of West Africa invaded Guinea after the Guinean government barred the main pan-Africanist party from participation in that year’s presidential elections. The Guinean military put up a spirited but ultimately futile defense. West African troops finished occupying the small country by mid-February after the last holdouts on the Bijagós archipelago were mopped up. A new pan-Africanist government under Bicaro Rosa da Costa was installed in Bissau. To the surprise of no one, Guinea joined the All-African Alliance (AAA) a few weeks later.
In February, Japan’s Ministry of Energy and National Resources declared the Tokyo-Yokahama Oceanic Nuclear Power Facility fully operational, becoming the current world’s first practical underwater civilian nuclear reactor. Constructed several kilometers offshore on the seafloor, the power plant generated 1,100 megawatts of electricity for the nearby bustling metropolises. Being underwater, the facility had an inexhaustible supply of coolant and didn’t occupy any of Japan’s increasingly expensive real estate. Over the next several decades such reactors, many several magnitudes larger, became common near coastal cities around the world.
After 56 years as a dominion, Cyprus became an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Nations (ComNat) on February 16. As before independence, Greek Cypriots dominated parliament but international observers hoped that safeguards within the island’s constitution would preserve the rights of Cyprus’s Turkish minority.
In March, representatives from nearly a dozen African nations met in Bloemfontein, South Africa to try an stay the growing illiberal tide of the AAA. Galvanized by the recent invasion of Guinea, they created a new collective security organization styled the Coalition for a Democratic Africa (CDA). While most of these nations were already members of ComNat, a few previously non-aligned nations joined including Liberia, Chad, and the Independent Congolese Republic. By the end of the year, nearly all of sub-Saharan Africa was divided between the AAA and CDA.
On April 24, the United Kingdom became the fifth nation to place a human in Earth orbit. Scottish astronaut Duncan MacFadyen circled the earth seven times after launching from the King Edward VIII ComNat Spaceport on the Australian island of New Britain.
In early June, Chinese conglomerate Yùmóu Technologies began selling dumplings with vat-grown pork to the general public. While these cultured meat products cost several times more than normal pork they were marketed as a novelty “food of the future.” Yùmóu Technologies hoped that with further developments prices would continue to drop eventually becoming competitive with traditional farm raised meats. While the taste was deemed comparable by most palates, many consumers remained highly suspicious. Certain animal rights groups hailed the development of synthetic meat as a positive step forward towards abolishing the slaughter of animals.
During the summer, the Fellowship of Nations (FoN) began negotiations for an new international treaty regulating military and commercial activities in outer space at its headquarters in Geneva.
In the United States, both the Lexington and Weicker corporations rolled out autonomous automobile “aut-aut” models for the mass market after lagging behind ambitious startups like Sentinel and VisQuest. Liberty Auto Company, which had to date failed to produce a successful aut-aut of its own, bought out Autotopia hoping to catch up.
On August 2, a joint venture by the American company Rockhopper Industries and Italy’s Astropulso conducted a sample return mission from a near earth asteroid. While only returning around 32kg of rock and metal, it served as a useful proof of concept for future asteroid mining. Moreover, Astropulso’s reusable rockets greatly reduced the cost of the operation, enhancing market viability.
In December, New Caledonia became the eighth state to join the Federation of Australia. Queen Victoria II and Australian Prime Minister Art Mylott attended the official ceremony at the state capital of Paddon Town.
2019
Foreign and Domestic Developments
Guinean Cataphract firing at West African troops
Foreign and Domestic Developments
Guinean Cataphract firing at West African troops
On January 11, five motorized infantry and two cataphract divisions of the Republic of West Africa invaded Guinea after the Guinean government barred the main pan-Africanist party from participation in that year’s presidential elections. The Guinean military put up a spirited but ultimately futile defense. West African troops finished occupying the small country by mid-February after the last holdouts on the Bijagós archipelago were mopped up. A new pan-Africanist government under Bicaro Rosa da Costa was installed in Bissau. To the surprise of no one, Guinea joined the All-African Alliance (AAA) a few weeks later.
In February, Japan’s Ministry of Energy and National Resources declared the Tokyo-Yokahama Oceanic Nuclear Power Facility fully operational, becoming the current world’s first practical underwater civilian nuclear reactor. Constructed several kilometers offshore on the seafloor, the power plant generated 1,100 megawatts of electricity for the nearby bustling metropolises. Being underwater, the facility had an inexhaustible supply of coolant and didn’t occupy any of Japan’s increasingly expensive real estate. Over the next several decades such reactors, many several magnitudes larger, became common near coastal cities around the world.
After 56 years as a dominion, Cyprus became an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Nations (ComNat) on February 16. As before independence, Greek Cypriots dominated parliament but international observers hoped that safeguards within the island’s constitution would preserve the rights of Cyprus’s Turkish minority.
In March, representatives from nearly a dozen African nations met in Bloemfontein, South Africa to try an stay the growing illiberal tide of the AAA. Galvanized by the recent invasion of Guinea, they created a new collective security organization styled the Coalition for a Democratic Africa (CDA). While most of these nations were already members of ComNat, a few previously non-aligned nations joined including Liberia, Chad, and the Independent Congolese Republic. By the end of the year, nearly all of sub-Saharan Africa was divided between the AAA and CDA.
On April 24, the United Kingdom became the fifth nation to place a human in Earth orbit. Scottish astronaut Duncan MacFadyen circled the earth seven times after launching from the King Edward VIII ComNat Spaceport on the Australian island of New Britain.
In early June, Chinese conglomerate Yùmóu Technologies began selling dumplings with vat-grown pork to the general public. While these cultured meat products cost several times more than normal pork they were marketed as a novelty “food of the future.” Yùmóu Technologies hoped that with further developments prices would continue to drop eventually becoming competitive with traditional farm raised meats. While the taste was deemed comparable by most palates, many consumers remained highly suspicious. Certain animal rights groups hailed the development of synthetic meat as a positive step forward towards abolishing the slaughter of animals.
During the summer, the Fellowship of Nations (FoN) began negotiations for an new international treaty regulating military and commercial activities in outer space at its headquarters in Geneva.
In the United States, both the Lexington and Weicker corporations rolled out autonomous automobile “aut-aut” models for the mass market after lagging behind ambitious startups like Sentinel and VisQuest. Liberty Auto Company, which had to date failed to produce a successful aut-aut of its own, bought out Autotopia hoping to catch up.
On August 2, a joint venture by the American company Rockhopper Industries and Italy’s Astropulso conducted a sample return mission from a near earth asteroid. While only returning around 32kg of rock and metal, it served as a useful proof of concept for future asteroid mining. Moreover, Astropulso’s reusable rockets greatly reduced the cost of the operation, enhancing market viability.
In December, New Caledonia became the eighth state to join the Federation of Australia. Queen Victoria II and Australian Prime Minister Art Mylott attended the official ceremony at the state capital of Paddon Town.
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Wouldn't this be an issue with the earthquakes in the region? Tsunamis have most of their power underwater, and would therefore wreck not only the plants but also the cables sending the power to the surface.
Something tells me that not only is war going to occur between the AAA and the CDA, but that this is going to be what sparks the second Great War, with ComNat and the the USA getting dragged into the war (I'm pretty sure Liberia's independence is still protected by the USA). I could see this escalating and dragging all the other alliances into the conflict.
Great update, @Mac Gregor ! Looks like Africa's getting dicey of late, at this point a conflict might just break out soon if things stay on this tack...
Good to see Great Britain join the Orbit club, not to mention that little excursion to collect asteroid materials. It seems that Italy's managed to make a cool niche for themselves in the space flight arena.
Good to see Great Britain join the Orbit club, not to mention that little excursion to collect asteroid materials. It seems that Italy's managed to make a cool niche for themselves in the space flight arena.
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Profile: Ferdinand V
This bio has been approved by Mac Gregor.
Ferdinand V (1942- )
Prince Ferdnando in 1978
King Ferdinand V in 2010
King Ferdinand V was born as Infante Ferdinand on January 17, 1942 in Belem Palace in Lisbon, Portugal. He was the eldest son of Infante Manuel Nuno, Duke of Porto, the future King Manuel III (1908-1989) and Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium, the future Queen Josephina Carolina of Portugal (1909-1992). One of Infante Ferdinand’s first public appearances came when he was only seven years-old when he attended the funeral of King Ferdinand III on December 30, 1949. Over two months later, the eight year-old Infante Ferdinand attended the coronation of his cousin King John VII (1907-1953). Throughout his formative years, the young Ferdinand would attend numerous public functions, including religious ceremonies, diplomatic visits and the funerals of John VII, his grandfather Ferdinand IV (1883-1959) and his uncle Manuel II (1906-1972) and the coronations of Ferdinand IV and Manuel II. Growing up, Infante Ferdinand was educated at numerous different boarding schools throughout Portugal, Spain and Germany. After reaching adulthood, Ferdinand attended the University of Coimbra from 1960 to 1964. While at university, he studied the subjects of history, political science and philosophy, among others. In the summer of 1964, at the age of twenty-two, Infante Ferdinand gained a commission in the infantry of the Portuguese Army. After six years of dedicated and loyal service, he was honorably discharged from the Portuguese Army in 1970.
On November 29, 1972, after the death of his uncle King Manuel II (1906-1972) and the ascension of his father to the throne as King Manuel III, Infante Ferdinand became Ferdinand, Prince Royal, though he was more colloquially known as “Prince Fernando”. In 1975, Prince Fernando regained a commission in the infantry of the Portuguese Army and was subsequently sent as an officer to Portuguese Angola. In August, 1976, the United Republic of India under Harshad Nanda (1912-1979) launched a surprise invasion of Goa and the other Portuguese possessions in India. As a result, Portugal was brought into the Asia-Pacific War and the side of Great Britain, Portugal's longtime ally since 1386, and the rest of the British Commonwealth. During the war, Portugal sent several divisions to fight in India and maintained a sizable garrison on Timor to defend against the Imperial Japanese Army. Not long after the outbreak of war, Prince Fernando was appointed by his father King Manuel III to lead a Corp of Infantry not far from Indian-occupied Goa. During the war, Prince Fernando gained considerable military experience leading troops in India during the Asia-Pacific War, and the Prince Royal would become a war hero, as he distinguished himself in many battles against the Indians. After the war ended, he resigned from the army and returned home to Portugal in September, 1980.
On October 24, 1981, over a year after returning home to Portugal, Prince Fernando married Alexandra, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (1958- ), the daughter of Prince Victor Alexander of the United Kingdom (1923- ) and a niece of King Edward VIII (1921-2008). Princess Alexandra would eventually become Queen Alexandra of Portugal. The couple would have four children; John, Prince Royal (1992- ), Duarte, Duke of Porto (1996- ), Maria, Duchess of Coimbra (1998- ) and Miguel, Duke of Braga (2001- ). Shortly before their marriage, Princess Alexandra converted to Roman Catholicism and as a result gave up her offspring’s rights to the British throne under the 1701 Act of Settlement.
After years of increasing political instability in Portugal, on November 22, 1982, the Portuguese Civil War (1982-1985) began and the Portuguese Royal Family fled to the Azores and established a de facto capital in the city of Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores islands. During the Portuguese Civil War, Prince Ferdinando became internationally famous for leading the Portuguese Royalist armies. By the end of February, a hastily assembled armada of 25,000 men and three dozen ships formed in the Azores and Madeira. Prince Fernando wished to strike back as soon as possible to prevent the rebels from consolidating their position. On March 5, 1983, the ad hoc task force landed in southern Portugal near Portimao. Prince Fernando was able to quickly head inland and within a few weeks was forty miles away from Lisbon. However, his advance quickly ground to halt after the rebels put up a strong defense at the Battle of Montemor-o-Novo. The front line soon began to stabilize, but both sides were plagued by guerrillas operating behind their lines. In a letter to his father King Manuel III, Prince Fernando regretfully stated that it might take months or even years to recapture the entire country. In 1983, after much argument, Prince Fernando convinced his father King Manuel III and his government to evacuate the last remaining Royalist forces from the Portuguese colonies stating that; “We can have Portugal or Africa, but we cannot have both.” In just a matter of weeks after the Portuguese withdrawal, rebel movements seized control of both Angola and Mozambique.
In 1984, Royalist Portuguese forces retook the cities of Porto and Braga. By December, 1984, Prince Fernando was preparing for the final assault on the heavily defended Lisbon. Unfortunately for the Royalists, pro-Republican guerrillas and partisans still roamed the countryside, thus making it difficult for Fernando to concentrate his forces. Finally, on May 9, 1985, at a meeting in Dublin mediated by the British Commonwealth, representatives from the Front for Democracy met secretly with Royalist representatives. After two weeks of negotiations, on May 23, 1985, an agreement was reached; Manuel III was to be reinstated as monarch, Prime Minister Miguelito Luiz Fernandes (1916-1985) would be dismissed from office and forbidden to return to metropolitan Portugal, all rebels who swore allegiance to the Portuguese Crown would receive a pardon, those who refused would be allowed to emigrate to any other nation unmolested and free and fair elections for a new parliament and a constitutional convention were to be held by the end of 1987. Great Britain guaranteed these terms and agreed to act as a peacekeeper until a new government could be established. After inter-rebel infighting in Lisbon during the Noite das Granadas and the subsequent British intervention, the fighting had ceased on June 3, 1985. After almost three years of brutal fighting that tragically divided the Kingdom of Portugal and her people, the Portuguese Civil War finally came to an end. After months of debate, the Kingdom of Portugal adopted a new constitution on November 22, 1987, five years to the day after the beginning of the Portuguese Civil War. To mark this important moment in the history of Portugal, a new flag of the Kingdom of Portugal, allegedly designed by Ferdinand, Prince Royal, was adopted on November 25, 1987.
After an almost seventeen year-long reign, King Manuel III died on October 29, 1989. As a result, Ferdinand, Prince Royal became King Ferdinand V of Portugal. His coronation, the first be televised live on Portuguese television, took place in Lisbon on February 12, 1990. During his first three months as King of Portugal, from October, 1989 to January, 1989, King Ferdinand V oversaw the withdrawal of the last British and British Commonwealth peacekeepers from Portugal, thus illustrating Portugal’s transition from a deeply conservative and authoritarian monarchy to a relatively stable constitutional monarchy. His reign, which has lasted for almost thirty years and continues to this day, has seen numerous events and developments, such as Portugal engaging in equal trade with all the major European alliances, the Portuguese neutrality in both the European and Global alliance system, the Portuguese elections of 1990, which saw the election of the centrist Liberal Party Prime Minister Cristóvão Antonio Tavares (1936-2016), the election of the first female PMs in the parliamentary elections of 1992, the death of the Queen Mother Josephina Carolina in 1992, the election of the first Social Democratic Party Prime Minister Nuno Ribiero (1946- ) in 1994, the death of the Queen Mother Frederica Maria in 1999, the diplomatic recognition of the new post-IEF nations of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Chechenia, Dagestan, the Democratic Union of Turkish Republics and Manchuria, the celebration of his Silver Jubilee on October 29, 2014, among other events. Over the years, King Ferdinand V was been internationally lauded for his continuation of the liberalization of Portugal. After his death, his eldest son John, Prince Royal, born on September 1, 1992, will become King John VIII of Portugal
Ferdinand V (1942- )
Prince Ferdnando in 1978
King Ferdinand V in 2010
King Ferdinand V was born as Infante Ferdinand on January 17, 1942 in Belem Palace in Lisbon, Portugal. He was the eldest son of Infante Manuel Nuno, Duke of Porto, the future King Manuel III (1908-1989) and Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium, the future Queen Josephina Carolina of Portugal (1909-1992). One of Infante Ferdinand’s first public appearances came when he was only seven years-old when he attended the funeral of King Ferdinand III on December 30, 1949. Over two months later, the eight year-old Infante Ferdinand attended the coronation of his cousin King John VII (1907-1953). Throughout his formative years, the young Ferdinand would attend numerous public functions, including religious ceremonies, diplomatic visits and the funerals of John VII, his grandfather Ferdinand IV (1883-1959) and his uncle Manuel II (1906-1972) and the coronations of Ferdinand IV and Manuel II. Growing up, Infante Ferdinand was educated at numerous different boarding schools throughout Portugal, Spain and Germany. After reaching adulthood, Ferdinand attended the University of Coimbra from 1960 to 1964. While at university, he studied the subjects of history, political science and philosophy, among others. In the summer of 1964, at the age of twenty-two, Infante Ferdinand gained a commission in the infantry of the Portuguese Army. After six years of dedicated and loyal service, he was honorably discharged from the Portuguese Army in 1970.
On November 29, 1972, after the death of his uncle King Manuel II (1906-1972) and the ascension of his father to the throne as King Manuel III, Infante Ferdinand became Ferdinand, Prince Royal, though he was more colloquially known as “Prince Fernando”. In 1975, Prince Fernando regained a commission in the infantry of the Portuguese Army and was subsequently sent as an officer to Portuguese Angola. In August, 1976, the United Republic of India under Harshad Nanda (1912-1979) launched a surprise invasion of Goa and the other Portuguese possessions in India. As a result, Portugal was brought into the Asia-Pacific War and the side of Great Britain, Portugal's longtime ally since 1386, and the rest of the British Commonwealth. During the war, Portugal sent several divisions to fight in India and maintained a sizable garrison on Timor to defend against the Imperial Japanese Army. Not long after the outbreak of war, Prince Fernando was appointed by his father King Manuel III to lead a Corp of Infantry not far from Indian-occupied Goa. During the war, Prince Fernando gained considerable military experience leading troops in India during the Asia-Pacific War, and the Prince Royal would become a war hero, as he distinguished himself in many battles against the Indians. After the war ended, he resigned from the army and returned home to Portugal in September, 1980.
On October 24, 1981, over a year after returning home to Portugal, Prince Fernando married Alexandra, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (1958- ), the daughter of Prince Victor Alexander of the United Kingdom (1923- ) and a niece of King Edward VIII (1921-2008). Princess Alexandra would eventually become Queen Alexandra of Portugal. The couple would have four children; John, Prince Royal (1992- ), Duarte, Duke of Porto (1996- ), Maria, Duchess of Coimbra (1998- ) and Miguel, Duke of Braga (2001- ). Shortly before their marriage, Princess Alexandra converted to Roman Catholicism and as a result gave up her offspring’s rights to the British throne under the 1701 Act of Settlement.
After years of increasing political instability in Portugal, on November 22, 1982, the Portuguese Civil War (1982-1985) began and the Portuguese Royal Family fled to the Azores and established a de facto capital in the city of Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores islands. During the Portuguese Civil War, Prince Ferdinando became internationally famous for leading the Portuguese Royalist armies. By the end of February, a hastily assembled armada of 25,000 men and three dozen ships formed in the Azores and Madeira. Prince Fernando wished to strike back as soon as possible to prevent the rebels from consolidating their position. On March 5, 1983, the ad hoc task force landed in southern Portugal near Portimao. Prince Fernando was able to quickly head inland and within a few weeks was forty miles away from Lisbon. However, his advance quickly ground to halt after the rebels put up a strong defense at the Battle of Montemor-o-Novo. The front line soon began to stabilize, but both sides were plagued by guerrillas operating behind their lines. In a letter to his father King Manuel III, Prince Fernando regretfully stated that it might take months or even years to recapture the entire country. In 1983, after much argument, Prince Fernando convinced his father King Manuel III and his government to evacuate the last remaining Royalist forces from the Portuguese colonies stating that; “We can have Portugal or Africa, but we cannot have both.” In just a matter of weeks after the Portuguese withdrawal, rebel movements seized control of both Angola and Mozambique.
In 1984, Royalist Portuguese forces retook the cities of Porto and Braga. By December, 1984, Prince Fernando was preparing for the final assault on the heavily defended Lisbon. Unfortunately for the Royalists, pro-Republican guerrillas and partisans still roamed the countryside, thus making it difficult for Fernando to concentrate his forces. Finally, on May 9, 1985, at a meeting in Dublin mediated by the British Commonwealth, representatives from the Front for Democracy met secretly with Royalist representatives. After two weeks of negotiations, on May 23, 1985, an agreement was reached; Manuel III was to be reinstated as monarch, Prime Minister Miguelito Luiz Fernandes (1916-1985) would be dismissed from office and forbidden to return to metropolitan Portugal, all rebels who swore allegiance to the Portuguese Crown would receive a pardon, those who refused would be allowed to emigrate to any other nation unmolested and free and fair elections for a new parliament and a constitutional convention were to be held by the end of 1987. Great Britain guaranteed these terms and agreed to act as a peacekeeper until a new government could be established. After inter-rebel infighting in Lisbon during the Noite das Granadas and the subsequent British intervention, the fighting had ceased on June 3, 1985. After almost three years of brutal fighting that tragically divided the Kingdom of Portugal and her people, the Portuguese Civil War finally came to an end. After months of debate, the Kingdom of Portugal adopted a new constitution on November 22, 1987, five years to the day after the beginning of the Portuguese Civil War. To mark this important moment in the history of Portugal, a new flag of the Kingdom of Portugal, allegedly designed by Ferdinand, Prince Royal, was adopted on November 25, 1987.
After an almost seventeen year-long reign, King Manuel III died on October 29, 1989. As a result, Ferdinand, Prince Royal became King Ferdinand V of Portugal. His coronation, the first be televised live on Portuguese television, took place in Lisbon on February 12, 1990. During his first three months as King of Portugal, from October, 1989 to January, 1989, King Ferdinand V oversaw the withdrawal of the last British and British Commonwealth peacekeepers from Portugal, thus illustrating Portugal’s transition from a deeply conservative and authoritarian monarchy to a relatively stable constitutional monarchy. His reign, which has lasted for almost thirty years and continues to this day, has seen numerous events and developments, such as Portugal engaging in equal trade with all the major European alliances, the Portuguese neutrality in both the European and Global alliance system, the Portuguese elections of 1990, which saw the election of the centrist Liberal Party Prime Minister Cristóvão Antonio Tavares (1936-2016), the election of the first female PMs in the parliamentary elections of 1992, the death of the Queen Mother Josephina Carolina in 1992, the election of the first Social Democratic Party Prime Minister Nuno Ribiero (1946- ) in 1994, the death of the Queen Mother Frederica Maria in 1999, the diplomatic recognition of the new post-IEF nations of Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Chechenia, Dagestan, the Democratic Union of Turkish Republics and Manchuria, the celebration of his Silver Jubilee on October 29, 2014, among other events. Over the years, King Ferdinand V was been internationally lauded for his continuation of the liberalization of Portugal. After his death, his eldest son John, Prince Royal, born on September 1, 1992, will become King John VIII of Portugal
Profile: Alexander I (Netherlands)
This bio has been approved by Mac Gregor.
Alexander I (1851-1929)
King Alexander I of the Netherlands was born as Prince Alexander of the Netherlands in The Hague on August 25, 1851. Prince Alexander was the third and youngest child of King William III (1817-1887) and Queen Sophie of Wüttenburg (1818-1876). His oldest sibling was William, Prince of Orange (1840-1876), who was the heir to the Dutch throne. His second oldest sibling was Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, who died a year before he was born at the age of six. Unlike his older brother William, who was a womanizer and drinker, Alexander was a disciplined, intellectual and well-read individual. After the sudden death of his older brother William, Prince of Orange from typhus and alcoholism on September 22, 1876, the 25 year-old Prince Alexander became the new heir to the Dutch throne and the Prince of Orange. While saddened by the death of his older brother, Alexander was ready to accept the responsibilities of being the new heir to the Dutch throne.
On September 23, 1885, Alexander, Prince of Orange married Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (1861-1938), the daughter of the late Portuguese pretender and former King Miguel I (1802-1872), in a lavish Dutch Reformed ceremony at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Shortly before the marriage, Infanta Marie Anne converted to the Dutch Reformed Church in an effort to make the marriage more amicable. Infanta Marie Anne would eventually become Queen Marie Anne of the Netherlands. The couple would have the following children; King Alexander II (May 22, 1878-October 12, 1938), Princess Alexandra (June 14, 1881-September 6, 1965), Princess Wilhelmina (August 23, 1884-July 14, 1964) and Princess Sophia (October 4, 1885-November 22, 1894).
On December 29, 1887, after suffering from a number of serious illnesses over the last few years, King William III died from kidney failure in Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands at the age of 70. As a result, the 36 year-old Alexander, Prince of Orange became King Alexander I of the Netherlands. His coronation took place in Amsterdam on March 23, 1888. The reign of Alexander I saw numerous developments in modern Dutch history, such as the new economic booms in the Dutch East Indies, the increased immigration of Dutchmen overseas, the tragic death of his nine-year old daughter Princess Sophia from typhus in 1894, the neutrality of the Netherlands in the European Alliance system, the worsening of relations with Great Britain over the issue of the Second Boer War in 1906, the election of the first Dutch Prime Minister of the Social Democratic Labor Party (Sociaal Democratische Arbeiderspartij) Barend Jansen (1877-1966) in the general election of 1927, among others. On July 26, 1898, he survived an assassination attempt in Rotterdam by the Dutch anarchist Floris Pierson (1872-1898). King Alexander survived the assassination attempt uninjured, while Pierson was immediately gunned down by two Dutch infantrymen who were amongst those protecting the King during his visit to the city of Rotterdam.
During the Great War (1907-1910), King Alexander I, as well as the independent and liberal-minded Prime Minister Pieter Cort van der Linden (1846-1933), supported maintaining the neutrality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the aforementioned global conflict. Personally, King Alexander I was himself sympathetic towards the Kingdom of Prussia, which Alexander called “a Germanic friend and cousin of the Dutch kingdom.” While the king feared a unified German state, he feared a French Empire that was dominant over Europe even more than a unified Germany. He personally distrusted the British Empire over their treatment of the Boers in South Africa, but he preferred the liberal and democratic British over the authoritarian and autocratic French Empire. He also feared that a victorious French Empire would eventually take over the Netherlands in much the same way that France took over the Netherlands in 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars.
During the Great War, the Netherlands, much like the Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden-Norway, traded openly with Great Britain, the Second French Empire, Prussia and the Russian Empire, as well as with the British and French colonies in Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, making the Dutch nation, empire and economy even wealthier in the process. The Dutch government and Dutch Red Cross also assisted and temporally housed a number of German war refugees that flooded from Germany and Prussia into the neutral Netherlands.
During the 1920s and the last years of Alexander’s reign, the Kingdom of the Netherlands grew closer diplomatically and economically to the German Empire, which would set the precedent for Netherlands joining the AES with Germany in the 1960s. King Alexander I and Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) meet personally numerous times in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland throughout the 1910s and the 1920s, and two men were pubically known to enjoy each other’s company.
In September, 1923, King Alexander I suffered a minor heart attack while spending a weekend vacation in Delft. After this heart attack, King Alexander’s health continued to worsen. After over half a decade of failing health, on September 28, 1929, Alexander I of the Netherlands died of a heart attack in his sleep in Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands at the age of 78. His funeral was held in Amsterdam on October 6, 1929. He was succeeded as King of Netherlands by his eldest son King Alexander II, who would rule the Netherlands for the next nine years.
Alexander I (1851-1929)
King Alexander I of the Netherlands was born as Prince Alexander of the Netherlands in The Hague on August 25, 1851. Prince Alexander was the third and youngest child of King William III (1817-1887) and Queen Sophie of Wüttenburg (1818-1876). His oldest sibling was William, Prince of Orange (1840-1876), who was the heir to the Dutch throne. His second oldest sibling was Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, who died a year before he was born at the age of six. Unlike his older brother William, who was a womanizer and drinker, Alexander was a disciplined, intellectual and well-read individual. After the sudden death of his older brother William, Prince of Orange from typhus and alcoholism on September 22, 1876, the 25 year-old Prince Alexander became the new heir to the Dutch throne and the Prince of Orange. While saddened by the death of his older brother, Alexander was ready to accept the responsibilities of being the new heir to the Dutch throne.
On September 23, 1885, Alexander, Prince of Orange married Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal (1861-1938), the daughter of the late Portuguese pretender and former King Miguel I (1802-1872), in a lavish Dutch Reformed ceremony at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Shortly before the marriage, Infanta Marie Anne converted to the Dutch Reformed Church in an effort to make the marriage more amicable. Infanta Marie Anne would eventually become Queen Marie Anne of the Netherlands. The couple would have the following children; King Alexander II (May 22, 1878-October 12, 1938), Princess Alexandra (June 14, 1881-September 6, 1965), Princess Wilhelmina (August 23, 1884-July 14, 1964) and Princess Sophia (October 4, 1885-November 22, 1894).
On December 29, 1887, after suffering from a number of serious illnesses over the last few years, King William III died from kidney failure in Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands at the age of 70. As a result, the 36 year-old Alexander, Prince of Orange became King Alexander I of the Netherlands. His coronation took place in Amsterdam on March 23, 1888. The reign of Alexander I saw numerous developments in modern Dutch history, such as the new economic booms in the Dutch East Indies, the increased immigration of Dutchmen overseas, the tragic death of his nine-year old daughter Princess Sophia from typhus in 1894, the neutrality of the Netherlands in the European Alliance system, the worsening of relations with Great Britain over the issue of the Second Boer War in 1906, the election of the first Dutch Prime Minister of the Social Democratic Labor Party (Sociaal Democratische Arbeiderspartij) Barend Jansen (1877-1966) in the general election of 1927, among others. On July 26, 1898, he survived an assassination attempt in Rotterdam by the Dutch anarchist Floris Pierson (1872-1898). King Alexander survived the assassination attempt uninjured, while Pierson was immediately gunned down by two Dutch infantrymen who were amongst those protecting the King during his visit to the city of Rotterdam.
During the Great War (1907-1910), King Alexander I, as well as the independent and liberal-minded Prime Minister Pieter Cort van der Linden (1846-1933), supported maintaining the neutrality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the aforementioned global conflict. Personally, King Alexander I was himself sympathetic towards the Kingdom of Prussia, which Alexander called “a Germanic friend and cousin of the Dutch kingdom.” While the king feared a unified German state, he feared a French Empire that was dominant over Europe even more than a unified Germany. He personally distrusted the British Empire over their treatment of the Boers in South Africa, but he preferred the liberal and democratic British over the authoritarian and autocratic French Empire. He also feared that a victorious French Empire would eventually take over the Netherlands in much the same way that France took over the Netherlands in 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars.
During the Great War, the Netherlands, much like the Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden-Norway, traded openly with Great Britain, the Second French Empire, Prussia and the Russian Empire, as well as with the British and French colonies in Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, making the Dutch nation, empire and economy even wealthier in the process. The Dutch government and Dutch Red Cross also assisted and temporally housed a number of German war refugees that flooded from Germany and Prussia into the neutral Netherlands.
During the 1920s and the last years of Alexander’s reign, the Kingdom of the Netherlands grew closer diplomatically and economically to the German Empire, which would set the precedent for Netherlands joining the AES with Germany in the 1960s. King Alexander I and Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) meet personally numerous times in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland throughout the 1910s and the 1920s, and two men were pubically known to enjoy each other’s company.
In September, 1923, King Alexander I suffered a minor heart attack while spending a weekend vacation in Delft. After this heart attack, King Alexander’s health continued to worsen. After over half a decade of failing health, on September 28, 1929, Alexander I of the Netherlands died of a heart attack in his sleep in Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands at the age of 78. His funeral was held in Amsterdam on October 6, 1929. He was succeeded as King of Netherlands by his eldest son King Alexander II, who would rule the Netherlands for the next nine years.
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Nice updates, Zoidberg!
Sorry for the nitpicking, but I have a few corrections to suggest:
Edit:
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Sorry for the nitpicking, but I have a few corrections to suggest:
There's a typo, it should be Belém Palace.
I recommend that you choose one of the ducal titles associated with the Portuguese Royal Family, instead of a new, non-traditional title.
There's a typo, it should be Portimão.
I know the name has been used before, but Miguelito is a diminutive nickname of Miguel, meaning "little Michael", and is not used in a formal registered name, especially someone with the chances to become a PM.
There's a typo, I believe you meant "first female MPs".
There's a typo, it should be Nuno Ribeiro.
Edit:
There's a small typo here, it should be "Cristóvão António Tavares"
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This means there's a normalization of the political system.
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Profile: Kian Hawkins
This bio has been approved by Mac Gregor.
Kian Hawkins (1870-1960)
Kian Hawkins in 1910
Kian Hawkins in 1952
Kian Hawkins was born on August 18, 1870 in the town of Yeovil in the English county of Somerset. His father was William Hawkins (1840-1920) and his mother was Mary Hawkins (1831-1895). He also had two older siblings, Jan P. Hawkins (1859-1865) and Arthur Hawkins (1860-1867)*, both of whom died of scarlet fever before his birth. After his birth, the Hawkins parents feared their new son Kian would also die. Nonetheless, the young Kian grew up as a healthy, energetic and often rebellious child.
When Kian was a toddler, his family became gradually wealthier through a series of fortunate investments. The family then moved to Hammersmith, London in 1878. As a child, Hawkins was an avid reader of numerous subjects, such as history, warfare, nature, religion, among other topics. As a child, he was educated at a number of different boarding schools in and around Greater London. In 1884, when he was only fourteen, Hawkins travelled with his family to Alexandria, Egypt, Jerusalem in Ottoman Palestine, Constantinople and Athens. During this trip, Hawkins learned a lot about the history of the Middle East, the history of the Abrahamic religions, the history of the Classical world, among other things. In the years after this trip, the young Hawkins gained a fascination with ancient civilizations, the Abrahamic religions and the cultures of the Middle East. After reaching adulthood, Hawkins attended Christ Church in Oxford University from 1888 to 1892, where he majored in classical studies. After his graduation, Hawkins worked as an archeologist with Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1944) in Crete and Ottoman Palestine. In 1894, he returned home to London. Soon after his return home, in 1895, Hawkins wrote and published his first book, In the Land of Gods and Kings, a book detailing his travels as a teenager throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean and his archeological findings in Greece and the Middle East. In writing this book, Hawkins was able to cope with his depression over the recent death of his mother. Over the next two years, Hawkins continued working as an archaeologist in Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Libya, Algeria, Italy and Spain. Hawkins also read the Bible, the Torah and the Quran and became an amateur religious scholar. In terms of his religious beliefs, Hawkins, despite being raised an Anglican, followed no specific religion as an adult and claimed to believe “not just in the existence of Jehovah but it all the deities of the past and present nations, be it Amun, Zeus or Odin.” After years of working as an archeologist, in 1897, Hawkins enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. He served in the British Army for two years until 1899. He then served in the reserves for a number of more years. On October 20, 1899, Hawkins married Larissa Montgomery (1876-1948), the eldest daughter of the Rt Rev. Henry Hutchinson Montgomery** (1847-1930) at a ceremony at St. Georges Cathedral in London. The couple then moved into a modest flat in Lambeth, London. The couple remained happily remarried and had no children. Hawkins spent the next seven years continuing to write books and articles for numerous journals and magazines. By his 30th birthday, he could understand in varying degrees the languages of Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew.
In 1906, soon after the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Hawkins re-enlisted the British Army, re-joined the Somerset Light Infantry and fought in numerous battles against the armies of the Boer Republics. By the end of 1908, Hawkins had attained the rank of Major. After Great Britain joined the Great War in 1909, Major Hawkins was transferred from the Limpopo Valley in South Africa to the colony of Malta. In the previous year of 1908, the Hashemite armed forces in the Hejaz under Sayyid Hussein bin Ali (1853/1854-1931) joined the Coalition against the Entente and proceeded to attempt to drive the Ottoman Turks from Arab lands. In March, 1909, Hawkins, as a man with who spoke fluent Arabic and had an intimate knowledge of Arab culture, was chosen by the British Military High Command to act as an envoy from the British to the Hashemite Arabs and to personally assist the Arab rebels in their fight against the Ottoman Empire. On March 6, 1909, Hawkins left Valletta, Malta on a steamer bound for the Trucial States in the Arabian Peninsula. Hawkins arrived in Abu Dhabi over a week later and after that travelled inland to the lands of Hashemite Arabia. Hawkins subsequently arrived in the Hashemite Arab lands towards the end the month. Hawkins, along with his Prussian/German counterpart Theophil Schoenfeld (1872-1944), made a name for himself by adopting Arab costume and customs in order to gain the trust of the Hashemite rebels. In the subsequent months, aid from Prussia, and later the British Empire and the United States of America, eventually allowed the Arabs to start gaining ground against the Ottoman Turks. On June 15, 1909, with Hawkins’ help, the important Arabian port of Jeddah was captured. The Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina would also fall into rebel hands on September 21, 1909 and October 15, 1909 respectively. By March 20, 1910, Arab forces had driven the Ottoman Turks completely out of the Arabian Peninsula. By the end of the Great War on December 9, 1910, the Hashemite Arabs conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula. During the peace negotiations in Brussels throughout 1910 and 1911, Hawkins, Schoenfeld and Sayyid Hussein bin Ali all made public their desire to see a large Pan-Arab state, “stretching through Syria, the Levant, Mesopotamia and the whole of the [Arabian] peninsula” in the words of Hawkins. Such a thing never came to pass due to the fact that the Ottomans still solidly occupied the ethnically divided Levant and that the British wanted to annex Mesopotamia, mostly so that the British Empire could have control over Mesopotamian oil reserves. This was much to the frustration and anger of Hawkins, but he eventually resigned himself to these facts.
After the treaty negotiations ended, Hawkins served with the British army in Egypt from December, 1911 to September, 1912. Hawkins then served as a military advisor to the armies of the Kingdom of Mesopotamia from September, 1912 to October, 1916. During his time in Mesopotamia, General Hawkins lamented the high level of sectarian tension within the newly formed nation. In 1914, he petitioned the British government to partition Mesopotamia into two new nations, a Shitte nation of “Iraq” and a Sunni nation of “Anbar.” British Prime Minster Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1930) and the Mesopotamian government both rejected the plan. Thus, such a plan never came into fruition. Hawkins also befriended King Aqil I of Mesopotamia (1879-1959), and was also friends with the Mesopotamian Prime Minister Adil Hussein (1875-1940). Throughout his time serving in the Middle Eastern theater of the Great War and in Mesopotamia, Hawkins wrote a number of articles for different British newspapers such as The Times of London, The Manchester Tribune and The Birmingham Guardian, as well as fiction and non-fiction stories for British magazines such as The Trafalgar Magazine and The Weekly Reader.
After his time in Mesopotamia, Hawkins served as the British ambassador to Greece and was friends with the Greek king Constantine I (1869-1935) and the Greek Prime Minster Konstantinos Theodorakis (1871-1952). He then served as the British ambassador to Italy and then to Spain. In 1925, after so many years living abroad, Major Hawkins returned to England and moved into an a small home in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He was also paid a stipend by the British government for the next twenty years. In 1932, the 62 year-old Hawkins, along with his wife, bought a small cottage in the Kentish countryside, just outside of Royal Tunbridge Wells. He then took up numerous hobbies and personal pursuits, such as continuing to write books, landscape and still-life painting, hunting, fishing, among other activities.
Beginning in the 1930s, Hawkins spent the last three decades of his life living in a mostly private manner. During the Ottoman Civil War (1937-1943), Hawkins briefly came out of his life of private retirement and donated much of his money to charities that assisted with Ottoman war refugees. Hawkins even personally attended and spoke at numerous charity fundraisers in London and other major British cities. As a septuagenarian and octogenarian, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Hawkins suffered from rheumatism and back problems. Nevertheless, he continued with his hobbies. The death of his wife in 1948 left him deeply saddened for many months, but he eventually recovered emotionally. In 1955, he was interviewed by the British Movie-News Company, a British newsreel company established in 1903. The interview was shown in movie theaters throughout Great Britain, and the interview was met with much praise and interest from the British public. In 1957, journalist and future film director Arnold Emerson (1926-1992) met with Hawkins and interviewed him for the British news magazine The Monthly Mirror. In the interview, Hawkins approved for a film based on his life to be made. During the last years of his life, the ailing Hawkins was attended to by numerous different caretakers and nurses.
On August 18, 1960, Hawkins celebrated his 90th birthday at his home with most of his friends and family. A month later, on September 16, 1960, Hawkins slipped into a coma. Thirteen days later, he finally died at the age of ninety on the afternoon of September 29, 1960. On his deathbed, he was surrounded by his two private nurses, the Kent native Camilla Dawkins and the Cypriot-born Julia Antonakis. A small public funeral was held in Tunbridge Wells on October 8, 1960. He was then buried in a local cemetery. His cottage was inherited by Nelson Nuttall (1917-1990), the son of a family friend, and Nuttal subsequently turned his home into a museum dedicated to his life. In 1970, ten years after his death, the British and Canadian-made film Hawkins of Arabia was released to theaters across the world. The film was directed by the aforementioned Arnold Emerson, who personally met and interviewed Hawkins in 1957. In the film, Kian Hawkins was played by the Shakespearean-trained British actor Christopher Donaldson (1929-2004), and Donaldson won numerous awards and nominations for this role.
* = According to Ancestry.com, William, Mary, Jan and Arthur Hawkins all existed IOTL, although details on them are scarce.
** = The OTL father of WWII general Bernard Montgomery.
Kian Hawkins (1870-1960)
Kian Hawkins in 1910
Kian Hawkins in 1952
Kian Hawkins was born on August 18, 1870 in the town of Yeovil in the English county of Somerset. His father was William Hawkins (1840-1920) and his mother was Mary Hawkins (1831-1895). He also had two older siblings, Jan P. Hawkins (1859-1865) and Arthur Hawkins (1860-1867)*, both of whom died of scarlet fever before his birth. After his birth, the Hawkins parents feared their new son Kian would also die. Nonetheless, the young Kian grew up as a healthy, energetic and often rebellious child.
When Kian was a toddler, his family became gradually wealthier through a series of fortunate investments. The family then moved to Hammersmith, London in 1878. As a child, Hawkins was an avid reader of numerous subjects, such as history, warfare, nature, religion, among other topics. As a child, he was educated at a number of different boarding schools in and around Greater London. In 1884, when he was only fourteen, Hawkins travelled with his family to Alexandria, Egypt, Jerusalem in Ottoman Palestine, Constantinople and Athens. During this trip, Hawkins learned a lot about the history of the Middle East, the history of the Abrahamic religions, the history of the Classical world, among other things. In the years after this trip, the young Hawkins gained a fascination with ancient civilizations, the Abrahamic religions and the cultures of the Middle East. After reaching adulthood, Hawkins attended Christ Church in Oxford University from 1888 to 1892, where he majored in classical studies. After his graduation, Hawkins worked as an archeologist with Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1944) in Crete and Ottoman Palestine. In 1894, he returned home to London. Soon after his return home, in 1895, Hawkins wrote and published his first book, In the Land of Gods and Kings, a book detailing his travels as a teenager throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean and his archeological findings in Greece and the Middle East. In writing this book, Hawkins was able to cope with his depression over the recent death of his mother. Over the next two years, Hawkins continued working as an archaeologist in Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Libya, Algeria, Italy and Spain. Hawkins also read the Bible, the Torah and the Quran and became an amateur religious scholar. In terms of his religious beliefs, Hawkins, despite being raised an Anglican, followed no specific religion as an adult and claimed to believe “not just in the existence of Jehovah but it all the deities of the past and present nations, be it Amun, Zeus or Odin.” After years of working as an archeologist, in 1897, Hawkins enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. He served in the British Army for two years until 1899. He then served in the reserves for a number of more years. On October 20, 1899, Hawkins married Larissa Montgomery (1876-1948), the eldest daughter of the Rt Rev. Henry Hutchinson Montgomery** (1847-1930) at a ceremony at St. Georges Cathedral in London. The couple then moved into a modest flat in Lambeth, London. The couple remained happily remarried and had no children. Hawkins spent the next seven years continuing to write books and articles for numerous journals and magazines. By his 30th birthday, he could understand in varying degrees the languages of Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew.
In 1906, soon after the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Hawkins re-enlisted the British Army, re-joined the Somerset Light Infantry and fought in numerous battles against the armies of the Boer Republics. By the end of 1908, Hawkins had attained the rank of Major. After Great Britain joined the Great War in 1909, Major Hawkins was transferred from the Limpopo Valley in South Africa to the colony of Malta. In the previous year of 1908, the Hashemite armed forces in the Hejaz under Sayyid Hussein bin Ali (1853/1854-1931) joined the Coalition against the Entente and proceeded to attempt to drive the Ottoman Turks from Arab lands. In March, 1909, Hawkins, as a man with who spoke fluent Arabic and had an intimate knowledge of Arab culture, was chosen by the British Military High Command to act as an envoy from the British to the Hashemite Arabs and to personally assist the Arab rebels in their fight against the Ottoman Empire. On March 6, 1909, Hawkins left Valletta, Malta on a steamer bound for the Trucial States in the Arabian Peninsula. Hawkins arrived in Abu Dhabi over a week later and after that travelled inland to the lands of Hashemite Arabia. Hawkins subsequently arrived in the Hashemite Arab lands towards the end the month. Hawkins, along with his Prussian/German counterpart Theophil Schoenfeld (1872-1944), made a name for himself by adopting Arab costume and customs in order to gain the trust of the Hashemite rebels. In the subsequent months, aid from Prussia, and later the British Empire and the United States of America, eventually allowed the Arabs to start gaining ground against the Ottoman Turks. On June 15, 1909, with Hawkins’ help, the important Arabian port of Jeddah was captured. The Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina would also fall into rebel hands on September 21, 1909 and October 15, 1909 respectively. By March 20, 1910, Arab forces had driven the Ottoman Turks completely out of the Arabian Peninsula. By the end of the Great War on December 9, 1910, the Hashemite Arabs conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula. During the peace negotiations in Brussels throughout 1910 and 1911, Hawkins, Schoenfeld and Sayyid Hussein bin Ali all made public their desire to see a large Pan-Arab state, “stretching through Syria, the Levant, Mesopotamia and the whole of the [Arabian] peninsula” in the words of Hawkins. Such a thing never came to pass due to the fact that the Ottomans still solidly occupied the ethnically divided Levant and that the British wanted to annex Mesopotamia, mostly so that the British Empire could have control over Mesopotamian oil reserves. This was much to the frustration and anger of Hawkins, but he eventually resigned himself to these facts.
After the treaty negotiations ended, Hawkins served with the British army in Egypt from December, 1911 to September, 1912. Hawkins then served as a military advisor to the armies of the Kingdom of Mesopotamia from September, 1912 to October, 1916. During his time in Mesopotamia, General Hawkins lamented the high level of sectarian tension within the newly formed nation. In 1914, he petitioned the British government to partition Mesopotamia into two new nations, a Shitte nation of “Iraq” and a Sunni nation of “Anbar.” British Prime Minster Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1930) and the Mesopotamian government both rejected the plan. Thus, such a plan never came into fruition. Hawkins also befriended King Aqil I of Mesopotamia (1879-1959), and was also friends with the Mesopotamian Prime Minister Adil Hussein (1875-1940). Throughout his time serving in the Middle Eastern theater of the Great War and in Mesopotamia, Hawkins wrote a number of articles for different British newspapers such as The Times of London, The Manchester Tribune and The Birmingham Guardian, as well as fiction and non-fiction stories for British magazines such as The Trafalgar Magazine and The Weekly Reader.
After his time in Mesopotamia, Hawkins served as the British ambassador to Greece and was friends with the Greek king Constantine I (1869-1935) and the Greek Prime Minster Konstantinos Theodorakis (1871-1952). He then served as the British ambassador to Italy and then to Spain. In 1925, after so many years living abroad, Major Hawkins returned to England and moved into an a small home in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He was also paid a stipend by the British government for the next twenty years. In 1932, the 62 year-old Hawkins, along with his wife, bought a small cottage in the Kentish countryside, just outside of Royal Tunbridge Wells. He then took up numerous hobbies and personal pursuits, such as continuing to write books, landscape and still-life painting, hunting, fishing, among other activities.
Beginning in the 1930s, Hawkins spent the last three decades of his life living in a mostly private manner. During the Ottoman Civil War (1937-1943), Hawkins briefly came out of his life of private retirement and donated much of his money to charities that assisted with Ottoman war refugees. Hawkins even personally attended and spoke at numerous charity fundraisers in London and other major British cities. As a septuagenarian and octogenarian, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Hawkins suffered from rheumatism and back problems. Nevertheless, he continued with his hobbies. The death of his wife in 1948 left him deeply saddened for many months, but he eventually recovered emotionally. In 1955, he was interviewed by the British Movie-News Company, a British newsreel company established in 1903. The interview was shown in movie theaters throughout Great Britain, and the interview was met with much praise and interest from the British public. In 1957, journalist and future film director Arnold Emerson (1926-1992) met with Hawkins and interviewed him for the British news magazine The Monthly Mirror. In the interview, Hawkins approved for a film based on his life to be made. During the last years of his life, the ailing Hawkins was attended to by numerous different caretakers and nurses.
On August 18, 1960, Hawkins celebrated his 90th birthday at his home with most of his friends and family. A month later, on September 16, 1960, Hawkins slipped into a coma. Thirteen days later, he finally died at the age of ninety on the afternoon of September 29, 1960. On his deathbed, he was surrounded by his two private nurses, the Kent native Camilla Dawkins and the Cypriot-born Julia Antonakis. A small public funeral was held in Tunbridge Wells on October 8, 1960. He was then buried in a local cemetery. His cottage was inherited by Nelson Nuttall (1917-1990), the son of a family friend, and Nuttal subsequently turned his home into a museum dedicated to his life. In 1970, ten years after his death, the British and Canadian-made film Hawkins of Arabia was released to theaters across the world. The film was directed by the aforementioned Arnold Emerson, who personally met and interviewed Hawkins in 1957. In the film, Kian Hawkins was played by the Shakespearean-trained British actor Christopher Donaldson (1929-2004), and Donaldson won numerous awards and nominations for this role.
* = According to Ancestry.com, William, Mary, Jan and Arthur Hawkins all existed IOTL, although details on them are scarce.
** = The OTL father of WWII general Bernard Montgomery.
Profile: Conrad I
This bio has been approved by Mac Gregor.
Conrad I (1896-1952)
Conrad I in 1924
Conrad I of 1948
King Conrad I of Bohemia was born on June 5, 1896 as Prince Conrad of Prussia in the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia. Prince Conrad was the second eldest son of Wilhelm, Prussian Crown Prince, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (1859-1941) and Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1926). As a child, the young Conrad grew up in Berlin, Potsdam palace and other surrounding areas. Growing up, Prince Conrad was educated in the fields of German history, music theory and philosophy and was also taught the languages of Latin, English, French and Russian. Much of Prince Conrad’s childhood and formative years were during the Great War (1907-1910), which broke out when Pirnce Conrad was only eleven years old. The war formed his views on many things, such as his views on militarism, pacifism, politics, among other things.
In December, 1909, during Operation Vorschlaghammer or Sledgehammer, Prussian and American armies invaded Bavaria and Austrian Bohemia. Thought the early months of 1910, the Prussian and American armies continued advancing into Bohemia. By March 1, 1910, American-Prussian forces had occupied as far as Plzeň, Krusovice, Roudnice and Jicin. Soon after, the Bohemian campaign degenerated into a stalemate. Finally, on July 3, 1910, one day after the climactic Battle of Vienna, Emperor Maximillian II abdicated from the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His eldest son Archduke Joseph (1865-1943) was proclaimed by some Hapsburg royalists to be Emperor Joseph I, but he personally refused the title and office. As a result, on that same day, Professor Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1940), Mayor of Prague Karel Baxa (1863-1937) and other Czech statesmen proclaimed the independence of the Kingdom of Bohemia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Wenceslaus Square in Prague. Karel Baxa was made the interim Prime Minister, while the position of monarch was left vacant. Throughout the rest of 1910, there was much debate over the name of the new nation. Some suggested names were Czechia, Bohemia-Moravia, among others. In the end, the name of Bohemia was decided upon as it was a linguistic continuation of the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia, which also included the historical region of Moravia and which only existed on paper as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On October 12, 1911, the Kingdom of Bohemia was officially recognized with the signing of the Treaty of Brussels. On December 8, 1911, the first Bohemian elections were held, and in these elections the conservative and pro-monarchist Baxa was elected prime minister over the liberal and republican Masaryk. After his loss in the elections, Masaryk returned to teaching at Charles University. Over the next few months and into 1912, the Bohemian government and Bohemian regency council debated over the nationality of the new monarch of the nation. The Bohemian politicians and people, both Czech and German, overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a Hapsburg monarch, as they resented their former Austrian masters and wanted to be rid of them as much as possible. After much debate, on July 1, 1912, it was agreed upon that the second-born son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the teenaged Prince Conrad of Prussia, would become the new king of Bohemia, as this would allow for a strengthening of diplomatic ties between Germany and Bohemia. Thus, at the age of sixteen, Prince Conrad became King Conrad of Bohemia. Anton Hutnik (1880-1969), a prominent Czech nationalist politician and the Mayor of Brno, became regent of the kingdom. His coronation took place in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle on September 12, 1912. Soon after becoming king of Bohemia, Conrad I was educated at Charles University in Prague from 1913 to 1917. After Conrad finished his studies at Charles University in June, 1917, Hutnik’s regency ended.
Even as a teenager, Conrad understood the responsibility of becoming the king of a new nation. While and after studying at Charles University, he decided to educate himself on the Czech nation, people, language, culture and traditions, and he almost immediately fell in love with the Czech nation of Bohemia and its culture, traditions, music and food. He even converted to Roman Catholicism in 1915. By his mid-thirties he was all but fluent in the Czech language. After almost a decade on the throne, on August 15, 1920, King Conrad I married the Oxford-educated Czech socialite Martina Svobodová (1897-1963) in a Roman Catholic ceremony at St. Vitus’ Cathedral. Throughout their reign, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage and always loved each other. They had the following children; King Conrad II (1923-1987), Prince Wenceslaus (1926-1996) Princess Eva (1930-2014) and Princess Gabriela (1938- ).
Conrad I’s reign as King of Bohemia saw the formative years of the newly independent kingdom. His reign saw the rebuilding of the infrastructure, cities and towns of Bohemia in the aftermath of the Great War, the establishment and training of the Bohemian Armed Forces in 1915 with the help of German and Russian military advisors, the establishment of the Bohemian River Flotilla in 1918, the continued industrialization of Bohemia, the beginning of the state funding of numerous Sokol gymnasiums in 1926, the suppression of both the Bohemian Communist Party (Česká komunistická strana/ Böhmische Kommunistische Partei) led by Bedřich Ledecky (1880-1948) and the proto-corporatist Czech National People’s Party (Česká národní lidová strana) led by Janek Kučera (1885-1944) during the 1920s and 1930s, the growth of the Bohemian film industry during the 1930s, the establishment by the Škoda Works of the Škoda Auto company in 1933, the celebration of the Bohemian Silver Jubilee in 1937, the continued immigration of Czech people overseas to the United States, Canada, Latin America and Australia, the celebration of the 750th anniversary of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1948, among other events. During his reign, the Kingdom of Bohemia also increased its already existing diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with the German Empire, in spite of the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm III (1895-1988) and his younger brother King Conrad I personally shared something a lifelong sibling rivalry, although somewhat paradoxically, the two also got along very well at the same time.
After almost forty years as King of Bohemia, King Conrad I died of throat cancer in his private residence in Prague Castle on June 17, 1952 at the age of 56. His funeral was held in Prague on June 24, 1952, and he was succeeded as King of Bohemia by his eldest son Conrad II.
Conrad I (1896-1952)
Conrad I in 1924
Conrad I of 1948
King Conrad I of Bohemia was born on June 5, 1896 as Prince Conrad of Prussia in the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia. Prince Conrad was the second eldest son of Wilhelm, Prussian Crown Prince, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (1859-1941) and Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1926). As a child, the young Conrad grew up in Berlin, Potsdam palace and other surrounding areas. Growing up, Prince Conrad was educated in the fields of German history, music theory and philosophy and was also taught the languages of Latin, English, French and Russian. Much of Prince Conrad’s childhood and formative years were during the Great War (1907-1910), which broke out when Pirnce Conrad was only eleven years old. The war formed his views on many things, such as his views on militarism, pacifism, politics, among other things.
In December, 1909, during Operation Vorschlaghammer or Sledgehammer, Prussian and American armies invaded Bavaria and Austrian Bohemia. Thought the early months of 1910, the Prussian and American armies continued advancing into Bohemia. By March 1, 1910, American-Prussian forces had occupied as far as Plzeň, Krusovice, Roudnice and Jicin. Soon after, the Bohemian campaign degenerated into a stalemate. Finally, on July 3, 1910, one day after the climactic Battle of Vienna, Emperor Maximillian II abdicated from the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His eldest son Archduke Joseph (1865-1943) was proclaimed by some Hapsburg royalists to be Emperor Joseph I, but he personally refused the title and office. As a result, on that same day, Professor Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1940), Mayor of Prague Karel Baxa (1863-1937) and other Czech statesmen proclaimed the independence of the Kingdom of Bohemia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Wenceslaus Square in Prague. Karel Baxa was made the interim Prime Minister, while the position of monarch was left vacant. Throughout the rest of 1910, there was much debate over the name of the new nation. Some suggested names were Czechia, Bohemia-Moravia, among others. In the end, the name of Bohemia was decided upon as it was a linguistic continuation of the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia, which also included the historical region of Moravia and which only existed on paper as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On October 12, 1911, the Kingdom of Bohemia was officially recognized with the signing of the Treaty of Brussels. On December 8, 1911, the first Bohemian elections were held, and in these elections the conservative and pro-monarchist Baxa was elected prime minister over the liberal and republican Masaryk. After his loss in the elections, Masaryk returned to teaching at Charles University. Over the next few months and into 1912, the Bohemian government and Bohemian regency council debated over the nationality of the new monarch of the nation. The Bohemian politicians and people, both Czech and German, overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a Hapsburg monarch, as they resented their former Austrian masters and wanted to be rid of them as much as possible. After much debate, on July 1, 1912, it was agreed upon that the second-born son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the teenaged Prince Conrad of Prussia, would become the new king of Bohemia, as this would allow for a strengthening of diplomatic ties between Germany and Bohemia. Thus, at the age of sixteen, Prince Conrad became King Conrad of Bohemia. Anton Hutnik (1880-1969), a prominent Czech nationalist politician and the Mayor of Brno, became regent of the kingdom. His coronation took place in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle on September 12, 1912. Soon after becoming king of Bohemia, Conrad I was educated at Charles University in Prague from 1913 to 1917. After Conrad finished his studies at Charles University in June, 1917, Hutnik’s regency ended.
Even as a teenager, Conrad understood the responsibility of becoming the king of a new nation. While and after studying at Charles University, he decided to educate himself on the Czech nation, people, language, culture and traditions, and he almost immediately fell in love with the Czech nation of Bohemia and its culture, traditions, music and food. He even converted to Roman Catholicism in 1915. By his mid-thirties he was all but fluent in the Czech language. After almost a decade on the throne, on August 15, 1920, King Conrad I married the Oxford-educated Czech socialite Martina Svobodová (1897-1963) in a Roman Catholic ceremony at St. Vitus’ Cathedral. Throughout their reign, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage and always loved each other. They had the following children; King Conrad II (1923-1987), Prince Wenceslaus (1926-1996) Princess Eva (1930-2014) and Princess Gabriela (1938- ).
Conrad I’s reign as King of Bohemia saw the formative years of the newly independent kingdom. His reign saw the rebuilding of the infrastructure, cities and towns of Bohemia in the aftermath of the Great War, the establishment and training of the Bohemian Armed Forces in 1915 with the help of German and Russian military advisors, the establishment of the Bohemian River Flotilla in 1918, the continued industrialization of Bohemia, the beginning of the state funding of numerous Sokol gymnasiums in 1926, the suppression of both the Bohemian Communist Party (Česká komunistická strana/ Böhmische Kommunistische Partei) led by Bedřich Ledecky (1880-1948) and the proto-corporatist Czech National People’s Party (Česká národní lidová strana) led by Janek Kučera (1885-1944) during the 1920s and 1930s, the growth of the Bohemian film industry during the 1930s, the establishment by the Škoda Works of the Škoda Auto company in 1933, the celebration of the Bohemian Silver Jubilee in 1937, the continued immigration of Czech people overseas to the United States, Canada, Latin America and Australia, the celebration of the 750th anniversary of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1948, among other events. During his reign, the Kingdom of Bohemia also increased its already existing diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with the German Empire, in spite of the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm III (1895-1988) and his younger brother King Conrad I personally shared something a lifelong sibling rivalry, although somewhat paradoxically, the two also got along very well at the same time.
After almost forty years as King of Bohemia, King Conrad I died of throat cancer in his private residence in Prague Castle on June 17, 1952 at the age of 56. His funeral was held in Prague on June 24, 1952, and he was succeeded as King of Bohemia by his eldest son Conrad II.
Profile: Juan IV
This bio has been approved by Mac Gregor.
Juan IV (1939-2018)
King Juan IV was born as Infante Juan on June 26, 1939 in Madid, Spain. He was the eldest son of Carlos, Prince of Asturias, the future King Carlos IX (1892-1978) and his second wife the Austrian, Swiss and Belgian-raised Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Parma (1901-1986). He was also the Legitimist claimant to the throne of France as King Jean II. He was also the nephew of King Juan III (1884-1943), although Juan IV only had vague memories of his uncle, as his uncle Juan III died when he was only four years old in 1943. After the death of his uncle and the ascension of his father as king, the four year-old Infante Juan became Juan, Prince of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne.
As a child, Infante Juan was, just like his father, educated by Jesuit teachers in a number of different Roman Catholic schools throughout Spain. In his adolescence, in the footsteps in his father, he read a lot about Spanish history, European history, classical history, military history, music theory, astronomy, among other such subjects. After reaching adulthood, Juan, Prince of Asturias was educated at Complutense University of Madrid from 1957 to 1962. After graduating from university, Juan, Prince of Asturias settled into a life of athleticism, relaxation and public service. On September 1, 1965, Juan, Prince of Asturias married Princess Gabriela of Bohemia (1938- ), the youngest daughter of the late King Conrad I of Bohemia (1896-1952). Prince Juan met Princess Gabriela in the summer of 1960 while she was vacationing in Mallorca in the Balearic Islands and while he himself was temporarily living in a villa on the island. The couple had the following children; King Carlos X (1966- ), Infanta Anna Maria (1967- ), Infanta Juana Maria (1969- ) and Infante Rodrigo Alfonso (1972- ).
On March 31, 1978, his father King Carlos IX died at the age of 85. As a result, Juan, Prince of Asturias became King Juan IV of Spain. The coronation of King Juan IV took place in Madrid on April 20, 1978. Soon after the beginning of this reign, from June 10 to June 25, 1978, the 16th Summer Olympiad was held in Seville, and Juan IV presided over the opening ceremonies of the games. However, these were to be an Olympics rife with scandal. With the majority of the world’s population involved in the ongoing Asia-Pacific War, many nations, such as India, Japan and Venezuela, declined to send any athletes to the games. In addition, pro-democracy demonstrations disrupted several of the events, thus making the games, in the opinion of many international observers and in the words of Harper’s Weekly journalist Lawrence Kowalski (1943- ); “the worst Olympics in memory.” Beginning in July, 1978 and during the last years of the Asia-Pacific War, and with the personal approval of King Juan VI and Prime Minister Hernando Enrique Plaza (1927-2001), the Spanish government sent a battalion of volunteer soldiers to fight with the army of their metaphorical Iberian cousin of the Kingdom of Portugal in their colony of Gao against the forces of the United Republic of India. After almost two years of heroic fighting alongside the Portuguese armies, the Iberian Division returned to Spain via A Coruña and returned to a hero’s welcome in May, 1980, shortly after the end of the war.
On November 24, 1982, the deeply conservative Carlist government of the Kingdom of Spain under King Juan IV vowed to help the exiled Portuguese regime regain control of mainland Portugal. In spite of this, many average Spaniards sympathized with the Portuguese revolutionaries and their grievances, as they too chaffed under an authoritarian, monarchial rule. After a month, the Spanish government ordered a general mobilization of the Spanish armed forces in an effort to bolster the small Spanish Army for what was hoped would be a quick march on Lisbon. Unfortunately for King Juan IV and Prime Minister Emilio Sagasta (1928-1993), events would soon spin out of their control.
On January 7, 1983, as the Spanish Army was mobilizing, soldiers of a reserve unit mustering near Toledo mutinied against their officers, refusing to take up arms to suppress the Portuguese revolutionaries. News of the mutiny in Toledo only exasperated the various protests and strikes that were then engulfing the country. Madrid quickly dispatched Colonel Vito Rolando Vazquez (1938- ) of the 64th Cataphract Brigade to bring the rebels to heel. However, as a member of the Phoenix Society (Sociedad de Phoenix), a secret brotherhood of reform minded army officers, Vazquez was deeply committed to political change. Seizing the initiative, Vazquez and most of his soldiers joined the mutineers and began marching north to Madrid. On February 11, 1983, Vazquez and his forces reached Madrid. Five days later, on February 16, 1983, the Spanish court decamped by helicopter to Seville where troops loyal to the crown had already crushed an uprising. On February 18, 1983, Vazquez and a number of dissident groups including socialist, pro-democratic and technocratic groups, and even some monarchist groups wishing for a legitimist Bourbon restoration, announced the formation of the Second Spanish Republic in a live televised address.
Over the next month and half, the Spanish Royalist and Republican forces fought each other across Spain as the two belligerents scrambled to secure key terrain and major population centers. The Republicans were aided by various Basque, Catalonian and other separatists who wished to craft a better position for themselves in a new and democratic Spain. By the end of March, the rebels had captured a swath of territory in the northeastern part of Spain although sizable pockets of Royalist troops remained such as those in the army’s garrisons along the Pyrenees Mountains. Meanwhile, the Royalist and Carlist government operating out of Seville had sent in reinforcements from Spanish Sahara and planned for an offensive in the spring to regain control of rebel-held Spain.
In April, 1983, in the provisional capital of Seville, King Juan IV appointed Xavier Felicaino de la Rosa (1920-2015) Generalissimo of the Royalist forces. Five months later, in September, 1983, the Royalists launched a brutal assault against the coastal city of Valencia. After two weeks of fighting, it was the devastating fire of the Royalist navy that forced the Republicans out of their urban barricades. Video footage of Royalist troops executing captured Rebel fighters caused outrage around the world as did similar videos of Republicans hanging civilians deemed to be helping the Royalists. While the Republican Rebels lost ground in southern Spain, by the end of 1983 they managed to capture nearly all of the Royalist garrisons along the Pyrenees and the French and Andorran border.
The year of 1984 proved to be the bloodiest year of the Spanish Civil War. For the Royalists, German equipment including assault rifles, vehicles, and helicopters allowed them to retake Leon in February, 1984. However, this would prove to be the high water mark for the Monarchists. In April, 1984, the Republicans mounted a large offensive in the center of the country and captured Avila, Zamora, and Salamanca, thus splitting the country in two. In September, 1984, an attempt by the Monarchists to push back the Republicans ended in failure thanks in part to Franco-Italian supplied MC-9 anti-cataphract missiles. Rebel guerrillas continued to gain strength and by the end of the year had made communication and resupply extremely difficult for the Royalists. The rebels even managed to regain Valencia. On October 17, 1984, the Moroccan Army invaded the Spanish royalist-held colonies of Tangiers, Cueta, Melilla, and Spanish Sahara with the secret approval of the Republican Rebel government. While King Juan IV tried to play off this setback as ultimately inconsequential, the loss of Spain’s North African territories had as large effect. Tangiers was not only an important shipping center but also had several military depots and currency reserves crucial for the war effort. Monarchist efforts to retaliate proved futile.
As the year of 1985 began, the Republicans had regained the momentum against the Royalists. By the autumn, the Royalists under the command of Generalissimo Xavier Felicaino de la Rosa were reduced to the regions of Andalusia, Murcia, parts of La Mancha, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. In November, 1985, the Republicans finally captured Murica after three weeks of bloody street-to-street fighting. On March 28, 1986, the Republicans launched their offensive towards Seville, finally capturing the city on April 5, 1986. Cordoba fell by the end of April. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Royalists decided to flee as the Republicans arrived at Seville. With German assistance, King Juan IV and his ministers decamped for Palma in the Balearic Islands. Other Royalists, both military and civilian, escaped to the Canary Islands. By May, 1986, the Republicans had finally secured all of mainland Spain.
As the Republicans lacked any kind of real navy, seizing the Royalist-held Canary and Balearic Islands proved to be beyond their reach. As a result, a ceasefire went into effect on June 13, 1986. The Republican government in Madrid and the Royalist/Carlist government in Palma de Mallorca both refused to recognize each other and to sign a comprehensive peace treaty. Thus, the establishment of “Two Spains” would prove to be an annoyance for many foreign governments in the subsequent years, as they had to decide which Spanish government to recognize. The nations of the Turin Pact, the LAR and the British Commonwealth recognized the Republic of Spain, while the nations of the AES and the Orthodox Council recognized the Kingdom of Spain. In spite of the unresolved issue of the legitimate Spanish government and a peace treaty to officially end to the Spanish Civil War, most international governments were just happy and relieved to see the bloodshed in Spain come to an end. Out of the prewar Spanish population of 39 million, up to 900,000 had been killed during the Spanish Civil War (1983-1986) and three to four million had fled abroad, mostly to the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In the years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, King Juan IV continued to consolidate his government’s control over the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Over the next thirty-two years of his reign, King Juan IV would prove himself to be a competent yet difficult monarch of the Kingdom of Spain. The most significant event of the latter part of his reign was the strengthening of ties between the Kingdom of Spain and the German Empire and the other nations of the AES. King Juan IV made a state visit to Berlin in July, 1990 and met personally with Kaiser Wilhelm III of Germany (1941- ), leading to some tension between the AES and the Turin Pact. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the issue of the two Spains would lead to low-level tensions between the AES and the Turin Pact. Throughout the 2000s, and 2010s, numerous attempts to solve the “Two Spain Problem” by the Turin Pact, AES, British Commonwealth and the LAR came to nothing. It was also during the latter part of his reign that the Balearic and Canary Islands became tourist hotspots for the central and eastern European elite and important ports-of-call for the German military, especially the German High Seas Fleet. The Balearic and Canary islands also became a hotspot for German, Scandinavian, Dutch, Belgian, Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Croatian, and later Polish and Baltic tourists, bringing in a lot of money into the economy of the small kingdom.
Starting in 2017, King Juan IV was in noticeably poor health, and according to leaked reports he was allegedly near-death, although the Royal Spanish press denied it. The following year, on August 24, 2018, after over forty years on the Spanish throne, King Juan IV died in his bed in Palma de Mallorca at the age of 79. His eldest son Carlos, Prince of Asturias succeeded him as king of Spain, thus becoming King Carlos X. While some in the Republic of Spain celebrated the death of King Juan IV, many used his death to make light of the economic stagnation that had gripped the nation for much of the last two decades. Some even postulated that the ascent of the younger and somewhat more progressive King Carlos X might one day lead to an eventual reunification of the two Spains.
Juan IV (1939-2018)
King Juan IV was born as Infante Juan on June 26, 1939 in Madid, Spain. He was the eldest son of Carlos, Prince of Asturias, the future King Carlos IX (1892-1978) and his second wife the Austrian, Swiss and Belgian-raised Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Parma (1901-1986). He was also the Legitimist claimant to the throne of France as King Jean II. He was also the nephew of King Juan III (1884-1943), although Juan IV only had vague memories of his uncle, as his uncle Juan III died when he was only four years old in 1943. After the death of his uncle and the ascension of his father as king, the four year-old Infante Juan became Juan, Prince of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne.
As a child, Infante Juan was, just like his father, educated by Jesuit teachers in a number of different Roman Catholic schools throughout Spain. In his adolescence, in the footsteps in his father, he read a lot about Spanish history, European history, classical history, military history, music theory, astronomy, among other such subjects. After reaching adulthood, Juan, Prince of Asturias was educated at Complutense University of Madrid from 1957 to 1962. After graduating from university, Juan, Prince of Asturias settled into a life of athleticism, relaxation and public service. On September 1, 1965, Juan, Prince of Asturias married Princess Gabriela of Bohemia (1938- ), the youngest daughter of the late King Conrad I of Bohemia (1896-1952). Prince Juan met Princess Gabriela in the summer of 1960 while she was vacationing in Mallorca in the Balearic Islands and while he himself was temporarily living in a villa on the island. The couple had the following children; King Carlos X (1966- ), Infanta Anna Maria (1967- ), Infanta Juana Maria (1969- ) and Infante Rodrigo Alfonso (1972- ).
On March 31, 1978, his father King Carlos IX died at the age of 85. As a result, Juan, Prince of Asturias became King Juan IV of Spain. The coronation of King Juan IV took place in Madrid on April 20, 1978. Soon after the beginning of this reign, from June 10 to June 25, 1978, the 16th Summer Olympiad was held in Seville, and Juan IV presided over the opening ceremonies of the games. However, these were to be an Olympics rife with scandal. With the majority of the world’s population involved in the ongoing Asia-Pacific War, many nations, such as India, Japan and Venezuela, declined to send any athletes to the games. In addition, pro-democracy demonstrations disrupted several of the events, thus making the games, in the opinion of many international observers and in the words of Harper’s Weekly journalist Lawrence Kowalski (1943- ); “the worst Olympics in memory.” Beginning in July, 1978 and during the last years of the Asia-Pacific War, and with the personal approval of King Juan VI and Prime Minister Hernando Enrique Plaza (1927-2001), the Spanish government sent a battalion of volunteer soldiers to fight with the army of their metaphorical Iberian cousin of the Kingdom of Portugal in their colony of Gao against the forces of the United Republic of India. After almost two years of heroic fighting alongside the Portuguese armies, the Iberian Division returned to Spain via A Coruña and returned to a hero’s welcome in May, 1980, shortly after the end of the war.
On November 24, 1982, the deeply conservative Carlist government of the Kingdom of Spain under King Juan IV vowed to help the exiled Portuguese regime regain control of mainland Portugal. In spite of this, many average Spaniards sympathized with the Portuguese revolutionaries and their grievances, as they too chaffed under an authoritarian, monarchial rule. After a month, the Spanish government ordered a general mobilization of the Spanish armed forces in an effort to bolster the small Spanish Army for what was hoped would be a quick march on Lisbon. Unfortunately for King Juan IV and Prime Minister Emilio Sagasta (1928-1993), events would soon spin out of their control.
On January 7, 1983, as the Spanish Army was mobilizing, soldiers of a reserve unit mustering near Toledo mutinied against their officers, refusing to take up arms to suppress the Portuguese revolutionaries. News of the mutiny in Toledo only exasperated the various protests and strikes that were then engulfing the country. Madrid quickly dispatched Colonel Vito Rolando Vazquez (1938- ) of the 64th Cataphract Brigade to bring the rebels to heel. However, as a member of the Phoenix Society (Sociedad de Phoenix), a secret brotherhood of reform minded army officers, Vazquez was deeply committed to political change. Seizing the initiative, Vazquez and most of his soldiers joined the mutineers and began marching north to Madrid. On February 11, 1983, Vazquez and his forces reached Madrid. Five days later, on February 16, 1983, the Spanish court decamped by helicopter to Seville where troops loyal to the crown had already crushed an uprising. On February 18, 1983, Vazquez and a number of dissident groups including socialist, pro-democratic and technocratic groups, and even some monarchist groups wishing for a legitimist Bourbon restoration, announced the formation of the Second Spanish Republic in a live televised address.
Over the next month and half, the Spanish Royalist and Republican forces fought each other across Spain as the two belligerents scrambled to secure key terrain and major population centers. The Republicans were aided by various Basque, Catalonian and other separatists who wished to craft a better position for themselves in a new and democratic Spain. By the end of March, the rebels had captured a swath of territory in the northeastern part of Spain although sizable pockets of Royalist troops remained such as those in the army’s garrisons along the Pyrenees Mountains. Meanwhile, the Royalist and Carlist government operating out of Seville had sent in reinforcements from Spanish Sahara and planned for an offensive in the spring to regain control of rebel-held Spain.
In April, 1983, in the provisional capital of Seville, King Juan IV appointed Xavier Felicaino de la Rosa (1920-2015) Generalissimo of the Royalist forces. Five months later, in September, 1983, the Royalists launched a brutal assault against the coastal city of Valencia. After two weeks of fighting, it was the devastating fire of the Royalist navy that forced the Republicans out of their urban barricades. Video footage of Royalist troops executing captured Rebel fighters caused outrage around the world as did similar videos of Republicans hanging civilians deemed to be helping the Royalists. While the Republican Rebels lost ground in southern Spain, by the end of 1983 they managed to capture nearly all of the Royalist garrisons along the Pyrenees and the French and Andorran border.
The year of 1984 proved to be the bloodiest year of the Spanish Civil War. For the Royalists, German equipment including assault rifles, vehicles, and helicopters allowed them to retake Leon in February, 1984. However, this would prove to be the high water mark for the Monarchists. In April, 1984, the Republicans mounted a large offensive in the center of the country and captured Avila, Zamora, and Salamanca, thus splitting the country in two. In September, 1984, an attempt by the Monarchists to push back the Republicans ended in failure thanks in part to Franco-Italian supplied MC-9 anti-cataphract missiles. Rebel guerrillas continued to gain strength and by the end of the year had made communication and resupply extremely difficult for the Royalists. The rebels even managed to regain Valencia. On October 17, 1984, the Moroccan Army invaded the Spanish royalist-held colonies of Tangiers, Cueta, Melilla, and Spanish Sahara with the secret approval of the Republican Rebel government. While King Juan IV tried to play off this setback as ultimately inconsequential, the loss of Spain’s North African territories had as large effect. Tangiers was not only an important shipping center but also had several military depots and currency reserves crucial for the war effort. Monarchist efforts to retaliate proved futile.
As the year of 1985 began, the Republicans had regained the momentum against the Royalists. By the autumn, the Royalists under the command of Generalissimo Xavier Felicaino de la Rosa were reduced to the regions of Andalusia, Murcia, parts of La Mancha, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. In November, 1985, the Republicans finally captured Murica after three weeks of bloody street-to-street fighting. On March 28, 1986, the Republicans launched their offensive towards Seville, finally capturing the city on April 5, 1986. Cordoba fell by the end of April. Seeing the writing on the wall, the Royalists decided to flee as the Republicans arrived at Seville. With German assistance, King Juan IV and his ministers decamped for Palma in the Balearic Islands. Other Royalists, both military and civilian, escaped to the Canary Islands. By May, 1986, the Republicans had finally secured all of mainland Spain.
As the Republicans lacked any kind of real navy, seizing the Royalist-held Canary and Balearic Islands proved to be beyond their reach. As a result, a ceasefire went into effect on June 13, 1986. The Republican government in Madrid and the Royalist/Carlist government in Palma de Mallorca both refused to recognize each other and to sign a comprehensive peace treaty. Thus, the establishment of “Two Spains” would prove to be an annoyance for many foreign governments in the subsequent years, as they had to decide which Spanish government to recognize. The nations of the Turin Pact, the LAR and the British Commonwealth recognized the Republic of Spain, while the nations of the AES and the Orthodox Council recognized the Kingdom of Spain. In spite of the unresolved issue of the legitimate Spanish government and a peace treaty to officially end to the Spanish Civil War, most international governments were just happy and relieved to see the bloodshed in Spain come to an end. Out of the prewar Spanish population of 39 million, up to 900,000 had been killed during the Spanish Civil War (1983-1986) and three to four million had fled abroad, mostly to the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In the years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, King Juan IV continued to consolidate his government’s control over the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Over the next thirty-two years of his reign, King Juan IV would prove himself to be a competent yet difficult monarch of the Kingdom of Spain. The most significant event of the latter part of his reign was the strengthening of ties between the Kingdom of Spain and the German Empire and the other nations of the AES. King Juan IV made a state visit to Berlin in July, 1990 and met personally with Kaiser Wilhelm III of Germany (1941- ), leading to some tension between the AES and the Turin Pact. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the issue of the two Spains would lead to low-level tensions between the AES and the Turin Pact. Throughout the 2000s, and 2010s, numerous attempts to solve the “Two Spain Problem” by the Turin Pact, AES, British Commonwealth and the LAR came to nothing. It was also during the latter part of his reign that the Balearic and Canary Islands became tourist hotspots for the central and eastern European elite and important ports-of-call for the German military, especially the German High Seas Fleet. The Balearic and Canary islands also became a hotspot for German, Scandinavian, Dutch, Belgian, Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Croatian, and later Polish and Baltic tourists, bringing in a lot of money into the economy of the small kingdom.
Starting in 2017, King Juan IV was in noticeably poor health, and according to leaked reports he was allegedly near-death, although the Royal Spanish press denied it. The following year, on August 24, 2018, after over forty years on the Spanish throne, King Juan IV died in his bed in Palma de Mallorca at the age of 79. His eldest son Carlos, Prince of Asturias succeeded him as king of Spain, thus becoming King Carlos X. While some in the Republic of Spain celebrated the death of King Juan IV, many used his death to make light of the economic stagnation that had gripped the nation for much of the last two decades. Some even postulated that the ascent of the younger and somewhat more progressive King Carlos X might one day lead to an eventual reunification of the two Spains.