The Winter Crown Prince

A random death in 1628 (by drowning) forfeited the life of the Palatine Erbprinz, Friedrich Heinrich - eldest son of the Winter King and Elizabeth Stuart - leaving his younger brother, Karl I Ludwig, as heir to the defunct (at that point) Palatine electorate.

What would've happened if he hadn't been taken with to see the captured Spanish treasure fleet moored on the Harlemmermeer where he drowned? Or, he at least knows how to swim (always possible, since Charles II and Minette were reportedly both great swimmers). James I had been conducting negotiations (in the hope of increasing England's presence on the European political stage) for his grandson with a Spanish infanta (unspecified and unnamed, since D. Felipe IV had no surviving daughters before James' death, although D. Maria Eugenia was born in 31 October 1625, and lived to the age of 2), after the failed Spanish match for the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria Ana. This was also with the hope of having the Palatine Electorate restored to his son-in-law via the Spanish king's cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor.

How might European history (both immediately and in the long term) be affected by the survival of the Erbprinz? Would he have grown up being with a personality more like Karl I? Or like Rupert? How would the exile in the Netherlands affect his life-view, and his religion? Does he go intense Calvinist? Or does he adopt an attitude towards religion like Charles II or Liselotte?
 
How about taking after... Edward of his brothers? Not die hard Calvinist, not adventuring agnostic, but a "generic nice guy" being perfectly happy with a Catholic wife? Though being a heir, he may not embrace Catholicism himself.

The infanta seemed to be Maria Anna of Spain, she was unmarried till 1631. She's the only one to fit. James I seemed really desperate to grab the lady - if not for son, then for grandson.
 
The Court of Philip IV. Martin Hume. Eveleigh Nash. London. 1907 said:
there is a long memorandum written by Olivares for Philip's information in 1622, proposing as a way out of the difficulty the marriage of the Infanta to the son of the Emperor, the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Emperor's elder daughter, and the betrothal of the Palatine's eldest son [Friedrich Heinrich] to the second daughter on condition that the Prince was sent to Vienna to be brought up as a Catholic, the Palatinate being restored to him after his marriage. This solution, however, it is quite evident, would have been unacceptable to James for many reasons. In any case it is quite clear that when Charles appeared in Madrid, Olivares had no intention of allowing the Infanta to marry him, unless indeed England became Catholic.

I must admit, I was rather intrigued when I heard of this proposal. I had heard of James angling for a Spanish infanta first for his son, then his grandson, but an Austrian archduchess (I assume in this case the second daughter would be Cecilia Renata, OTL Queen of Poland) would likewise have been interesting. That said, the Habsburgs seem to be just as interested in the Pfalzes as the Stuarts were in the Habsburgs, first with this proposal, then with a second proposal for Karl I Ludwig to marry Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, an imperial commission dangled in front of Prince Rupert, etc (hardly the behavior of a king towards a rebellious subject, IMHO).
 
I like the Edward idea but IDK what sort of politician Edward was, if he was one at all. And might Friedrich Heinrich be a sort of older version of Rupprecht as far as soldiering and science is concerned?
 
Top