TL-191: The fate of Britain post-SGW

Depending on the popularity of the monarch in question, this might well shoot Labour in the foot; my understanding is that at least some elements in the Labour Party (if memory serves Harold Wilson numbered amongst them) were as Royalist as they were Socialist - though the absence of a Soviet Union in Timeline 191 as we know it may affect the willingness of other Labour types to go DEEP Red.

If the Crown is abolished, I'll bet some clever-**** observers will make noises about the American Founding Fathers finally being vindicated or having the last laugh or the Committee of Public Safety finally getting their way.
Maybe we could see a formally written British constitution which takes away the nominal powers of the Crown and possibly replaces the House of Lords with an elected Senate (or similar body) instead of a full republic?
 
Something more like the Belgian monarchy, with the King or Queen being “… of the Britons” rather than “… of Great Britain” perhaps?
 
Potentially, though in my version of events they remain separate parties due to the adoption of near-proportional representation after the Great War (something that almost happened in otl).

Westminster with proportional representation? We'd barely recognise the place!


A "Years of Lead" style conflict might not be out of the question. Not sure of the particulars there but it's something I thought of as a possible narrative point.

Doubtless a fertile field for some local 'Guy Ritchie' should things ever settle down; it does sound like the sort of 'Interesting Times' we prefer to learn about via documentaries, rather than the nightly news ...


If Edward doesn't immediately abdicate after the war (and I don't particularly take the view he will) then he'll pass on in '72 and probably leave the throne to Elizabeth, given most speculation as to his otl infertility. The circumstances are mostly up in the air that far forwards, but I imagine that if the Republicans find themselves holding the right cards the monarchy might die with him.

Good grief, the dowager Duchess of York would be so ticked off she might well die 3 decades early just so she could drag her brother-in-law down to Hell with her own fair hands (Though it's interesting to wonder how Princess Elizabeth of York would take this particular development; I've no doubt she would be dutiful enough to be rather shocked, but some part of her might be a little relieved to avoid having such a burden placed on her family - Princess Margaret Rose, on the other hand, would probably enjoy having all of the fame & family connections, but none of the Social Obligations!).

On a barely-related note, I was thinking recently about just how much painful history could be summed up by putting a coin of Edward VIII from 1936 next to a coin of 1971/1972; just the change in titles would be significant enough, but it's quite possible the currency would be decimalised under his rule to boot! (Given decimalisation occurred in AD 1971, our history).
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Good grief, the dowager Duchess of York would be so ticked off she might well die 3 decades early just so she could drag her brother-in-law down to Hell with her own fair hands
Its always struck me a little unfair that she blamed him for Berties death so strongly.After all werent the two of them actually close as far a British Royal brothers went ? Elizabeth not being Queen until shes almost 50 is maybe a different person perhaps much different ?
 
Edward VIII may have been fond of his brother Albert, but he seems to have disliked (and been disliked in turn) by the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother - the wife, not the elder daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York - to such a degree that he & Wallis Simpson appear to have spread unkind rumours that the Duchess of York was an illegitimate daughter of her father, passed off as his daughter by his married wife (They even - at least in private - gave her a nickname “Cookie” based on that slander).

So far as I can tell Elizabeth, Duchess of York, and the future Edward VIII were quite incompatible personalities with very different ideas for the monarchy - in any timeline, that’s going to seriously affect relations between Princess Elizabeth of York and ‘Uncle David’ no matter when she becomes Queen Elizabeth (Especially if a Republic movement denies her the chance to be Queen, something likely to leave her mother even more Furious).
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
Wouldnt a Republican movement and an end to the monarchy also depend on a German occupation -with a long and extensive one making it much more likely eventually ?
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
It would, but would an occupation not happening necessarily preclude a rise in anti-monarchy sentiments?
No it wouldnt at all.I just think it makes it less likely.The opponents of ending the monarchy are probably able to "circle the wagons" and hold it off without the German influence there BUT with it that just seems much less likely.Also there is a good chance that ending the monarchy is actually part of the German program for the UK. That of course increases opposition to doing so in some quarters of the British public but overall it probably makes it much more likely to happen the longer the Germans are there.
 
In all honesty one can imagine at least some elements in Germany seeing Great Britain’s problem as not being monarchical enough - I.e. letting mere Parliamentarians govern in place of God & King.
 

MaxGerke01

Banned
In all honesty one can imagine at least some elements in Germany seeing Great Britain’s problem as not being monarchical enough - I.e. letting mere Parliamentarians govern in place of God & King.
They would probably want somebody less English than the Windsors on the throne right ?
 
I can think of few situations more likely to see the Crown abolished than to have a monarch thrust upon the throne by a foreign power, however victorious; Ruprecht of Bavaria might well have more luck, since at least his claim to the throne ignores the Hanoverian succession AND could at least support itself with Jacobite Romance (Though not much else beyond German bayonets).

Quite frankly I suspect the Germans would be better off claiming that this mess was all the politicians fault and leave Edward VIII on the throne, all the better to keep Crown & Parliament snapping at each other.
 
Well, this might stretch the definition of "Britain", but what do you think happens to British India and other British colonies ITTL? I personally imagine India here won its independence via revolution as an INC radicalized by British repression and led by Subhas Chandra Bose (or a similar figure) became the vanguard of such a revolution.
 
I'd imagine many would look at it with nostalgia.
OTOH, I imagine there would be more public awareness of British atrocities in India and Africa, especially as the British Empire ended in not!fascism and getting defeated in the Second Great War, with the British Empire being viewed in a far more negative light ITTL.
 
OTOH, I imagine there would be more public awareness of British atrocities in India and Africa, especially as the British Empire ended in not!fascism and getting defeated in the Second Great War, with the British Empire being viewed in a far more negative light ITTL.
Imagine the famine that hit India OTL but then the British lose the war. It would be the equivalent to the Armenian Genocide and would be bandied about to show how horrible and unjust the British were to their subjects.
 
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