TL Idea:Polish Stuarts

In 1696, Louis XIV offered to have James II elected as King of Poland-Lithuania. James II declined believing it would hurt any chance of regaining the throne.

But what if James II accepted the offer, and became King of Poland-Lithuania?

Would he still claim the thrones of the Three Kingdoms or abdicate those claims in favour of his son? Will the War of Spanish Succession break out? Will Poland-Lithuania be a player in it?
 
Assuming Louis can make James king...

Don't see why not on him continuing to make those claims.

He might abdicate them in favor of his son, though I doubt it.

And the War of Spanish Succession is likely to be pretty much uninfluenced by this.
 
My feeling is that if James took the Polish throne we would see less Jacobite activity in the UK, as the Stuarts would have to concentrate their efforts on Poland rather than on invasion plans for the British Isles.

One of the butterflies for this is that most Jacobite soldiers would be in Poland, not France, so Napoleon would loose quite a few of his better officers, whilst his enemies would gain them. (Obviously we are looking at 2nd and 3rd generation jacobites not centurians riding into battle!)
 
My feeling is that if James took the Polish throne we would see less Jacobite activity in the UK, as the Stuarts would have to concentrate their efforts on Poland rather than on invasion plans for the British Isles.

One of the butterflies for this is that most Jacobite soldiers would be in Poland, not France, so Napoleon would loose quite a few of his better officers, whilst his enemies would gain them. (Obviously we are looking at 2nd and 3rd generation jacobites not centurians riding into battle!)

Another butterfly: The Saxon electors remain Protestant, and thus the marriage policy of the Catholic ruling houses is changed. At the least OTL Louis XVI and his brother won't certainly exist, due to being of a Saxon mother.
 
Even if accepts, will he even take the throne? After all, when James rejected the offer, Louis XIV fielded the Prince of Conti in his place. Conti took the majority of the votes of the Polish electors and became King of Poland. Yet because the Saxon Elector arrived in Poland first and had himself crowned, he was accepted as King. Of course Conti dithered on going to Poland... but, Saxony is much closer to Poland than France.

The Elector of Saxony would probably still convert, given how much he desired the throne. Despite his conversion, his religious policy within Saxony still followed the same intense Lutheran policies that the previous electors had followed. Indeed, he didn't even bother to grant toleration or civil liberties to Saxony's Catholics, creating a rather odd situation.
 
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