TLIAD - When the Sun Sets

TLIAD - Time Line In A Day - an idea stolen utterly from Meadow.

Although this one will take place mostly post 1900, the POD begins in 1871, so here it is:

When The Sun Sets

December 1871, while staying at Londesborough Lodge, the Prince Of Wales, Prince Edward contracts Typhoid. Although he fights hard and recieves the best possible care, on January 2nd 1872, Prince Edward passes into the night.

On January 3rd 1872, Prince Albert Victor is invested as Prince Albert, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne currently sat upon by Queen Victoria.

July 1889, leading from investigations of theft from the Telegraph office, a male brothel on Cleaveland Street is raided by Police, among those arrested are Lord Arthur Somerset, The Earl of Euston - Henry FitzRoy and a third male who has never been identified.
Neither Somerset or Fitzroy ever face trial, Somerset shoots himself on his family estate while Fitzroy disappears, allegedly to France but is never heard of again.

In September 1889, Prince Albert Victor is committed to private care at Sandringham on the grounds of mental frailty and exhaustion. Rumours abound that he was indeed arrested in the male brothel, or that it is insanity brought on by Gonorrhea, either way, by Royal Prerogative, in October 1889, Prince George is styled as the Prince of Wales and designated Heir to the throne.

Summer 1891 and Prince George completes his service in the Royal Navy.

10th January 1898 - Prince George retires to his bed feeling unwell. As befits the heir to the thrown, his physician is summoned. Initially misdiagnosing the symptoms as Influenza, (from which he had previously suffered), George is put to bed and advised to rest. Unlike with Influenza, the symptoms, caused by spoiled Duck from Dinner, reused for the soup given to aid the princes recovery, persist and although he is correctly diagnosed as suffering from food poisoning, the day and a half delay proves fatal, and on 14th January 1898, Prince George, Prince of Wales succumbs to his illness.

Behind the scenes, lines of succession are confirmed, and on 1st February, 1898, Prince Alfred, formerly Duke of Edinburgh, now the well regarded Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, is confirmed as as Prince Of Wales and heir to the throne, it is privately hoped that he will have greater fortune that his predecessors.

The greater fortune is not to be, the newly crowned Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Alfred's son, Prince Alfred dies ostensibly of consumption. The throne of Saxe-Coburg passes to the Prince of Wales' nephew, Charles Edward, who styles himself Herzog Leopold von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha.

Away from the succession and Princely duties, Alfred busied himself with the affairs of state, enjoying a happy relationship with his mother the Queen, he was granted access to papers of state and to the politicians of the day. Of great personal and professional interest were international relations.

 
When the Sun Sets Pt2

The Palace regrets to announce that at 6.30pm on Tuesday 22nd January, after a short illness, Her Majesty Queen Victoria died peacfully in her sleep. She was accompanied by the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and her Grandson, Kaiser WIllhelm II of the German Empire.
Further Announcements will be made is due course.

THE QUEEN IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING

- Announcement from the Times of London, Wednesday 23rd January 1901
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Following his coronation in June, King Alfred continued in the style of his Mother, while not directly interfering in Government, having no qualms about using his position to influence the course of the Government.
In particular, better relations with the other Imperial Powers, (aided in no small part by his good relationship with Kaiser Willhelm II, and being related by either birth or marriage), and having been influenced by Gladstone, that once the current situation settles down, a loosening of the ties that bind would be a better thing.

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The Second Boer War rumbles on as the British and Empire troops look to repress the Boer Settlers. Lord Kitchener attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Louis Botha, the deal will guarentee voting rights to non Boer settlers, access rights to the gold and diamond fields, but also self government for the Boer states gaurenteed by a treaty of perpetual alliance with the Empire. Botha and Kitchener agree a framework, however, the deal, once discussed in cabinet, is rejected by the Government.

Upon learning of this, the King is furious and summons the Marquess of Salisbury to explain. Despite being by nature a stoic and reassurred man, he was also a staunch royalist, and to be berated by his Monarch, proves too much. Returning to Cabinet, the deal is accepted, the second Boer War is brought to an Armistice, before a treaty between the Free States and the British Empire is signed early in 1902.

Between this and the work of Emily Hobhouse, the general veiw of the British Empire within Africa is improved slightly. In Europe, especially by the French, this is viewed as a sign of weakness. Still smarting from the Fashoda incident, wheels begin to turn...
 
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