Victoria II

Victoria is either murdered or dies after the birth of her first child but before any sons are born.

Several things come up

1) There will bre a long regency. Will Albert be Regent. if not who?

2) There is no way that a Queen Regnent could marry the heir to the Kingdom of Prussia. So this butterflies out Willy the Stupid. Does it prevent WW1?

3) How big a shock would a young Queen dying- either by a bullet or, probably the next most likely, in childbirth. In those days having a doctor attending, as a Queen would, added to risks of childbirth because of the lack of knowlege of infection?
 
Victoria is either murdered or dies after the birth of her first child but before any sons are born.

Several things come up

1) There will bre a long regency. Will Albert be Regent. if not who?

2) There is no way that a Queen Regnent could marry the heir to the Kingdom of Prussia. So this butterflies out Willy the Stupid. Does it prevent WW1?

3) How big a shock would a young Queen dying- either by a bullet or, probably the next most likely, in childbirth. In those days having a doctor attending, as a Queen would, added to risks of childbirth because of the lack of knowlege of infection?

Well if it was in childbirth it would be Charlotte all over again, just this time the queen regnant on the additionally bad side, but a living child on the additionally good side

I rather think the Duke of Cambridge would be the Regent. I think that its going to be up to parliament, and they are going to deny it to the Duke of Cumberland, not only because he is King of Hannover, now a foreign state, but also because they hate him. The same would go for Albert - he's a foreigner and parliament very grudgingly gave him the title Prince Consort, they aren't going to let him be Regent

I can't remember when Sussex died, but he was often very ill, whereas Cambridge was c-in-c of the army

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
If it's in childbirth, I don't think Parliament is going to interfere with the succession merely because Ernst Augustus was a bit 'iffy'. It'd be a bad precedent. More likely, I think, would be Ernst August disclaiming his rights to the succession in favour of remaining in Hannover. In which case, it'd go to yet another of George III's unholy brood. Although, of course, Ernie was of the 'old school.' If the throne does go to him, then he might concieve of it as being 'god's doing.' Hard to say, really.

If we end up with an infant Victoria II, then Albert would be the natural choice as Regent, but he would probably also be unpopular as a foreigner. Again, it'd likely go to one of Victoria's uncles.
 
If it's in childbirth, I don't think Parliament is going to interfere with the succession merely because Ernst Augustus was a bit 'iffy'. It'd be a bad precedent. More likely, I think, would be Ernst August disclaiming his rights to the succession in favour of remaining in Hannover. In which case, it'd go to yet another of George III's unholy brood.

If we end up with an infant Victoria II, then Albert would be the natural choice as Regent, but he would probably also be unpopular as a foreigner. Again, it'd likely go to one of Victoria's uncles.

Regency is not succession
 
Regency is not succession

Sorry, I got confoosed. I thought you were talking about the succession in that bit.

I think Ernst August would be right out as a possible Regent. I don't think juggling Regency in Britain and monarchy in Hannover would be desirable or particularly feasible for either tbh.

P.S, you didn't say:

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
If we end up with an infant Victoria II, then Albert would be the natural choice as Regent, but he would probably also be unpopularp as a foreigner. Again, it'd likely go to one of Victoria's uncles.

But wasn't the wedding considered a 'fairy-tale wedding'? The Romance of the wedding, poor Vicky dieing young, the Grieving Widower.... Oh, I think he could be very popular, or at least have massive sympathy, unless he did something remarkably stupid, and from what little I know, he's less likely to to that than some of Vicky's uncles! (e.g. I could imagine one of them doing a 'Haig'esque "I'm in charge")

Besides, it's not as if the whole darned royal family wasn't pretty much foreign anyway!
 
Sorry, I got confoosed. I thought you were talking about the succession in that bit.

I think Ernst August would be right out as a possible Regent. I don't think juggling Regency in Britain and monarchy in Hannover would be desirable or particularly feasible for either tbh.

P.S, you didn't say:

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Sorry for the lack of regards; I had about 20 seconds left before the library server went down and reckoned I couldn't get them typed in and press Submit in time

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
But wasn't the wedding considered a 'fairy-tale wedding'? The Romance of the wedding, poor Vicky dieing young, the Grieving Widower.... Oh, I think he could be very popular, or at least have massive sympathy, unless he did something remarkably stupid, and from what little I know, he's less likely to to that than some of Vicky's uncles! (e.g. I could imagine one of them doing a 'Haig'esque "I'm in charge")

The absolutely salient point is that (in this period at least) Parliament determines ad hoc who should act as regent. Obviously, there'd be consultation and discussion with the royal family, but it's ultimately parliament's call.

I think it's possible that Albert could be regent (There was provision for George III's German wife Charlotte to act as regent in the event of his death while their children were young) but in an age of increasing nationalist awareness this becomes less likely to follow a second time. You also have Albert's character, which was assertive and industrious, which might ruffle a few feathers. (They denied Albert assuming the title of King-Consort, after all - would regent also be a step too far?)

The one good thing for Albert is that he was German, in an age when Germans were viewed generally positively in Britain. And, as you say, there would be public sympathy for Albert in the event of Victoria's premature/violent death.
 
This issue was actually addressed OTL. The Regency Act of 1840 was drawn up to provide for Victoria dying before any child reached the age of majority, and named Albert as regent until Victoria's heir reached 18.

I don't think the act went into any detail about what would happen if Albert were to be rendered incapable of serving (if the same assassin that got Victoria got him too, for example) so parliament would have to look elsewhere. I think it's possible that in this case that parliament might look outside what's left of the royal family for a regent, in which case the obvious candidate would be the Duke of Wellington.
 
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