Just a drop-in from the "Post 1900" board and my British political TLs. The question is this - what if Prince Edward ("Bertie") had died from the typhoid he contracted in early 1871?
His son, Prince Albert Victor, would become the second-in-line to the throne at the age of just seven with his younger brother third in line at the age of five and a half.
In OTL, he died of influenza in 1892 having been unable to marry the love of his life, Princess Helene of Orleans. It seems her parents wanted her to marry an heir and opposed her marriage to Albert, who was in OTL third in line after his father.
I wonder if, in a TL where Albert is the actual heir, Helene's father might have been more amenable to a possible marriage. Had the marriage proceeded, would he have still died in the influenza pandemic of 1892?
If not, he becomes King in 1901. If he does, it's entirely possible that he and Helene could have a child and that child becomes heir to Victoria. Otherwise, George V's reign starts nine years earlier than in OTL and presumably he marries someone other than Mary of Tek who of course never married his brother.
Any thoughts?