What if Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, lived?

William IV of England (b.1689: d.1751) m. Henriette Louise de Bourbon (b.1703: d.1772) (a)

1a) Stillborn Girl (c.1720)

2a) Anne Sophie of England (b.1722)

3a) Miscarriage (c.1723)

4a) Miscarriage (c.1725)

5a) George Charles, Prince of Wales (b.1727)

6a) Stillborn Girl (c.1728)

7a) James Frederick, Duke of York (b.1730)

8a) Miscarriage (c.1731)

9a) Eleanor Christine of England (b.1733)

10a) Miscarriage (c.1735)

11a) Miscarriage (c.1736)

12a) Miscarriage (c.1738)

13a) Catherine Louise of England (b.1740: d.1743)​
 
What if little Prince Willy grew up a healthy and strapping young lad. What historical significance would this have?

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=353853

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=316475

Basically Gloucester's health was atrocious. Most likely he'd end up being the English version of Carlos II.

William IV of England (b.1689: d.1751) m. Henriette Louise de Bourbon (b.1703: d.1772) (a)
1a) Stillborn Girl (c.1720)

2a) Anne Sophie of England (b.1722)

3a) Miscarriage (c.1723)

4a) Miscarriage (c.1725)

5a) George Charles, Prince of Wales (b.1727)

6a) Stillborn Girl (c.1728)

7a) James Frederick, Duke of York (b.1730)

8a) Miscarriage (c.1731)

9a) Eleanor Christine of England (b.1733)

10a) Miscarriage (c.1735)

11a) Miscarriage (c.1736)

12a) Miscarriage (c.1738)

13a) Catherine Louise of England (b.1740: d.1743)​

William can't marry a French Princess. The bill of Rights excluded marriage to Catholics. Not to mention such a match would be unpopular on both sides of the channel and quite low ranking (an Orléans Princess makes more sense, though still impossible).
 
Isn't the whole point of the original post that William ITTL is born without hydrocephalus?

If William becomes King instead of George of Hanover, it may delay or butterfly the post of Prime Minister and the ascendancy of the Whig party.

As for who William might marry, the general concensus seems to be either Ulrika Eleanora of Sweden or Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. I'd guess who he marries would be mainly up to his mother. Personally, I could see him with Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Louise_of_Mecklenburg-Schwerin#).
 
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (1689 -1752) marries his distant cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, a decendant of James I of England, via his daughter Elizabeth of England.

The royal couple both love entertainment, and seemed to be made for each other.

Children:
- Prince William (1707-1708)
- Princess Anne (1709-1758)
- Prince George of Wales (1713-1786)
- Princess Eleanor (1714- 1784)
- Princess Charlotte (1716-1801)
- Prince Frederick of York (1718-1719)
- Princess Sophia Dorothea (1719-1765)
- Princess Mary (1720-1782)
- Prince William of (1722-1758)
- Princess Elizabeth (1723-1787)
- Prince Henry (1726-1802)
- Prince Edward of Gloucester (1730-1813)


Other wifes include:
- His cousin, Princess Charlotte Amalie of Denmark, daughter of King Frederick IV of Denmark and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.
- Infanta Francisca Josefa of Portugal, the last of eight children of King Peter II of Portugal and his second wife Marie Sophie of Neuburg
- Any six daughters of Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, grandson of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and father of Johan Willem Friso.

  1. Maria Amalia (1689-1771)
  2. Sofia Hedwig (1690-1734)
  3. Isabelle Charlotte (1692-1757)
  4. Johanna Agnes (1693-1765),
  5. Louise Leopoldina (1695-1758)
  6. Henriette Casimira (1696-1738)
 
He got his hydrocephalus due to the sickness that happened 2 weeks after his birth, so the PoD obviously involves him not getting it.
I like Sophia Dorothea of Hanover match - she was deeply unhappy in her Prussian match, and definitely deserves a better lot in life.
And her OTL Prussian husband marrying Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden can be...interesting to say the least.
 
Exceept there are two problems with a Hannoverian match:
1. Figuelotte of Hannover, mother of FWI wanted the match, and it going through was sorta her widower honoring her last wishes.
2. Anne absolutely loathed the Hannovers due to a personal dislike of Sophie, plus what she viewed as Georg Ludwig's double standards - turning her down because of her mom's low birth and then proceding to marry an equally unevenly born girl.
 
Okay, so William marries Maria Amalia of Nassau-Dietz. All we know about her is her year of birth and year of death, not who she married IOTL, if she ever did.

Another interesting implication I thought of is, did Prince George, William's father, ever give up his hereditary rights to the Danish throne? If so, the future monarchs of Britain might have a claim to Denmark-Norway.
 
Okay, so William marries Maria Amalia of Nassau-Dietz. All we know about her is her year of birth and year of death, not who she married IOTL, if she ever did.

Another interesting implication I thought of is, did Prince George, William's father, ever give up his hereditary rights to the Danish throne? If so, the future monarchs of Britain might have a claim to Denmark-Norway.

Maria Amalia was Queen Mary's goddaughter AFAIK, but it could've been one of her sisters though. Although having read what I have lately about Anne and William III's fraught relationship (plus the tenseness of William's own relationship with George (due to the fact that George outranked William before the latter became king)) I can't see a Dutch marriage happening before George dies (Holland and Denmark were traditional rivals IIRC), and even then Anne might decide that she doesn't like a Dutch daughter-in-law out of respect for her husband's memory.

As to Prince George's rights, to the best of my knowledge, it was never considered necessary that he did, since his brother and nephew clearly produced enough kids in that department to render his succession to the Danish throne inevitable during his/his wife/probably his son's lifetime.

However, if Denmark still runs as OTL, then we have the fun and games cropping up in the 19th century when the Danish main line is going extinct and the next in line so-to-speak is also the king of globespanning empire:D

Probably one of William's British younger grandsons/great-grandsons succeeds to the Danish throne, while his eldest stays in London.
 
Maria Amalia was Queen Mary's goddaughter AFAIK, but it could've been one of her sisters though. Although having read what I have lately about Anne and William III's fraught relationship (plus the tenseness of William's own relationship with George (due to the fact that George outranked William before the latter became king)) I can't see a Dutch marriage happening before George dies (Holland and Denmark were traditional rivals IIRC), and even then Anne might decide that she doesn't like a Dutch daughter-in-law out of respect for her husband's memory.

As to Prince George's rights, to the best of my knowledge, it was never considered necessary that he did, since his brother and nephew clearly produced enough kids in that department to render his succession to the Danish throne inevitable during his/his wife/probably his son's lifetime.

However, if Denmark still runs as OTL, then we have the fun and games cropping up in the 19th century when the Danish main line is going extinct and the next in line so-to-speak is also the king of globespanning empire:D

Probably one of William's British younger grandsons/great-grandsons succeeds to the Danish throne, while his eldest stays in London.

William not marrying until after George's death could work. After all, James VI and I didn't marry until he was 23, Charles I until he was 25, Charles II until he was 32 and James II until he was 27. It would also give him time to focus on learning his kingly duties. If not after George's death, a Dutch marriage might find favour with Parliament.

Now that I think about it, the potential rights of Prince George and his successors ITTL would sound similar to the Second Schleswig War, as one of the causes was who would succeed King Frederick VIII.
 
What about a Prussian match? While no direct Princess was available for decades (sense no Princess was born between 1680 and 1709) Gloucester could marry a Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, the wealthy cadet branch of the Hohenzollerns. Margravine Friederike Dorothea (bn. 1700 d. 1701, could live ATL) or Margravine Henrietta Maria would be good choices. Though personally I think a match with Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden is better.

Or, and this is crazy but possible, what about a marriage between Gloucester and Lady Mary Churchill? After all her mother Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough did try to marry her granddaughter (Lady Diana Spencer) to Frederick, Prince of Wales, so such an attempted match might not be unthinkable, especially if Sarah gets the match early or doesn't destroy her friendship with Queen Anne. Just a thought.
 
Ok, redo:

William IV, King of Great Britain (b.1689: d.1757) m. Maria Amalia of Nassau-Dietz (b.1689: d.1722) (a), Charlotte Amalie of Denmark (b.1706: d.1742) (b), Louisa of Hanover (b.1724: d.1781) (c)

1a) Anne, Princess Royal (b.1716: d.1740) m. Frederick, Prince of Hanover (b.1707: d.1751) (a)

1a) George, Elector of Hanover (b.1733)

2a) Augusta of Hanover (b.1735)

3a) Miscarriage (c.1736)

4a) William of Hanover (b.1738: d.1739)

5a) Louisa of Hanover (b.1740)​

2a) Miscarriage (c.1719)

3a) George I, King of Great Britain (b.1721: d.1762) m. Anna Amalia of Prussia (b.1723: d.1787) (a)

1a) Charles III of Great Britain (b.1742)

2a) Prince Frederick of Great Britain (b.1745: d.1745)

3a) Prince Charlotte of Great Britain (b.1747)

4a) Prince William Augustus, Duke of Clarence (b.1750)​

4b) Prince Charles, Duke of York (b.1725: d.1731)

5b) Princess Louise of Great Britain (b.1727: d.1790) m. Frederick V of Denmark (b.1723: d.1766) (a)

1a) Miscarriage (c.1750)

2a) Margaret of Denmark (b.1753: d.1754)

3a) Christian VII of Denmark (b.1757)

4a) Wilhelmina Magdalena of Denmark (b.1760)​

6b) Princess Sophie of Great Britain (b.1729: d.1730)

7b) Prince Frederick, Duke of Albany (b.1730: d.1733)

8b) Miscarriage (c.1732)

9b) Princess Mary of Great Britain (b.1735: d.1738)

10b) Prince William, Duke of York (b.1739: d.1781) m. Christiane of Mecklenburg (b.1735: d.1794) (a)

1a) Sophie of York (b.1760: d.1778)​

11c) Miscarriage (c.1746)

12c) Princess Charlotte of Great Britain (b.1748: d.1799) m. William V, Prince of Orange (b.1748: d.1806) (a)

1a) George I of the Netherland (b.1770)

2a) Frederika Christine of Orange-Nassau (b.1773)

3a) Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau (b.1775)

4a) Miscarriage (c.1776)

5a) Augustus of Orange-Nassau (b.1780)​

13c) Prince James, Duke of Clarence (b.1750: d.1751)

14c) Princess Caroline of Great Britain (b.1753: d.1753)

15c) Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (b.1755: d.1775)​
 
Recently, I've come back to this topic and, having read about the Second Stadtholderless Period and Seven Years' War, I'm having slight doubts about an Anglo-Dutch marriage for William. I still think it could work, but, knowing Anne, and the British Parliament, I'm not sure that William would have had much say in who he might have married.
 
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