What if William of Orange turned down the English Crown?

What if King William of Orange turned down the English Crown? I think Anne would have taken over as Queen like She did later on. I think England would have avoided(or tried to avoid) Louis XIV of France that William of Orange had them fighting. I think the fighting in Ireland would have went on no matter what.
 
Why would stadtholder William III refuse a crown?

Even without William, England & Scotland probably will have occasional conflicts with France (for issues like balance of power). However I do agree, that it won't be the core of the foreign policy.
 
Anne had the best rival claim after William and Mary (the legal line of succession was James II, James Prince of Wales, Mary, Anne, William), but unlike William, she didn't have an army of her own. Thing didn't really start to fall apart for James until William showed up with an army of about 15,000 men, which while initially outnumbered by James's forces was big enough to be a credible challenge even before James's armies started going over to William.

Anne might have been able to organize a domestic rising (I seem to recall hearing that she had been a focus for anti-James plotting before the Glorious Revolution), or even maybe to recruit foreign support (her husband was a Danish prince), but she would have had a much harder task to raise a credible challenge than William did.
 
Anne had the best rival claim after William and Mary (the legal line of succession was James II, James Prince of Wales, Mary, Anne, William), but unlike William, she didn't have an army of her own. Thing didn't really start to fall apart for James until William showed up with an army of about 15,000 men, which while initially outnumbered by James's forces was big enough to be a credible challenge even before James's armies started going over to William.

Anne might have been able to organize a domestic rising (I seem to recall hearing that she had been a focus for anti-James plotting before the Glorious Revolution), or even maybe to recruit foreign support (her husband was a Danish prince), but she would have had a much harder task to raise a credible challenge than William did.


Why would she? As long as she gets money out of daddy dearest she really didn't care.

But without a dutch army removing him, James II would continue to reign until his death in 1701.
 
What if King William of Orange turned down the English Crown? I think Anne would have taken over as Queen like She did later on. I think England would have avoided(or tried to avoid) Louis XIV of France that William of Orange had them fighting. I think the fighting in Ireland would have went on no matter what.

Are you presuming that Mary declines the crown herself or is intentionally passed over if William turns the crown down?

BTW, his title prior to his 1689 accession in Great Britain was, His Highness The Prince of Orange, Stadholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelre and Overijssel, not King of Orange.
 
Are you presuming that Mary declines the crown herself or is intentionally passed over if William turns the crown down?

BTW, his title prior to his 1689 accession in Great Britain was, His Highness The Prince of Orange, Stadholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelre and Overijssel, not King of Orange.


I sort of think in this that William throws out James at the behest of the Nobility but turns down the Crown Himself.
 
I sort of think in this that William throws out James at the behest of the Nobility but turns down the Crown Himself.
Why would he do that? The ambition of all stadholders basicly was to become king. William III was one of only two who actualy succeded in that goal. The entire operation of removing James as king of England was to secure an ally for the Netherlands against France. I doubt he would have trusted anyone besides himself (or his wife).
 
I sort of think in this that William throws out James at the behest of the Nobility but turns down the Crown Himself.

That would be out of character for OTL William III; IOTL William and Mary insisted on being joint sovereigns (and William and his line, also from a second marriage could succeed them, before Anne).

Besides William will never get through all that trouble without the prospect of a Crown. In such a scenario the nobility will have to find someone else with an army, but William won't do it without the proper reward.
 
(and William and his line, also from a second marriage could succeed them, before Anne).
Actualy I believe that is not true. If Mary died and William remarried and got children, they would be next in line after Anne (and her potential children).
 
Actualy I believe that is not true. If Mary died and William remarried and got children, they would be next in line after Anne (and her potential children).

That matches my reading.

And they do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular the premises as their undoubted rights and liberties, and that no declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example; to which demand of their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness the prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their rights which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion, rights and liberties, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve that William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, be and be declared king and queen of England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to them, the said prince and princess, during their lives and the life of the survivor to them, and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said prince of Orange in the names of the said prince and princess during their joint lives, and after their deceases the said crown and royal dignity of the same kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said princess, and for default of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body, and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said prince and princess to accept the same accordingl.


http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp
 
Actualy I believe that is not true. If Mary died and William remarried and got children, they would be next in line after Anne (and her potential children).

I read differently somewhere, though that might have been incorrect; still why mention it then, since that would have been the normal line of succession, well at least if the line of James Stuart is excluded.
 
That is correct the parliamentary act was based on the actual standard line of succession minus the catholics, those not born etc.

James Prince of Wales (removed)
Mary Princess of Orange (elder daughter of James II)
Anne Princess of Denmark (second daugher of James II)
William Prince of Orange (nephew of James II)

William and Mary were joint sovereigns but due to his insistance and Mary's personal desire's effectively he was the soveriegn (though initially many Peers and Commons had wanted Mary alone as sovereign)
He was to remain sovereign if Mary died whether they were childless or not and on his death he would first be succeeded by Anne and her issue and in default of her line any children of William's by a subsequent marriage would succeed.
 
It would not have been unthinkable, that if king-stadtholder William III would have had a son, probably called William, in a second marriage, that he would have tried to get him accepted as heir. Though William probably lacked the popularity to pull this off.
 
I always thought that might be an interesting POD. Mary dies, William remarries and gets a(t least one) son. As Anne would be William's successor and actualy has a son of her own, William's son is raised in the Netherlands to succeed William as stadholder. William dies, Anne becomes queen, but has no living children (her son died like in OTL). Instead of the Hanovers you get a renewed "personal union" between the Netherlands and Britain (or possibly England and Scotland).

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the original question. As said if a glorious revolution happens William will be king, without a Glorious Revolution James will remain king and his catholic son will probably succeed him. If he remains close with France, France will rule the continent.
 
He (Will III) nearly did refuse. He deliberated long. It was much more of a gamble than it appears with the benefit of hindsight. (EDIT: I mean that he nearly turned down the invitation from the Immortal Seven; not the crown, once established )

Will. was fighting France. James III was an adjunct of France. In the event , the invasion was remarkably successful. But we only know that now. At the time, Williams advisors feared that the invasion could turn into a long drawn out war (or even defeat), which would sap off the strength of the Netherlands. In effect , it meant that Will. would have to fight on two fronts - never a good thing.

The interesting corollary is : If William of Orange did refuse to assist, would the discontented in England have gone ahead with rebellion anyway ? Another 1642 ? And what would the result have looked like ?

ObWI: What if Admiral Herbert (disguised as a common seaman) , carrying the letter, is identified, seized and the latter passed to James ?
 
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