WI: A British King on the River Plate?

Argentina was traditionally very close to the UK, which has in general been rather supportive of Argentina in an attempt to get access to its markets, but most importantly, to the River Plate, which grants access to a huge amount of South America's heartland up the Parana and Uruguay Rivers.

After independence, in an attempt to gain legitimacy and European recognition, Belgrano (I think) was sent to Europe to look for a princeling to take the throne. My question is rather simple: what are the chances that, in the middle of the Napoleonic wars, Belgrano goes to London and pleads Argentina's case as an opponent of Napoleon's France, and asks the king to send a relative to rule as king of Argentina?
 
Argentina should convert into a British crown colony first before a British King to be installed in Argentina.

Well, if the British monarch rules in Argentina, Argentina would be more stable than in OTL 'cause of effective governance of the British. Argentina would become a ''Canada 2.0'' in Southern Hemisphere with the English-speaking majority with Spanish-speaking minority (70-30 proportion is my suggestion).

Argentina would be larger than in OTL, which includes Uruguay, Chile, some parts of Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru.
 
Argentina should convert into a British crown colony first before a British King to be installed in Argentina.

Conversely, I'd say that Argentina being a British colony would rule out any chance of it receiving its own King. Under colonial status, it would share a monarch with the rest of the British Empire, and that's the closest it would ever get to having its own King. I'm pretty sure this isn't what minifidel is getting at. I think he's looking at ways that it can receive its own independent monarch.

How to do this...hard. You'd probably want to wave away the 1806 invasion (shouldn't carry many, if any at all, butterflies) to ensure there's no ill-sentiment hanging over. The biggest problem is finding a way to persuade the British one of them wants to go to what is essentially a remote backwater country for the first few years of its existence. You might have to engineer a very specific set of conditions to make this plausible. For instance, William IV was in the navy. Maybe somehow force him out briefly to Argentina on fleet duty and have him take a real liking to the place and the people. Then when he becomes King in 1830 he may be tempted to use his force of will to make it happen for the Argentines. But still, you may find that the British insist on some clauses first - i.e. close co-operation between the countries, promises that the country will be run on the Westminster system (or some governmental style acceptable to a British candidate), granting of large estates to serve as a royal retreat, and so on - things the Argentines may not be 100% happy with. I'm not really sure at all really. But it might happen. I think you also may need to look at the motives of the Argentines at rebelling in the first place, and remove anti-monarchist elements with your POD.
 
Guys

Developing on Falastur's suggestion would Edward Duke of Kent be a better option? I would expect that one condition is any king from Britain would have to convert to Catholicism. He had a long time French Canadian i.e. Catholic mistress he only rather reluctantly gave up when Charlotte died and the race for a new heir began. Hence he had some background that might be relevant. Might even be a case that if he marries her she gets accepted as the queen for the new state.

The big butterfly from this of course is that this means no Victoria. Unless something else changes - like Charlotte not dying - we end up with Ernest Duke of Cumberland as king of Britain.:eek:

Steve
 
The King doesn't necessarily have to be from the Royal Family (although that would be a bonus), or otherwise it would be a nice way for the royals to get rid of a catholic in the family, by sending him to what amounts to a backwater, as you said.

I honestly don't think there was any bad blood between Argentines and the British, despite the 1806/7 invasions.

As for the anti-monarchist tendencies in the revolution, well, that would be done away with if getting that monarch would give Argentina european recognition and support.
 
Top