WI: Kaiser Wilhelm is 1st in line for British Throne.

Marquis

I wasn't sure where to put this as all the PoDs are pre-1900 but the meat of the question is post-1900.

Duke of Edinburgh murdered by asylum-escapee - (1868).
Fenian sniper kills Arthur, Duke of Connaught at Battle of Eccles Hill - (1870).
Heir to throne Prince Albert Edward dies of typhoid - (1871).
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies of haemophilia aged 26 - (1880).
Prince George and Prince Albert Victor die of typhoid - (1892).

All of these events are semi-OTL. DofE was shot by a madman in Australia. Connaught wasn't shot but apparently did fight at that battle, the three typhoids are OTL, but Albert (Edward VII) and George recovered while Albert Victor died. Leopold has died here 4 years early, so the issue of issue is an issue.

What happens now?

The eldest descendant of Queen Victoria is...

...Queen Victoria. Of Prussia. Queen Mother to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Queen Victoria dies in January 1901 and leaves her will declaring Victoria of Prussia or Wilhelm (of whom she was very fond) her heir. If former, Victoria of Prussia dies in August 1901 as OTL.
 

Liupardali

Parliament still exists and they aren't just going to allow Britain to be subjugated to Germany, so even if Germany and Britain end up in a personal union they aren't going to forget all their greivances. Wilhelm's rule will probably lead to the Parliament becoming even more empowered. Depending on how Wilhelm acts Britain and Germany's relationship could be better or worse than OTL.
 

Mikestone8

Not necessarily a big deal.

Wilhelm II had six sons and a daughter. Parliament probably settles on the second son, Prince Eitel Friedrich, or possibly on W's brother Henry.

Afaik, there weren't yet many big issues between GB and Germany in 1901. Iirc the naval race hadn't really hotted up yet and hopefully even Kaiser Bill isn't daft enough to queer his son's pitch by sending that telegram to Kruger.

Not sure exactly who gets Saxe-Coburg but there were plenty of possibles. That family bred like rabbits.

Small point. We've never had a King Eitel (or would it be rendered in English as Attila?) so he most likely reigns as Frederick I. So, fifty years on, do we get "freddy boys" instead of "teddy boys"?
 
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SenatorChickpea

The succession is ultimately up to Parliament, not the previous monarch. Wilhelm will be skipped. Probably his children will be as well, in favor of some cousin somewhere.
 

Decatur

Victoria can say whatever she wants in her will, but it's Parliament who determines the line of succesion. The moment it becomes clear that Wilhelm II is heir apparent, they'll pass a law completely bypassing the Hohenzollerns. Maybe they give it to this fellow:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Augustus,_Crown_Prince_of_Hanover?wprov=sfla1

He's a great-grandson of George III and thus Victoria's first cousin, once removed. Best of all, he's the son of the last king of Hanover. World War One is going to get a lot more personal...
 
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Mikestone8

Decatur said:
Victoria can say whatever she wants in her will, but it's Parliament who determines the line of succesion. The moment it becomes clear that Wilhelm II is heir apparent, they'll pass a law completely bypassing the Hohenzollerns and giving it to this fellow:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Augustus,_Crown_Prince_of_Hanover?wprov=sfla1

He's a great-grandson of George III and thus Victoria's first cousin, once removed. Best of all, he's the son of the last king of Hanover. World War One is going to get a lot more personal...
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If you're going that far down the line, why stop there?

You might as well make one more jump and take Prince George, later Duke of Cambridge, who was born in Hanover but had spent most of his adult life in the UK, so was definitely seen as British. That gives us a proper human being rather than a bloody foreigner. Personally, though, I don't think Anglo-German relations were yet bad enough to justify anything so drastic.
 
FalconHonour

FalconHonour

I think it would have to be a son of Princess Victoria, Empress of Prussia if all her brothers died. Anything else disregards the senior heirs to the throne and opens up a whole dangerous kettle of fish of competing claims, which Parliament is going to know it can't afford, especially not after how unlikely Victoria's own ascension was.

That being said, England and Prussia/Germany in a personal alliance would be seen as dangerously large and powerful by the rest of Europe. Which would also cause all sorts of issues. In the interests of workable international relations, I'd say either Wilhelm's brother gets it, or Wilhelm's second son gets England, while the elder son keeps Prussia/Germany.
 

isabella

Decatur said:
Victoria can say whatever she wants in her will, but it's Parliament who determines the line of succesion. The moment it becomes clear that Wilhelm II is heir apparent, they'll pass a law completely bypassing the Hohenzollerns. Maybe they give it to this fellow:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Augustus,_Crown_Prince_of_Hanover?wprov=sfla1

He's a great-grandson of George III and thus Victoria's first cousin, once removed. Best of all, he's the son of the last king of Hanover. World War One is going to get a lot more personal...
Click to expand...
Well no. Take away Victoria jr’s descendants as maybe she had renounced to her rights marrying in Prussia and the next in line are the children of Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse (and second daughter of Victoria). If Alice’s son renounce to the crown then the heir would be her eldest daughter https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Victoria_of_Hesse_and_by_Rhine married to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Louis_of_Battenberg who was member of a morganatic branch of the house of Hesse and had a long career in British Navy and had taken the British citizenship well before marrying Victoria so they would be perfectly acceptable in England...
(Louis and Victoria are Prince Philip’s maternal grandparents and their younger son was https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten,_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma... seeing him as Duke of York would be interesting)
 

John Roscommon

As the new Emperor and King and King-Emperor Wilhelm II and V would get seriously (even more than OTL) bent out of shape dealing with a Parliament that not only controls the purse and armed forces but also self-selects Cabinet ministers. Theoretically the Crown could select anyone to form a Government but I believe that the concept that the person he sends for has to be most likely be able to form a Government was pretty much set in stone by then. Very frustrating for him.
 

Mikestone8

Byzantion said:
He wouldn' t have the power to change Britain's foreign policy.
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No, but his (or more likely his son's) very presence on the throne makes a huge difference.

You almost certainly don't get the naval race, as the biggest navy in the world now belongs to a Hohenzollern. Probably he tells Eitel "I am the general, you are the admiral". Take away the naval rivalry and there's no estrangement between GB and Germany, and no pressing need for the Ententes with France and Russia. Could make for a very different 1914.

One point. Does Eitel still make his OTL (childless) marriage, and if not whom does he marry and do they have kids? An English marriage would seem the obvious choice. any thoughts as to who?
 

Mikestone8

One more point.

If Eitel succeeds at age 16-17, as he will if other death dates remain unchanged, there will need to be a Regency until he turns 18. Offhand, I'd think the likeliest candidate is Princess Helena, Queen Vic's third daughter, but there might be other possibilities.
 
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dcontreras

The succession simply continues on as there is no Salic Law in Britain. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alexandr, Princess of Wales also had three daughters, Louise, Victoria, and Maude whom were all born before your date of Albert Edward dying in 1872. Louise lived to adulthood, married and had two daughters of her won. So the succession was secure and Wilhelm would have therefore been behind the Wales Princesses, and their descendants before him or his mother.
 

Mikestone8

dcontreras said:
The succession simply continues on as there is no Salic Law in Britain. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alexandr, Princess of Wales also had three daughters, Louise, Victoria, and Maude whom were all born before your date of Albert Edward dying in 1872. Louise lived to adulthood, married and had two daughters of her won. So the succession was secure and Wilhelm would have therefore been behind the Wales Princesses, and their descendants before him or his mother.
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Iirc, on his visit to America in 1860, he was mobbed in Richmond by a crowd which assumed (probably rightly) that he was hostile to slavery. So if some idiot with a gun - -
 

dcontreras

Mikestone8 said:
Iirc, on his visit to America in 1860, he was mobbed in Richmond by a crowd which assumed (probably rightly) that he was hostile to slavery. So if some idiot with a gun - -
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Now you have a Wilhelm closer to the British throne. But if Bertie is killed in the US, the new heir Alfred will likely never be put in a place where he may be killed as in your scenario.
 
Dolan

Dolan

Banned
I think Wilhelm would end up being a bit more restrained and try to play peacemaker between Britain and Germany if he did end up being British King and German Kaiser.

In fact, it might end up spurring Germany to democratize even more.

No WW1 as we know it because Britain and Germany would be effectively neutral.
 

desmirelle

ElMarquis said:
I wasn't sure where to put this as all the PoDs are pre-1900 but the meat of the question is post-1900.

Duke of Edinburgh murdered by asylum-escapee - (1868).
Fenian sniper kills Arthur, Duke of Connaught at Battle of Eccles Hill - (1870).
Heir to throne Prince Albert Edward dies of typhoid - (1871).
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies of haemophilia aged 26 - (1880).
Prince George and Prince Albert Victor die of typhoid - (1892).

All of these events are semi-OTL. DofE was shot by a madman in Australia. Connaught wasn't shot but apparently did fight at that battle, the three typhoids are OTL, but Albert (Edward VII) and George recovered while Albert Victor died. Leopold has died here 4 years early, so the issue of issue is an issue.

What happens now?

The eldest descendant of Queen Victoria is...

...Queen Victoria. Of Prussia. Queen Mother to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Queen Victoria dies in January 1901 and leaves her will declaring Victoria of Prussia or Wilhelm (of whom she was very fond) her heir. If former, Victoria of Prussia dies in August 1901 as OTL.
Click to expand...

Yes, the eldest surviving child of Queen Victoria is her daughter Victoria, now a German widow. (Hubby died 1888.)

Okay, so, Prince Albert Edward (Bertie), Prince of Wales dies in 1871, per the OP. He was above her (German Queen Mother) in the succession as are all his children; both his boys die in 1892, before marrying. This leaves Bertie's daughter Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife the Queen (OTL, don't know if she'll marry him ITTL). She was born in 1867, she will be 4 years old when her father dies, her younger sister Maud will be 2.
 
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