WI Luxembourg remains part of the Netherlands

The King of the Netherlands held the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in personal union, keeping it past Belgium independence. In 1890 Luxembourg separated from the Netherlands due to salic law. In 1907, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg changed the law to enable females to inherit the duchy.

This was slick. Supposing the Netherlands had bothered to change the law before 1890 to enable Luxembourg to be inherited by females, or just completely incorporated the duchy into the Netherlands? If the law was changed later anyway, this would have been feasible

Would this be a triviality or have had major effects? I think this is one of those small things that could wind up having lots of ripple effects.
 
Wouldn't it easier to make the two sons of Willem III survive? Sure that means no Wilhelmina, which is a pity.

That said, it probably wouldn't matter, until 1914. Assuming WWI isn't butterflied away, it means the Netherlands will get involved.
 
I always think that this is a true example of history's irony. Wilhelmina loses Luxemburg because she's a girl, and then the guy who succeeds her as duke of Luxemburg has only girls.

The question is how the Netherlands might become involved in an alt-WWI here. Wasn't there a constitutional crisis about the then Grand Duchess who was perceived to have openly/overly German sympathies. They compelled her to abdicate. And there was a plan for her sister to marry a prince of Wurttemberg, but due to anti-German feeling it was called off. (No idea why it made a difference, said sister married a prince of Schwarzburg instead - which is German anyway - while another married the Crown Prince of Bavaria - which is also German).

Either way, assuming things run as OTL, with the exception of Wilhelmina being grand duchess of Luxemburg, come 1914-1918, the only heir (the duke of Nassau is dead, presumably with no issue, since didn't he only marry after he inherited (he waited a good while before that though) and the only other members of the Nassaus are the Merenburg branch) is Wilhelmina's own daughter, the still-single digits Juliana. Would Luxemburg still have said constitutional crisis? Wilhelmina (and her daughter and granddaughter) proved rather adept at surviving those OTL IIRC.
 
I always think that this is a true example of history's irony. Wilhelmina loses Luxemburg because she's a girl, and then the guy who succeeds her as duke of Luxemburg has only girls.

But he might have a boy so he's Luxemborg's last hope for a ruler with a dong!

More seriously, how come Luxemburg and Austria at one point ran out of heirs and had to change laws but England didn't?
 
But he might have a boy so he's Luxemborg's last hope for a ruler with a dong!

More seriously, how come Luxemburg and Austria at one point ran out of heirs and had to change laws but England didn't?

Britain never operated under Salic Law, since they werent a successor to any Frankish Kingdom. Their inheritance laws had thus always allowed for a female branch of the family to succeed
 
I thought of the World War I angle and the commentator who brought it up was correct.

IOTL the Germans occupied Luxembourg without resistance in 1914.

Going through the Netherlands was considered, to get more units to invest Liege. The Germans wanted a neutral Netherlands as a possible way of circumventing any British blockade. Invading the Netherlands would have been a bad idea for other reasons, they would have had to detach units to deal with the Dutch army and as it turned out screening the Belgian army and fortresses caused enough problems as it was. Wilhelm II was also apparently a personal friend of the Dutch Queen and that would have played a factor. IOTL they figured out how to take Liege without going through Limberg.

Of the three potential options, my guess is that invading the Netherlands as well as Belgium is the least likely, and figuring out how to take Liege without going through either Luxembourg and Limberg the most likely. But it is possible that the General Staff would examine the problem, and decide to scrap the entire "flank the French on the right approach", especially if Wilhelm II fired or did not appoint the younger Molkte over the issue. That would of course produce massive butterflies.

There is also the issue of having one less tax/ corporate haven in the world, and Luxembourg's role in EU institutions.
 
Wilhelm II was also apparently a personal friend of the Dutch Queen and that would have played a factor. IOTL they figured out how to take Liege without going through Limberg.

Wilhelm thought he was a friend in the Dutch queen. I'm not sure what their relationship was like before the war (been a while since I read Wilhelmina's autobiography), beyond the comment about his guards being seven feet tall, and her remarking that when they opened their dykes, the water was ten feet deep. But after the war, she granted Wilhelm asylum but never had anything to do with him (i.e. never paid a call on him at Doorn etc). Surely anti-German sentiment couldn't have been so high that it was for political rather than personal reasons? I get the impression that she didn't have much time for him.

If girls can inherit what would cause the crisis?
Juliana is young, but isn't a regency the standard solution to that?

Probably giving Wilhelm asylum? OTL there were some countries that weren't happy about Wilhelmina doing that IIRC. Juliana is young and a regency is likely. Who are the normal choice for regents? Nearest family member. Her dad is a philandering German prince from Mecklenburg. Her grandmother is well-known quiet princess from Germany (probably the most likely candidate, but IIRC Wilhelmina's regency ruined Emma's health), her [Juliana's] heir presumptive is a prince of Weimar. With the spate of German possibilities, I could see them deciding to keep Grand Duchess Wilhelmina as the least of all evils.
 
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