WI Oliver Cromwell crowned himself King?

In OTL Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England after winning the civil war which turned England to a republic...

I was wondering... Would anything change if Cromwell crowned himself King of England under the name Oliver I? Would monarchists continue to support a Stuart restoration or they would be happy with the new King?
 
Winning international support and recognition would be quite crucial. I wonder if anyone would be willing to marry their princess to his son?
 
He was offered the crown in 1657, and in the end did not accept it, although after some dithering. IMHO this proves the ultimate integrity of Old Ironsides.
 
While Parliament was pretty much in universal agreement that the new order was 'mixed monarchical' (they didn't have the term 'constitutional monarchy' yet) and the general public had no ideological objection to monarchy, the army made clear that they would not accept a king. Cromwell endangers his position by adopting this needless symbolism.
 
He was offered the crown in 1657, and in the end did not accept it, although after some dithering. IMHO this proves the ultimate integrity of Old Ironsides.

While Parliament was pretty much in universal agreement that the new order was 'mixed monarchical' (they didn't have the term 'constitutional monarchy' yet) and the general public had no ideological objection to monarchy, the army made clear that they would not accept a king. Cromwell endangers his position by adopting this needless symbolism.

So had he accepted the Crown in 1657 he would endanger his position as Lord Protector? Another round of civil war perhaps with Cromwell in the wrong side? :D
 
I was wondering... Would anything change if Cromwell crowned himself King of England under the name Oliver I? Would monarchists continue to support a Stuart restoration or they would be happy with the new King?
Are you serious?!?
"Long live King Charles II! Death and damnation to the Regicide!"
 
I'm not convinced there would be a coup, or even an attempt.

I do think that the acceptance of a crown would have gone against the grain of the man, and if he had accepted the proposal the crown would weight very heavily on his head.But maybe I'm falling into the same trap of the 19th century romantics and I'm idealizing the man, and giving him motives and justifications which are anachronistic for the 17th century.



Are you serious?!?
"Long live King Charles II! Death and damnation to the Regicide!"
You must be joking. Removing from the throne (and from the reproductive stream :p) Charles I is a feat that must be applauded by all rational men. And his son was slightly better, but still no prize.

As a matter of fact, I am seriously convinced that without Cromwell (and his cleansing act) Great Britain history would be much different and much more drab.
 
You must be joking. Removing from the throne (and from the reproductive stream :p) Charles I is a feat that must be applauded by all rational men. And his son was slightly better, but still no prize.
I was answering, somewhat IC, a question about whether the Royalists of that time simply wanted "a King, any King" and would therefore happily have dropped the idea of restoring Charles if Cromwell had had himself crowned...
 

Thande

Donor
I don't think this would actually have much effect in the long run. It's not as if British republicans (both of them) particularly like Cromwell as it is, so him putting a crown on would not really affect anything. Parliament and the establishment would be just as leery about allowing "Tumbledown Dick" to succeed as OTL, and the situation described by Samuel Pepys at the start of his diary would be pretty much the same, with Parliament debating over what to do and eventually deciding to restore the Stuarts as the least bad option.
 
Which is possibly the least of evils. If there were a reasonably strong republican sentiment in England, probably the Parliament or the army or a cabal of republican puppet masters would have chosen a better candidate to the position of lord protector at the death of Cromwell.
The way it went it really looks like the cry was truly "aking, any king, even slightly used".
 
On the international support front, Richard Cromwell's wikipedia page has this interesting little tidbit:
In the subsequent month [May 1659] Richard did not resist and refused an offer of armed assistance from the French ambassador, although it is possible he was being kept under house arrest by the army.
If accurate, this would imply that at some point France not only reconciled with the idea of the Cromwells holding the throne, but actively preferred them to the seemingly likely alternatives enough to offer active support.
 
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