FW and Fritz as English monarchs
Sep. 15th, 2020 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mildred_of_midgard posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
rheinsbergAuthor: selenak
Original discussion: https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/177087.html?thread=2665663#cmt2665663
mildred_of_midgard's prompt: William of Orange wanted to take Tiny Terror FW (okay, 12-yo FW) home and adopt him as his heir and future king of England?!
An overlooked key turning point of European history, I'd say. Now given FW was F1's only child and heir, and F1 would never have made his Schwedt half brothers or their kids his heirs, what with his belief his stepmother had poisoned his other brothers to achieve just this, I'm assuming FW would have remained King of Prussia as well as being King of England, just as the Georges were also Electors of Hannover.
...so instead of the money spending Georges who have no problem with letting their PMs do most of the de facto governing, Britain two micromanaging control freak workoholics right after the other. Bad news for Händel, for starters; supposedly FW liked at least some of his music (Händel is named among the very few composers he could identify, at least), but I very much doubt he'd have been a patron the way Georges 1 - 3 were. As for encouraging opera per se... yeah, no. And if the English aristocracy was upset that G1 showed up with no Queen and German mistress(es), which meant no employement for the ladies, and most of the good court positions for the gentlemen also taken, well. Welcome to FW's austerity program, Britain! And tall British men, watch out! Welcome to the army.
Presumably the Jacobite uprisings would still have happened, meaning FW would have had to go to war. He'd have liked being the head of the Anglican Church but would have started by telling the bishops what they did wrong and how to be better Protestants. One look at Anglocatholicism, and FW goes "No popery!"
Assuming all of this doesn't result in Britain deposing FW and going for the Hannovers (or Stuarts) after all, the father-son clash could play out very differently. Because in rl, there was no lack of father-son clashes among the Georges (and one Fritz), remember, and all the Princes of Wales were in a mutual benefit relationship with the opposition. Maybe Britain would have seen a regency far, far sooner, especially if FW as has been speculated did have Porpyria, same as G3. So instead of Küstrin and dead Katte, you may have gotten locked up as insane FW and Regent Fritz, to become King Fritz after a decade of regency.
...who then gets to deal with the 45 uprising and Culloden. Um. Also, if his life dates still remain the same, he's King when the Colonials start their uprising. Old Fritz vs George Washington?
Well, I can't see any version of Fritz, even one hemmed in by being a constitutional monarch, reacting to the colonies declaring independence by saying "of course, be happy, my children".
More like "is this an Austrian conspiracy? Prime Minister, you do your ruling here, I'm off with the next ship, heading my overseas army".
Of course, if the British army went through first FW and then Fritz in the last half century before that, it's quite differently drilled and formed anyway. Not to mention that the Rebels might not get any help from Steuben at all if not Cousin George but Fritz is King of Britain. Unless... well, as it is Heinrich sympathized with the Americans even before they won. (Lehndorff notes down he has a conversation at Rheinsberg about the American goings-on where Heinrich is totally on the side of the Americans. Now, given Heinrich's Francophilia and less than enamored view of Britain in general in rl, added to which are Heinrich's issues with having lived with a control freak on the throne for the last decades, this is not surprising. And yes, he might have felt differently if he'd been raised as the son of and brother of a King of England, even if King of England!FW definitely would still have spent part of his time in Brandenburg. But...
...if in this AU the rebels were really smart, and Steuben still has the same sympathies, they'd invite Heinrich to team up with them from the get go. And while Heinrich wouldn't go for a civil war in his brother's kingdom, overseas colonies are a different matter. So who knows, this war might have seen not just Old Fritz versus George Washington but also Fritz vs Heinrich...
selenakOriginal discussion: https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/177087.html?thread=2665663#cmt2665663
mildred_of_midgard's prompt: William of Orange wanted to take Tiny Terror FW (okay, 12-yo FW) home and adopt him as his heir and future king of England?!An overlooked key turning point of European history, I'd say. Now given FW was F1's only child and heir, and F1 would never have made his Schwedt half brothers or their kids his heirs, what with his belief his stepmother had poisoned his other brothers to achieve just this, I'm assuming FW would have remained King of Prussia as well as being King of England, just as the Georges were also Electors of Hannover.
...so instead of the money spending Georges who have no problem with letting their PMs do most of the de facto governing, Britain two micromanaging control freak workoholics right after the other. Bad news for Händel, for starters; supposedly FW liked at least some of his music (Händel is named among the very few composers he could identify, at least), but I very much doubt he'd have been a patron the way Georges 1 - 3 were. As for encouraging opera per se... yeah, no. And if the English aristocracy was upset that G1 showed up with no Queen and German mistress(es), which meant no employement for the ladies, and most of the good court positions for the gentlemen also taken, well. Welcome to FW's austerity program, Britain! And tall British men, watch out! Welcome to the army.
Presumably the Jacobite uprisings would still have happened, meaning FW would have had to go to war. He'd have liked being the head of the Anglican Church but would have started by telling the bishops what they did wrong and how to be better Protestants. One look at Anglocatholicism, and FW goes "No popery!"
Assuming all of this doesn't result in Britain deposing FW and going for the Hannovers (or Stuarts) after all, the father-son clash could play out very differently. Because in rl, there was no lack of father-son clashes among the Georges (and one Fritz), remember, and all the Princes of Wales were in a mutual benefit relationship with the opposition. Maybe Britain would have seen a regency far, far sooner, especially if FW as has been speculated did have Porpyria, same as G3. So instead of Küstrin and dead Katte, you may have gotten locked up as insane FW and Regent Fritz, to become King Fritz after a decade of regency.
...who then gets to deal with the 45 uprising and Culloden. Um. Also, if his life dates still remain the same, he's King when the Colonials start their uprising. Old Fritz vs George Washington?
Well, I can't see any version of Fritz, even one hemmed in by being a constitutional monarch, reacting to the colonies declaring independence by saying "of course, be happy, my children".
More like "is this an Austrian conspiracy? Prime Minister, you do your ruling here, I'm off with the next ship, heading my overseas army".
Of course, if the British army went through first FW and then Fritz in the last half century before that, it's quite differently drilled and formed anyway. Not to mention that the Rebels might not get any help from Steuben at all if not Cousin George but Fritz is King of Britain. Unless... well, as it is Heinrich sympathized with the Americans even before they won. (Lehndorff notes down he has a conversation at Rheinsberg about the American goings-on where Heinrich is totally on the side of the Americans. Now, given Heinrich's Francophilia and less than enamored view of Britain in general in rl, added to which are Heinrich's issues with having lived with a control freak on the throne for the last decades, this is not surprising. And yes, he might have felt differently if he'd been raised as the son of and brother of a King of England, even if King of England!FW definitely would still have spent part of his time in Brandenburg. But...
...if in this AU the rebels were really smart, and Steuben still has the same sympathies, they'd invite Heinrich to team up with them from the get go. And while Heinrich wouldn't go for a civil war in his brother's kingdom, overseas colonies are a different matter. So who knows, this war might have seen not just Old Fritz versus George Washington but also Fritz vs Heinrich...
