Europe Alternate History: The Anglo-Dutch union

[The Speaker]

William III, Prince of Orange, King of England, Scotland and Ireland and Stadtholder in the Dutch Republic led one of the most unusual revolutions in history. The Glorious Revolution set in stone Great Britain as a Protestant nation and paved the way for British commerce to overthrow Dutch commerce in the decades afterwards.

But the excitement surrounding the birth of another child to the future William V got me thinking: what would've happened if William III and Queen Mary had had a child that lived into adulthood? The thrones of the Isles were obviously hereditary, while the stadtholderate had been part of the House of Orange for years. Any son of William and Mary would potentially have been the designated heir to both the Kingdoms and the Republic. This brings about the genuine possibility of a union between the two entities. Relations between the two nations had been fairly sour before and after William's reign, mostly due to fighting over similar interests. Would a union between the two nations have lasted? Would the Dutch have been willing to be part of such a union? Would they have created a Kingdom of the Netherlands years earlier? What impact would this have on the creation of the USA, and indeed the British Empire?

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Very interesting question, l believe that both nations would have been unified in obviously trade, the military and royalty. As for state sovereignty, l believe it would have been similar to what Normandy was to the British Norman kings and the lands of Hannover with the German royals of Britain, technically part of the British empire, would be self governing vassal states with a high degree of Dutch sovereignty, like a dominion, but they retain they colonial possessions and trade but in a more cooperative manner like the old sterling bloke.

As for whether it would have lasted, if the royal line was secure and they had the support of the Dutch people and landowners then maybe a while, especially if it was profitable for everyone. Whether the Dutch would gave supported, debatable, ferociously independent people, so who knows. Kingdom of the Netherlands, depends, maybe, maybe a dual monarchy system similar to Austria Hungary.

Impact on the British empire, if the seven years war was won by the British and Prussia, then the profits would have been immeasurable. On the USA, maybe not much as the Dutch would not have been able to commit high numbers of ground troops to change the outcome of the independence war. Their capable navy might have made a difference and deterred the French, but the French were always committed to beating the British and aiding the USA from fairly early in the conflict.


Sorry l couldn't go into good depth, l haven't studied much of the Dutch empire and history besides a few naval battles and their involvements from the 1790s to 1815.