#Hell the British Empire ALONE would probably look unrecognizable to us without Hanoverian negligence

[asha-mage]

The most likely scenario is that Henry Fox's line descends from Anne Stuart who in real life never saw any of her children live to adulthood (despite seventeen pregnancies- most where still born or miscarried, those that survived infancy died in childhood) most likely her son, William (who lived the longest in real life and died at around ten most likely of an infection). It would still have been odd for him to style himself 'William Stuart' instead of 'William Oldenburg' after his father but might have been possible given anti-foreigner sentiment in England, or even as a way to honor his mother (George Oldenburg, his father, probably would not have objected had he lived to see his son's ascension- he and Anne seemed to have genuinely loved each and other and he was largely disinterested in political machinations for the pursuit of glory).

But that would still imply a truly wildly different historical ride: the Stuart dynasty had signed onto the English Bill of Rights at this point and had agreed to a more constrained constitutional monarchy, but they still retained considerable power (Anne Stuart was still vetoing bills passed by Parliament). Their wasn't even an official office of Prime Minister yet- it was only with the ascension of George I (who was thoroughly disinterested in England and it's affairs in favor his native Hanover lands in Germany) that Walpole secured enough power to essentially create the post. If Stuart was still the ruling dynasty- how did they loose that power? Or did they? Is there still a balance of power between the reigning monarch of Britain and Parliament? Does Henry's grandmother still have the right to say 'no' to Parliament and to influence policy? And how the hell did it become the House of Hanover-Stuart? Did a female descendant of the House Stuart come to power and marry a Hanover Prince and the joint name was a compromise to keep Stuart the principle dynasty?

It's theoretically possible that one of Anne's daughters survived (or that her sister Mary II had a living daughter instead) and married a Hanover leading to Hanover-Stuart, but it's extremely unlikely, since a daughter of Anne (or Mary II) would have been under incredible pressure to marry either an English noble (to shore up her legitimacy with her subjects) or a far more powerful foreign prince then a Hanover (to discourage a Jacobite invasion). Having a theoretical daughter of Anne Stuart marry George I might seem like a deceptively easy answer until you recall that their would be a twenty-five year age gap between them, and also in the eyes of the Anglican Faith he would still be considered married to his divorced-slash-imprisoned wife, Sophia of Celle. George II might make more sense (who would then be George I in this theoretical alternative timeline) since he's closer in age and you could maybe-sort-of justify then keeping the rest of the Georges (-1 in the count) and even things like the Regency or Victorian Eras, though it would still be a pretty weak political choice (and a truly bonkers love match) but that still leaves you with a British monarchy far more influential and powerful for longer then they where in history, and with those same questions- How did they loose that power? Or did they at all?

Proof that I am a complete weirdo: The most interesting thing about Red White and Royal Blue to me is the name "Henry Hanover-Stuart" and the vast swath of alternate universe English history it implies.