Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans
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Charles II of Orleans was the Third son of Francis I of France. He was previously Duke of
Angoulême (the Title of his Father) but after the eldest brother Dauphin (Heir) Francis died, he took on the Duchy of Orleans, while his older brother Henry became Dauphin. Charles was
"By all accounts, he was the most handsome of Francis I's sons. Smallpox made him blind in one eye, but it seems that it was not noticeable. He was known for his wild antics, his practical jokes and his extravagance and frivolousness, which his father approved of wholeheartedly.[3][4] He was, by far, his father's favorite son.[5] In addition, he was popular with everyone at his father's court, and it was widely believed that the French nobility of the time would have much preferred to have him as the Dauphin as opposed to his downcast brother, Henry, who never seemed to recover from his years of captivity in Spain.[3]" according to Wikipedia. In 1542, Charles managed to briefly capture Luxembourg before going south to help his brother in Perpignan. Other than that, he had several important marriage prospects. Henry VIII of England offered to bethrow Charles (12 at the time) with the future Queen Elisabeth (1 at the time) in exchange for Francis persuading the Pope to allow Henry to marry Anne Boleyn.
"On 19 September 1544, the Treaty of Crépy was signed. Charles had a choice to marry one either Charles V's daughter or paternal niece. Infanta Maria of Spain was the daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, and she would bring the Netherlands or the Low Countries of Franche-Comté as her dowry. Archduchess Anna of Austria was the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of Hungary and Bohemia and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, and she would bring Milan as her dowry. As the groom's father, Francis I agreed to endow Charles with Angoulême, Châtellerault, Bourbon and Orléans.
The Peace of Crépy deeply offended Charles' elder brother, the Dauphin Henry, and his wife, Catherine de' Medici. As the heir of Valentina Visconti, Henry considered Milan to be his birthright. More importantly, this settlement would make his brother Charles as powerful as a monarch and link him by marriage to Emperor Charles V, which would divide French interests and create a strategic nightmare. Many historians believe that Charles V hoped to use Charles as an adversary against Henry. Henry wrote a secret denunciation of the pact because it gave away three inalienable Crown properties.[12]"
Thus, you can take this timeline either way; Have the King of France also as King of England (Reverse 1415) or you could have a France that is allied to the HRE and one that is a lot more powerful.
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Of course, Charles died only at the young age of 23, so is his death preventable? (Which i think is a godsend for any alternate-timeline writing). The answer is yes. Charles and his brother Henry were passing through some town that was infested with "the plague" (likely influenza) and, being the prankster he is, he challanged some of his retunie to a pillow fight with the infected pillows and reportedly accepted a dare to lay in an infected bed and roll in the bedsheets. Afterwards, he quickly got sick and died; His death being really sad for both his father and suprisingly even his brother (Even though they didnt have a good relationship).
So now the Alternate History Part
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Have Henry instead of Charles take that dare and get the plague that fateful visit. as Henry dies, Charles becomes the new Dauphine. He already is a very powerful ruler in his own right: (This is in 1545 so either a few years before the deaths of Henry VIII and Edward VI, potentially as a powerful advisor to the child Edward VI or it's even possible Henry's marriages are altered and so Edward VI is never born and thus Queen Elisabeth (Who could potentially press her claim before Mary I and kill her) is ruler and Charles is a King. The other possibility is that he leads a quite enlarged France that will be a headache for the HRE in the future after he succeedes his father in 1547). Even without the Althistory marriages he was still a very powerful duke, one that was very popular and with atleast some talent. So imagine this kid succeede his father at the age of 25, and likely reign for a few decades. Keep in mind if he chooses the HRE offer he is also ALLIED to the Habsburgs and can consolidate his power beforehand, and simply wait until the 1550's when Charles V retires. He could also revitalise his alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent and wait for an opportune moment to strike (Perhaps when Charles V is gout-ridden and is trying to split his realm between a Spanish Habsburg and a German/Austrian Habsburg Branch)
"Second Charlemagne". Catchy, isnt it?
(Btw he would be Charles IX)
