AH Discussion: Marriages that could've changed history

GameBawesome

GameBawesome

Marriages between royal families has been a long and varied history. Back then, marriages were mostly for political means, making Royal families respective nations closer. On rare occasions, a monarch might marry for genuine love, even if it means the disapproval of everyone else. On even rarer occasions, arrange marriages produces a genuine happy and loving pair.

However, in history, there are marriage ideas that were proposed, that never went through. Or marriages that could've changed the world, only for it not to work out, usually when the pair don't work out, or one of the partners die unexpectedly. Others are proposed marriages that were so crazy or so dangerous, it was broken up by external forces.

Here, we are going to discuss those marriages that could've changed the world. What are some marriage proposals whose union or married pairs could've changed history?

These unions, like said previously, couldn't had happened for many reasons.

  • Proposed Marriages - Royal Marriages that were proposed but didn't happen
  • Widows Marriages - Royal Marriages that almost happened or did happen, but then one of the partners of the union died soon after.
  • Annulled/Divorced Marriages - Royal Marriages that happened, but never worked out, resulting in an annulment or divorce.
Sidenote: If you want to talk about nobility, aristocratic, political marriages that would have dramatic effects and not just Royal marriages, go ahead. Also if you want to talk about post-1900, go ahead.
Unsure what to talk about. Here's an example:

My personal favorite proposed marriage was one between the Hawaiian Kingdom and Empire of Japan, where King Kalākaua proposed a marriage between his 5-year-old niece Princess Kaʻiulani, and 13-year-old Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito. This proposal was rejected.

Or another example from the Japanese (Although not too sure) where a proposed marriage between the Ethiopian Empire and Empire of Japan, between Araya Abeba of Ethiopia and Kuroda Masako of Japan. It did not go through due to international pressure, especially from Italy.
 

FouDuRoy

GameBawesome said:
  • Proposed Marriages - Royal Marriages that were proposed but didn't happen
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Isabella I of Castille and Charles Duke of Berry.

GameBawesome said:
  • Widows Marriages - Royal Marriages that almost happened or did happen, but then one of the partners of the union died soon after.
Click to expand...
Francis II of France and Mary Queen of Scots.

GameBawesome said:
  • Annulled/Divorced Marriages - Royal Marriages that happened, but never worked out, resulting in an annulment or divorce.
Click to expand...
Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
 
ordinarylittleme

ordinarylittleme

GameBawesome said:
Marriages between royal families has been a long and varied history. Back then, marriages were mostly for political means, making Royal families respective nations closer. On rare occasions, a monarch might marry for genuine love, even if it means the disapproval of everyone else. On even rarer occasions, arrange marriages produces a genuine happy and loving pair.

However, in history, there are marriage ideas that were proposed, that never went through. Or marriages that could've changed the world, only for it not to work out, usually when the pair don't work out, or one of the partners die unexpectedly. Others are proposed marriages that were so crazy or so dangerous, it was broken up by external forces.

Here, we are going to discuss those marriages that could've changed the world. What are some marriage proposals whose union or married pairs could've changed history?

These unions, like said previously, couldn't had happened for many reasons.

  • Proposed Marriages - Royal Marriages that were proposed but didn't happen
  • Widows Marriages - Royal Marriages that almost happened or did happen, but then one of the partners of the union died soon after.
  • Annulled/Divorced Marriages - Royal Marriages that happened, but never worked out, resulting in an annulment or divorce.
Sidenote: If you want to talk about nobility, aristocratic, political marriages that would have dramatic effects and not just Royal marriages, go ahead. Also if you want to talk about post-1900, go ahead.
Unsure what to talk about. Here's an example:

My personal favorite proposed marriage was one between the Hawaiian Kingdom and Empire of Japan, where King Kalākaua proposed a marriage between his 5-year-old niece Princess Kaʻiulani, and 13-year-old Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito. This proposal was rejected.

Or another example from the Japanese (Although not too sure) where a proposed marriage between the Ethiopian Empire and Empire of Japan, between Araya Abeba of Ethiopia and Kuroda Masako of Japan. It did not go through due to international pressure, especially from Italy.
Click to expand...
Proposed: Mary I of England and the eldest son of Francis I of France
Widows: Arthur Tudor/Katherine of Aragon, Juan of Asturias/Margaret of Austria, Alfonso of Portugal/Isabella of Aragon
Annulled: Henry VIII/Katherine of Aragon, Louis VII/Eleanor of Aquitaine
 

30PrincesAndAKing

GameBawesome said:
Proposed Marriages - Royal Marriages that were proposed but didn't happen
Widows Marriages - Royal Marriages that almost happened or did happen, but then one of the partners of the union died soon after.
Click to expand...
Not sure which category this falls into exactly, but the betrothal of Edward of Caernarfon (the future Edward II) to Margaret maid of Norway should qualify. England and Scotland becoming unified peacefully centuries earlier than OTL (and before most of the bad blood, to boot) would have had an enormous impact, but Margaret died young before it could take place (I believe the papal dispensation had already been acquired, though).
 
AltoRegnant

AltoRegnant

Proposed marriages: Isabella I almost married into Portugal and not Aragon but I cant recall if it was to the king or the heir. Louis XI almost snagged the burgundian inheritance for France via a marriage between maria and the future charles viii but overplayed his hand
 

Kellan Sullivan

Proposed marriage: Baltasar Carlos of Spain to Mary of England (mother of William III). Charles I wanted the marriage (and Felipe IV wasn't entirely disinterested, provided the bride would convert) , but the ECW necessitated swapping Mary in for the Dutch match (Willem II was originally planned for her younger sister, Elizabeth).

BC marrying Mary would certainly make for some interesting effects. Particularly if Minette marries the son and heir of Ferdinand III as well.

Bit of a stretch, I know, but anything would be better than Felipe IV marrying his niece
 

Kellan Sullivan

Elizabeth I to Felipe II: this was floated twice (once in the 1536-1540) and and again after Felipe's first wife died (there was another proposal under Edward VI that would have seen Mary married to Karl V and Elizabeth to Ferdinand I). IMO any of those marriages could've been interesting
 

Madhukar_Shah

Otto III and Zoe Porphyrogenita would be very cool- Italy being tied closer to the hre, potential for introduction of Byzantine court ceremony/bureaucracy into the hre, potential for a western claimant to the Byzantine throne when the Macedonians have their dynastic crisis. Imagine Zoe and Otto's (second?) son being elevated to co emperor by her father to continue the dynasty, leading to literal brother emperor's in the east and west.
 

Simreeve

IOITL Frederick William I of Prussia married Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (daughter of King George I of Great Britain), who bore him children including -- as probably you already know -- Frederick the Great. She had been only one of three princesses seriously considered as his bride, however, and [reportedly] although she was the one favoured by his parents would not have been his first choice if he'd been totally free in the matter.
The woman whom he'd have preferred was Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, instead, but that match was vetoed by her brother King Charles XII. IOTL she managed to become Queen Regnant of Sweden in 1718, after Charles died childless, but abdicated the throne two years later in favour of her husband [married in 1715] Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (who had settled in Sweden, leaving a brother to run things back home).

But, suppose Ulrika Eleonora's prspective marriage to Frederick William had gone through: Apart from Frederick William presumably having different children -- although as Ulrika Eleonora's OTL marriage was childless it's possible that he'd have had no children at all -- we could have seen a Brandenburg-Prussia ruled in personal union with Sweden. Improvements in the Swedish army and economy, under Frederick William's guidance? A foreign policy for Brandenburg-Prussia directed more towards Scandinavia and the Baltic, particularly against Russia, and therefore no attack on Austria to seize Silesia in the 1740s?
 

Kellan Sullivan

Simreeve said:
IOITL Frederick William I of Prussia married Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (daughter of King George I of Great Britain), who bore him children including -- as probably you already know -- Frederick the Great. She had been only one of three princesses seriously considered as his bride, however, and [reportedly] although she was the one favoured by his parents would not have been his first choice if he'd been totally free in the matter.
Click to expand...
Odd. I heard the opposite: that he even went so far as to bribe the ambassadors to say bad things about the other candidates so his dad would be convinced that he should be allowed to marry Sophia Dorothea
 

Tanaka did nothing wrong

Do we have to suggest only medieval marriages between ruling families of different states?

1) proposed marriages: Franz Josef of Austria and Anna of Prussia. She was Franz Josef's first option for marriage, but the Prussians opposed to this, his mother wanted to strengthen ties with the Wittelsbach and the princess herself had been already engaged to the landgrave of Hesse. So, perhaps if the aforementioned engagement hadn't taken place (either the landgrave is engaged to someone else or dies) and Schwarzenberg had shown some greater tact with the Punctuation of Olmütz, perhaps, just perhaps, it might be possible for Franz Josef and Anne to marry. This would probably change various things: both Franz Josef and Anne would probably be happier in this matrimony than their OTL ones; and while Sissi and her actions earned Franz Josef the sympathy of his people - sometimes, Anne would probably be better suited to serve as Empress of Austria, being more familiar with the life at court and a stabilising influence and, perhaps, she might manage to keep her husband more focused on Germamy. Although this alone wouldn't bring about such "seismic shifts" as Austria becoming the undisputed hegemon of Germany, it could help perhaps set in motion developments that could lead to such results.

(as a "by-product", Sophia, still willing to forge closer ties with Bavaria and seeing that Franz Josef's marriage was progressing quite well, might allow for Maximilian to marry Sissi, which could have interesting consequences as well).

2) Annuled Marriages: Antiochus II and Laodice. IOTL, this happened in the aftermath of the Second Syrian War, in order to strengthen the ties between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, with Ptolemy III Epiphanes offering his daughter, Verenice, to Antiochus, who divorced his wife, Laodice. This event was the main cause for the third Syrian war, that ended quite disastrously for the Seleucids and the first large - scale civil war in the Seleucid realm, between Seleucus II and his younger brother (Antiochus Ierax) , which weakened the dynasty significantly and led, among other things, to the first secessions in the East, as Andragoras, the satrap of Parthia, was emboldened by the weakening of central control to declare independence, which in turn led to the Parni to invade and lay the foundations of what would later become the Parthian empire and also prompted Diodotus to severe all ties with Antioch, thus founding an independent Bactrian kingdom.

The marriage was most likely an extra, which could be avoided. While this wouldn't guarantee smooth sailing after Antiochus' death, since Laodice was ambitious and would try to play an important role in state affairs, the problems would be more manageable and the Seleucid state would avoid a relatively long period of instability.
 

joho6411

How about Napoleon IV (Eugene) is not killed in South Africa & instead lives and marries Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria & Prince Albert?
 
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