James I wanted to be seen as a peacemaker and married his children to spouses of different denominations. What if he married his son to a protestant and his daughter to a Catholic instead of the other way around? Who would be Elizabeth's Catholic groom? I've heard that Anne of Denmark wanted a match with Savoy, but it seems like Savoy would prefer a French match. the Duke of Lorraine had to marry his cousin to consolidate his claim. The Hapsburgs were stuck in their inbreeding loop. Who would be her best/ most realistic option?
What if Elizabeth Stuart married a Catholic?
- Thread starter Zazou
- Start date
My first instinct was to just swap the marriages, Elizabeth to Louis XIII and Charles to Elisabeth Charlotte, but the ages don’t quite match up.
The Duke of Savoy would be an interesting groom. Elizabeth would have an age advantage over Christine; Victor Amedeus wouldn’t need to wait as long to marry Elizabeth.
AProtestant bride for the heir should make things go smoother for the Stuarts.
The Duke of Savoy would be an interesting groom. Elizabeth would have an age advantage over Christine; Victor Amedeus wouldn’t need to wait as long to marry Elizabeth.
AProtestant bride for the heir should make things go smoother for the Stuarts.
Maybe. A lot of Charles I's mistakes/blunders had nothing to do with his wife, though his indulgence of Henrietta Maria's Catholicism certainly didn't make things better. I will say that having the next generation of Stuarts raised by a Protestant rather than Catholic mother would probably ensure that we don't see anything like the Glorious Revolution.
Henry IV was interested in Elizabeth for his son and if he lived the double Spanish match would be impossible so Savoy would marry Elisabeth of France NOT Christine. But I fear who at that point James I would try to get Anne of Austria for his son, not a Protestant princess...
Savoy would find a French match better in any case so I fear we would need to find elsewhere a good Catholic match for Elisabeth. Maybe an ATL son of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I,_Elector_of_Bavaria from his first wife? Or kill off her 25 years before OTL freeing the Elector for Elizabeth
There was talk about marrying her to future Vladislaus IV of Poland, so if his father kept Swedish throne, it might've happened?
I think it was her daughter, also Elizabeth, whom Władysław IV wanted to marry.
A match with Savoy was only on the table as long as Felipe III of Spain had no children/sons. Savoy WOULDN'T prefer a French match until just before Henri IV's death.
And there WAS talk of Elizabeth marrying Louis XIII under Henri's anti-Habsburg network.
The Habsburgs were not "stuck in their inbreeding loop", since both Matthias and Leopold V considered different matches to the ones they made (Matthias to Magdalene of Bavaria - mother of Philipp Wilhelm of Neuburg; and Leopold to first Feodosia Feodorovna then Xenia Godunova of Russia). Neither was overly well thought of by his family due to his "backstabbing" nature. So a match to Matthias doesn't seem out of left field. If only for the irony of Liz being LEGITIMATE queen of Bohemia.
Sigismund III of Sweden and Poland was interested in marry Arbella Stewart, but I think Liz might be TOO young to take advantage of that offer. Wladyslaw IV was interested in marrying Liz's namesake daughter, and Gustaf Adolf was likewise interested in Liz. But the Wasas might be a bit of a stretch
It was discussed too, but it was Zygmunt III who wanted his son to marry Elizabeth Stuart to show protestants in Sweden that he's not their enemy.
Maria Anna was a lost cause, but maybe he would have some more chances with Anne (as France is taken and her sister is destined to Austria and is unlikely who existed other Catholic matches comparable to England in prestige)... Else Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg would be the Protestant choice
Anne of Austria and Henry Frederick Stuart is a personal favorite pairing of mine...the t e n s i o n.
Was speculatinf with @VVD0D95 the other night about a surviving Anna Maria Waza (oldest daughter of Sigismund III of Poland and Anna of Austria) as bride for Henry Frederick. Especially if Anna Maria, like her brother Wladek, grows up with a dislike of mass or if, when her dad remarries, due to Kostanze not liking her nephew OTL (here extended to her niece/stepdaughter), Anna Waza is given charge of the girl who grows up a sort of Elizabeth I-type Catholic @Jan Olbracht
Would the Spanish match still be unpopular in England?
An interesting thing and something like this was tried by me and @Rurik on the Russian AH board.
My line of thinking was that it gives James a half-Habsburg/Habsburg proxy bride, but also gives Siggie the link to England he tried for when he considered Arbella Stewart as a second wife. @Jan Olbracht @Zygmunt Stary
This.
Though in the TL we wrote Henry did not survive his Polish wife for a long, but left a baby son (so Britain still had to deal with Charles of York for roughly 7 years, but as a regent for his nephew).
Could a polish wife, from sigma first wife potentially convert if they saw rhe need?
If Anna Maria Waza is raised by her Lutheran aunt, she'll likely convert, even though that will piss off her Habsburg relatives. Or at least would not prevent Anglican education of her children and keep her Catholicism as low-key as possible.
It is OTOH debatable why Sigismund asked for Arabella's hand? There are two options:
-he looked for ally against his uncle.
-he knew, that he'd be refused, so he'd have excuse to marry his first wife's sister (it would looks like he at least tried to find another spouse, but failed).