A Bride for Henry Duke of Gloucester

So we've long discussed the possibilities/changes of a surviving Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, but one thing we've neglected is who would be his bride. Now I know that at the time of the Restoration there was rumors that he would marry a niece of le Grand Condé, but the only niece I can find is a daughter of Condé's sister, Anne Geneviève de Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville, and to me that marriage seems a bit to low ranking. So who would be a potential bride? A German Princess? A Danish one? Or even a Catholic Princess, from either Portugal or Italy?
 
Wikipedia gave me this:

Frederick III of Denmark and Norway has two daughters, Anna Sophie (b. 1647) and Frederica Amalia (b. 1649) who aren't unreasonably younger than Henry. OTL they both lived into their fifties and produced healthy, living issue that continued for a few generations, so they may be good bets.

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, has two daughters, Henriette Catherine (b. 1637) and Maria (b. 1642) that might also work out. Maria was childless IOTL but Henriette had ten kids and later descendents. He's got older surviving daughters, Luise Henriette and Isabella Charlotte (b. 1627 and 1632), but the age difference seems a tad steep for the time.

I don't know enough about the era to speculate any further than this, but there certainly seems enough Protestant brides out there to keep our good Duke from having to settle for a Catholic (unless there's someone of a very respectable rank out there looking to convert and make mortal enemies out of her family.)
 
Wikipedia gave me this:

Frederick III of Denmark and Norway has two daughters, Anna Sophie (b. 1647) and Frederica Amalia (b. 1649) who aren't unreasonably younger than Henry. OTL they both lived into their fifties and produced healthy, living issue that continued for a few generations, so they may be good bets.

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, has two daughters, Henriette Catherine (b. 1637) and Maria (b. 1642) that might also work out. Maria was childless IOTL but Henriette had ten kids and later descendents. He's got older surviving daughters, Luise Henriette and Isabella Charlotte (b. 1627 and 1632), but the age difference seems a tad steep for the time.

I don't know enough about the era to speculate any further than this, but there certainly seems enough Protestant brides out there to keep our good Duke from having to settle for a Catholic (unless there's someone of a very respectable rank out there looking to convert and make mortal enemies out of her family.)

The Danish choices aren't bad. Plus they would be Royal Brides, unlike the majority of the German and the Orange/Dutch potential brides.

Henriette Catherine got married in 1659 so no go there. Plus the age gap was a bit much, and its not like she had much to counter it, unlike say Le Grand Mademoiselle.

And why would a potential Catholic bride convert? There was no law against the English Royal Family marrying Catholics at this point. The spouses of his brothers were Catholic. I suppose Henry might object to a Catholic bride, but other than that, there was no impediment.
 
I did a timeline in Russian AH board, where as one of divergences surviving Duke of Glouchester marries Anne-Sophie of Denmark.
Another bride that was reviewed at those boards for them is... Hortense Manchini, OTL Duchess of Mazaren. The POD is Charles not being interested in Hortense, being offended by Cardinal Mazarin, but being interested in her dowry, so he arranges Hortense's marriage to his brother.
And Charlotte, Mademoiselle of Dunois, is a Princess of Blood. Too bad that she's...a fictional character created by English Wiki. French Wiki which I'm more inclined to trust in matters of French royalty gives her year of death as 1648, and not 1663.
 
From all accounts, Gloucester was a staunch Protestant (probably having something to do with the fact that he spent his formative childhood years in the captivity of the Parliamentarians). In fact, his religious views were strong enough to cause a permanent falling out with his own mother after his release into exile in France, largely because of her Catholicism. Actually, his friendship with Le Grand Condé at the French court had a lot to do with the Condé's sympathy for the Huguenots. So, given Gloucester's character, it's not too great of a leap to assume that he'd either insist upon a Protestant bride or be rather firm about Condé's niece's conversion (who I believe was one of the daughter's of the Duchesse de Longueville), which will probably prevent the marriage from happening given the attitudes at the French court.

Assuming he marries at some point between 1661-1665, the political climate in England also will probably prevent a Catholic marriage, given how Charles' Portuguese match wasn't initially very popular. The King is far too clever to provoke his Parliament this early in his reign with a Catholic marriage his brother doesn't even want in the first place. And, given the mesalliance that was contracted by his brother and Anne Hyde, I doubt he'll be able to marry for love either.

As for who are good candidates, given the previous patterns of the Stuarts and the OTL examples of Anne and Mary, I'd agree with what's been already said: a Danish princess or a Dutch match with the Orange-Nassau family is a good bet.

If he marries a bit later (in the late 1660's or early 1670's) there's also his cousin, Liselotte, to consider--and the possibilities there are fascinating, given her character...and the bitchy memoires we could end up with about the Court of the Merry Monarch :p
 
A favorite pick:
Anne Sophie of Denmark (not too young or too old, a daughter of king)
Runner up - Henriette Catherine of Orange (slightly too old, but a cool track record IRL, may prove to be popular in English Court)

Fictional and/or out of left field: Charlotte of Dunois, Conde's niece (may be invented from whole cloth at English wiki, since French one states that she died in 1648). Provided that English Wiki is right about her age, she MAY well convert, considering that her mother was a staunch Jansenist and a patron of Jansenists in France.
Hortense Manchini - the most ridiculous version, NTM Henry marrying OTL Charles' mistress is creepy and shall lead to disastrous family life.

Elisabeth Charlotte of Palatinate - possible but unlikely that Charles is willing to wait for marriage of his second brother for too long. Not to mention that Charles didn't exactly like Charles-Louis due to that prince, unlike his bros Rupert and Maurice, allying himself with Cromwell during English Civil War hoping that Parliament proclaims him the King.
If so - Anne Sophie of Denmark is the best pick. Or Charlotte of Dunois, given she's not fictional (considering attitude of her mom towards religion, conversion is possible).
 
From all accounts, Gloucester was a staunch Protestant (probably having something to do with the fact that he spent his formative childhood years in the captivity of the Parliamentarians). In fact, his religious views were strong enough to cause a permanent falling out with his own mother after his release into exile in France, largely because of her Catholicism. Actually, his friendship with Le Grand Condé at the French court had a lot to do with the Condé's sympathy for the Huguenots. So, given Gloucester's character, it's not too great of a leap to assume that he'd either insist upon a Protestant bride or be rather firm about Condé's niece's conversion (who I believe was one of the daughter's of the Duchesse de Longueville), which will probably prevent the marriage from happening given the attitudes at the French court.

Assuming he marries at some point between 1661-1665, the political climate in England also will probably prevent a Catholic marriage, given how Charles' Portuguese match wasn't initially very popular. The King is far too clever to provoke his Parliament this early in his reign with a Catholic marriage his brother doesn't even want in the first place. And, given the mesalliance that was contracted by his brother and Anne Hyde, I doubt he'll be able to marry for love either.

As for who are good candidates, given the previous patterns of the Stuarts and the OTL examples of Anne and Mary, I'd agree with what's been already said: a Danish princess or a Dutch match with the Orange-Nassau family is a good bet.

If he marries a bit later (in the late 1660's or early 1670's) there's also his cousin, Liselotte, to consider--and the possibilities there are fascinating, given her character...and the bitchy memoires we could end up with about the Court of the Merry Monarch :p

I guess that a Danish match or a Condé match are the most likely.

The only Dutch Princess who might be available is Frederick Henry's youngest daughter, Maria of Orange-Nassau. I'm not sure as there's no info about her on Wikipedia.

What about, and this is a bit left field, but a daughter of Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern? I know he was Catholic but he was a close relation, a first cousin of the Stuarts and a conversion from a daughter of his wouldn't cause any repercussions in any of the Major Courts. Not likely but a possibility.

A favorite pick:
Anne Sophie of Denmark (not too young or too old, a daughter of king)
Runner up - Henriette Catherine of Orange (slightly too old, but a cool track record IRL, may prove to be popular in English Court)

Fictional and/or out of left field: Charlotte of Dunois, Conde's niece (may be invented from whole cloth at English wiki, since French one states that she died in 1648). Provided that English Wiki is right about her age, she MAY well convert, considering that her mother was a staunch Jansenist and a patron of Jansenists in France.
Hortense Manchini - the most ridiculous version, NTM Henry marrying OTL Charles' mistress is creepy and shall lead to disastrous family life.

Elisabeth Charlotte of Palatinate - possible but unlikely that Charles is willing to wait for marriage of his second brother for too long. Not to mention that Charles didn't exactly like Charles-Louis due to that prince, unlike his bros Rupert and Maurice, allying himself with Cromwell during English Civil War hoping that Parliament proclaims him the King.
If so - Anne Sophie of Denmark is the best pick. Or Charlotte of Dunois, given she's not fictional (considering attitude of her mom towards religion, conversion is possible).

Henriette Catherine got married in 1659, so she wouldn't be available.

So I think the most likely is the Danish match, followed by Condé's niece. I think the Dutch would be best, as there would already have been a close French match, between Henriette-Anne and the Duc d'Orleans. Plus Anne Sophie had the advantage of being a King's daughter.
 
Forgot about Henriette's being already a Princess of Anhalt-Dessau by then. Given that we're not sure that Charlotte of Dunois is not fiction of English Wiki, Anne-Sophie is then. Or as you said, OTL Princess of Salm or Duchess of Engien (daughters of Edward of Palatinate - Edward was on good terms with Charles, it was Charles-Louis who was a "black sheep" of family) are also a go if Danish match fails for some reason.
Mary of Orange-Nassau married in OTL Louis-Henry of Simmern-Kaiserslautern, who died early.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Henry,_Count_Palatine_of_Simmern-Kaiserslautern
The marriage happened in 1666, so Mary is still available by 1660.
 
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