Better leaving Gustav to his own destiny and have Paul accepting his daughter conversion for sealing the alliance with AustriaPerhaps if Gustav III's wound does not become infected and he lives long enough to at least tentatively carry out negotiations with Russia for Alexandria Pavlovna to marry Gustav IV Adolf as part of the new post-Varala order and the coming realignment of everyone against Revolutionary France before one plot or another does him in? Thus Ekaterina Pavlovna's proposed match has no shadow hanging over it and little objection to be raised.
Likely good. She is the niece of Franz’s first wife (who probably Franz had liked much more than the second at least judging by Maria Theresa’s treatment of Alexandra) and a very prestigious match.Cool. So, considering Ekaterina had four kids with her husbands OTL, would you say she's likely to have round about the same (although there was a four year gap between husband no. 1 dying and marriage to husband no. 2 (and husband no. 2's infidelity is supposedly what caused her death - she caught Wilhelm and his mistress of the hour in flagrante delicto, stormed out into the freezing December/January night and took an ill-advised coach ride during which she caught pneumonia IIRC) so perhaps five, or six at the upper limit.
Now, the question is what is Franz's relationship with Ekaterina likely to be like? She was a force to be reckoned with by all accounts. Plus, she's far more intelligent than his second wife had been (and politically savvy), since she apparently inherited her mom's flair for mathematics as well as economics. She's talented, well-educated, beautiful and witty. Am I wrong in thinking that she would probably vie with Josèphine (for most beautiful empress) the same way Sissi did with Eugènie?
She has the political connection and influence who Ludovica missed, plus was smarter, more political savvy and had less hate for Napoleon than either the second or third OTL wife of her husband so...
Plus if we have Alexandra still alive and married to Archduke Karl a most likely effect of that would be more power and influence for the Archduke (who was a pretty good general if I am not mistaken) thanks to the combined effort of the sisters