Changing Fortunes

Hello all. This TL is written partially as the reboot of Duchess of Cumberland TL, however it will feature different PoD and slightly different cast of characters.
Pretty much it is inspired by this discussion, though I decided on a slighlty different PoD/set of PoDs.

So, we are starting our story in 1663. 12-years old Princess Wilhelmina Ernestina of Denmark gets bad cold from standing too close to an open window during celebration of betrothal of her elder sister to Electoral Prince of Saxony. Despite best efforts of court physicians to save her life, the girl perishes from pneumonia in October of the same year.
Meanwhile, in Russia, a nobleman Semyon Grushetsky has sex with his wife 15 minutes later than OTL due to falling down in the hall of his house stumbling on the stray cat. The girl, christened Agafia, is born 9 months later - boasting stronger constitution that OTL Agafia (similar to her younger sister Anna).

While the death of Princess had stronger political consequences than birth of a girl of less delicate constitution, both of these events will have big fallout only in 1670ies. So, we'll start our story in this time period.
 
Hello all. This TL is written partially as the reboot of Duchess of Cumberland TL, however it will feature different PoD and slightly different cast of characters.
Pretty much it is inspired by this discussion, though I decided on a slighlty different PoD/set of PoDs.

So, we are starting our story in 1663. 12-years old Princess Wilhelmina Ernestina of Denmark gets bad cold from standing too close to an open window during celebration of betrothal of her elder sister to Electoral Prince of Saxony. Despite best efforts of court physicians to save her life, the girl perishes from pneumonia in October of the same year.
Meanwhile, in Russia, a nobleman Semyon Grushetsky has sex with his wife 15 minutes later than OTL due to falling down in the hall of his house stumbling on the stray cat. The girl, christened Agafia, is born 9 months later - boasting stronger constitution that OTL Agafia (similar to her younger sister Anna).

While the death of Princess had stronger political consequences than birth of a girl of less delicate constitution, both of these events will have big fallout only in 1670ies. So, we'll start our story in this time period.
Subbed
 
Part I
Part I

The Bride for Palatinate
Ulrikaeleonoradanmarknorge.jpg

Ulrika Elenonra of Denmark at the time of her betrothal to Electoral Prince of Palatinate
In 1671 Duchess Sophia of Hanover began the search for a bride for her nephew, Electoral Prince Karl of Palatinate, shy and bookish young man, severely traumatized by harsh upbringing of his father (and by confusing circumstances of his family life).

The young man nearly died the year before, and so his father was anxious that Karl is to marry as soon as possible and provide the heir. The anxiety meant that prestigious yet underage candidates, such as French Mademoiselle d’Orleans and British Lady Mary of York, were disregarded.

It was soon clear that the most prestigious candidate lives in Denmark – Princess Ulrika Eleonora, a delicate beauty of 16 and the only unmarried daughter of their parents.

The marriage contract was signed on 16th birthday of Ulrika Eleonora, in September 1672. The young princess was given the large dowry from Denmark, and she also received the towns of Germersheim and Oppenheim from her father-in-law, Elector Charles I Louis.

Despite Electoral Prince Karl being a shy man, he started to become more extroverted around his “angel” of a bride, which was substantiated by Electoral Princess giving birth to her first child, Prince Palatine Karl Friedrich, in 1673.

The birth of the child’s sister, Princess Palatine Elisabeth Eleonora, in 1675, further warmed the relations between the Electoral Prince and Elector. Charles Louis warmed up enough to grant the couple the rule of County of Kreuznach.

Meanwhile, overseas in Britain, Elector’s brother, Prince Rupert, was now free from theoretical obligations to seek a Hochadel bride for himself, and in 1675 he petitioned King Charles II for recognition of marriage between himself and his long-term mistress actress Margaret Hughes.

The grant of petition caused a depression in another long-standing mistress of Rupert, Frances Bard, Lady Bellomont. While Rupert treated her amicably, and took great interest in education of her son Dudley Bard, it was seen as the betrayal.

King Charles, to his amusement, was called as the arbiter between his brother’s mistress and new wife. While Rupert’s marriage was considered morganatic in Germany, and there was little chance that now Lady Ruperta of Palatinate-Simmern is to marry proper Prince of Empire, Charles saw it as a way to install one of his bastards into proper line of succession to British throne.

The bastard in question was either Charles Beauclerk, son of Ruperta’s mother celebrated stage rival, or Charles Fitzroy, son of the Duchess of Portsmouth [1].

The preferable groom for Ruperta in her father’s point of view was Beauclerk – because his mother, while of low birth, was Protestant and not French. While Duchess of Portsmouth was more liked by the King, and installing the son of her rival into succession would have been offensive to her, the King decided to honor the wishes of his cousin, seeking for alternate ways to promote Charles Fitzroy.

Given the possiblity of childless death of Duke of Buckingham, Charles considered giving his titles to his son, but all of this was in the future. So far, though, Ruperta remained engaged to Beauclerk, created Earl of Burford, and not to Fitzroy (known as Earl of Fareham as heir apparent of his mother).

Meanwhile, Frances Bard was given the consolatory prize – betrothal of her son to Henrietta Maria Wentworth, 6th Baroness of Wentworth, with possibility of Dudley being created Earl of Wentworth.

Amid this fuss of bastards and morganatic marriages, another event of significance passed at British court – birth of Lady Isabel of York, the eldest (and first surviving) daughter of James, Duke of York, and Mary of Modena, in 1676. This event, while seen at the time as the birth of yet another royal niece, was to be one of the most significant ones in the decade, and would end up shaping the British future later in the century.

In Palatinate, Karl and Elisabeth Eleonora were joined, after two miscarriages by their mother, by another sibling, a girl named Ulrika Charlotte, in 1679. A year later the Electoral Prince, his Danish spouse and Prince Karl visited British court, where Electoral Prince and his son were created Knights of the Garter, while preliminary arrangement was reached about betrothal of Prince Karl and Lady Isabel.

Despite the possible influence of Isabel’s Papist mother, the betrothal was thought to secure the alliance between Britain and Palatinate.

On return home, Karl was to find his father dead.
377px-Charles_II%2C_Elector_Palatine_01.jpg

Karl II, Elector Palatine, wearing regalia of the Order of the Garter
[1] TTL Charles Stewart, Duke of Lennox, escaped drowning in 1672.
 
Last edited:
Part II
Part II

The Swedish Troubles
491537_1000.jpg

Juliane of Hesse-Eschwege, Queen of Sweden

In 1672 Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp was in state of mild distress. The idea of grooming the elder cousin of her son the King for controllable bride who would never compete with her for court status and privileges turned out to be risky.

20-years old Juliane of Hesse-Eschwege was apparently tired of waiting for her boy-fiance to grow up. At least thus said the reports in the table in front of Queen Dowager.

So, in January 1672 a gentleman of Queen Mother’s retinue was quickly put under arrest and exiled to the countryside, Juliane was given the stern talk, and the wedding date was finally scheduled on Christmas festivities of 1672, a month past the King’s 17th birthday.

The sexual activity of the new Queen was soon taken to the marriage bed, the heir, Karl Friedrich, being born the next year, a “wedding night baby”.

He was quickly followed by two sisters, Eleonora Catherine, born in January 1675, and Juliana, born in May 1676.

The birth of this child was to be the last one to be truly unambiguously considered by the historians to be the birth of the child of King Charles XI of Sweden.

Sweden entered the Scanian war, and the King was spending more and more time at the frontlines. His Queen, meanwhile, was finding…different sources of entertainment for herself at home.

Victory at the Battle of Halmstad (17 August 1676), when Charles and his commander-in-chief Simon Grundel-Helmfelt defeated a Danish division, was the king's first glimmer of good luck. Charles continued south through Scania, arriving on the tableland of the flooded Kävlinge River – near Lund – on 11 November. The Danish army commanded by Christian V was positioned on the other side. It was impossible to cross the river and Charles had to wait for weeks until it froze over. This finally happened on 4 December and Charles launched a surprise attack on the Danish forces to fight the Battle of Lund. This was one of the bloodiest engagements of its time. Of the over 20,000 combatants, about 8,000 perished on the battlefield. All the Swedish commanders showed ability, but the chief glory of the day was attributed to Charles XI and his fighting spirit. The battle proved to be a decisive one for the rule of the Scanian lands and it has been described as the most significant event for Charles' personality. Charles commemorated this date the rest of his life.

The brief visit of the Queen during Christmas resulted in yet another pregnancy, Princess Hedwig Sophia being born in August 1677. Later on her parentage would be found ambiguous, which made it difficult to find her a suitable husband, but due to the fact that she looked like her mother, for a time there were no rumors, despite the Queen discreetly taking a lover - Johann Jakob Marchand, a secretary of Dutch ambassador.

The affair began clear in 1678. It all started with Juliane delivering premature baby boy, hastily christened Christian Ferdinand, and living only for a day.

The problem began with the fact that the alleged date of conception did not match with the time of Queen’s visit to the King during brief periods away from the frontline. Moreover, Marchand was found leaving the Queen’s chamber.

The Queen Dowager nearly had a stroke. It had to be running in the blood – after all, Juliane’s mother also was famous of her infidelity, being involved in affair with French lute player.

Something had to be done. And something was to be done. Marchand was imprisoned and executed after the trial the King himself presided over.

Juliane, who confessed of having affair and giving birth to a bastard, was exiled to Eschwege, where her uncle Ernest put her under house arrest in a palace her mother inhabited. The marriage was dissolved, however, the King never remarried – being disappointed by womankind and putting the work ahead of the personal life.

The children, now separate from their mother, were given into care of their grandmother, Dowager Queen Hedwig Eleonora, whom the eldest, Karl, has “always regarded as more of a mother than the woman that gave birth to him”.

The future of Crown Prince Karl was decided during peace talks with Denmark in 1679 – he was engaged to 2-years old Sophie Hedwig of Denmark, with presumed marriage somewhere around 1695, provided that both are alive and healthy by then. The fact that Sophie Hedwig was almost 4 years younger than Karl was pleasing to the King of Sweden, since his son wouldn’t have to suffer the painful experience of being married to woman older than him, Juliane’s age being named primary reason for their mismatch.
 
Part III
Part III

Russian Duchess and Polish Tsarina
tour_aleksandrov_20.jpg

A XIX century fantasy portrait of Agafia Grushetskaya (portrait ordered to 200th anniversary of her birthday)

In 1676 the tragedy came into the House of Kettler – the eldest son and heir, Frederick Casimir Kettler, was killed in action in Dutch service.

His younger brother, Karl Jacob, was promptly recalled to the homeland – to be prepared for eventual inheritance and to find a bride of his own. Countess Sophie Amalie of Nassau-Siegen, widow of Frederick Casimir, declined the offer, so the search of the bride for Karl started elsewhere.

The neighbor and potential ally of Jacob Kettler, Alexis I, Tsar of Russia, had a number of daughters on their own – even though the last time the Russian Tsarevna was married to a foreign Prince was in times of Ivan the Terrible. The best efforts since then ended in disaster, and even these involved foreign princes moving into Russia, not a Russian princess leaving to become consort.

However, there were two circumstances that made this situation different – first of all, Russia, being a major trading partner of Courland, still wanted to retake the lands lost to Sweden under the Treaty of Stolbovo, and that was the mutual interest of Russian and Couronian courts. Second, Tsar Alexis I had a daughter of marriageable age who had the reputation of prodigy – 20-years old Sophia spoke Polish and Latin, wrote poetry, and was reported to have “a keen intellect, not fit for her sex, but rather for a man”.

Without doubt, had Sophia been born a man, the Russian succession would have been more secure. As of now the heir apparent of Alexis I, Tsarevich Feodor, was recovering from a horse accident he suffered a year before – the accident that near took the young’s man life. Had it happened, the Russian government would have faced with difficult situation of Regency for a minor boy – since the spare heirs from both marriages of Tsar Alexis were but children.

The Couronian embassy, sent to inspect the candidacy of “exotic” Duchess Consort, was met with interest, but the negotiations were delayed a bit – Russia was entering the war with Turks, and the Tsar Alexis died from stroke in the middle of negotiations in January 1677, a few months after his 48th birthday.

However, his son, newly crowned Feodor III, despite the apparent sickness, was found sympathizing with Couronian adventure. 16-years old Tsar was interested in foreign politics, and thought that alliance with Electorate of Brandenburg was to be the key for successful foreign policy of Russia – since after ongoing war with Ottoman Empire Russia was to face either Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, an unreliable ally at the best of times, or Sweden, the target of revanchist ambitions and the Baltic juggernaut.

At least, these were the wars of Feodor’s father. Pleasant as he found the company of his elder sister, he did not want to fight the wars his father did without allies. And thus Sophia had to marry a nephew of Elector of Brandenburg.

Entire 1677 was spent smoothing over legal details – with precedents taken from match of Maria of Staritsa and Danish Prince Magnus, as well as match of Elena of Russia to King Alexander of Poland – the last successful Russian matches abroad.

The end results was that Sophia was to be able to practice her faith in peace, despite her children are to be raised Lutheran (though the younger ones could be sent to Moscow, where they would be educated in the faith of their mother, Sophia was to leave control over religious upbringing of her eldest son to her husband). The dowry offered by Russian government was fabulous, amounting to 200,000 rubles – part of it paid in jewels and in precious furs, the entire sum being paid in installments due to difficulties caused by ongoing war in Ukraine. However, even this was enough to remove the Duke Jacob’s financial woes for a time being.

Courland was to become the leading dealer for Russian goods in the Baltics, with agreement reached that naval goods are to be supplied from Russia at discount rate (in fact, part of the dowry costs was to be paid in raw materials). That was enough for the Couronian naval program to be resumed, and the Navy which once was third strongest in the Baltics to be rebuild.

The marriage was to be celebrated twice – first in Novgorod in the territory of Russia according to the Russian Orthodox rite, and then the wedding party was to leave for Mitau where the ceremony would be repeated according to the Lutheran rite.

The marriage contract was signed on August 1, 1677, and the next day the ceremonies began celebrating the marriage of Tsarevna and heir to the Duchy of Courland.

Sophia saw her husband in person soon after her 20th birthday, on September 20, 1677, when the Russian and Couronian parties met in Novgorod. The wedding celebrated in the Novgorod St. Sophia cathedral (aptly named after patron saint of the bride) was officiated by Patriarch Ioakim himself. After the ceremony Sophia said goodbye to the family members accompanying her so far away from home, and left for the new, unknown life, wedding ceremony being repeated in Mitau a month after.
Sophia_Alekseyevna_s_damami.jpeg

An engraving of Sophia and her retinue entering the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod

Adjustment to the life in Courland took time, but in 1680 there was a celebratory exchange of correspondence between Moscow and Mitau – Sophia informing her brother on birth of her first child, a son named Theodor Jacob, after his uncle, father and grandfather, while the letter from Moscow informed that her brother finally married.

The lady selected at customary brideshow was a daughter of minor noble from recently annexed Smolensk lands, Agafia Grushetskaya, living in Moscow at her uncle’s house. The bride was of customary upbringing for a Polish noblewoman, knowing Latin and Polish, understanding French, able to play clavichords – raised at the household of hetman Michał Kazimierz Pac, whom her father served for some time. Nevertheless, despite the accusations of “Latin sin”, the bride was pious and devout Orthodox, “as pretty and as kind-hearted as an angel”.

These two marriages were to change the fates of Russia forever.
 
Does this potentially mean that Fydor will have surviving issue himself?
Yes. That's one of co-PoDs in the introduction.
His wife is healthier TTL, not dying in childbirth, but producing a living heir (OTL Agafia and her son both died).

I didn't use the thing I discussed with @JonasResende in PM because researching on girl in question was too hard, so I just decided to do genetic swap of Agafia and her sister Anna (wife of Prince Vasily of Siberia, mother of three sons, who lived to 1711), since Agafia's personality is well researched and her living longer/becoming Tsarina Regent is fitting for my plans.
 
Yes. That's one of co-PoDs in the introduction.
His wife is healthier TTL, not dying in childbirth, but producing a living heir (OTL Agafia and her son both died).

I didn't use the thing I discussed with @JonasResende in PM because researching on girl in question was too hard, so I just decided to do genetic swap of Agafia and her sister Anna (wife of Prince Vasily of Siberia, mother of three sons, who lived to 1711), since Agafia's personality is well researched and her living longer/becoming Tsarina Regent is fitting for my plans.
I'm excited to see what this brings
 
http://ru.althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Мир_Царя_Федора_(таймлайн)
For the Russian part I will be using brief hints of this TL (GT it if it's interesting), though changing around poorly researched parts (there ARE some to be honest - like inability to take Ochakov - it was not THAT fortified; Golytzine still being a general - in a TL where he is not a sweetheart of Tsar's big sis he has no business to be appointed there; and other minor bugs). The biggest change ffrom what is linked to would be Feodor living not to 1700 (and dying from smallpox), but to 1685/1689 (not decided so far, but if Ilya is the only surviving child and is rather sickly (I like the idea of him being more Ivan V like in health, and this is plausible if there was indeed a genetic disease in descendants of Maria Milovlavskaya), his father/his wife living THAT much longer make no sence - they'll definitely try for spare)).
 
Slightly changed around the date of Alexis I' death - so that he dies when https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Żurawno is signed. One of the clauses of the treaty was that Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was to aid (or at least not prevent) Ottoman forces in attacking Russian holdings.
So the alliance with Brandenburg becomes one of vital necessity, involving such a drastic measure as a foreign match for Tsarevna.
 
Another knockoff from different Couronian Duke biting the dust in the Netherlands is that a certain Lefort does not go in Russian service, staying into Couronian service instead (he was friends with Karl Jacob). Since he is not one of my favorite personae in Russian history, I think it will be fitting.
 
A small retcon to Part I - I decided to simply have Charles Stewart, Duke of Lennox, live longer, as rearranging the stylings of bastards may be confusing later on.
Do you think it would be plausible for him and his wife Frances Teresa Stewart to have a "miracle child" somewhere in late 1670ies (given that Charles had no children in any of his OTL marriages)?
 
A small retcon to Part I - I decided to simply have Charles Stewart, Duke of Lennox, live longer, as rearranging the stylings of bastards may be confusing later on.
Do you think it would be plausible for him and his wife Frances Teresa Stewart to have a "miracle child" somewhere in late 1670ies (given that Charles had no children in any of his OTL marriages)?
Hmm, was there any stated reason for his lack of kids? If not I don’t see why a miracle kid couldn’t happen
 
Hmm, was there any stated reason for his lack of kids? If not I don’t see why a miracle kid couldn’t happen
He was married thrice with no heirs from any of the match, though it may just be the case of very bad luck at bed, and with his third wife Charles II did his best to keep them separate by giving the Duke a number of diplomatic assignments.
 
He was married thrice with no heirs from any of the match, though it may just be the case of very bad luck at bed, and with his third wife Charles II did his best to keep them separate by giving the Duke a number of diplomatic assignments.
Lol. Charles the horn dog
 
Top