Elizabeth Stuart, Princess of Orange

The original idea was to marry Elizabeth of to the prince of Orange in order to save her older sister, Mary, for a suitably "royal" match. However, needs must, and Mary was married off to William II of Orange at a tender age, never to see her father again.

Now what if (for some reason) the original betrothal had been kept, and Elizabeth had gone to the Dutch, leaving Mary unmarried? What might've happened to Mary? Where would she marry? She'd be too old (maybe) for Louis XIV, but not for certain German princes (amongst whom were counted the future king of Sweden). How might Elizabeth fare in the Netherlands instead? Would her low-church sympathies suit her better to the Dutch temperament? Would she still die so tragically young?
 
So I'm thinking that although Charles I didn't think too much of a Nassau for a king's daughter, he could definitely have tried to wangle his way out of/avoid the betrothal of his middle daughter to the heir of the Marquess of Worcester as OTL. Seriously, the Nassau-Oranges at least had a country (sort of), what besides his wrong-side-of-the-blanket-Beaufort-blood made the future duke of Beaufort such a spectacular match?

Also, I'm thinking that some of Lizzy's health issues won't come up without the treatment she received during the Civil War, but I'm not sure how many of those are butterflyable without being ASB.
 
So I'm thinking that although Charles I didn't think too much of a Nassau for a king's daughter, he could definitely have tried to wangle his way out of/avoid the betrothal of his middle daughter to the heir of the Marquess of Worcester as OTL. Seriously, the Nassau-Oranges at least had a country (sort of), what besides his wrong-side-of-the-blanket-Beaufort-blood made the future duke of Beaufort such a spectacular match?

Also, I'm thinking that some of Lizzy's health issues won't come up without the treatment she received during the Civil War, but I'm not sure how many of those are butterflyable without being ASB.
Rickets-like condition is here to stay:( In fact, I can see the "amusing" situation of Liz dying in 1650 - in childbirth, as with her constitution she was unlikely to survive one. In fact, the situation when the Princess dies but Prince survives would be an interesting turnaround from OTL.
As for groom for Mary, Yorel's TL has her marry her cousin Charles-Louis of Palatinate. And future Karl X is not in the cards as of 1640 - everybody expects he'll marry Christine, and her decision of celibacy was shocking.
 
Rickets-like condition is here to stay:( In fact, I can see the "amusing" situation of Liz dying in 1650 - in childbirth, as with her constitution she was unlikely to survive one. In fact, the situation when the Princess dies but Prince survives would be an interesting turnaround from OTL.
As for groom for Mary, Yorel's TL has her marry her cousin Charles-Louis of Palatinate. And future Karl X is not in the cards as of 1640 - everybody expects he'll marry Christine, and her decision of celibacy was shocking.

I was under the impression that Karl Ludwig pissed Charles I big time by courting the parliamentarians in the hopes of being named successor to the crown? In such a scenario, I wonder if Charles would want said man marrying his daughter? But I agree that an ATL William III whose mother dies giving birth to him while his dad's survives, would be interesting.
 
I was under the impression that Karl Ludwig pissed Charles I big time by courting the parliamentarians in the hopes of being named successor to the crown? In such a scenario, I wonder if Charles would want said man marrying his daughter? But I agree that an ATL William III whose mother dies giving birth to him while his dad's survives, would be interesting.
Yes, he was the "English Philippe Egalite" so to say.
But he's the most "nearby" candidate - yet a throne-less Prince till 1645, when the decision on Mary's match is likely to be made.
All the major Catholics are either taken or are too young, German princes? Karl X - unsure till 1649 IIRC (I've done quite a few mishaps with Swedish history recently, so I'm unsure of this), but there are others. When did Great Elector of Brandenburg marry, out of curiosity?
 
Yes, he was the "English Philippe Egalite" so to say.
But he's the most "nearby" candidate - yet a throne-less Prince till 1645, when the decision on Mary's match is likely to be made.
All the major Catholics are either taken or are too young, German princes? Karl X - unsure till 1649 IIRC (I've done quite a few mishaps with Swedish history recently, so I'm unsure of this), but there are others. When did Great Elector of Brandenburg marry, out of curiosity?

1646. To Luise Henriette of Oranje, although originally neither of them wanted to marry the other. She was in love with the prince de Talmond (a de la Trémoïlle, who I also think was her cousin:eek:). And he originally wanted to marry Luise Hollandine of the Palatinate. However, Amalie of Solms-Brauenfels wanted "royal" matches for her daughters, and the Great Elector's mother/advisors wanted a decent dowry (that Luise Hollandine couldn't give).

Another interesting thing is that the Earl of Montrose insisted on the prize of Luise Hollandine's hand in marriage for a successful landing in Scotland. Fortunately for the Winter Queen, she never had to make good on the promise since he died during the expedition. Although Montrose's death is speculated by some to be the root cause of Luise Hollandine running off, converting to Catholicism and joining a nunnery.

Charles I wanted Mary to marry D. Baltasar Carlos of Spain though. But I've never been able to gouge how serious such a proposal was. Spain AFAIK was never very interested in the match and the English wouldn't have handed over the eldest daughter of their sovereign to a prince who just happened to be Spanish and Catholic (at least not IMHO). Although an interesting thing about the Palatine Erbprinz's (Friedrich Heinrich, not Karl Ludwig) was that James I was angling for a marriage between Friedrich and a Spanish infanta when Friedrich died, and the HRE offered Maria Leopoldina of Austria for a bride to Karl I as well.
 
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Wow, that might've made for an interesting scenario, the king of Bohemia's eldest son married to a Spanish infanta, and that infanta's brother married to the eldest daughter of the king of England.
 
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