Hélène of Orléans, Empress of Russia

Could Alix of Hesse have had a better time in Britain if she'd fallen for Eddy and married him than she did in Russia? She was shy and did prefer to remain at home with her family but the British Royal Family could spin that towards Alexandra being motherly and harken back to the Victorian family ideals.

Most likely yes. I'm not sure about Eddy, but none of Bertie's other kids were social butterflies. Britain had no history of religious mysticism, so no danger of her falling into that pitfall. Plus even if she intervened in politics she couldn't do much damage. They only issue would be a carrier of hemophilia marrying another potential carrier; though I don't think that any of Bertie's descendants showed signs of hemophilia, so maybe it wouldn't be a big deal.

Personally, I see this scenario a lot, and it is widely agreed that Philippe would not have accepted it. My question is, (since I don't think this question is ever brought up elsewhere) were there anyone else besides Alix of Hesse who would serve a better role as Empress?

Undoubtedly but I'm not sure who. Supposedly he had a flirtation with his cousin Victoria (Bertie and Alix's daughter) in 1883, so that's an option. Or her sister Maud, future Queen of Norway. Though both were his first cousins and the Orthodox Church forbid such unions, so I don't know if Alexander or Nicholas would try to overrule the ecclesiastical opposition or not. Then there's one of Wilhelm II's sisters, either Sophia or Margaret of Prussia. Not sure if the Romanovs would want such close ties to the Hohenzollerns and such a match would be disastrous for the Tsar if World War I still broke out. What about Elena of Montenegro? She's the right age, was already Orthodox and was educated in Saint Petersburg. Or one of her sisters. That's about all I got.
 
Most likely yes. I'm not sure about Eddy, but none of Bertie's other kids were social butterflies. Britain had no history of religious mysticism, so no danger of her falling into that pitfall. Plus even if she intervened in politics she couldn't do much damage. They only issue would be a carrier of hemophilia marrying another potential carrier; though I don't think that any of Bertie's descendants showed signs of hemophilia, so maybe it wouldn't be a big deal.

Hemophilia is, like colour-blindness, an X-chromosome recessive condition. Since males (barring XXY, who have a different set of problems) only have the one copy inherited from the mother, Alix was the only vector of the condition. Eddy could not transmit hemophilia to his offspring, because he didn't have the gene.

Basically, regardless of whom she marries, roughly 1/2 of Alix'x male offspring will be hemophiliacs, and 1/2 of her female offspring will be carriers.
 
Personally, I see this scenario a lot, and it is widely agreed that Philippe would not have accepted it. My question is, (since I don't think this question is ever brought up elsewhere) were there anyone else besides Alix of Hesse who would serve a better role as Empress?

What about, like in @yboxman's TL, where the emperor of Russia marries the OTL queen of Italy? There were Montenegrin princesses at the Russian court; I'm sure the Orthodox church will be glad for once to get an Orthodox born empress; plus, the whole Russia and pan-Slavism thing would be interesting...
 
What about, like in @yboxman's TL, where the emperor of Russia marries the OTL queen of Italy? There were Montenegrin princesses at the Russian court; I'm sure the Orthodox church will be glad for once to get an Orthodox born empress; plus, the whole Russia and pan-Slavism thing would be interesting...
Well now that I hear it, it sounds good. Both are orthodox, it would be easier
 
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Undoubtedly but I'm not sure who. Supposedly he had a flirtation with his cousin Victoria (Bertie and Alix's daughter) in 1883, so that's an option. Or her sister Maud, future Queen of Norway. Though both were his first cousins and the Orthodox Church forbid such unions, so I don't know if Alexander or Nicholas would try to overrule the ecclesiastical opposition or not. Then there's one of Wilhelm II's sisters, either Sophia or Margaret of Prussia. Not sure if the Romanovs would want such close ties to the Hohenzollerns and such a match would be disastrous for the Tsar if World War I still broke out. What about Elena of Montenegro? She's the right age, was already Orthodox and was educated in Saint Petersburg. Or one of her sisters. That's about all I got.

What about, like in @yboxman's TL, where the emperor of Russia marries the OTL queen of Italy? There were Montenegrin princesses at the Russian court; I'm sure the Orthodox church will be glad for once to get an Orthodox born empress; plus, the whole Russia and pan-Slavism thing would be interesting...

At this stage of the game, I highly doubt Alexander III would've ever allow for a Hohenzollern match, and neither would Nicholas II. And Nicholas being a pious individual would probably have been made to turn that down. Chances are it would have to be Elena of Montenegro, would make the Balkan situation more interesting.
 
At this stage of the game, I highly doubt Alexander III would've ever allow for a Hohenzollern match, and neither would Nicholas II. And Nicholas being a pious individual would probably have been made to turn that down. Chances are it would have to be Elena of Montenegro, would make the Balkan situation more interesting.
Nicholas is Tsar when he marries. He will marry whomever he likes. The Pauline laws don't matter either as Tsars routinely ignored them.

Only a marriage prohibited by the Church would cause problems. Nicholas was too devout to defy the church
 
Nicholas is Tsar when he marries. He will marry whomever he likes. The Pauline laws don't matter either as Tsars routinely ignored them.

Only a marriage prohibited by the Church would cause problems. Nicholas was too devout to defy the church
And if he marries before being Tsar
 
And if he marries before being Tsar
He can always divorce her or shave her head and send her to a monastery

Nicholas is young when he becomes Tsar At only 26, it should be easy enough to delay an unwanted marriage

There's little reason to think that Alexander would force a wedding on him I can't think of anyone he forced into one and their were little advantage to any

Only Alexandra's reluctance to change religion was an obstacle. Alexander allowed his brothers to make such matches and Nicholas was so in love he might have tried it if he was Emperor
 
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