I'm doing planning for my next TL All Hail Germania, in which Edward VI survives. I am in need of a wife for him, that isn't Mary, Queen of Scots. Any suggestions?
Elisabeth of Valois can work as she never marries the Philip II analogue... hmmmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Valois
She appears to be only about 9 years younger than him.
If that's not suitable due to butterflies, then just butterfly a suitable Princess in! Perhaps a nice Danish girl - someone along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Denmark ?
I currently have Jane Grey in on my Family Tree, but it looks like they proposal for blocked so Edward could marry Elizabeth of Valois.Jane Grey perhaps?
And I recall there was a proposed marriage OTL to a French princess. You might have to check for details on that.
Well if I do marry him to Elizabeth of Valois, it will be the Spanish, French, and Germans (Mary marries the Philip II analogue, but is still childless, Elizabeth marries the Maximilian II analogue, and is the mother to the Rudolf II analogue, and then if Edward marries a Valois...). My only worry with a Valois, is that Edward will be "Protestant".It basically depends on politics, and which continental government the Brits are trying to be friends with at the time. Once you know that, picking the princess is easy.
If that's not suitable due to butterflies, then just butterfly a suitable Princess in! Perhaps a nice Danish girl - someone along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Denmark ?
If that's not suitable due to butterflies, then just butterfly a suitable Princess in! Perhaps a nice Danish girl - someone along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Denmark ?
Catherine is the winner. I just can't pass her up, the shenanigans that could ensue involving her sister, if say Edward has any bit of his father in him, are just too tempting... (and from what I can tell, an alliance with England is better then an alliance with a minor German state that may or may not even exist by the time of her marriage).Weren't the English more aligned to Sweden by this era? Perhaps Catherine Vasa? Apparently she was something of a Godsend to the Swedes - the first Princess of their reigning families in ages - and so they made something of a competition for her marriage. With her being intelligent and a scholarly Protestant, she seems to suit Edward perfectly, and she's nearly the exact right age, too - a year younger than Edward iirc. Could she work?
Jane Grey would be good due to the fact if she married someone else, her descendants could be a problem for the dynasty later on.
Plus she was Protestant and preferable (to Edward at least) to Mary.
Catherine is the winner. I just can't pass her up, the shenanigans that could ensue involving her sister, if say Edward has any bit of his father in him, are just too tempting... (and from what I can tell, an alliance with England is better then an alliance with a minor German state that may or may not even exist by the time of her marriage).
Jane Grey perhaps?
And I recall there was a proposed marriage OTL to a French princess. You might have to check for details on that.
Is there any possibility if Edward VI marries Jane Grey that they be crowned as Joint Monarchs? They had roughly equal claims to the crown...
Well that was a very good analysis, and I really don't want to sound dismissive because I do appreciate the work you like put into that, but as I've said, Catherine Vasa is the winner.Firstly its important to consider Edward's own character - he was devoutly protestant closer to the European reform than that of his father and sister (what we would today consider Anglo Catholicisim for Henry and High Anglicanism for Elizabeth I and her successors) so a Catholic marriage without considerable advantage would have been unlikely.
Secondly with Edward VI you have someone who is incredibly aware of their own political status and royalty so any match that wasn't truly Royal was going to be unlikely. So forget Jane - pretty, devout and intelligent were fine in their place but she wasn't Royal by any accepted standard.
Given Edward's views you also have to accept that in any TL with him living to marry and continue his dynasty that England will be much more active on behalf of the French, Dutch and Scots Protestants than his half sister Elizabeth was (her hatred of anything that smacked of rebellion against a lawful sovereign and her penny pinching was a constant issue for her councillors).
Possibles that have so far been ignored -
Edward unlike his half sisters is undoubtedly legitimate so the claims and counter claims to the English throne become irrelevant.
With Edward supporting Scots protestant rebels in the 1550s then its far likelier that Mary of Guise won't be able to hold on to the regency and its equally debatable that any new Scots Protestant government will not wish to ratify Mary Stuarts marriage to the catholic Dauphin. Henri II might have custody of the Queen but its going to give him a major headache. In these circumstance its highly likely that the Hamiltons (heirs to the throne if the Stuart's default of issue but contested by the Earl of Lennox married to Edward's Catholic cousin Margaret) will be significant - in those circumstances Edward's government may well offer (as had been mooted by his father) the Lady Elizabeth as wife to the young Hamilton heir who is only three or four years younger than Elizabeth.
Assuming the Franco Scots alliance survives and Francis II dies as per OTL then don't discount a revival of an Edward VI Mary Stuart marriage - the Scots Government are likely to be in favour and it works to their advantage - English support for the reformation and English King who is closer to Scots Calvinism than actually happened in OTL and guarantees of a secure succession in both cases - Edward and Mary die childless then Elizabeth and James Hamilton inherit - a secure Protestant succession for both nations with the added advantage for the Scots of an absent monarch giving the Scots nobility the possibility of ruling themselves.
Under no circumstances is Edward going to permit his sister Mary Tudor to marry at home or abroad and legally she can't without his consent - despite his fondness for both his sisters Mary's catholicism was a problem for him and will continue to be. She will be a focus of dissent for anyone opposed to the continuing reformation and his council and church dislike and distrust her - she will continue to cling to her faith and will probably go down to history as a poor persecuted and unloved princess when she finally dies after several years under house arrest and several years in the tower.
Edward and Mary produce protestant children but Mary's devotion to her Catholic faith however pragmatic passes to her children who in time begin to be far more tolerant than Edward would ever have been - which leads to great distrust of the crown by some of the more devout reformist groups in England and in Scotland. Elizabeth's descendants - Dukes of Richmond in the English Peerage and Earls of Arran in the Scots peerage continue to be the nations leading family with vast wealth thanks to Elizabeth's large estates loayl to the crown but they never forget their Royal descent from Elizabeth.
That if you like is a domestic solution
Well that was a very good analysis, and I really don't want to sound dismissive because I do appreciate the work you like put into that, but as I've said, Catherine Vasa is the winner.
Fair enough but you are going to have to create the right circumstances for it and an improvement in relations between England and northern Europe to make it a possibility. England's relationships with Europe in the later half of Henry VIII's reign had been disastrous - Henry (and to a lesser extent due to the brevity to his reign Edward VI) saw themselves as major players on a par with France and the Empire - marriage to the daughter of a Swedish King doesn't give Edward any political advantage at all. A protestant german or dane might have more advantage and there by might be more likely. But I am intrigued how you get a Anglo Swedish Alliance between 1555 and 1560.
On top of this, the English church really wasn't *that* Lutheran. The Danes, on the other hand, were, and were very much in the German camp.
On religion yes, Denmark-Norway was very much Lutheran but politically it was NOT in the German camp.
It certainly wouldn't like being part of the HREGN but maintaining a few buffer-states in the North of Germany was a nice thing.
Have a look at the Schmalkaldic league - Denmark tried to be a champion but the German princes certainly didn't want another royal to be their superior! Getting rid of the Emperor was one thing staying out of the Danish sphere another!
And my idea wasn't that Denmark wanted to become the leader of the Protestants - whether it did or not is beside the point. It was that Denmark still thought of itself as close to the Germans, politically, anyway. I mean, over the next 100 years or so, the Danes often come back to get involved in Central European wars with the Germans and thereabouts.
The Danes, on the other hand, were, and were very much in the German camp.