Ideal husband and succession or ElizabetH I

That's what made it implausible, but let's say the Rising of the North breaks out in England like in OTL but actually succeeds with the Catholics taking power in England. If Elizabeth and Ivan were married, then she'd take her followers to Muscovy. Then again, this is very implausible.
 
Under somewhat different conditions, robert dudley will do.
"other circumstances" such as there not being a public suspicion that he'd murdered his first wife in order to clear the way for such a match? ;)

If you're talking of Hercules-Francis, Duke of Anjou and younger brother to Henri III, then I must say that the marriage had, retrospectively, few chances to happen. Elizabeth did appreciate the young duke a lot, going as far to give him an affective nickname: "the Frog".
And that's where the old song "The Frog he would a-wooing go" came from.


I know this is implausible, but IOTL Ivan the Terrible once proposed to a member of the Muscovy Company that he'd like to marry Elizabeth. Of course, there are several, big problems: Elizabeth being a Protestant doesn't sit well with the boyars and Ivan is not willing to convert to Protestantism
and Ivan is "Terrible"...
:rolleyes:
 
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I don't think Elizabeth would ever be as foolish as to risk her head marrying the distant king of a schismatic, barbarian land. If in the West, in her own kingdom, she was weary of being dominated by a man, I don't think she'd lay herself at one's mercy. Exile in Holland, Scandinavia or even in Geneva would be the most likely options if she was ever forced to quit England.

As for the issue of crown matrimonial, similar rights were granted to Philip in England if I recall, maybe secretly. Or maybe it was what Mary wanted but Parliament shut her down, I can't remember. Either way, it was expected that any man marrying a woman would come into any and all of her possessions jure uxoris ("by right of his wife"); a King consort would therefore expect to rule while his wife acted as consort and gave him heirs. Isabella the Catholic was an exception, not the rule.
 
Of course, there's also Ivan's notorious reputation for his exiling of his wives into monasteries. Alternatively, there's Ivan IV's brother Yuri of Uglich, though he's even worse as a potential candidate. Other than that, if Elizabeth did marry and have a kid, then we could potentially butterfly the Stuart dynasty and usher in a Tudor Golden Age.
 
I would like to explore other possible way to have Elizabeth married: make Mary I living longer. IOTL Philip was affraid that if Mary would die in childbirth the throne would go to Mary of Scotland, who was then betrothed to the Dauphin of France. So he suggested marrying Elizabeth to the Duke of Savoy, a Catholic ally, in order to keep England pro-Spanish. But it seems that when became clear that Mary wouldn't conceive a child and her health wasn't good he instead started to think about marrying her sister himself. Of course, once Elizabeth became queen she refused it.

However, suppose that Mary lives longer and really becomes pregnant ITTL, but as her mother (Catherine) she has several children with a very short life or are stillborn. So, while the succession of Mary is still dubious the queen is seen as healthy, and so Philip can't even think about remarrying with Elizabeth. So he decides to push her into a forced marriage (with the Duke of Savoy or other Catholic ally). So Mary dies later than IOTL, but still childless, and Elizabeth becomes queen, but she is married with a Catholic foreigner. Is it a likely scenario?
 
I would like to explore other possible way to have Elizabeth married: make Mary I living longer. IOTL Philip was affraid that if Mary would die in childbirth the throne would go to Mary of Scotland, who was then betrothed to the Dauphin of France. So he suggested marrying Elizabeth to the Duke of Savoy, a Catholic ally, in order to keep England pro-Spanish. But it seems that when became clear that Mary wouldn't conceive a child and her health wasn't good he instead started to think about marrying her sister himself. Of course, once Elizabeth became queen she refused it.

However, suppose that Mary lives longer and really becomes pregnant ITTL, but as her mother (Catherine) she has several children with a very short life or are stillborn. So, while the succession of Mary is still dubious the queen is seen as healthy, and so Philip can't even think about remarrying with Elizabeth. So he decides to push her into a forced marriage (with the Duke of Savoy or other Catholic ally). So Mary dies later than IOTL, but still childless, and Elizabeth becomes queen, but she is married with a Catholic foreigner. Is it a likely scenario?

It's basically what they tried to do IRL. Apparently the visit of the Duchesses of Lorraine and Parma to England was intended to give a respectable cover to a project of abducting Elizabeth and forcing her to marry Savoy abroad. Elizabeth had allies at court and in the Council and was an incredibly intelligent woman who Philip was unable to con/manipulate like he did with Mary.

If Mary is giving birth to living children (even if they're dieing young), the illegitimate heretic sister isn't an attractive prospect to Savoy - there's the chance of Mary giving birth to a child who does live, and then what? For the marriage to take place Philip demanded from Savoy his few remaining possessions, Nice and Villefranche (or Ville-something) I believe. Savoy gets a far better deal marrying a French princess and getting the rest of his lands restored, instead of forcibly marrying and raping Elizabeth and potentially getting nothing.

EDIT: Also, since the marriage was forced upon her, Elizabeth would have no trouble divorcing herself and getting rid of her husband as soon as she ascended the throne. Philip wanted her as an ally, not an enemy, and was weary of antagonizing her in any major way.
 
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