The Life and Times of First Duchess of Cumberland
- Thread starter Valena
- Start date
Oh, and here's the portrait of Charlotte-Dorothea-Sophia of Hesse-Homburg, who after her marriage with Grand Duke Peter becomes Grand Duchess Sophia Feodorovna of Russia.
This is the portrait of another princess of this era, but there are no official images for Charlotte-Dorothea, and since she was born in 1672, 8 years past POD, it's plausible that TTL one looks like this.
P.S. That's Sophie-Charlotte of Hannover, but due to blood proximity she's OK candidate for plagiarizing appearances.
This is the portrait of another princess of this era, but there are no official images for Charlotte-Dorothea, and since she was born in 1672, 8 years past POD, it's plausible that TTL one looks like this.
P.S. That's Sophie-Charlotte of Hannover, but due to blood proximity she's OK candidate for plagiarizing appearances.
Last edited:
Chapter 4
The Best Cop is a Former Criminal and the Best Queen is a Former Rebel
Anne d’Orleans, Duchess of Montpensier, York, Albany and Normandy, Princess of Joinville since 1688, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1685-1693)
She knew how civil wars go. She is used to smuggling in the castles through backdoors and shooting the cannons on Royal troops. And then she went to be first the second lady of the English court and now she’s the first. But goddamn, the life is not all roses and diamonds for Anne de Montpensier.
The husband she married to cement the alliance between England and France was not the Prince Charming – but then, she and James of York both decided to keep somebody on the side, being both “old horses past their prime”. And in 1678 Anne realized that living in England, being Catholic and being popular is damn hard of a challenge.
The fact that all adult female members of Royal Family – Queen, Duchess of York and Duchess of Cumberland – were Catholics – raised the very prominent wave of hate against them. After all, they were women and thus they were responsible for education of their children. Not that Anne or Frances were interested in disobeying their brother-in-law/cousin or husband’s opinion, and Anne did sort of decided, that she has to “listen what Louis says and do in reverse”. Being a wife to the heir of another kingdom sort of justified that attitude. And English political landscape provided ample opportunity for intrigues.
James of York kept his Catholic sympathies pretty moderate (though he was less “crypto”-Catholic than his brother, the stepping away from Lord High Admiral position was viewed less as recognition of Catholicism and more as recognition of his cousin’s better performance in Third Anglo-Dutch War) – but Catherine, Anne and Frances (with Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of Charles II, thrown in for good measure) – were “the ugly cabal of evil foreign witches” – being Portuguese, French and Irish respectively. The young Danish Duchess of Cambridge sort of smoothened the image, since even though she was Lutheran, she cared about “low-church” charities, and thus stood as the last line of defense against “Papist Corruption” rumors. Anne was more worried about her young stepson being corrupted by some unworthy people who were already planning to become the next generation of Royal Favorites, then by her corrupting him with “Papist wealth”. Yes, spoiling the young Duke and his sisters was present – but that was to improve the relations with step-children and not to corrupt them into anything.
The major moral of TTL Popish Plot for Anne de Montpensier was “English public is suspicious and superstitious” and the rebel bourgeoisie and nobles are… well, rebel bourgeoisie and nobles, but unlike her comrades in Fronde, they actually won for a change AND expect the King not to backpedal in direction of the absolutist tendencies too much (which Anne understands pretty well, the Scottish Covenants in her POV being no different from Rohans and Soubises of her childhood who conspired with her father, Duke d’Orleans – the religion is highly important thing, but if there are better things to come with religion, such as political prestige and independence, the religion is merely a holy banner to wave on the march towards set political goal). Martyr King and all… Another thing she was to learn is that her husband is woefully inadequate man for being in charge of anything but fleet and army, and he’s good as far as there’s his older brother, the King, around. That means two things – 1) She, Anne, WILL have a say if she becomes Queen; 2)The people who hate her as Duchess of York will not magically disappear once she becomes Queen Anne, so she HAS to get a say to ensure that James doesn’t do anything excessively stupid.
The Cambridges are model couple, and James of Cambridge views his great-grandfather James I & VI as his role model – probably because he’s also married to Danish princess. But at least James of Cambridge doesn’t forget to frequent his wife’s bedroom and there are no rumors of him sharing the tastes of his uncle Philippe d’Orleans. And that’s good, coupled with Ulrika-Eleonora becoming the “princess of poor”, founding charities, hospitals and what not.
About 1681, at the height of Papist hysteria, and when it is 90% certain she will become a Queen Anne de Montpensier writes down her List of Royal Do’s and Don’t’s
1. High Anglican Church is not so different from Catholic Church, and her husband is right, the split by Henry VIII was DUMB by any standards. But peaceful reconciliation right now, when the Pope is basically a court bishop of Habsburgs, is no less dumb. In fact, her COUSIN, Louis XIV, is right now toying with the very same thing, and it will look like the dumbest joke ever if the High Anglican Church is making peace with Rome at the same time as High Gallican Church is splitting away from Rome authority. To piss off Louis, maybe, but no actual reconciliation is even better for this purpose.
2. Money can always buy you some popularity if you spend them wisely – charities and showing that Royal Family DOES care about commoners is good (though not going through such extremes as her brother-in-law did during the Great Plague – has James of Cambridge stayed in London with his siblings and mother, the English future would have been a lot less bright now). Luckily the young Duchess of Cambridge is totally in this sort of things.
3. It’s never too late to please power-hungry nobility with a few dukedoms…or bishoprics, or some such. It’s what they want under mask of religious rights. But going overboard with those, as Anne knows herself, is another route to disaster – Scottish nobility, like the nobility of Southern France, seems to be prone to be “a king within the kingdom” sorts. Anne thinks that she knows the psychology of such people pretty well. After all, she DID become a figurehead (or not so figurehead) leader of armed rebellion against lawful king, and thus the “Papist hag” may sympathize with the Count of Argyll more than he realizes (one of the guys who can be good to be raised to dukedom, but overpromoting him also leads to the disaster – he seems to be an English Rohan, married into illegitimate branch of Stuart family in addition).
4. Equal opportunities for worship means just that… Equal treatment for Covenants and Catholics, without open preferences. An idiot won’t stop being idiot once he converted to Catholicism and forcing people to convert is the easiest way to piss them off (and makes no sense given the greatest difference between High Anglican Church and Catholic Church amounts to independence from Papacy). Equal treatment of religions shall be also extended to equal treatment of Protestant and Catholic incompetent idiots – in short, let then be hated equally.
5. Charles II is the guy who seems to know what he’s doing. So emulating what he does is probably a good thing to keep yourself in power. Emulating France in everything makes no sense – France is a continental country and England is an island. That’s simple, really. They are way too proud of their Virgin Queen aka wily old b*tch overindulging in make-up…though dusting off all the Elisabethian traditions makes no sense, the times have changed greatly.
6. Kings SHALL respect nobility, giving away lands to favorites and bastards does not strengthen the crown in any way. Any moneybacking has its limits – if money is wasted on such things. The bastards of English kings are no less greedy and demanding than bastards of French kings, or so it seems, from a few examples already presented.
This short list will become a “Bible of Queen Anne” during her brief tenure as Queen-Consort of England. Sticking to them and playing a soulmate to potential rebellious nobility = Anne d’Orleans is alive and happy Queen. Breaking them = ending up treated worse than she herself treated Mazarin and in the same content of “Greedy Foreigner Messing With Our Rights”, and probably lynched by some mob.
Selling away Dombes to pay for her stepdaughter becoming Queen Consort of Portugal was the first strategic step in buying herself the popularity. After all, Portugal IS rich maritime power, and long-lasting alliance with it is what English folks want – and they also want English budget not being drained in favor of Papist crowns.
And when Charles II was buried, the second part of the plan started. The realization of all the principles written above began.
First thing first, the Prince of Wales HAD to actively participate in the government process – so that English people can get the taste of their future ruler and rest assured that the Protestant heir has a say in government policies. That combined with Ulrika Eleonora cultivating the image of charitable angel made the Prince and Princess of Wales (James of Cambridge was created Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay in 1685 after coronation of his father)pretty popular.
Encouraging of Prince of Wales to participate in the politics of England has its downside, namely the circle of “friends” (some of them more deserve to be called “fiends”) forming around him. The most infamous of them was certain James Scott, who probably planned to become English “Don Juan of Austria” via befriending his cousin. He was exiled for his troubles to Netherlands in 1685 short after crowning of James II & VII.
Another quest was to find a “Scottish Pet” in form of young Archibald, Earl of Argyll. His father was executed for being too die-hard Covenanter and actively participating in the plot of 1678. But the son was only a few years older than Prince of Wales and can be made into either good friend or formidable foe. Such “wronged” nobles often formed the backbone of Fronde, and young Argyll was a perfect opportunity to work with – the Argylls are one of the most prominent families of Western Scotland, after all. Like Monmouth, he was another opportunity-seeker befriending young Prince of Wales, but unlike Monmouth he wasn’t so useless in the long run.
The plan was to return the estates AND to promise to “upgrade” the Earl title to the Dukedom, while still reminding the young half-Stuart (his mother was a daughter of Earl of Moray) that the good graces of Royal Family. The “Dukedom” promise comes from James of Wales, however (but will be honored by him once he’s crowned James III & VIII in 1701), and is not actually considered by his father and stepmother, but returning the estates is. Since he’s young and is more considered with estates and prestige than with religious matters, he is “workable” guy. And “domesticating” him should be easier than it was for Charles II to “domesticate” guys like Monck. He is just the young man, and young men are easily swayed into ideas that grant them power and prestige.
In return for convincing James II to return the properties of the late Earl of Argyll to his son it was secured that James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick, will get the County of Eu after Anne d’Orleans’ death. Ironically, the bastard Count of Eu also played into ambitions of Louis XIV better than original candidate, Prince Edgar of Cambridge, since there will be no worry that Count of Eu becomes King of England in foreseeable future.
Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton
Apart from Count of Argyll, another guy in the inner circle of James of Wales is his cousin, Duke of Grafton, who is much less of the “Bastard Bastard” than Monmouth, not to mention he’s of the same age as James and thus has no “I’m older, so trust and obey me” excuse Monmouth had. Henry Fitzroy was brought up for career in the Navy, and has already shown the signs of being good commander. There are frequent rumors that Grafton will be appointed Lord High Admiral once Prince of Wales becomes King James III. But so far he’s an enthusiastic military man, and just like another enthusiastic young military man, John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough (who owed his earldom as much to his sister being official mistress of King James II as to his own military prowess) become a subject of utter admiration from little Prince Charles of Cambridge (all kids of James but Eleonora have the honorific of "Cambridge" being born while their father is still Duke of Cambridge). From what little prince showed in his formative years, there’s fear that future possible Charles III is going to grow like somebody like Charles-Emil, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, in short – somebody who cares little about things other than war and hunt.
James’ position about standing army was slightly different TTL, the only overt rebellion he had to face being Argyll’s Uprising of 1683-1685, where the Scottish nobleman advocated for bypassing the succession to Charles II directly to young James of Cambridge without James even crowned (TTL Exclusion Crisis). However he displayed somewhat militaristic tendencies, much to the discontent of Scottish nobility. His main investments, however, were in the Navy, where he was diehard to continue the reforms started by him as Lord High Admiral. Due to Spanish Habsburg dynasty seeming to be perpetuating, strong investment in the Navy was rather reasonable things to do. Especially with pretty strong possibility of Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, shall the Dutch decide to neutralize possible ally for France (the peaceful solution for Cologne crisis seems unlikely, and Cologne under French control is something the Dutch need least of all).
With the religious tolerance policy starting back with Act of Tolerance of Charles II issued in 1680, James made little advances of his own devising – though he still made a famous speech comparing religious intolerance to intolerance on the grounds of racism. However, the increasingly high role of Prince of Wales in Privy Council business makes it hard for James II to simply come and get rid of his first wife’s blood relatives- the Hydes, so Earl of Rochester, Earl of Clarendon and Sir Thomas Keightley keep their offices – it would be really hard to explain to James why his uncles are replaced by some random Catholic guys, especially octogenarians such as Baron Arundel.
However, while Argyll is a Scottish Montmorency, and Grafton and Marlborough are generally decent guys, there is another cousin in the company of James of Wales, whose influence may mean that he will turn out just like James I whom he wants to imitate – not only in politics but in bedroom. A certain Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, who despite not openly gay, had some… strange habits, namely cross-dressing, complete with female make-up, and tries to introduce the Prince of Wales into his hobbies.
Edward Cornbury, transvestite supreme of the English court
Luckily, James is in love with his wife, Ulrika-Eleonora (who is becoming really popular with English common folk after making a point of no-show at the audience with papal nuncio together with her little kids – Sophia, Charles and Edgar – amazingly that his husband’s stepmother congratulated her on such a bravery, reminding that “Princesses need to make a point, otherwise they are useless breeders” and tried to protect her from the wrath of James II, who was not found of such “treasonous” actions of his daughter-in-law, while Anne found it amusing), and keeps a mistress to boot – Lady Elisabeth Hamilton, niece of Marlborough and daughter of “La Belle Jennings”, who is introduced to English court in 1684 and soon becomes the first known mistress of James of Wales. He also becomes famous for sort of “stealing” his father’s mistress – Countess of Dorchester, and there were rumors that the father of short-living Charles Darnley was not King James II but the Prince of Wales. So cross-dressing or not, Prince of Wales clearly shows that he prefers women.
Catherine Seldey, mistress to both James II and his son, future James III
Architecture continues to be the hobby of Queen Anne, as it was her hobby as Duchess of York. Nonsuch Palace is properly renovated to be a rival to Chambord and Prince and Princess of Wales frequent it often. In fact, three of their four surviving children by 1690 – Sophia, Charles and Edgar –were born in Nonsuch, with only little Eleonora (b.1688) being born in St James' Palace. Windsor Castle continues to get attention (and financing) from the Crown, but it is not the prominent royal residence during the reign of James II & VII – it becomes better known as the “house of Palatinate widows” – since after 1688 both Dowager Electress Wilhelmina-Ernestine of Denmark (elder sister to the Princess of Wales and widow of Elector Palatine Charles II) and Dowager Electress Frances Bard (widow of Prince Rupert, Dowager Electress after her husband’s brief reign as Elector Rupert IV) reside here – Wilhemina wanting to share the company of her sister and Frances never getting used to Heidelberg and thinking that her sons are old enough to take care of themselves. In fact, to avoid confusion, only Wilhelmine-Ernestine is referred to as “Dowager Electress”, while Frances is better known as Dowager Duchess of Cumberland – by English title of her late husband.
Wilhelmina Ernestine of Denmark, Dowager Electress Palatine
King’s House in Winchester also gets some attention – but just some, as Anne D’Orleans wants to be remembered for her architectural legacy if she failed to leave biological one. However it does not match with her tastes in “grandeur” formed in Blois unlike Nonsuch and Hampton Court (which also gets a major rehaul as official royal residence), and the project, while finished, was much more modest than what Charles II envisioned, being more akin to slightly grander Blenheim Palace in outer appearance (though with all the sophistication that Sir Christopher Wren, appointed the major supervisor of project, was able to provide), but with fancy gardens descending to the Winchester Cathedral finished and becoming the most prominent “regular park” in England during the next century. Ironically, while the palace was named “the King’s House” no king of Britain ever used it as permanent residence, and it was granted to Prince Edgar of Cambridge, created Duke of York and Albany in 1701, in 1703 in celebration of the marriage to his cousin, Mary of Simmern-Kaiserslautern.
While Anne d’Orleans was able to keep her husband from alienating his support base among nobility too much (mostly by knowing the psychology of guys such as the Earls of Argyll from personal experience, walking all the way towards shooting at Turenne troops in their shoes), she was not brilliant woman – merely an experienced survivalist, and for the richest woman of France she knew not much about finances management. Thus she is not able to talk her husband out of the probably bad idea of creating the Dominion of New England – not knowing anything about the region other that it was the dumping ground for the bunch of Puritans. Though she hopes that some guy who is sympathetic to Puritans may be installed the governor in long run, she simply does not care.
There is another high profile woman at court, however, who DOES care about North American issues. Frances Bard, Dowager Duchess of Cumberland, is not some genius economist, but she spent 20 years married to a very brilliant man, and so she learned the thing or two. She and her son, now Elector Palatine Rupert V, also inherited the share in Hudson Bay Company belonging to Rupert. The share is now managed by Frances, due to awkwardness of a foreign monarch being a major shareholder (however both Rupert and his son were not above using the strategic position of Palatinate as bargaining chip in persuading the French to keep their hands off HBC in exchange for Palatinate becoming French ally in German politics). And now she wants to honor her husband’s last wishes. Nothing in regards to Dominion – she thinks little of New England issues. She thinks of something more “grand” in her opinion.
Frances approaches King James II in 1688 shortly after her arrival in England with first reminding him about her late husband’s ideas, and secondly about his idea that the England suffered greatly during Second and Third Anglo-Dutch War because of, among else, the fact that the Dutch simply had better financial system. In short, she wants to dust off his project of central Bank of England, being used as centralized source of funding for any future naval endeavors, to be on equal footing with the Dutch on this term. In that proposal, Dowager Duchess of Cumberland gets unexpected supporter in normally apolitical Princess of Wales. Ulrika-Eleonora, in rare moments she does not abstain from politics (another one was a no-show to the audience with papal nuncio, however that was considered more like display of “rebel streak” and “having a spine”) reminds the King that the Swedes, enemies of her native Denmark, use such a system since 1668 and with great success – considering the Sweden performance in Scanian War, had Ulrika-Eleonora not been chosen the bride for a heir to English throne, she’d have been married to King of Sweden right now as such talks were common during her betrothal.
“Those friggin’ women drive me mad”, snips the King, however he still wants to honor the memory of Frances’ husband and so he agrees on founding of the bank in image of Riksens Ständers Bank of Sweden. The model seemed good enough, especially since the Swedes have probably worked on all those quirks, and Charles XI, being a paragon of Protestant absolutism (like Louis XIV and Peter I, he got his pro-absolutist tendencies from troubled childhood as the child-king), seems to James a good example of royal interference with dealings of such a bank. The Royal Charter for the Company of the Bank of England is signed in 1691, mere months before the start of Cologne, and the headquarters of the new Bank is to be designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
So, in honoring the last wishes of her husband, Frances Bard unexpectedly becomes the godmother of state banking in England.
Another idea circulating widely in the court in the beginning of 1690ies was the betrothal of Prince Charles of Cambridge to his cousin, Elisabeth-Charlotte d’Orleans, four years him senior. A marriage of a heir to the throne to a French Catholic ruffled many feathers, however, Prince of Wales decided that he has a say in marriage of his son.
Mademoiselle de Chartres, proposed bride for Prince Charles of Cambridge
In fact, Elisabeth-Charlotte is a French princess and a niece to the king, but her mother is from Palatinate (and thus Elisabeth and Charles of Cambridge are third cousins), her half-sister is married to a brother of Elector Palatine, her brothers (owing to their mother’s upbringing) are agnostics supreme of the court (or probably trolls supreme, as a small but influential cabal consisting of Duke of Valois (who is old enough to start military training, and sees Grand Conde as his role model – Alexander, son of Philippe, and all that), Duke of Chartres, and as for older members - Prince Conti and the cousin to Orleans kids, scandalous and splendid Ruperta-Elisabeth, Duchess d’Aubigny, who moved to France with her husband and enjoys being the darling of Paris salons, form the backbone of court opposition to Madame de Maintenon). Duke of Valois is accused by king of “corrupting his wife”, Marie-Therese, second surviving legitimate child of the king and the only legitimate daughter, into hating Maintenon – Marie-Therese was always close to her mother and namesake, and joining her husband into “Bash Maintenon” club seemed logical – the morganatic second marriage of Louis XIV seemed “horrible” to her. Philippe d’Orleans seems oblivious to behavior of his sons, and Duchess of Orleans encourages this behavior.
In short – she has more than enough Protestant relatives, not a devout Catholic, may even convert into High Anglicanism after marriage, and to balance things out suitable Protestant bride may be arranged to Edgar (one of daughters of Maurice of Simmern-Kaiserslautern is an obvious “in family” candidate). So Prince of Wales agrees to French marriage for his son - Elisabeth-Charlotte is agnostic enough to not be seem as promoter of Catholic empowerment, and if she is anything like her mother, the marriage can be profitable for England. Charles of Cambridge is to be married no earlier than 1696, though, and King James II declares that upon the marriage Prince Charles will be properly created Duke of Cambridge and Edinburgh.
James of Wales, however, is adamant against any marriage of his daughter to a French prince, especially directly in line to French throne – Orleans are cadet branch and are already in English line of succession, so they are relatively OK, but marriage of Princess Sophia of Wales to Le Petit Dauphin – unspeakable. Maybe to one of her first cousins - Charles-Rupert, Electoral Prince of Palatine, or maybe Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark - those are fine. But in no way shall Britain end up in accidental personal union with France via marriage of a third in line to English throne to somebody second in line to French throne.
Young Prince Charles, however, is totally oblivious to marriage – his military obsession seems bordering on craziness. Mademoiselle de Chartres seems reasonable enough considering she took after her mother to keep the future King in check, however with future brother in-law of Charles, namely Duc de Valois, being of similar mindset, Britain may have to learn to tolerate a warmonger King. In fact, as James bitterly notes, children of his sisters in-law in Saxony and Holstein turned out just like that, so thanks God of whatever religion, that Edgar and girls are by all accords sane – and he and Ulrika-Eleonora are likely to have more, despite a series of miscarriages between births of Edgar in 1682 and Eleonora in 1688.
The Best Cop is a Former Criminal and the Best Queen is a Former Rebel
Anne d’Orleans, Duchess of Montpensier, York, Albany and Normandy, Princess of Joinville since 1688, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1685-1693)
She knew how civil wars go. She is used to smuggling in the castles through backdoors and shooting the cannons on Royal troops. And then she went to be first the second lady of the English court and now she’s the first. But goddamn, the life is not all roses and diamonds for Anne de Montpensier.
The husband she married to cement the alliance between England and France was not the Prince Charming – but then, she and James of York both decided to keep somebody on the side, being both “old horses past their prime”. And in 1678 Anne realized that living in England, being Catholic and being popular is damn hard of a challenge.
The fact that all adult female members of Royal Family – Queen, Duchess of York and Duchess of Cumberland – were Catholics – raised the very prominent wave of hate against them. After all, they were women and thus they were responsible for education of their children. Not that Anne or Frances were interested in disobeying their brother-in-law/cousin or husband’s opinion, and Anne did sort of decided, that she has to “listen what Louis says and do in reverse”. Being a wife to the heir of another kingdom sort of justified that attitude. And English political landscape provided ample opportunity for intrigues.
James of York kept his Catholic sympathies pretty moderate (though he was less “crypto”-Catholic than his brother, the stepping away from Lord High Admiral position was viewed less as recognition of Catholicism and more as recognition of his cousin’s better performance in Third Anglo-Dutch War) – but Catherine, Anne and Frances (with Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of Charles II, thrown in for good measure) – were “the ugly cabal of evil foreign witches” – being Portuguese, French and Irish respectively. The young Danish Duchess of Cambridge sort of smoothened the image, since even though she was Lutheran, she cared about “low-church” charities, and thus stood as the last line of defense against “Papist Corruption” rumors. Anne was more worried about her young stepson being corrupted by some unworthy people who were already planning to become the next generation of Royal Favorites, then by her corrupting him with “Papist wealth”. Yes, spoiling the young Duke and his sisters was present – but that was to improve the relations with step-children and not to corrupt them into anything.
The major moral of TTL Popish Plot for Anne de Montpensier was “English public is suspicious and superstitious” and the rebel bourgeoisie and nobles are… well, rebel bourgeoisie and nobles, but unlike her comrades in Fronde, they actually won for a change AND expect the King not to backpedal in direction of the absolutist tendencies too much (which Anne understands pretty well, the Scottish Covenants in her POV being no different from Rohans and Soubises of her childhood who conspired with her father, Duke d’Orleans – the religion is highly important thing, but if there are better things to come with religion, such as political prestige and independence, the religion is merely a holy banner to wave on the march towards set political goal). Martyr King and all… Another thing she was to learn is that her husband is woefully inadequate man for being in charge of anything but fleet and army, and he’s good as far as there’s his older brother, the King, around. That means two things – 1) She, Anne, WILL have a say if she becomes Queen; 2)The people who hate her as Duchess of York will not magically disappear once she becomes Queen Anne, so she HAS to get a say to ensure that James doesn’t do anything excessively stupid.
The Cambridges are model couple, and James of Cambridge views his great-grandfather James I & VI as his role model – probably because he’s also married to Danish princess. But at least James of Cambridge doesn’t forget to frequent his wife’s bedroom and there are no rumors of him sharing the tastes of his uncle Philippe d’Orleans. And that’s good, coupled with Ulrika-Eleonora becoming the “princess of poor”, founding charities, hospitals and what not.
About 1681, at the height of Papist hysteria, and when it is 90% certain she will become a Queen Anne de Montpensier writes down her List of Royal Do’s and Don’t’s
1. High Anglican Church is not so different from Catholic Church, and her husband is right, the split by Henry VIII was DUMB by any standards. But peaceful reconciliation right now, when the Pope is basically a court bishop of Habsburgs, is no less dumb. In fact, her COUSIN, Louis XIV, is right now toying with the very same thing, and it will look like the dumbest joke ever if the High Anglican Church is making peace with Rome at the same time as High Gallican Church is splitting away from Rome authority. To piss off Louis, maybe, but no actual reconciliation is even better for this purpose.
2. Money can always buy you some popularity if you spend them wisely – charities and showing that Royal Family DOES care about commoners is good (though not going through such extremes as her brother-in-law did during the Great Plague – has James of Cambridge stayed in London with his siblings and mother, the English future would have been a lot less bright now). Luckily the young Duchess of Cambridge is totally in this sort of things.
3. It’s never too late to please power-hungry nobility with a few dukedoms…or bishoprics, or some such. It’s what they want under mask of religious rights. But going overboard with those, as Anne knows herself, is another route to disaster – Scottish nobility, like the nobility of Southern France, seems to be prone to be “a king within the kingdom” sorts. Anne thinks that she knows the psychology of such people pretty well. After all, she DID become a figurehead (or not so figurehead) leader of armed rebellion against lawful king, and thus the “Papist hag” may sympathize with the Count of Argyll more than he realizes (one of the guys who can be good to be raised to dukedom, but overpromoting him also leads to the disaster – he seems to be an English Rohan, married into illegitimate branch of Stuart family in addition).
4. Equal opportunities for worship means just that… Equal treatment for Covenants and Catholics, without open preferences. An idiot won’t stop being idiot once he converted to Catholicism and forcing people to convert is the easiest way to piss them off (and makes no sense given the greatest difference between High Anglican Church and Catholic Church amounts to independence from Papacy). Equal treatment of religions shall be also extended to equal treatment of Protestant and Catholic incompetent idiots – in short, let then be hated equally.
5. Charles II is the guy who seems to know what he’s doing. So emulating what he does is probably a good thing to keep yourself in power. Emulating France in everything makes no sense – France is a continental country and England is an island. That’s simple, really. They are way too proud of their Virgin Queen aka wily old b*tch overindulging in make-up…though dusting off all the Elisabethian traditions makes no sense, the times have changed greatly.
6. Kings SHALL respect nobility, giving away lands to favorites and bastards does not strengthen the crown in any way. Any moneybacking has its limits – if money is wasted on such things. The bastards of English kings are no less greedy and demanding than bastards of French kings, or so it seems, from a few examples already presented.
This short list will become a “Bible of Queen Anne” during her brief tenure as Queen-Consort of England. Sticking to them and playing a soulmate to potential rebellious nobility = Anne d’Orleans is alive and happy Queen. Breaking them = ending up treated worse than she herself treated Mazarin and in the same content of “Greedy Foreigner Messing With Our Rights”, and probably lynched by some mob.
Selling away Dombes to pay for her stepdaughter becoming Queen Consort of Portugal was the first strategic step in buying herself the popularity. After all, Portugal IS rich maritime power, and long-lasting alliance with it is what English folks want – and they also want English budget not being drained in favor of Papist crowns.
And when Charles II was buried, the second part of the plan started. The realization of all the principles written above began.
First thing first, the Prince of Wales HAD to actively participate in the government process – so that English people can get the taste of their future ruler and rest assured that the Protestant heir has a say in government policies. That combined with Ulrika Eleonora cultivating the image of charitable angel made the Prince and Princess of Wales (James of Cambridge was created Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay in 1685 after coronation of his father)pretty popular.
Encouraging of Prince of Wales to participate in the politics of England has its downside, namely the circle of “friends” (some of them more deserve to be called “fiends”) forming around him. The most infamous of them was certain James Scott, who probably planned to become English “Don Juan of Austria” via befriending his cousin. He was exiled for his troubles to Netherlands in 1685 short after crowning of James II & VII.
Another quest was to find a “Scottish Pet” in form of young Archibald, Earl of Argyll. His father was executed for being too die-hard Covenanter and actively participating in the plot of 1678. But the son was only a few years older than Prince of Wales and can be made into either good friend or formidable foe. Such “wronged” nobles often formed the backbone of Fronde, and young Argyll was a perfect opportunity to work with – the Argylls are one of the most prominent families of Western Scotland, after all. Like Monmouth, he was another opportunity-seeker befriending young Prince of Wales, but unlike Monmouth he wasn’t so useless in the long run.
The plan was to return the estates AND to promise to “upgrade” the Earl title to the Dukedom, while still reminding the young half-Stuart (his mother was a daughter of Earl of Moray) that the good graces of Royal Family. The “Dukedom” promise comes from James of Wales, however (but will be honored by him once he’s crowned James III & VIII in 1701), and is not actually considered by his father and stepmother, but returning the estates is. Since he’s young and is more considered with estates and prestige than with religious matters, he is “workable” guy. And “domesticating” him should be easier than it was for Charles II to “domesticate” guys like Monck. He is just the young man, and young men are easily swayed into ideas that grant them power and prestige.
In return for convincing James II to return the properties of the late Earl of Argyll to his son it was secured that James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick, will get the County of Eu after Anne d’Orleans’ death. Ironically, the bastard Count of Eu also played into ambitions of Louis XIV better than original candidate, Prince Edgar of Cambridge, since there will be no worry that Count of Eu becomes King of England in foreseeable future.
Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton
Apart from Count of Argyll, another guy in the inner circle of James of Wales is his cousin, Duke of Grafton, who is much less of the “Bastard Bastard” than Monmouth, not to mention he’s of the same age as James and thus has no “I’m older, so trust and obey me” excuse Monmouth had. Henry Fitzroy was brought up for career in the Navy, and has already shown the signs of being good commander. There are frequent rumors that Grafton will be appointed Lord High Admiral once Prince of Wales becomes King James III. But so far he’s an enthusiastic military man, and just like another enthusiastic young military man, John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough (who owed his earldom as much to his sister being official mistress of King James II as to his own military prowess) become a subject of utter admiration from little Prince Charles of Cambridge (all kids of James but Eleonora have the honorific of "Cambridge" being born while their father is still Duke of Cambridge). From what little prince showed in his formative years, there’s fear that future possible Charles III is going to grow like somebody like Charles-Emil, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, in short – somebody who cares little about things other than war and hunt.
James’ position about standing army was slightly different TTL, the only overt rebellion he had to face being Argyll’s Uprising of 1683-1685, where the Scottish nobleman advocated for bypassing the succession to Charles II directly to young James of Cambridge without James even crowned (TTL Exclusion Crisis). However he displayed somewhat militaristic tendencies, much to the discontent of Scottish nobility. His main investments, however, were in the Navy, where he was diehard to continue the reforms started by him as Lord High Admiral. Due to Spanish Habsburg dynasty seeming to be perpetuating, strong investment in the Navy was rather reasonable things to do. Especially with pretty strong possibility of Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, shall the Dutch decide to neutralize possible ally for France (the peaceful solution for Cologne crisis seems unlikely, and Cologne under French control is something the Dutch need least of all).
With the religious tolerance policy starting back with Act of Tolerance of Charles II issued in 1680, James made little advances of his own devising – though he still made a famous speech comparing religious intolerance to intolerance on the grounds of racism. However, the increasingly high role of Prince of Wales in Privy Council business makes it hard for James II to simply come and get rid of his first wife’s blood relatives- the Hydes, so Earl of Rochester, Earl of Clarendon and Sir Thomas Keightley keep their offices – it would be really hard to explain to James why his uncles are replaced by some random Catholic guys, especially octogenarians such as Baron Arundel.
However, while Argyll is a Scottish Montmorency, and Grafton and Marlborough are generally decent guys, there is another cousin in the company of James of Wales, whose influence may mean that he will turn out just like James I whom he wants to imitate – not only in politics but in bedroom. A certain Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, who despite not openly gay, had some… strange habits, namely cross-dressing, complete with female make-up, and tries to introduce the Prince of Wales into his hobbies.
Edward Cornbury, transvestite supreme of the English court
Luckily, James is in love with his wife, Ulrika-Eleonora (who is becoming really popular with English common folk after making a point of no-show at the audience with papal nuncio together with her little kids – Sophia, Charles and Edgar – amazingly that his husband’s stepmother congratulated her on such a bravery, reminding that “Princesses need to make a point, otherwise they are useless breeders” and tried to protect her from the wrath of James II, who was not found of such “treasonous” actions of his daughter-in-law, while Anne found it amusing), and keeps a mistress to boot – Lady Elisabeth Hamilton, niece of Marlborough and daughter of “La Belle Jennings”, who is introduced to English court in 1684 and soon becomes the first known mistress of James of Wales. He also becomes famous for sort of “stealing” his father’s mistress – Countess of Dorchester, and there were rumors that the father of short-living Charles Darnley was not King James II but the Prince of Wales. So cross-dressing or not, Prince of Wales clearly shows that he prefers women.
Catherine Seldey, mistress to both James II and his son, future James III
Architecture continues to be the hobby of Queen Anne, as it was her hobby as Duchess of York. Nonsuch Palace is properly renovated to be a rival to Chambord and Prince and Princess of Wales frequent it often. In fact, three of their four surviving children by 1690 – Sophia, Charles and Edgar –were born in Nonsuch, with only little Eleonora (b.1688) being born in St James' Palace. Windsor Castle continues to get attention (and financing) from the Crown, but it is not the prominent royal residence during the reign of James II & VII – it becomes better known as the “house of Palatinate widows” – since after 1688 both Dowager Electress Wilhelmina-Ernestine of Denmark (elder sister to the Princess of Wales and widow of Elector Palatine Charles II) and Dowager Electress Frances Bard (widow of Prince Rupert, Dowager Electress after her husband’s brief reign as Elector Rupert IV) reside here – Wilhemina wanting to share the company of her sister and Frances never getting used to Heidelberg and thinking that her sons are old enough to take care of themselves. In fact, to avoid confusion, only Wilhelmine-Ernestine is referred to as “Dowager Electress”, while Frances is better known as Dowager Duchess of Cumberland – by English title of her late husband.
Wilhelmina Ernestine of Denmark, Dowager Electress Palatine
King’s House in Winchester also gets some attention – but just some, as Anne D’Orleans wants to be remembered for her architectural legacy if she failed to leave biological one. However it does not match with her tastes in “grandeur” formed in Blois unlike Nonsuch and Hampton Court (which also gets a major rehaul as official royal residence), and the project, while finished, was much more modest than what Charles II envisioned, being more akin to slightly grander Blenheim Palace in outer appearance (though with all the sophistication that Sir Christopher Wren, appointed the major supervisor of project, was able to provide), but with fancy gardens descending to the Winchester Cathedral finished and becoming the most prominent “regular park” in England during the next century. Ironically, while the palace was named “the King’s House” no king of Britain ever used it as permanent residence, and it was granted to Prince Edgar of Cambridge, created Duke of York and Albany in 1701, in 1703 in celebration of the marriage to his cousin, Mary of Simmern-Kaiserslautern.
While Anne d’Orleans was able to keep her husband from alienating his support base among nobility too much (mostly by knowing the psychology of guys such as the Earls of Argyll from personal experience, walking all the way towards shooting at Turenne troops in their shoes), she was not brilliant woman – merely an experienced survivalist, and for the richest woman of France she knew not much about finances management. Thus she is not able to talk her husband out of the probably bad idea of creating the Dominion of New England – not knowing anything about the region other that it was the dumping ground for the bunch of Puritans. Though she hopes that some guy who is sympathetic to Puritans may be installed the governor in long run, she simply does not care.
There is another high profile woman at court, however, who DOES care about North American issues. Frances Bard, Dowager Duchess of Cumberland, is not some genius economist, but she spent 20 years married to a very brilliant man, and so she learned the thing or two. She and her son, now Elector Palatine Rupert V, also inherited the share in Hudson Bay Company belonging to Rupert. The share is now managed by Frances, due to awkwardness of a foreign monarch being a major shareholder (however both Rupert and his son were not above using the strategic position of Palatinate as bargaining chip in persuading the French to keep their hands off HBC in exchange for Palatinate becoming French ally in German politics). And now she wants to honor her husband’s last wishes. Nothing in regards to Dominion – she thinks little of New England issues. She thinks of something more “grand” in her opinion.
Frances approaches King James II in 1688 shortly after her arrival in England with first reminding him about her late husband’s ideas, and secondly about his idea that the England suffered greatly during Second and Third Anglo-Dutch War because of, among else, the fact that the Dutch simply had better financial system. In short, she wants to dust off his project of central Bank of England, being used as centralized source of funding for any future naval endeavors, to be on equal footing with the Dutch on this term. In that proposal, Dowager Duchess of Cumberland gets unexpected supporter in normally apolitical Princess of Wales. Ulrika-Eleonora, in rare moments she does not abstain from politics (another one was a no-show to the audience with papal nuncio, however that was considered more like display of “rebel streak” and “having a spine”) reminds the King that the Swedes, enemies of her native Denmark, use such a system since 1668 and with great success – considering the Sweden performance in Scanian War, had Ulrika-Eleonora not been chosen the bride for a heir to English throne, she’d have been married to King of Sweden right now as such talks were common during her betrothal.
“Those friggin’ women drive me mad”, snips the King, however he still wants to honor the memory of Frances’ husband and so he agrees on founding of the bank in image of Riksens Ständers Bank of Sweden. The model seemed good enough, especially since the Swedes have probably worked on all those quirks, and Charles XI, being a paragon of Protestant absolutism (like Louis XIV and Peter I, he got his pro-absolutist tendencies from troubled childhood as the child-king), seems to James a good example of royal interference with dealings of such a bank. The Royal Charter for the Company of the Bank of England is signed in 1691, mere months before the start of Cologne, and the headquarters of the new Bank is to be designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
So, in honoring the last wishes of her husband, Frances Bard unexpectedly becomes the godmother of state banking in England.
Another idea circulating widely in the court in the beginning of 1690ies was the betrothal of Prince Charles of Cambridge to his cousin, Elisabeth-Charlotte d’Orleans, four years him senior. A marriage of a heir to the throne to a French Catholic ruffled many feathers, however, Prince of Wales decided that he has a say in marriage of his son.
Mademoiselle de Chartres, proposed bride for Prince Charles of Cambridge
In fact, Elisabeth-Charlotte is a French princess and a niece to the king, but her mother is from Palatinate (and thus Elisabeth and Charles of Cambridge are third cousins), her half-sister is married to a brother of Elector Palatine, her brothers (owing to their mother’s upbringing) are agnostics supreme of the court (or probably trolls supreme, as a small but influential cabal consisting of Duke of Valois (who is old enough to start military training, and sees Grand Conde as his role model – Alexander, son of Philippe, and all that), Duke of Chartres, and as for older members - Prince Conti and the cousin to Orleans kids, scandalous and splendid Ruperta-Elisabeth, Duchess d’Aubigny, who moved to France with her husband and enjoys being the darling of Paris salons, form the backbone of court opposition to Madame de Maintenon). Duke of Valois is accused by king of “corrupting his wife”, Marie-Therese, second surviving legitimate child of the king and the only legitimate daughter, into hating Maintenon – Marie-Therese was always close to her mother and namesake, and joining her husband into “Bash Maintenon” club seemed logical – the morganatic second marriage of Louis XIV seemed “horrible” to her. Philippe d’Orleans seems oblivious to behavior of his sons, and Duchess of Orleans encourages this behavior.
In short – she has more than enough Protestant relatives, not a devout Catholic, may even convert into High Anglicanism after marriage, and to balance things out suitable Protestant bride may be arranged to Edgar (one of daughters of Maurice of Simmern-Kaiserslautern is an obvious “in family” candidate). So Prince of Wales agrees to French marriage for his son - Elisabeth-Charlotte is agnostic enough to not be seem as promoter of Catholic empowerment, and if she is anything like her mother, the marriage can be profitable for England. Charles of Cambridge is to be married no earlier than 1696, though, and King James II declares that upon the marriage Prince Charles will be properly created Duke of Cambridge and Edinburgh.
James of Wales, however, is adamant against any marriage of his daughter to a French prince, especially directly in line to French throne – Orleans are cadet branch and are already in English line of succession, so they are relatively OK, but marriage of Princess Sophia of Wales to Le Petit Dauphin – unspeakable. Maybe to one of her first cousins - Charles-Rupert, Electoral Prince of Palatine, or maybe Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark - those are fine. But in no way shall Britain end up in accidental personal union with France via marriage of a third in line to English throne to somebody second in line to French throne.
Young Prince Charles, however, is totally oblivious to marriage – his military obsession seems bordering on craziness. Mademoiselle de Chartres seems reasonable enough considering she took after her mother to keep the future King in check, however with future brother in-law of Charles, namely Duc de Valois, being of similar mindset, Britain may have to learn to tolerate a warmonger King. In fact, as James bitterly notes, children of his sisters in-law in Saxony and Holstein turned out just like that, so thanks God of whatever religion, that Edgar and girls are by all accords sane – and he and Ulrika-Eleonora are likely to have more, despite a series of miscarriages between births of Edgar in 1682 and Eleonora in 1688.
Last edited:
Interesting sentiment - and perhaps very true.
Reviewing the family here
James of York (James II/VII)
James of Cambridge - son of James II (Prince of Wales)
- Ulrika-Eleonora (his wife)
- Prince Charles of Wales (son of J of C)
Whoops! He will not be PoW till his father succeeds to the throne. In fact not until he is specifically created PoW. It's not a "house" title or inherited title.
...of Cambridge.
- Sophia
- Charles
- Edgar
- Eleonora
children of J of C
"Prince Edgar of Wales"
As with his father and brother, not "of Wales".
Why the long discussion of why marriage of Charles to Mlle. de Chartres should be acceptable when it is vetoed by his father. Or is it?
Anne de Montpensier is an interesting character. Also a late-in-life dynastic marriage is unusual. She has a lot more real political experience than James II. A radical moderate, I guess one would say.
It is not vetoed. Vetoed is marriage of Sophia of Cambridge (the eldest daughter of James of Cambridge) to Le Petite Dauphin.
And OTL Duchess of Lorraine is, on the contrary, thought OK - due to her being of pretty agnostic background. But the marriage with Charles won't happen until 1696, when Charles will turn 16.
As of Wales, the kids of Prince of Wales bear title "of Wales" if they are born when their dad is PoW. So anybody but little Eleonora who is born in 1688 will be "of Cambridge", despite James of Cambridge will be created Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay when his dad is crowned. Will Princes Charles and Edgar bear honorific "of Wales" or will remain "of Cambridge" after 1685 - I'm not sure.
As for Anne de Montpensier, the marriage came forth due to James of York not needing to remarry to fertile woman, and scandal with Lauzin going worse that OTL, so the marriage is used to cover-up the Treaty of Dover - beating the previous record of late-in-life dynastic marriage of French royalty with Renee of France (IIRC), who was married off at 38 while Anne is 44 when she marries to Duke of York in 1672 (and the "legalized" money ensure slightly better performance of England in Third Anglo-Dutch War and Declaration of Indulgence being passed in pretty different context in 1680 (though still sparking Argyll Rebellion of early 1680ies TTL).
The choice of 1671 for Anne is amended from "Lauzin or Philippe d'Orleans" to "Lauzin, Philippe d'Orleans or James of York" so Anne naturally picks the opinion with the most opportunities to troll her brother. And unlike her OTL last Royal suitor, Alfonso of Portugal, James is neither crippled not mentally challenged (stubborn and naive, but not idiot in the medical sense of the word).
And OTL Duchess of Lorraine is, on the contrary, thought OK - due to her being of pretty agnostic background. But the marriage with Charles won't happen until 1696, when Charles will turn 16.
As of Wales, the kids of Prince of Wales bear title "of Wales" if they are born when their dad is PoW. So anybody but little Eleonora who is born in 1688 will be "of Cambridge", despite James of Cambridge will be created Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay when his dad is crowned. Will Princes Charles and Edgar bear honorific "of Wales" or will remain "of Cambridge" after 1685 - I'm not sure.
As for Anne de Montpensier, the marriage came forth due to James of York not needing to remarry to fertile woman, and scandal with Lauzin going worse that OTL, so the marriage is used to cover-up the Treaty of Dover - beating the previous record of late-in-life dynastic marriage of French royalty with Renee of France (IIRC), who was married off at 38 while Anne is 44 when she marries to Duke of York in 1672 (and the "legalized" money ensure slightly better performance of England in Third Anglo-Dutch War and Declaration of Indulgence being passed in pretty different context in 1680 (though still sparking Argyll Rebellion of early 1680ies TTL).
The choice of 1671 for Anne is amended from "Lauzin or Philippe d'Orleans" to "Lauzin, Philippe d'Orleans or James of York" so Anne naturally picks the opinion with the most opportunities to troll her brother. And unlike her OTL last Royal suitor, Alfonso of Portugal, James is neither crippled not mentally challenged (stubborn and naive, but not idiot in the medical sense of the word).
Last edited:
The sequel on Cologne War (TTL Nine Years War) will follow next week. Palatinate will still get some harsh treatment, but not as harsh as OTL due to not being the main theater of war (and young Elector Rupert V declaring the policy of neutrality\passive alliance with France, hoping to play mediator between Louis XIV and Leopold I as Charles II of England did during the War of Reunions). Though harsh enough to arrange first cousins marriage between Electoral Prince Charles-Rupert and Infanta Anna-Francesca of Portugal to get a friendly subsidy from Portuguese Court, who beginning from 1695 starts getting the enormous amounts of gold from Brazil.
Right now I have relatively a lot of free time to dedicate to research (and probably to reading Emperor Constantine's new stuff, which is some good stuff).
And I've decided to make Elizabeth-Charlotte a Queen of Britain (she WILL convert into Anglican faith short before her husband coronation, living the first decade of marriage as Catholic). So in TTL it will be James II instead of Victoria who will be the first English monarch to witness his great-grandson being born circa 1698.
Right now I have relatively a lot of free time to dedicate to research (and probably to reading Emperor Constantine's new stuff, which is some good stuff).
And I've decided to make Elizabeth-Charlotte a Queen of Britain (she WILL convert into Anglican faith short before her husband coronation, living the first decade of marriage as Catholic). So in TTL it will be James II instead of Victoria who will be the first English monarch to witness his great-grandson being born circa 1698.
And there are some portraits of prominent characters of that TL
Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate, Duchess D'Aubingy
Her brother, Elector Palatine Rupert V (known in the first decades of his life as Dudley Rupert of Palatinate-Simmern, Earl of Holderness and Bellomont)
And later-in-life portrait of their youngest brother Maurice, Duke of Simmern-Kaiserslautern
Electoral Prince Charles-Rupert of Palatinate-Simmern
Prince Charles of Cambridge and his sister Princess Sophia of Cambridge depicted as young Apollo and Diana
Maria-Therese De France, Duchess of Valois since 1688
Her husband, Alexander-Louis d'Orleans, Duc de Valois, painted circa 1698
The informal portrait of Prince and Princess of Wales together with their young daughter Eleonore, painted circa 1699, two years before ascension of James of Wales as King James III, for display in private chambers of Prince of Wales at Nonsuch Palace
Anne Marie Louise De Medici, the second wife of Le Grand Dauphin
Infanta Isabel Luisa of Portugal, Duchess of Chartres since 1688
Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate, Duchess D'Aubingy
Her brother, Elector Palatine Rupert V (known in the first decades of his life as Dudley Rupert of Palatinate-Simmern, Earl of Holderness and Bellomont)
And later-in-life portrait of their youngest brother Maurice, Duke of Simmern-Kaiserslautern
Electoral Prince Charles-Rupert of Palatinate-Simmern
Prince Charles of Cambridge and his sister Princess Sophia of Cambridge depicted as young Apollo and Diana
Maria-Therese De France, Duchess of Valois since 1688
Her husband, Alexander-Louis d'Orleans, Duc de Valois, painted circa 1698
The informal portrait of Prince and Princess of Wales together with their young daughter Eleonore, painted circa 1699, two years before ascension of James of Wales as King James III, for display in private chambers of Prince of Wales at Nonsuch Palace
Anne Marie Louise De Medici, the second wife of Le Grand Dauphin
Infanta Isabel Luisa of Portugal, Duchess of Chartres since 1688
Okay. I didn't know about that speech.Nothing
The words about "all black men being imprisoned just because they are black" just sounded hilarious in hindsight. And James is still a dirty papist.
The original phrase. I view it as the very definition of Hilarious in Hindsight in black humor sense.
One little factoid I found on English Wiki. I did not quote it word-for-word in the very text, but I assumed the indirect reference will be enough. It seems I should have done a direct quotation of it.
BTW, a cool little factoid I've found - a postponing of "Cologne Crisis" to 1691 (an unexpected butterfly to cover up my misunderstanding of causes for Nine-Years War) will butterfly away the early death of Charles-Paris d'Orleans, batard de Longueville (in OTL died in 1688 at the siege of Phillipsburg). In 1707 he would be a preferred alternate candidate to the throne of Principality of Neuchatel, and will without doubt be presented as a candidate to the throne of Neuchatel by his half-aunt, Dowager Duchess of Nemours. And unlike bastard of Count of Soisson, natural son of penultimate Duke of Longueville may seem a good candidate by people of Neuchatel. So... no Prussian Neuchatel and no - sort of - extinction of Longuevilles in male line. Though Charles-Paris d'Orleans is just a bastard, he may be viewed as preferred candidate that actually makes sense.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Paris_d'Orléans
This guy managed to sire a natural son with a woman 20 years his senior
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Paris_d'Orléans
This guy managed to sire a natural son with a woman 20 years his senior
Chapter 5
Clouds Covering the Sun
Francoise d’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon, the “Black Queen of France”
As the Sun King became older, he turned to religion. The strict religious upbringing of the King highly contrasted with his splendid court and plentiful breed of bastards. Ironically, the “saint savior” the King looks for is the governess of those bastards, Madame de Maintenon.
She is not another bed warmer pretty doll. She is a “nightly confessor” of the King, a person who despises the “reluctant toleration” policy applied to Huguenots in order to keep pro-French movement in the Netherlands afloat. Though some of the by-products of this policy, namely new Louisiana colony and its newly-found capital of Port-Louis in long-searched mouth of Mississippi River [1] seem to turn out profitable, the Huguenot traders of La Rochelle finally getting themselves a legal settlement colony in Caribbean region – even if dangerous and in the middle of Spanish territory. But sending Huguenots to where they can be killed easily by neighbors instead of where they can conspire with fellow Protestants of British Colonies is a good idea – and new taxable profits are just a bonus. A nice bonus, though, enough to apply some toleration. But as the conversion programs supported by nobles such as Duchess of Guise become more and more aggressive, the rumors persist that soon Louisiana will be the only French territory open for Protestant worship as the influence of Madame de Maintenon increases.
She gathers quite a number of high-positioned haters for herself. Some of them are former Protestants or related to prominent Protestant families. Among them is Duchess d’Orleans and another Palatine Princess, her cousin, Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate, Duchess d’Aubingy. They hate Francoise for her hypocrisy – Liselotte does, at least. Hatred of Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate seems to stem more from banning entertainment from the court, and the same reason for hatred is shared by Liselotte’s sons, Duke Alexander-Louis of Valois and Duke Philippe of Chartres.
Their wives are different. Marie-Therese, Duchess of Valois, former Madame Royale, was married to her first cousin only because she was too young for Spanish court, too old for Austrian and English courts (or, more precise, in British case she was too young to marry Duke of Cambridge and too old to marry Prince of Cambridge), too sickly and of dubious fertility for Savoyard and Portuguese courts and too grand for anyone else, such as Prince Ferdinando de Medici. So her first cousin, six years her junior, was the only possible marriage prospect remaining. She is a Princess of Royal Blood, was very close to her mother (and like her, suffered deeply from Carlos II marrying to Mary of Modena, which was viewed by Maria-Therese of Spain as a betrayal on part of her half brother) and won’t tolerate either her bastard half –sisters (it doesn’t help that they are prettier than her) or their governess being elevated to sacred position of his father’s wife. And no, you can’t save your soul by courting a pious woman. At least that’s what she thinks.
Her sister-in-law, Duchess of Chartres and former Princess of Beira, is a different case. Duke of Chartres was originally married to Isabel-Luisa as a compromise Prince-Consort of Portugal. Now that she’s pushed down the succession line by birth of her half-siblings, she was free to move to France together with her young husband. She expected to see the fabulous court and instead sees something rapidly becoming dull and monastery-like. Not that she decided to leave Portugal (and be diminished in position to fourth lady of the court instead of second – after Dauphine, Duchess of Orleans and Duchess of Valois) to see the same semi-monastic boredom (and poorly done one at that, Versailles was not designed as Palace-Monastery and trying to turn it into one is ridiculous). She eagerly joins in with her husband and brother-in-law to form the “Anti-Maintenon Party”.
Another prominent member of anti-Maintenon Party is Prince of Conti. First of all, he hates Maintenon because she considers him a sinner (François-Louis is a bisexual), and secondly – because he’s close to “Palatinate crowd” by virtue of his wife, Mademoiselle de Bourbon, being a daughter of first cousin to Duchess of Orleans and Duchess of Aubingy. Prince of Conti also plays part of older friend for Alexander de Valois, who was too small during the War of Reunions but is eager to participate in the next big war, which is nearing as Archbishop of Cologne is dying and Louis XIV and Leopold I try to find a candidate to fill in the position of high strategic importance on the Rhine.
Conti has already saw military service against the Turks but Alexander will never be allowed to go to Hungary or Slavonia to fight infidels, due to him being a nephew and son-in-law of the King and thus “too valuable” to risk his life in some desolate country. He needs to wait for “suitable” war, and in the meantime, the Duke of Valois poses in full wargear in front of portrait of Le Grand Conde in his private apartments in Versailles. He seems to be destined for military carrier, eagerly and wishingly undergoing the military training from the best tutors, including Vauban, whose economic ideas also influence young Duke – despite he learns about them in the breaks between fortification theory lessons.
Maintenon seems to find support in the Dauphin and at first – in his new wife, Anne-Marie-Louise de Medici. Though after the Queen of England, Anne de Montpensier, dies in 1693 of complications of urinary bladder infection, her correspondence with the Dauphine is unveiled. And the correspondence between aunt and niece seems to sway the Dauphine in favor of “Orleans Party”, which is seemed generally pro-British. Not that France is not an ally to Britain, Palatinate or Portugal, but two of those three are Protestant.
And marriage of Duke of York to Anne de Montpensier was worth more of a headache than of real profit. England did not turn into puppet state of France, and while Anne made damn sure her husband is an ally to King Louis in foreign policies, her views on domestic policy differed radically from what Louis planned on the other side of Pas-de-Calais. Probably, her hunchbacked wannabe abbess sister, Duchess of Guise, would have made better Queen of England. But then…right now England is an ally to France, relationships between the King James and his nephew Prince of Orange are strained, and shall the Dutch join the Second Cologne War, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War might happen… or might not happen.
As Maximilian Henry of Bavaria lies dying in Cologne, the competition for the Prince-Elector position starts between William of Furstenberg and Joseph-Clemens of Bavaria. Here Louis XIV starts to regret marrying his niece Anna-Maria to brother of Elector of Palatinate, instead of brother of Elector of Bavaria – and Elisabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, the remaining niece, is already betrothed to Prince Charles of Cambridge. Offending England gravely by outright refusing them a hand of French princess is a stupid move of alienating potential ally into Protestant hands (Prince of Orange looks for mending the relationship with his uncle and for husband for his younger daughters), even though the princess has all the chances to turn out another Orleans troublemaker, while her brothers more than compensate for apolitical upbringing of their father – Duc de Valois and Duc de Chartres look like they will be troublemakers supreme of the last years of Louis’ reign and start of the reign of his successor.
The “Palatinate” party at the French court (or more likely, Orleans party) does what they can to delay the war – since from experience of previous Cologne War attempts to occupy the Electorate of Cologne will require the use of parts of Palatinate for their strategic position. The native land of Duchess d’Orleans has barely recovered from Thirty Years War, and now the Imperial and French armies will again ruin the Palatinate. And the war seems imminent – the only thing Elector Palatine Rupert V can do is to promise to remain neutral in conflict, knowing perfectly well that it is not for long. What he does, through, is a betrothal of his only son (who will likely remain the only, as Anne of York seems not to be too fertile in second cousins marriage – she had five pregnancies so far, but only Charles-Rupert, the firstborn, survived through infancy) to his first cousin, Anna-Francesca, Princess of Beira (given this title after marriage of her elder half-sister to Duke of Chartres). The Portuguese are rumored to have discovered large source of gold in New World which is estimated to be even greater than Spanish mines in Peru, and the Portuguese subsidies are important in rebuilding of Palatinate, shall it be needed. Money are more important for Rupert (only his closest family now calls him by his embarrassing first name Dudley) than continuation of direct family line that might be endangered by first cousins marriage – Maurice fulfills the function of family breeder perfectly, and if Charles-Rupert fails to have male children from his Portuguese marriage, one of his first cousins will simply inherit the Palatinate. Right now Rupert just hopes for the best and hopes that the neutrality of some sort is possible in this hell’s kitchen.
The war of 1691 starts with the pre-emptive siege of Phillipsburg. For Duc de Valois it will his first important military campaign. However, he is not the most high-ranked Prince of Blood in the army, as this position belongs to the Dauphin. As Louis and Alexander depart to the army the news spread that their wives are expecting their firstborn children – both Anne-Marie-Louise de Medici and Maria-Therese of France are going to bring forth the new generation of French Bourbons. The general plan of campaign is to move up the Rhine to Bonn and install Bishop of Strasbourg to his rightful position of Prince Elector, all Papal vetoes be damned.
In Italy the Duke of Savoy, son-in-law to Duke of Orleans, is spurred by French subsidies to start another war with Genoa, the ally and long-time financial partner of Spain, which was bombarded by French Navy during the War of Reunions. And now the French are not against the repeating of this bombardment. The French Navy under Tourville is considered the best in the Mediterranean. And to secure the Savoyard alliance, it is promised that Le Petite Dauphin, Duke of Burgundy, is to be married to Princess Anne-Marie of Savoy, his second cousin. Also, Savoy is promised Corsica from the Genoese.
Sadly, Abraham Duquesne, celebrated killer of De Ruyter, died in 1688, granted the title of Admiral only out of pure courtesy and on demands of Orleans party practically at the deathbed. “Duquesne is perfectly English, even though he is French – he played with promises of conversion, but withheld the decision until the very last moment, and his mind died thoroughly Protestant”, wrote Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate (herself a Catholic like her mother and unlike her brothers and father) in her diary, her celebrated father fighting together with Duquesne in Third Anglo-Dutch War.
Abraham Duquesne, “by courtesy” Admiral and Marshall of France, who never saw those honors during his impeccable service, but saw them only at the deathbed and after a lot of intrigues (1610-1688)
Prince of Orange, knowing that France securing the Cologne puts the Netherlands in danger, effectively voiding any buffer zone in Spanish Netherlands, reconfirms his alliance with Austria, and William III and Leopold I reconfirm the betrothal of Joseph of Austria and Juliana-Maria of Orange. The proper marriage is to be consummated in 1695.
To counteract the marriage of Anne-Maria-Louisa de Medici to the Dauphin of France, and to secure Tuscany in pro-Habsburg camp, the betrothals of Princes of Tuscany are shifted around in 1690 – Violante Beatrice of Bavaria is offered to Gian Gastone de Medici, while Grand Prince Ferdinando gets the hand of sister to Holy Roman Empress, Maria-Anna of Neuburg [2], who is stunningly beautiful, unlike the dull Bavarian princess, who looks nearly as uninspiring (especially for husband who is second most well known gay prince of Europe after Duc D’Orleans) as the predecessor of Anne-Maria-Louisa in position of Dauphine of France – all Bavarian girls of this generation being simply plain.
Maria-Anna of Neuburg – hopefully beautiful enough to make the “Orpheus of Princes” to perform his duty in the bed
Two other sisters of Maria-Anna get betrothed the same year – Hedwig-Elisabeth [3] is betrothed to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, nephew to Leopold I, with the marriage to be consummated on the same year as the marriage of Joseph of Austria and Dorothea-Sophia of Neuburg is married to Odoardo Farnese.
Hedwig-Elisabeth-Amelia, Countess Palatine of Neuburg and Duchess of Lorraine and Bar.
In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jakub Sobieski, Duke of Slutsk, prepares to go on bribing spree with his wife's money, as health of his father, King John, rapidly declines. There is an obstacle in form of his French mother, but with her wife's money, and hopes of non-Catholic nobility for the Queen from the most prominent Calvinist family of Commonwealth, Jakub hopes to emerge victorious from the election of the next King of Commonwealth.
And finally, once Queen-Mother of Spain, Marianna of Austria, is known to be terminally ill and dying from cancer, Queen Mary of Modena, who basically ruled Spain in the last years, arranges the arrival of Prince-Consort for her daughter, Infanta Maria-Juana of Spain, Archduke Charles of Austria, to Spain. Carlos the Bewitched is not expected to outlive his mother for too long, and the marriage is to be arranged as soon as the Archduke is of suitable age, or as soon as Maria-Juana becomes Maria I of Spain.
The figures are set for the next grand chess match of European politics – with the conquerors of Hungary eager to squish the French attempts in conquest of Westphalia and in advances to Italy, where another rebellion is instigated in Naples due to French efforts, capitalizing on discontent with inevitable “La Nueva Beltraneja” as Queen Regnant of Spain.
[1] Roughly on the site of OTL New Orleans
[2] OTL Queen of Spain
[3]OTL wife of Jakub Sobieski, who is here married to Ludwika Karolina Radziwill
Clouds Covering the Sun
Francoise d’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon, the “Black Queen of France”
As the Sun King became older, he turned to religion. The strict religious upbringing of the King highly contrasted with his splendid court and plentiful breed of bastards. Ironically, the “saint savior” the King looks for is the governess of those bastards, Madame de Maintenon.
She is not another bed warmer pretty doll. She is a “nightly confessor” of the King, a person who despises the “reluctant toleration” policy applied to Huguenots in order to keep pro-French movement in the Netherlands afloat. Though some of the by-products of this policy, namely new Louisiana colony and its newly-found capital of Port-Louis in long-searched mouth of Mississippi River [1] seem to turn out profitable, the Huguenot traders of La Rochelle finally getting themselves a legal settlement colony in Caribbean region – even if dangerous and in the middle of Spanish territory. But sending Huguenots to where they can be killed easily by neighbors instead of where they can conspire with fellow Protestants of British Colonies is a good idea – and new taxable profits are just a bonus. A nice bonus, though, enough to apply some toleration. But as the conversion programs supported by nobles such as Duchess of Guise become more and more aggressive, the rumors persist that soon Louisiana will be the only French territory open for Protestant worship as the influence of Madame de Maintenon increases.
She gathers quite a number of high-positioned haters for herself. Some of them are former Protestants or related to prominent Protestant families. Among them is Duchess d’Orleans and another Palatine Princess, her cousin, Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate, Duchess d’Aubingy. They hate Francoise for her hypocrisy – Liselotte does, at least. Hatred of Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate seems to stem more from banning entertainment from the court, and the same reason for hatred is shared by Liselotte’s sons, Duke Alexander-Louis of Valois and Duke Philippe of Chartres.
Their wives are different. Marie-Therese, Duchess of Valois, former Madame Royale, was married to her first cousin only because she was too young for Spanish court, too old for Austrian and English courts (or, more precise, in British case she was too young to marry Duke of Cambridge and too old to marry Prince of Cambridge), too sickly and of dubious fertility for Savoyard and Portuguese courts and too grand for anyone else, such as Prince Ferdinando de Medici. So her first cousin, six years her junior, was the only possible marriage prospect remaining. She is a Princess of Royal Blood, was very close to her mother (and like her, suffered deeply from Carlos II marrying to Mary of Modena, which was viewed by Maria-Therese of Spain as a betrayal on part of her half brother) and won’t tolerate either her bastard half –sisters (it doesn’t help that they are prettier than her) or their governess being elevated to sacred position of his father’s wife. And no, you can’t save your soul by courting a pious woman. At least that’s what she thinks.
Her sister-in-law, Duchess of Chartres and former Princess of Beira, is a different case. Duke of Chartres was originally married to Isabel-Luisa as a compromise Prince-Consort of Portugal. Now that she’s pushed down the succession line by birth of her half-siblings, she was free to move to France together with her young husband. She expected to see the fabulous court and instead sees something rapidly becoming dull and monastery-like. Not that she decided to leave Portugal (and be diminished in position to fourth lady of the court instead of second – after Dauphine, Duchess of Orleans and Duchess of Valois) to see the same semi-monastic boredom (and poorly done one at that, Versailles was not designed as Palace-Monastery and trying to turn it into one is ridiculous). She eagerly joins in with her husband and brother-in-law to form the “Anti-Maintenon Party”.
Another prominent member of anti-Maintenon Party is Prince of Conti. First of all, he hates Maintenon because she considers him a sinner (François-Louis is a bisexual), and secondly – because he’s close to “Palatinate crowd” by virtue of his wife, Mademoiselle de Bourbon, being a daughter of first cousin to Duchess of Orleans and Duchess of Aubingy. Prince of Conti also plays part of older friend for Alexander de Valois, who was too small during the War of Reunions but is eager to participate in the next big war, which is nearing as Archbishop of Cologne is dying and Louis XIV and Leopold I try to find a candidate to fill in the position of high strategic importance on the Rhine.
Conti has already saw military service against the Turks but Alexander will never be allowed to go to Hungary or Slavonia to fight infidels, due to him being a nephew and son-in-law of the King and thus “too valuable” to risk his life in some desolate country. He needs to wait for “suitable” war, and in the meantime, the Duke of Valois poses in full wargear in front of portrait of Le Grand Conde in his private apartments in Versailles. He seems to be destined for military carrier, eagerly and wishingly undergoing the military training from the best tutors, including Vauban, whose economic ideas also influence young Duke – despite he learns about them in the breaks between fortification theory lessons.
Maintenon seems to find support in the Dauphin and at first – in his new wife, Anne-Marie-Louise de Medici. Though after the Queen of England, Anne de Montpensier, dies in 1693 of complications of urinary bladder infection, her correspondence with the Dauphine is unveiled. And the correspondence between aunt and niece seems to sway the Dauphine in favor of “Orleans Party”, which is seemed generally pro-British. Not that France is not an ally to Britain, Palatinate or Portugal, but two of those three are Protestant.
And marriage of Duke of York to Anne de Montpensier was worth more of a headache than of real profit. England did not turn into puppet state of France, and while Anne made damn sure her husband is an ally to King Louis in foreign policies, her views on domestic policy differed radically from what Louis planned on the other side of Pas-de-Calais. Probably, her hunchbacked wannabe abbess sister, Duchess of Guise, would have made better Queen of England. But then…right now England is an ally to France, relationships between the King James and his nephew Prince of Orange are strained, and shall the Dutch join the Second Cologne War, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War might happen… or might not happen.
As Maximilian Henry of Bavaria lies dying in Cologne, the competition for the Prince-Elector position starts between William of Furstenberg and Joseph-Clemens of Bavaria. Here Louis XIV starts to regret marrying his niece Anna-Maria to brother of Elector of Palatinate, instead of brother of Elector of Bavaria – and Elisabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, the remaining niece, is already betrothed to Prince Charles of Cambridge. Offending England gravely by outright refusing them a hand of French princess is a stupid move of alienating potential ally into Protestant hands (Prince of Orange looks for mending the relationship with his uncle and for husband for his younger daughters), even though the princess has all the chances to turn out another Orleans troublemaker, while her brothers more than compensate for apolitical upbringing of their father – Duc de Valois and Duc de Chartres look like they will be troublemakers supreme of the last years of Louis’ reign and start of the reign of his successor.
The “Palatinate” party at the French court (or more likely, Orleans party) does what they can to delay the war – since from experience of previous Cologne War attempts to occupy the Electorate of Cologne will require the use of parts of Palatinate for their strategic position. The native land of Duchess d’Orleans has barely recovered from Thirty Years War, and now the Imperial and French armies will again ruin the Palatinate. And the war seems imminent – the only thing Elector Palatine Rupert V can do is to promise to remain neutral in conflict, knowing perfectly well that it is not for long. What he does, through, is a betrothal of his only son (who will likely remain the only, as Anne of York seems not to be too fertile in second cousins marriage – she had five pregnancies so far, but only Charles-Rupert, the firstborn, survived through infancy) to his first cousin, Anna-Francesca, Princess of Beira (given this title after marriage of her elder half-sister to Duke of Chartres). The Portuguese are rumored to have discovered large source of gold in New World which is estimated to be even greater than Spanish mines in Peru, and the Portuguese subsidies are important in rebuilding of Palatinate, shall it be needed. Money are more important for Rupert (only his closest family now calls him by his embarrassing first name Dudley) than continuation of direct family line that might be endangered by first cousins marriage – Maurice fulfills the function of family breeder perfectly, and if Charles-Rupert fails to have male children from his Portuguese marriage, one of his first cousins will simply inherit the Palatinate. Right now Rupert just hopes for the best and hopes that the neutrality of some sort is possible in this hell’s kitchen.
The war of 1691 starts with the pre-emptive siege of Phillipsburg. For Duc de Valois it will his first important military campaign. However, he is not the most high-ranked Prince of Blood in the army, as this position belongs to the Dauphin. As Louis and Alexander depart to the army the news spread that their wives are expecting their firstborn children – both Anne-Marie-Louise de Medici and Maria-Therese of France are going to bring forth the new generation of French Bourbons. The general plan of campaign is to move up the Rhine to Bonn and install Bishop of Strasbourg to his rightful position of Prince Elector, all Papal vetoes be damned.
In Italy the Duke of Savoy, son-in-law to Duke of Orleans, is spurred by French subsidies to start another war with Genoa, the ally and long-time financial partner of Spain, which was bombarded by French Navy during the War of Reunions. And now the French are not against the repeating of this bombardment. The French Navy under Tourville is considered the best in the Mediterranean. And to secure the Savoyard alliance, it is promised that Le Petite Dauphin, Duke of Burgundy, is to be married to Princess Anne-Marie of Savoy, his second cousin. Also, Savoy is promised Corsica from the Genoese.
Sadly, Abraham Duquesne, celebrated killer of De Ruyter, died in 1688, granted the title of Admiral only out of pure courtesy and on demands of Orleans party practically at the deathbed. “Duquesne is perfectly English, even though he is French – he played with promises of conversion, but withheld the decision until the very last moment, and his mind died thoroughly Protestant”, wrote Ruperta-Elisabeth of Palatinate (herself a Catholic like her mother and unlike her brothers and father) in her diary, her celebrated father fighting together with Duquesne in Third Anglo-Dutch War.
Abraham Duquesne, “by courtesy” Admiral and Marshall of France, who never saw those honors during his impeccable service, but saw them only at the deathbed and after a lot of intrigues (1610-1688)
Prince of Orange, knowing that France securing the Cologne puts the Netherlands in danger, effectively voiding any buffer zone in Spanish Netherlands, reconfirms his alliance with Austria, and William III and Leopold I reconfirm the betrothal of Joseph of Austria and Juliana-Maria of Orange. The proper marriage is to be consummated in 1695.
To counteract the marriage of Anne-Maria-Louisa de Medici to the Dauphin of France, and to secure Tuscany in pro-Habsburg camp, the betrothals of Princes of Tuscany are shifted around in 1690 – Violante Beatrice of Bavaria is offered to Gian Gastone de Medici, while Grand Prince Ferdinando gets the hand of sister to Holy Roman Empress, Maria-Anna of Neuburg [2], who is stunningly beautiful, unlike the dull Bavarian princess, who looks nearly as uninspiring (especially for husband who is second most well known gay prince of Europe after Duc D’Orleans) as the predecessor of Anne-Maria-Louisa in position of Dauphine of France – all Bavarian girls of this generation being simply plain.
Maria-Anna of Neuburg – hopefully beautiful enough to make the “Orpheus of Princes” to perform his duty in the bed
Two other sisters of Maria-Anna get betrothed the same year – Hedwig-Elisabeth [3] is betrothed to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, nephew to Leopold I, with the marriage to be consummated on the same year as the marriage of Joseph of Austria and Dorothea-Sophia of Neuburg is married to Odoardo Farnese.
Hedwig-Elisabeth-Amelia, Countess Palatine of Neuburg and Duchess of Lorraine and Bar.
In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jakub Sobieski, Duke of Slutsk, prepares to go on bribing spree with his wife's money, as health of his father, King John, rapidly declines. There is an obstacle in form of his French mother, but with her wife's money, and hopes of non-Catholic nobility for the Queen from the most prominent Calvinist family of Commonwealth, Jakub hopes to emerge victorious from the election of the next King of Commonwealth.
And finally, once Queen-Mother of Spain, Marianna of Austria, is known to be terminally ill and dying from cancer, Queen Mary of Modena, who basically ruled Spain in the last years, arranges the arrival of Prince-Consort for her daughter, Infanta Maria-Juana of Spain, Archduke Charles of Austria, to Spain. Carlos the Bewitched is not expected to outlive his mother for too long, and the marriage is to be arranged as soon as the Archduke is of suitable age, or as soon as Maria-Juana becomes Maria I of Spain.
The figures are set for the next grand chess match of European politics – with the conquerors of Hungary eager to squish the French attempts in conquest of Westphalia and in advances to Italy, where another rebellion is instigated in Naples due to French efforts, capitalizing on discontent with inevitable “La Nueva Beltraneja” as Queen Regnant of Spain.
[1] Roughly on the site of OTL New Orleans
[2] OTL Queen of Spain
[3]OTL wife of Jakub Sobieski, who is here married to Ludwika Karolina Radziwill
Last edited:
And there are some portraits of prominent characters of that TL...
And later-in-life portrait of their youngest brother Maurice, Duke of Simmern-Kaiserslautern
Electoral Prince Charles-Rupert of Palatinate-Simmern
I note that these two guys have their hands stuck into their coats. I guess Napoleon didn't invent that pose.
Those are genuine portraits of nobility from this region from 1690ies-1700ies - I just took a bunch of them signed as "Unknown Lady/Gentleman" and measured the looks against their known OTL relatives.
The picture of "Adult Maria-Therese de France" I found pretty accurately matches her childhood portrait, but I wonder whose portrait it is really.
The picture of "Adult Maria-Therese de France" I found pretty accurately matches her childhood portrait, but I wonder whose portrait it is really.