Hi all,
Sorry for the long radio silence. RL got in the way this last year. Finished my masters (successfully) - yay - moved, and am now currently one of the great unemployed - aw - but hopefully I'll be around more.
Inspired by a convo I had with @Vitruvius a while back, what if Felipe III remarried? OTL he didn't and from what I can find, there were two candidates offered for him: Eleonora Gonzaga (niece of Maria de Medici, Queen-Consort of France; sister to the duchess of Lorraine, OTL empress) and Eleonora de Medici (daughter of Ferdinando I of Tuscany and Christine of Lorraine).
Now, Eleonora de Medici was kept single so long as the possibility of her marrying D. Felipe III was there. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and Eleonora later died of smallpox, unwed.
What if Felipe III had married Eleonora? I can't think that this would be entirely ASB. Just let one of his three surviving sons die, that the dynasty looks a little less secure and I could definitely see him remarrying. IIRC Felipe III didn't particularly like his Savoyard half-nephews who, until his eldest child's birth, were his heirs-presumptive (we're ignoring the possibility of a Queen Isabel II, but since she had no children, the Savoyards would've wound up ruling Spain eventaully), regarding them as overly ambitious by half. When his eldest son was born, he forced the Savoyard princes in residence in Madrid (Emanuele Filiberto and one of the others) to walk in the baptismal procession in a way as to underline their displacement as his heirs.
So, what if Felipe III remarries and has a few more kids (in this scenario Eleonora would live longer than OTL). Maybe Felipe III also lives longer? IDK what killed him OTL, but he died comparatively young to his father and eldest son. Not saying that Felipe III living longer will be "great" for Spain, but it'd be interesting to see the route he takes compared to his son-Olivares in the 1620s OTL.
Sorry for the long radio silence. RL got in the way this last year. Finished my masters (successfully) - yay - moved, and am now currently one of the great unemployed - aw - but hopefully I'll be around more.
Inspired by a convo I had with @Vitruvius a while back, what if Felipe III remarried? OTL he didn't and from what I can find, there were two candidates offered for him: Eleonora Gonzaga (niece of Maria de Medici, Queen-Consort of France; sister to the duchess of Lorraine, OTL empress) and Eleonora de Medici (daughter of Ferdinando I of Tuscany and Christine of Lorraine).
Now, Eleonora de Medici was kept single so long as the possibility of her marrying D. Felipe III was there. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and Eleonora later died of smallpox, unwed.
What if Felipe III had married Eleonora? I can't think that this would be entirely ASB. Just let one of his three surviving sons die, that the dynasty looks a little less secure and I could definitely see him remarrying. IIRC Felipe III didn't particularly like his Savoyard half-nephews who, until his eldest child's birth, were his heirs-presumptive (we're ignoring the possibility of a Queen Isabel II, but since she had no children, the Savoyards would've wound up ruling Spain eventaully), regarding them as overly ambitious by half. When his eldest son was born, he forced the Savoyard princes in residence in Madrid (Emanuele Filiberto and one of the others) to walk in the baptismal procession in a way as to underline their displacement as his heirs.
So, what if Felipe III remarries and has a few more kids (in this scenario Eleonora would live longer than OTL). Maybe Felipe III also lives longer? IDK what killed him OTL, but he died comparatively young to his father and eldest son. Not saying that Felipe III living longer will be "great" for Spain, but it'd be interesting to see the route he takes compared to his son-Olivares in the 1620s OTL.