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A few days ago, I came across the tidbit of information that when Leopold I was widowed for the second time, the clarion call went out to the courts of Europe looking for a new empress. There were five ladies who made the running. His OTL third wife (Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg), two Protestant girls (one from Denmark and one from Baden), the future dauphine of France (Maria Anna Viktoria of Bavaria) and none other than the eldest daughter of James, duke of York: OTL Mary II.

Maria Anna Viktoria's candidacy, while favoured by Vienna, was shot down by her own grandmother (Leopold's aunt), Maria Anna of Austria, Dowager Electress of Bavaria. Katharina Barbara [of Baden-Durlach]'s match was blocked on grounds of religion. Surprisingly not by Vienna. Rather the Badenese court refused. She was Lutheran, he Catholic, and there was a panic that the emperor intended to require Baden (both Katharina and her father, thus the margraviate)'s conversion to Catholicism, and as such the marriage was refused. Mary was later refused (not on grounds of her religion) on who her mother was "bassessa della madre" (My Italian's pisspoor but I'm pretty sure that's roughly translatable as the "baseness of the mother".

Eleonore only became empress thanks to the intervention of her father (Philipp Wilhelm)'s cousin/niece, Sophie Auguste of Sulzbach, who was married to Prince Lobkowitz. Lobkowitz played up Julich-Cleves' position as beneficial to the empire's security to the imperial vice-chancellor, Strattmann, and warned against allowing it to fall under French influence - since it was within memory that Eleonore had been courted by James, duke of York, who was part of a Anglo-French alliance.

But what if Mary had been chosen. It wouldn't take much. The Badener and Danish matches would refuse to convert. Eleonore wanted to become a nun, so perhaps she decides on it when she gets rejected for Klaudia Felizitas and she tells the Austrian ambassador to go take his proposal and shove it when he comes calling the second time. Which leaves it down to Mary of York versus Maria Anna Viktoria of Bavaria. The Bavarian princess is a co-religionist, but Munich would rather a match with Paris for her. So say that Leopold has to re-consider Mary. And decides that he'll overlook her mother's "baseness".

James II will be ecstatic, since while he was going for dauphine OTL, empress is much better. And his whole madcap Catholic schema involved Mary+dauphin and Anne+Carlos II. So, here, Mary+Leopold I should check at least one of his boxes. If Mary of Modena gives birth to a long-lived enough son that it seems as though a Protestant succession is secure for the time being (the boy can later die), could it happen? And what would be the results of having a daughter as empress? Would James still embark on a foolishly pro-French policy? It's unlikely that Mary would be able to lead a Glorious Revolution analogue TTL, so would they look to Anne (who I assume would probably marry Willem III - or he might marry elsewhere)? Or would James be secure on his throne?
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