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Apparently there were plans for Marie of Prussia to marry Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, brother of Prince Albert, at some point. However, then Alexander II went on a tour of Germany and met his wife - Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt - jilting his erstwhile fiancée, Alexandrine of Baden. Alexander's sister, Maria Nikolaïevna was arranged to wed Maximilian II of Bavaria, but a compromise was reached and she was wed to his cousin, Maximilian of Leuchtenberg instead.

Marie was an interesting character in her own right (a fact I think often gets overlooked with her sons' eccentricities). She was one of the first female mountaineers and was quite popular in Munich, despite being Protestant (she only converted to Catholicism in the 1870s). "Still people of both confessions loved her. This was probably mostly because of her social commitment and her constant travel through her new home." She was active in the Bavarian Woman's Organization from which sprang the Bavarian Red Cross.

One of Marie’s greatest passions was nature and with that hiking. She actually became the first female mountaineer and often took her sons with her. But when she wanted to climb the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, her husband forbid it. She would follow this order even some time after his death but would climb the mountain eventually.

The Romanovs sticking to the script isn't overly important (was more clickbait), but what if Ernst both manages to avoid contracting syphilis and marries Marie. Marie was pregnant several times during her marriage to Maximilian, but only carried two babies to term (Ludwig II and Otto), apparently.

Albert was already pro-Prussian in his dream of a united Germany, might he be more so in a scenario where he has a Prussian sister-in-law? And what if Marie's kids go off the reservation like Ludwig/Otto did OTL? (I ask because the "madness" seems to have come from Marie's side of the family, since none of Maximilian's siblings or cousins had a similar problem).
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