Read part two here. As Empress Elizabeth’s health deteriorated, Catherine found herself pregnant with Gregory Orlov’s child, and she began to seclude herself. Peter was already talking of repudiating her and Catherine did not want to fuel the fire by appearing in public while pregnant. On 3 January 1762, Empress Elizabeth suffered a massive stroke, [read more]
Queen, Mother, and Stateswoman: Mariana of Austria and the Government of Spain Paperback – 18 August 2020 (US) & 15 May 2020 (UK) When Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, his heir, Carlos II, was three years old. In addition to this looming dynastic crisis, decades of enormous military commitments had left Spain a [read more]
Read part one here. Sophie had arrived at the Russian court as a 14-year-old German Princess to marry the 15-year-old Grand Duke Peter – heir and nephew of Empress Elizabeth of Russia – accompanied by her mother, Johanna. They were received like Queens, much to Johanna’s delight who considered the match her personal triumph. Sophie [read more]
Sophia of Hanover would have been Queen of Great Britain if she had lived just a few months longer. In the end, she died only two months before Queen Anne, and it was Sophia’s eldest son who became King George I of Great Britain. The youngest daughter of the famous Winter Queen, Elizabeth Stuart, and [read more]
In the early hours of 2 May 1729, 16-year-old Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein Gottorp, wife of the 39-year-old Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, gave birth to her first child in a merchant’s house in Szczecin (in present-day Poland). The house served as temporary quarters for her husband, who was stationed there as a general [read more]
Read part one here. In the early years of the marriage, Marie suffered at least two miscarriages that reportedly almost cost her her life, after which she travelled to the waters at Travemünde. She wrote to her husband, “The two miscarriages so quickly following each other have deeply affected my health and body and requires [read more]
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