Everyone knows that in the past, marriages between members of reigning dynasties were conceived solely to strengthen political alliances. In the process of preparing for trips to Europe, I often delve into books, and while reading biographies of princes, princes and emperors, I am amazed at how bizarre zigzags of European politics are. More than once I had a question: did the Romanovs and the Austrian Habsburgs enter into dynastic marriages?
The first answer to this question I received, getting acquainted with the history of the tiny North German principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. At the beginning of the 18th century, Russia and Austria, strengthening the alliance to fight Ottoman Turkey, became intermarried through two sisters, Elizabeth and Charlotte, the Princesses of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel.
The eldest, Elizabeth, having passed from Lutheranism to Catholicism, became the wife of Archduke Charles, future emperor Charles 6.
The younger, Charlotte, was married to the son of the Russian Tsar Peter 1, Tsarevich Alexei. Thus, the daughter of Charles 6, the Austrian Archduke Maria Theresa and the grandson of Peter 1, the young emperor Peter 2, were cousins.
This "indirect" way of intermarrying is quite understandable - in the 17-18 century the Catholic Church still had a very strong influence to prevent the marriage of Catholic monarchs with Protestants and Orthodox.
But almost 100 years passed, and Russia and Austria found themselves allies in the face of a new threat, the threat of the French revolutionary armies. I think that day when the rebellious Parisians put the guillotine of their king Louis 16 under the knife, many of the monarchs of Europe convulsed the place where they put on lace collars - a gentle monarch's neck.
The Austrians had special reasons for hatred - the wife of Louis 16, Marie Antoinette, also executed by the Jacobins, was the daughter of Archduke Maria Theresa.
Russia was in no hurry to send troops against France; only in 1798 did Emperor Paul 1 join the Second Anti-French Coalition. Already in January of that year, Russian troops advanced to the Danube.
And then the Austrians came up with a plan to strengthen the military-political union by marriage between the offspring of the Romanov and Habsburg dynasties. The matchmakers arrived in St. Petersburg: to ask the hands of Alexandra Pavlovna, the daughter of the emperor, for Archduke Joseph, brother of Emperor Franz 2. The bride was only 16, the bridegroom - 23.
Alexandra (Sashenka, Alexandrin) was the eldest daughter of Pavel and Sofia-Dorothea of Württemberg. According to contemporaries, the damsel was sweet and reasonable. Three years before, they tried to marry Alexander (at 13!), Still grandmother Catherine 2, for the Swedish king Gustav 4. It would seem that everything was going to a successful “marriage deal”, but at the last moment Gustav demanded that the bride move to Lutheran faith, and all efforts went to dust.
Now Sasha was more adult, who came for the acquaintance of Joseph, was subdued by the young princess, and she reciprocated.
February 20, 1799 the ceremony of betrothal of the young. The Archduke also liked the Russians - young, slender, smart, with pleasant manners.
The bride remained prepared for the wedding, collecting a dowry: in addition to feather-beds, pillows, silverware and porcelain (what else is there for the princesses?), Alexandra was given a million gold rubles.
And the groom went to war with the French.
Russian troops also went there. In March 1799, Ushakov's squadron sailed to the Mediterranean Sea, and Field Marshal Suvorov arrived in Vienna, who was appointed commander of the Russian troops at the request of the British and Austrians.