#bro he's obviously Lutheran

[mariedemedicis]

House of Romanov in my au

so initially I really wanted Catherine Henrietta to marry into the Romanovs but I wasn’t sure how realistic it was for an English Anglican princess to marry into Russian Orthodoxs but looking at the age appropriate matches, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, son of Peter the Great is only three years older than her? and his intended bride, Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was a year younger than CH as well as a Protestant so this honestly seemed like a very feasible match, which was exciting. plus it seems like the marriage arrangement allowed CC to continue to be a practicing Lutheran although her children had to be brought up Russian Orthodox. obviously there are a lot of differences between the Eastern and Western churches but I still think Anglican is a little closer to Russian Orthodox than Lutheran. anyway, I’m imagining a similar settlement for CH.

I don’t see Alexei’s personality changing so he’s probably still going to be a dumb bitch defect to Austria and die during interrogation under torture. (Sorry bro but you did that all by yourself.)

Henrietta (known as Ekaterina in Russia) was as popular as her husband was not and I see her pulling something of a Catherine de Medici to get close with her father-in-law. She remained in correspondence with her mother and older sister Elizabeth until her mother’s death and then her own.

Unfortunately Peter the Great died without designating an heir in 1725 and his wife, Catherine, seized the throne and remained in power until her death 1727. Henrietta immediately began consolidating power and promoting the cause of her son (a la Eleanor of Aquitaine, you could say).

after Catherine’s death, Henrietta seized control of Catherine’s younger daughter Elizabeth, adding her to her own household, and prevented her from making an aristocratic match. Elizabeth’s older sister Anna was safely out of reach in Holstein but died less than a year later given birth to her son, Carl Peter Ulrich.

(am I imagining a parallels gifset showing the struggles of both Elizabeth and Henrietta in France and Russia respectively? why, yes, I am)

so, wall of text aside, as I mentioned elsewhere, Henrietta and Alexei had:

Peter/Pyotr (b. 1713; d. November 1731), became Peter II and ruled for only three years (May 1727 - November 1731), went into a deep depression after the death of his beloved little sister Anna and eventually died of pneumonia in 1731, never married (basically didn’t really have time to);

Dmitry (b. 1714; d. 1776), succeeded his brother and ruled for forty-four years (November 1731 - 1776), his regnal name is a matter of debate among scholars (see: the False Dmitrys) but he is generally regarded as Dmitry II, made a highly unusual marriage to Polish–Lithuanian noblewoman Zofia Krasińska in 1740; 

Sophia (b. 1715; d. 1781), married Count Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov in 1733;

Miscarriage in 1716

Ivan (b. 1717; d. 1770), never married;

Anna (b. 1719; d. 1729), born shortly after her father’s death, her eldest brother Peter appointed himself her protector immediately upon seeing her for the first time and when she died of consumption at age ten, he went into a deep depression and eventually died of pneumonia in 1731, though romantics like to say it was of a broken heart;

(I actually don’t know what titles would be given to the sons and daughters of the Tsarevich (Grand Dukes and Duchesses for the younger ones maybe?), though presumably Peter would have inherited the title of Tsarevich when his father died.)

In 1732, Henrietta was found to be pregnant in a huge scandal (Alexei having been dead for fourteen years at this point) and gave birth to her last child, Maria (b.1732; d. 1804), who earned the interesting sobriquet Maria the Fatherless from historians. She received courtesy titles from her brother Dmitry.

Dmitry and Zofia had:

Grand Duchess Catherine/Ekaterina (b. 1741; d. ????), ;

Tsarevich Dmitry (b. 1743; d. ????), became Dmitry III;

Grand Duchess Zofia (b. 1744; d. ????), ;

Grand Duke Nicholas/Nicolai (b. 1748; d. ????), ;

Sophia married Count Vorontsov and they had:

Alexander (b. 1733; d. ????), ;

Mikhail (b. 1735; d. ????), ;

Sophia (b. 1736; d. ????), ;

Catherine/Yekaterina (b. 1737; d. ????), ;

Elizabeth/Elizaveta (b. 1739; d. ????), ;

Anna (b. 1743; d. ????), ;

I don’t know yet who Dmitry (III) married but this means the direct male line of the Romanov Dynasty continued until (at least) his death.

#*princess rachel’s world #again: #to be updated when i figure out more