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« on: May 24, 2005, 07:21:42 PM »
You make excellent points, Bluetoria. On the other hand, my sense is that Vicky was far more interested in power politics than was Alice, and that the desire to see one of her daughters on a throne may have played a role in her support of Sophie's marriage into an Orthodox family. I don't think Alice would have been quite as interested in seeing her daughters marry into a powerful family. While both Vicky and Alice were liberal (in the 19th century sense) intellectuals, and both were interested in improving social conditions, I think Alice was more introspective, perhaps more spiritual, and far less political. Their very different marriages and positions in the German royal hierarchy probably played a role in their development, as did the fact that Prince Albert deliberately schooled Vicky to be the wife of the German Crown Prince, while arranging for Alice to marry a relatively minor ruler. I still think Alice might have guided her daughters away from their marriages into Russia, since Russia was the antithesis of her liberal ideals, including her unconventional religious views. And I think she might have seen that Serge had issues (as we say these days), and persuaded Ella to look elsewhere. She had much more penetration than poor Ludwig, who does not seem to have been the sharpest knife in the drawer. And if Ella did not marry Serge, Alix's marriage to Nicky would have been much less likely.
This is all guesswork at this stage...but I have read a lot about this family, which interests me greatly, and this is my reading of what Alice might have done to change the course of history as we know it.
Sorry for the long post! You can tell this is a great interest of mine.