Mountbatten of Burma was hugely influential in the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. He was absolutely determined his nephew would marry the heir to the British throne and left no stone unturned in his determination to achieve the match.
Had Mountbatten been alive, who can say what might have happened when it came to the point that his great-nephew and devotee, Prince Charles, was finally persuaded to marry. He had aspirations that it would be to his great-neice. Whether he would have been able to manipulate the pair, we will never know.
Alexander Alexandrovich who not only inherited his older brother, Nixa's, title, he also inherited his fiancee, Dagmar of Denmark. Alexander was involved elsewhere - with Princess Marie Mestchersky (she was one of his mother's maids of honour). He was very much in love with Marie and, for some, had to fight the battle between love and duty. In the end, duty won - reluctantly. He wrote 'I want to refuse to marry Dagmar, whom I cannot love and don't want... I don't want any wife but M.E.'
Alexander II was furious. Princess Marie was sent to Paris and Alexander Alexandrovich went to Denmark where he very soon acclimatised to the prospect of marrying Dagmar.
tsaria