Alexei's wife?

[Romanov_fan]

What you posted is true, and I agree that if the House Laws were tighter, then the possibility of Alexei marrying someone who was not of Royal rank, already slim, becomes impossible.  And his hemophilia might have been worse than some other Princes who I compared him to, so comparing him to Prince Leopold may not be fair.

[ilyala]

about eliminating all queen victoria's descendants as possible brides... remember that hemophilia is carried only by women, not by men. if anything, it was seen in leopold's case: he was a hemophiliac, but his children were healthy. i don't think the people of the time were that unknowing about it. missy was the daughter of prince alfred, who was a healthy son of queen victoria. i'm pretty sure no-one ever eliminated her children as possible spouses because of hemophilia. actually, i heard she might have had some reservations about olga who could have been a carrier, when discussions were happening on a possible marriage between her and carol.

again, someone pointed out and i'm rebringing it into discussions: no matter how not eager n&a were about their girls leaving the country, a marriage between olga and carol was accepted on a theoretical basis. that means they had no objection what so ever on the romanian royal family and that meant that, had their son agreed upon it, i sincerely doubt they would have done anything to stop the marriage.

as for missy not wanting ileana on russia's throne, missy herself was half russian. anyone who has read her memoires can see that she has a very deep love of russian royalty (i get the impression that her russian uncles were godlike figures to her). no matter how unstable the throne was, i think that love of russia would have made her more inclined to approve upon such a marriage. and another argument that was already mentioned: while the yugoslavian throne (mignon's) was pretty stable at the time, the greek one wasn't. the greeks had rebelled twice (with outside influence...) against king constantine, elizabeth's father-in-law. at the time of elizabeth's marriage, king of greece was george's little brother alexander, which meant that it wasn't even sure that george would ever get a throne, and considerring history, that he'd keep it for long (which he didn't). so unstable thrones were no problem for missy.

the only problem with the ileana match would be if they didn't like each other. that we will never know. i know that ileana seemed to have quite a crush on alexei when he visited constanta with his family, but those crushes don't always turn into adult love (remember nicky himself had a crush on toria when he was a child and nothing came of it). but i tend to believe that, had alexei not seen and fallen for someone else and his parents presented him with ileana as a choice, he would have taken it. she was beautiful and nice enough, everyone loved her, and even if he wasn't going to fall madly in love with her right away, she was a pleasant enough personality to promise the possibility of a happy life (however short) together.

[Elizaveta]

Do you guys think that Nicholas and Alexandra might rush their son into marriage at a young age (say, in his early adulthood) so Alexei can produce a heir before his possible premature death? They were very insecure about the survival of the Russian imperial government, so they could push Alexei to find a wife right away once he reaches a certain age.

And the way I understand about the complicated disease of haemophilia, a haemophilic CANNOT pass on this disease to his children. Once one has haemophilia, one won't need to expect to have haemophilic sons and carrier daughters. I believe that daughters of a haemophilic will not be carriers. The case of Prince Leopold proved that it's true, but I'm not 100% positive if I got it right about haemophilia. Boy, it'd be so much easier if an expert or a doctor is able to make everything about haemophilia absolutely clear in this forum! 

[alixaannencova]

According to Sofka Skipwith, during the Great War a great deal of discussion was made of the succession and how to reconcile the IF to the people in the future. Dolgorouky and others were heavily in favour of the Tsar amending the Ukaz pertaining to Imperial marriages, thus permitting the heir to marry a native Russian of suitable birth. This move was seen, during the tubulent years of 1915/16 as a possible coup de grace to apease the xenophobia spreading though Russia at the time. A simple rumour was apparently planted within court circles and every suitable family including the Dolgoroukys set about planning for the future contest.

As a child, Sofka recalled being told that she was at one time considered a suitable candidate. Even in 1916 PR was alive and well. A Romanov/native Russian Marriage would have proved quite a coup if only.......!

[Romanov_fan]

That's certainly an interesting theory. Who knows what might have transpired, but I think Alexei's marriage would have been of great importance however it fell. As for Alexandra being a bad mother in law, it is true that she might have been possessive of Alexei even when he was grown up given his illness, and the importance of his life to her, and the succession, or to the throne if he lived long to ascend it. As well, she would have pressured his wife no doubt for a suitable, male heir, because I can't see Alexandra doing anything less, given how much Alexei always meant to her, and the succession. Would that have made her a bad mother in law? I don't  think it would have completely, it would have depended on who he married as well.

[Harvey]

Maybe Alexei would have turned out to be a homosexual like other memebers of the family.

[Elena]

In the midle of the war, in 1915, Princess Catherine Radziwill published a book named THE ROYAL MARRIAGE MARKET OF EUROPE.  So here is some contemporary speculation, an excerpt:

“The daughters of the Emperor Nicholas are perhaps the greatest matches in Europe at the present moment, if one takes into consideration the immense fortunes which they will bring to their husbands, in addition to their position, personal charm, and prestige.

But in the Royal marriage market they count but little in comparison with their brother, the little Grand Duke Alexis, about whose future wife people are talking already, notwithstanding the fact that he is but eleven years old and in very delicate health. Upon him rest the hopes of Holy Russia, and for him she prays every day in her numerous churches and shrines. He is a precocious, most intelligent child, the idolised son of fond parents, who for ten years waited in vain for the birth of a longed-for heir. Handsome, bright, clever, and wilful, he is, because of his physical weakness, the object of the most tender solicitude on the part of his father and mother, and it is probable that the Empress Alexandra is already wondering who will be lucky enough to win him for a husband when the time comes for him to look about for a bride. That he will marry young is certain, because, being an only son, it is most essential that the succession to the Throne should be assured in the direct line. It is but natural, therefore, that even so early this important question should be discussed both in private and in official circles. Russia would decidedly object to a German princess, even if it were likely the Romanoffs would turn their thoughts that way. A Spanish Infanta is out of the question. There remains, therefore, few others. The little Princess Ingrid, the daughter of the Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden, is one. She is about five years old at present. Or maybe one of her cousins, the daughters of Prince Charles and of Princess Ingeborg, may be chosen. It must be remembered that the Princess Ingeborg belongs to the reigning house of Denmark, and that Court has still much to say in Russian Court circles, and will have so long as the Dowager Empress lives. Perhaps the eyes of Nicholas II. may turn toward one of the little Greek princesses, of whom there are plenty, and who,through their Russian relationship, offer considerable advantages. There are nine of them, two daughters of the King, and their cousins, the children of Prince Nicolas and of Prince Andrew, all of whom promise to inherit the good looks of their respective mothers.”

[Halinka]

I don't really belive he ever had a wife, even in the end because Nicolas and Alexis had delayed Olga and Tatina outcoming into society because of WW1 and also Alexis did'nt want to lose her daughters. Also Nicolas and Alexis would offered Alexei as "baby" I don't think they would want to be slpit-apart in the end.

[Lalee]

Marriage was pretty much impossible for the girls when the war started in 1914 (Olga, who is the eldest, would have been around nineteen at the time). There wouldn't have been any time to arrange it and it wouldn't be very joyful because of what was going on.

Alix didn't want to lose her daughters, but that doesn't mean she would pull them back from marrying, and same with Aleksei. But, the girls (and evidently Olga) didn't seem to have any interest in marrying a prince from another country. They wanted to stay in Russia and, being united and devoted to their parents, they didn't want to be far from Nicholas and Alix.

[jehan]

Marriage was pretty much impossible for the girls when the war started in 1914 (Olga, who is the eldest, would have been around nineteen at the time). There wouldn't have been any time to arrange it and it wouldn't be very joyful because of what was going on.

Alix didn't want to lose her daughters, but that doesn't mean she would pull them back from marrying, and same with Aleksei. But, the girls (and evidently Olga) didn't seem to have any interest in marrying a prince from another country. They wanted to stay in Russia and, being united and devoted to their parents, they didn't want to be far from Nicholas and Alix.

I don't know that we can ever know this for sure,but I doubt that this would have been true.  Olga did say at one point (when she was 18) that she wanted to stay in Russia, but she had just turned down Carol of Romania, and may have wanted to "save diplomatic face" and not offend the Romanians, even though she may have meant it at the time.  I don't think we can hold her words as gospel that she would have stuck to all her life.  Most people do not feel the same way at  30, or even 25, as they did at 18, and if she had met the right man, her mind might well have been changed.  She had really only been "on the marriage market" for a few months when the war started, and the others never really had a chance.  They might well have met a prince, nobleman, or even commoner who might have given them other ideas.  Maria in particular expressed a wish to marry and be a mother.  The others were very much girls of their class and generation- I'm sure that they expected to marry and have children eventually too.  I don't think they would have been happy little Grand Duchesses living with their parents into their 30s and older.  I highly doubt that they would have been happy never to leave home and have their own homes and families.  Give them a little credit for wanting to grow up eventually.

The problem with trying to guess what might have happened is that the family is pretty much "frozen in time" to us- as a close, united family with teenage children and very young women.  Remember that the war created an artificial atmosphere of closeness- there was really little other choice but to live together and not to travel to other places and meet people beyond the family/hospital (for the older girls) circles.  But  into the 1920s their world would have changed, even had there not been a revolution, and the family would not and COULD not have stayed the same, however much some might want them to stay at their 1916 or 1918 ages forever.

 And had Alix insisted on keeping them close (Which I doubt would have happened), they might well have become embittered old maids like their cousin Victoria of England, rather than the happy pretty girls we see them as in their youth.  And while none of them were terribly intellectual (Olga was perhaps as B+ student in a family of C students), I think that they all would have eventually found the life of an unmarried Grand Duchess around court very stultifying and boring over the years, especially when their brother succeeded (if he survived), and even more so if/when they became just cousins of the reigning emperor.  It's not like any of them would have pursued further education or had careers.

[Michael HR]

I have always believed that the Tsarina would have wanted her children to marry and leave the nest. She I don't think had any wish for them to remain unmarried and in fact somewhere on the board is messages about how she hoped they would have a love match like her and the Tsar. I also had never given any thought to the suggestion that OTMA would be hemophilia carriers and that this might have affected their chances in marriage. Perhaps the Tsar might have changed the rules to allow marriage from outside royal rank. Sadly we shall never know what might have been for these charming young people caught up in a tragedy not of their making.

[Alixz]

According to Julia P Gelardi in Born to Rule  Marie of Roumania was not true to her husband and had had an affair with Grand Duke Boris which produced the child Mignon.  There appears to have been one other pregnancy that she went to Coburg to give birth and the "mysterious" child disappeared.

Missy was fiery and broke many rules.  Who knows if her other children (except Carol) really belonged to Ferdinand?

I like the idea of a Greek match because of the relationship through Queen Olga and the religion was no problem.
And remember that Olga, herself, was only a child just barely 16 when she married King George of Greece.

I wouldn't have been surprised to see Alexei married at 15 or 16 to a girl of 16 to 18.  It was not at all unusual for royalty to marry that young.  Nicholas and Alix were an exception to the rule.  In fact I think that Dagmar was only about 15 when the other Nicholas first began courting her.

We know that hemophiliacs don't pass on the gene, but did they know that back then?  Somehow though, I think that any princess would have gone along with marrying the most powerful heir to any throne even if he was hemophiliac.

[julia.montague]

We know that hemophiliacs don't pass on the gene, but did they know that back then?  Somehow though, I think that any princess would have gone along with marrying the most powerful heir to any throne even if he was hemophiliac.

Hemophiliacs pass on the gene to all of their daughters!

[Greenowl]

I wouldn't have been surprised to see Alexei married at 15 or 16 to a girl of 16 to 18.  It was not at all unusual for royalty to marry that young. 

It may have been common in previous centuries for royal males to marry very young, but surely things had changed in that regard by the beginning of the 20th. century? While royal females remained fairly young at time of marriage, males tended to have reached the so-called "age of majority" before they married, thus my impression is that while still young by the standards of today, Alexei would definitely have been over 18 and probably over 20 before any marriage took place. If memory serves me correctly, King George V was 28 years old at the time of his marriage in 1893, Kaiser Wilhelm II was 22 years old when he married for the first time in 1881, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria was 23 years old at the time of his ill-fated marriage to the admittedly 16 year old Princess Stephanie of Belgium, while Kaiser Karl of Austria was 24 years old at the time of his marriage to Kaiserin Zita in 1911, thus I don't think that Nicholas and Alix were an exception to the rule or have I missed something?

[jehan]

I wouldn't have been surprised to see Alexei married at 15 or 16 to a girl of 16 to 18.  It was not at all unusual for royalty to marry that young. 

It may have been common in previous centuries for royal males to marry very young, but surely things had changed in that regard by the beginning of the 20th. century? While royal females remained fairly young at time of marriage, males tended to have reached the so-called "age of majority" before they married, thus my impression is that while still young by the standards of today, Alexei would definitely have been over 18 and probably over 20 before any marriage took place. If memory serves me correctly, King George V was 28 years old at the time of his marriage in 1893, Kaiser Wilhelm II was 22 years old when he married for the first time in 1881, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria was 23 years old at the time of his ill-fated marriage to the admittedly 16 year old Princess Stephanie of Belgium, while Kaiser Karl of Austria was 24 years old at the time of his marriage to Kaiserin Zita in 1911, thus I don't think that Nicholas and Alix were an exception to the rule or have I missed something?

I would agree with you Greenowl- I can't think of any princes even in the 19th century who would have married that young, and certainly not in the twentieth century.  I think even when girls married at 16 or so (and it did occasionally happen, although it wasn't especially common) it was often commented on that they were very young. (I think when Stephanie married Rudolf Queen Victoria commented that she was too young in a letter to Vicky).  Olga of Greece is another who married vary young.   But most royal girls married in their late teens or early twenties.  Of QV's daughters, Vicky was 17- but the others were all at least 19.  Her daughters-in law were all at least 18.

That said, I'm sure someone who knows more than I do will come up with a few examples of princes who married at 15 or 16 after 1800 or so, but it would still have been extremely rare.