If I get specific you will still think it is not. Facts is facts.
1. Holland is much richer and more important than Hesse in the 19th century and today.
2. More British Princesses marry into Holland than Hesse. The historical argument.
3. The Prince Consort considered Holland a more important alliance than Hesse. The factual argument.
4. Princess Alice's health started to weakened during the war with Prussia.
They may be facts, but I'm having difficulty in seeing what they have to do with the question of whether Princess Alice would have been “happier” or even more content married to Prince William of the Netherlands.
1. Holland is much richer and more important than Hesse in the 19th century and today.
Princess Alice herself stated she would have been happy in a cottage if she loved and respected her husband. While she may not have achieved that fully with Ludwig, she did love him at first and to a lesser extent later in their marriage. But there is no evidence that either she or Prince William loved each other at all, so greater riches would not have contributed towards making her happier in her own view. So how does Holland “trump” Hesse in making Alice happier?
2. More British Princesses marry into Holland than Hesse. The historical argument.
Were any of these princesses more or less happy for marrying Hessian or Dutch princes? Would that have influenced Princess Alice in her choice? Why would she have been happier and more contented because there were more princely alliances with Holland? Moreover, in the unlikely event that such an argument would have made her happier, more British princesses married German princes than they did those from Holland, if you look at it in a less narrow way.
3. The Prince Consort considered Holland a more important alliance than Hesse. The factual argument.
Since the Prince Consort did not persuade Alice in any way to choose Prince William but certainly influenced her in her choice of Prince Ludwig, the “more important” alliance was not uppermost in his mind when the Hessian match was preferred. Because it was his expressed wish, Queen Victoria allowed Alice to marry Prince Ludwig although in the extreme selfishness of her grief she hated parting with her daughter.
4. Princess Alice's health started to weakened during the war with Prussia.
Possibly. But there is no evidence that this was primarily the cause of her eventual death which was of course diphtheria compounded by previous depressive illnesses arising not from the war with Prussia but from the more recent death of her son and the responsibilities of her position as consort to the new sovereign prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, and exhaustion from nursing her sick children.
