Background: Itβs the 1880s and Tsar Alexander II β known as the Tsar Liberator for ending serfdom β has married his mistress, Catherine Dolgorukova, henceforth known as Princess Yurievskaya.
The morganatic union caused a scandal at the St Petersburg court, who believed Princess Yurievskaya she was scheming to become Empress. Furthermore, Alexander II had her moved to the Winter Palace while his dying wife, Empress Marie, was still alive. Of further controversy among courtiers was how Princess Yurievskaya had a very informal relationship with her Tsar husband, even calling him by his diminutive of βSashaβ in public. The scandalous relationship was not to last. Within a few months, Alexander II was assassinated in a bomb attack by revolutionaries. Princess Yurievskaya was essentially paid generously to go away, where she died in Nice, France, four decades later, safe from the clutches of the now-ruling Bolsheviks.
The below recollection is from Once A Grand Duke, written by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, brother-in-law of the last tsar, Nicholas II, and here a teenager.
On the way back home from the Winter Palace we witnessed another hopeless dispute between our parents.
"No matter what you say or do,β declared our mother, "I shall never recognize that scheming adventuress. I hate her. She is despicable. Imagine her daring to call your brother 'Sashaβ in the presence of all the members of the imperial family.β
Father sighed and shook his head in despair.
βYou still refuse to realize, my dear,β he retorted rather meekly, βthat whether she is good, bad or indifferent, she is married to the Czar. Since when is a wife forbidden to use her husbandβs little name in public? Do you ever address me as 'Your Imperial Highnessβ?β
βHow can you make such a silly comparison,β said mother and tears appeared in her eyes.
βI did not break up a family. I married you with the consent of your family and mine. I am not plotting to ruin the empire.β
It was the turn of father to get mad.
βI positively forbid youβ β he emphasized every word β "to repeat such disgraceful gossip. The future Empress of Russia will be treated with courtesy by you and every other member of the imperial family, including the heir apparent and his wife. The subject is closed once and forever.β
But nobody could have closed that exciting subject in the winter of 1880-1881.
After Peter I, Russian Tsars looked abroad to find their wives, but it seems that the Empresses were almost exclusively German Lutherans. The only two exceptions I can find are Charlotte of Prussia (a German Calvanist) and Dagmar of Denmark (a Danish Lutheran), and I'm given to understand the latter was a deliberate choice to have the Tsarevich not marry a German due to the rise of Slavophilia.
My main question is what was Russia's marriage policy seeking to gain in terms of these German matches?
Especially since, aside from Charlotte, none seemed to be able to provide a powerful alliance for Russia, nor did it secure peace with any of their enemies, where a marriage with Sweden or the Habsburgs might have been better suited?
I noticed too that the Empresses were all generally required to convert to Orthodoxy; why did Russia not seek marriages with Princesses from the Orthodox countries like Serbia, Bulgaria, or Greece, especially once they became independent?
Was there a reason Catholics were excluded from consideration?
Thank you for your replies!
Title
What did Tsarist Russia and Imperial China thought of each other from the 15th to 19th centuries?
I am currently reading on the history of Tsarist Russia and realised that there is a blankspot on my knowledge. I barely have any knowledge of how 2 large land-based empires that are, relatively speaking, near each other thought of the opposite party.
