Peter III of Russia
Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later Catherine the Great), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one but produced one son, the future Emperor Paul, and one daughter, Anna Petrovna (20 December 1757 – 19 March 1759). Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter: that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage. During the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum, Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning.
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Henry believed that his marriage was cursed and found confirmation in the Bible, in . Although in the morning following his wedding, Arthur had claimed that he was thirsty ""for I have been in the midst of Spain last night"" and that ""having a wife is a good pastime"", these claims are generally dismissed by modern historians as mere boasts of a boy who did not want others to know of his failure, and Catherine maintained the claim that she had married Henry while still a virgin until the day she died. After Henry's constant support of the claim that Catherine's first marriage had been consummated, an annulment was issued on 23 April 1533, while the King had already married Anne on 25 January. Anne was beheaded for high treason in 1536, after which Henry proceeded to marry four more times. At the time of his death in 1547, Henry only had three living children; the only son, Edward VI, succeeded but died six years later. His successors were Henry's daughters by Catherine and Anne, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Upon Elizabeth's death in 1603, the House of Tudor came to an end.