Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
Born Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, she was a daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. She belonged to a junior branch of the House of Württemberg and grew up in Montbéliard receiving an excellent education for her time and station. In 1776, when Grand Duke Paul (the future Paul I of Russia), became a widower, Sophie Dorothea was chosen by Frederick II of Prussia, her maternal great uncle, and by Empress Catherine II of Russia, as the ideal candidate to be Paul’s second wife. They met in a state dinner in Berlin and their engagement was quickly arranged.
Sophia of Denmark
According to "Erikskrönikan", the wedding between Sophia and Valdemar took place in 1260 at Ymninge (likely Öninge in Ödeshög), and was described as a grand event with tournaments, dance, games and poetry. Sophia was given the income from Malmö and Trelleborg as well as a fortune in gold and silver as her dowry. However, her position at the wedding was already somewhat less fortunate than when the engagement was announced. Her father-in-law Birger Jarl himself married her uncle Abel's widow, Denmark's queen dowager Matilda of Holstein, and Sophia was thereby given the widow of her uncle Abel, pointed out as her father's murderer, as her mother-in-law. At the time of her wedding, her uncle Christopher I was succeed by Eric V of Denmark under the regency of Margaret Sambiria, who refused to acknowledge Sophia's right to the inheritance after her father until 1263.