Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
Sophie Dorothea arrived in St Petersburg that September, converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, and took the name Maria Feodorovna. She married Paul on 26 September 1776. In spite of her husband's difficult character, Maria Feodorovna made a success of her marriage. During the long reign of her mother-in-law, the Russian Empress, Catherine II, Maria and Paul were completely excluded from any political influence, as mother and son mistrusted each other. Maria Feodorovna sided with her husband and lost the initial affection Catherine II had for her. Paul and Maria were forced to live in isolation at Gatchina, but they were devoted to each other and had ten children including: Tsar Alexander I, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Queen Catherine of Wurttemberg and Queen Anna Pavlovna of the Netherlands.
William I of Württemberg
"Russia": Another paternal aunt of William's, Sophie, married the future Paul I of Russia and took the name Maria Feodorovna. This family tie to Russia had important political consequences for the later Kingdom of Württemberg since the reorganisation of Europe in the wake of the Congress of Vienna. William's second wife, Catherine Pavlovna, was his first cousin as the daughter of Paul and Maria Feodorovna. After Catherine died in 1819, the family relationship with Russia was renewed with the wedding of William's eldest son, Charles, to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. Olga was the granddaughter of Maria Feodorovna and the niece of William's second wife, Catherine. Her father was Nicholas I and her mother was Alexandra Feodorovna, the sister of the Prussian kings Frederick William IV and William I, later the German Emperor.