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.
Sophie Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt
On 9 February 1681 in Darmstadt, she married Duke Christian of Saxe-Eisenberg. At the time, he was a widower and father of a daughter. He had become the first Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg when Saxe-Gotha had been divided by Christian and his six brothers the year before. They had no children and Christian died without leaving an heir. A dispute erupted among the remaining brothers and their descendants about he inheritance of Saxe-Eisenberg.