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.
Philip I, Duke of Pomerania
On 27 February 1536 Philip married Maria of Saxony, the half-sister of Elector John Frederick I of Saxony. In April 1536 in Frankfurt am Main, he and Barnim then joined the Schmalkaldic League. In 1547, after the Protestants had been defeated in the Schmalkaldic War, Philip feared persecution by the enraged Emperor Charles V. He managed to soothe Charles by paying a fine. The changing circumstances made work increasingly hard for bishop Suawe and in 1549, he resigned. He was succeeded by a Catholic bishop, who tried to restore the old situation and make the Church of Pomerania part of the Roman Catholic Church again. The attempt failed, and to ensure independence of his church, Philip appointed his eldest son John Frederick as bishop of Cammin. He also revived Bugenhagen's church order and mediated in the theological disputes that raged in his duchy.