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 Dorothea of Hanover
After the betrothal of Wilhelmine and the Prince of Bayreuth, a message arrived in which George II consented to Wilhelmine marrying the Prince of Wales without her brother marrying his daughter Amelia. This message made the queen convinced that there was still a possibility of concluding a Prussian-British marriage alliance, and she therefore made a point to demonstratively harass the Prince of Bayreuth to stop the wedding. Even on the day of the wedding itself on 20 November 1731, Sophia Dorothea tried to delay the ceremony by disarranging her daughter's hair every time it had been dressed, saying she was not satisfied with the effect, in the hope that an English courier might arrive in time to stop the ceremony.