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
Upon the illness of the king in Brandenburg during the campaign of 1719, he sent for Sophia Dorothea and entrusted her with his will, cautioning secrecy. Within the document, she was named regent during the minority of their son, with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and King George I of Great Britain as guardians to the Crown Prince. The king's favorites, military general Friedrich von Grumbkow and Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, offered the queen's favorite Madame de Blaspiel a bribe if she procured information for them and influenced the queen in their favor; she in turn informed the queen, who informed the king, who summoned von Grumbkow and the Prince and told them to return to Berlin. They then tasked Madame de Blaspiel's lover, Count de Manteufel, the Saxon ambassador, to acquire the document or at least find out its meaning: the queen did give de Blaspiel the document, and its contents were revealed to Grumbkow and Anhalt. Grumbkow and Anhalt, now wishing to lessen the queen's influence after learning of the will appointing her regent, unsuccessfully tried to accuse her before the king of having borrowed money and pawning a pair of earrings given to her by the king to pay her gambling debts. The queen countered by accusing Grumbkow of plotting against her.