Where You Fall, Get Back Up

This princess would eventually marry into the British royal family as Queen Alexandra. She had some minor health problems, but nothing serious, and she was perfectly capable of bearing children.

If Franz wanted to marry her, resistance wouldn't come from abroad, since Christian IX wouldn't become King of Denmark until after she had come of age.

But considering she wouldn't come of age until 1859, Franz might not be able to wait that long.

In this era, princes were generally considered adults at sixteen, and princesses at fifteen.

By 1859, Franz would already be twenty-nine. That was a golden age by modern standards, but in the nineteenth century, people would probably gossip about him.

There was another problem: before Christian IX became King of Denmark, Alexandra Caroline, also known as Alix, was of far too low a status. She was much like Empress Sisi in that regard, and would most likely become the target of the entire court's criticism.

Franz had met the princess before, though only at her first birthday party.

The Spanish princess had a truly terrible reputation. Though Isabel wasn't yet the battle tank she would become in later years, she was already an idiot brainwashed by religion.

The nun Patricini and Father Claret, the people Isabel trusted and relied on most, had secretly offered her up for ten million pesos.

Anyone willing to pay that price would find them ready to make him her royal consort.

It sounded utterly absurd, but Isabel's religious fervor was no act. She had already had many people executed over trivial matters.

But given that she was descended from the Mad King and mentally unstable, her consort would have to be a devout Catholic.

For Archbishop Rauscher, this "good opportunity" naturally brought Franz to mind first. The latter, however, had little