It seems some at the Belgian court were hoping in the 1930's that the friendship between Astrid and Juliana would result in a match between Charles and Juliana. Some even rumoured that in order to aide her brother-in-law Astrid might have influenced her brother Carl to decline any further meetings so desired at the Dutch court.

Queen Wilhelmina was very adamant that a Catholic prince was not an option.
Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark also was not an acceptable candidate for the rather conservative Dutch protestants as his mother's fortune was the result of gambling. His grandmother was the daughter of the directors of the Casino in Monte Carlo.

Queen Wilhelmina also opposed German princes at first, preferring a match with a non-Catholic European reigning dynasty. Yet as time went by she dropped her opposition to Germans but did not want one that was too involved with the NSDAP.

Prince Paul of Greece and Denmark and Juliana seem to have had a positive first meeting that in any other scenario might have resulted in a match but both were needed for the succession in their own country.

The same was rumoured in the late 1990's of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, though i think that was more wishful thinking on the part of the yellow press in the Netherlands and Germany. They also linked Frederik of Denmark to Martha-Louise of Norway, Tatjana of Liechtenstein to Felipe of Spain, Christina or Elena of Spain to Philippe of Belgium and famously both Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg and Caroline of Monaco to the Prince of Wales while at that time him marrying a Roman Catholic was out of the question.

It seems that the daughters of Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria Eugenia suffered from their father's loss of his throne AND the potential haemophilia they might be carriers of through their mother.


I believe several other romances were cut short by parental opposition. At times it was practical: money other times better candidates were either on the horizon or already showing interest.

Christopher of Greece and Denmark seems to have proposed to and was accepted by princess Alexandra of Fife but the engagement was ended because the parents were against it.

Michael of Russia might have lead on his cousin Beatrice of Coburg to expect a proposal but stepped out of it when he realised that his brother might not approve the match between first cousins (though im still unsure if Nicholas would have withheld his consent).

Crown Prince Rudolph seems to have first wanted to marry an Archiduchess from the Toscana or Modena branches of the family but his father preferred another match. I remember from the early 1980's there had even been a lawsuit in Austria because there was a son born from that match and the parents possibly married in church.

Madame Seconde, Henriette Anne de France was romantically linked to the heir of the house of Orleans and to Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender. Her father, Louis XV, seems to have declined the link with he Orleans-branch (he probably would have supported the return of the line of his uncle Felipe V back to France instead of the succession going to the Orleans' in case his own male line (one son) died out). He also would not accept the young pretender as a son in law but would of course have been more willing to give his daughter in marriage to a reigning King had the Jacobite revolt been successful.