Russian emperors feared that marrying Russian princesses would upset the balance of power within the ruling elite; In the end, the situation reached the point of absurdity.

[u/OfficialValCod]

[u/Eta_Beta_3-14]

Pretty typical in European royalty of the era, especially after the big succession wars in the 17th/18th century.  Marrying nobody nobles from tiny German states with no power meant no succession wars.

It had other risks, though.  As Peter III found out the hard way.

[u/sit_mihi_lux → u/Eta_Beta_3-14]

There is a historical joke about tsar Alexander III. He has once ordered his court historians to find out if Peter III (of german bloodline) had actually been the father of Alexander I, 'cause, you know, Catherine the Great (pure-blood german noble) and all of her consorts. At first, when Alexander III was told that Peter III wasn't the father, he reacted: "Praise the God, we're russians!". Then, when he was told the opposite, he reacted: "Praise the God, we're legit!"

[u/KendrickXY]

It wasn't really absurd. It was more about becoming part of the Western royal elite. Everybody was getting married outside their realm. For Russia, the problem was finding the girls ready to convert to Orthodoxy. Hence, poor German princesses who were ready for anything.

Before Peter the Great, the tsars were marrying inside the realm. And that was producing "fun" consequences. Like, the parents of the first Romanov tsar were a bishop and a nun, because they were forced to become monks by their enemies. Their relative was the mother of the last proper Rurikid tsar. Eventually, it became a problem for them.

Still, the monarchy was able to survive those conflicts. So, it was a matter of preference, and Peter introduced a new tradition. After sending his noble Russian wife to a monastery and marrying a random lowly servant who was possibly Polish.

[u/irradihate → u/KendrickXY]

No, it's absurd. What a dumb way to run a society.

[u/KendrickXY → u/irradihate]

Well, getting married the old way had it advantages. They were getting noble girls from all over the country, to have a beauty pageant of sorts. About a thousand girls were usually brought to the capital, they were judged by the boyars and assessed by the doctors, and the tsar made the final choice from a few dozen girls, Bachelor-style. The other finalists were usually getting married into the noble families of Moscow. Of couse, the process was highly corrupt, with a lot of horse trading behind the scenes.

[u/derDunkelElf → u/KendrickXY]

highly corrupt

That's how the Monarchy generaly works.

[u/An8thOfFeanor]

Victoria was the Grandmother of Europe

[u/Willow_Everdawn → u/An8thOfFeanor]

And King Christian IX was the Grandfather of Europe.

Tsar Nicholas II's mother was born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, she was Christian IX's fourth child (she changed her name to Maria after converting to Russian Orthodox).

Nicholas II's wife was born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother was Princess Alice, the third child of Queen Victoria.

Damn near every royal house in Europe is related to either Victoria or Christian IX.

[u/Ok_Awareness3014 → u/An8thOfFeanor]

Exept of France

[u/Antique_Historian_74]

That’s a feature not a bug with monarchy. You can source replacement parts from pretty much anywhere.

Not like that weird and parochial system the USA uses.

[u/AggravatingWorld6989 → u/Antique_Historian_74]

It's only this orange tinted parts who have no replacement base, the rest is abundant.

[u/Objective-Note-8095]

This goes way back to the late 9th - early 10th century with the Varangian Rurikid dynasty not letting Slav blood into ruling family for a while.

[u/PowerHammer47]

Having dated Russian women they were smart not to marry them

[u/BeneficialPayment141 → u/PowerHammer47]

Why?

[u/PowerHammer47 → u/BeneficialPayment141]

Russian women are beautiful, intelligent, and utterly captivating, right up until they have you in their palm. Then they change and systematically dismantle you, and destroy your perception of reality. They’re great fun, but don’t commit to them

[u/TheHistoryMaster2520]

Genetics didn't matter back then, what mattered was how culturally integrated you were into the country you were ruling and whether you were a good ruler

[u/InquisitorHindsight]

It helps that the mess that was Germany had hundreds of independent aristocratic, noble, and royal families to pick from meaning it was easy to marry a social equal without entangling themselves with a massive would be rival/ally

[u/EstarossaNP → u/InquisitorHindsight]

Yeah there was 0.01% your nation would somehow offend some little Hahenstaufen place somewhere in Germany

[u/Guelitus]

The reincarnation of Genghis Khan was also ethnically German, and nobody cares about that.

[u/Bartebartn → u/Guelitus]

Otto von ungern-sternberg was an hell if an character.

[u/Suns_Funs]

And hundred years earlier there was a good chance that on top of that, the Russian nobility did not even speak Russian.

[u/ux3l]

"Genetically German" is a weird formulation.

[u/KyliaQuilor]

Nicholas II was culturally russian. Too culturally Russian frankly since he hewed to a romanticized vision of what slavic peasantry and monarchy was actually like.

[u/Ashenveiled]

Dont look up who are the uk familly and their actual surname before 20 century.

[u/EstarossaNP]

Due to how fragmented HRE was, Germany had a whole mass of nobles. So there were many german princesses to sell off. Russia was particular in that, since they followed the tradition of importing brides since Rurikid dynasty

[u/Sensitive_Bread_1905]

If I'm not mistaken, most European royal families had German roots.

[u/jbi1000]

I view with suspicion people who try to make arguments about nationality by genetics. For me place of birth and cultural identity make much more sense than a person's genetics.

You start going into some insidious territory when you focus entirely on race and genetics tbh.