Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, was already affianced to a princess of Mecklenburg; but with Catherine to will was to do, so she contrived to have this marriage broken off, and brought the young king to St. Petersburg, where she thought her own consummate address and the charms of the intended bride would accomplish the rest.
For once, however, Catherine, the crafty, deceived herself.
Proposals of marriage were speedily made, the treaty drawn up, the day of betrothment fixed, and a splendid fête prepared.
The appointed time arrived. The empress, surrounded by her court, sat in the audience chamber of the Winter Palace.
Alexandrina, adorned in bridal pomp, stood at the side of her imperial grandmother; all was in readiness, but the royal bridegroom came not. They waited—there was a depressing silence—the bride turned pale, the empress turned red, the courtiers looked at one another ominously.
A very different scene, however, was being enacted in the apartments of the king of Sweden.
The Chancellor Markoff had brought the articles of marriage to him for his signature. As a mere matter of form, he read them over rapidly; but the young king, who listened, became aware that certain articles were inserted which had not been previously agreed upon.
It was a law of Sweden that the queen of the country must profess the faith of the nation, and exchange the Greek for the Lutheran church; but the haughty and imperious Catherine had decided that her imperial granddaughter should be made an exception to this law, and had introduced into the marriage treaty a clause to that effect.
The king refused to sign the contract.
The chancellor was thunderstruck. A mere boy to resist the will of the empress; it was preposterous!