Photos of Princes David (King Edward VIII), Albert (King George VI), and Henry (Duke of Gloucester) and Princess Mary (Princess Royal), along with Charlotte “Lala” Bill who would later become the main caretaker for little brother Prince John, at the beach playing, 1900
Source: Princess Victoria’s private albums, Royal Collection Trust
Creating a “What if…?” reality where Edward VIII and Grand Duchess Olga were forced into an arranged marriage to strengthen ties between the two countries before the outbreak of war
(based on an offhanded comment I read about Queen Victoria thinking the pair would make a nice arrangement)
Olga Nikolaevna married Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1913 to strengthen the Anglo-Russian alliance on the eve of the First World War. Their marriage was loveless, contentious, and increasingly scandalous.
Edward, then a rakish 19-year-old, was famously opposed to dynastic duties and wary of his restrictive royal role. Olga, barely 18, had little say. Deeply sheltered and still grieving the deaths of several relatives, she was thrust into the engagement to appease her father’s advisors and to fortify monarchist solidarity.
The pair were married in a hastily arranged but glittering ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in November 1913, attended by much of Europe’s ruling elite — including Kaiser Wilhelm II and Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Court observers noted Edward’s dour expression and Olga’s visible distress throughout.
When World War I erupted in 1914, the marriage became a political lightning rod. Edward, openly sympathetic to Germany owing to his close familial ties with the Hohenzollerns, scandalized the British court by opposing Britain’s declaration of war.
Olga, conversely, was a fervent supporter of the Allied cause and deeply loyal to her homeland. She threw herself into war relief work and was often seen visiting wounded soldiers, earning genuine public admiration. The marriage quickly deteriorated as the couple found themselves on opposite sides of a growing ideological and emotional chasm.
By 1915, Edward had begun an affair with an older British socialite, Lady Venetia Stanley, while Olga immersed herself in hospital work, even allegedly carrying on a discreet relationship with a wounded Russian officer stationed in Britain.
Their only child, Princess Maria Alexandra Victoria Mary of Wales, was born on March 18, 1916 at Windsor Castle.
The birth was overshadowed by tensions between the couple and mounting war losses on both the British and Russian sides. Named in honor of both her Romanov grandmother Alexandra Feodorovna and Queen Victoria, Maria Alexandra became a symbol of royal continuity in a Europe torn by revolution and war.
When Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed in 1918, Olga suffered a mental and emotional collapse, while Edward reportedly showed indifference, focusing on his growing collection of mistresses.
As Edward’s scandalous lifestyle and pro-German sympathies worsened in the 1920s and 30s, Olga devoted herself to raising Maria Alexandra with a strict, old-world sense of duty and monarchic responsibility. The young princess was fluent in Russian, English, French, and German by age 10, and showed early signs of a sharp political mind — a necessity given the increasingly unstable royal household.
When King George V died in 1936, Edward became Edward VIII — and almost immediately plunged the monarchy into crisis with his insistence on keeping his American mistress, Wallis Simpson.
In this timeline, rather than abdicating, Edward forced through a compromise with the government: he remained king, while Wallis was exiled to France. Publicly humiliated and politically marginalized, Olga relocated with Princess Maria Alexandra to Balmoral, shielding her daughter from the worsening scandal.
After a series of pro-German remarks and secret communications with Nazi officials in 1940, Edward was forced by Winston Churchill and Parliament to abdicate in 1941, leading his young daughter, Princess Maria Alexandra, to ascend the throne.
At 25, Queen Maria Alexandra was the youngest woman to assume the British throne since Queen Victoria. Her reign was immediately overshadowed by the scandals of her father and the devastation of World War II.
Winston Churchill remained as Prime Minister and became Maria Alexandra’s mentor and protector, helping to shield her from lingering public resentment toward her father.
During the war, she became a beloved figure for her tireless hospital visits, radio addresses, and passionate speeches denouncing fascism, which earned her respect across Allied nations.
Her reign faced consistent controversy over her Romanov heritage, pro-Russian sympathies, and her father’s treachery. MI5 files released in the 1970s revealed that British intelligence continued monitoring the queen’s personal communications for possible subversive contacts well into the 1960s.
Her mother, Olga Nikolaevna, died in 1971 in Switzerland — estranged from both Edward and much of the British royal court. Her father, Edward VIII, died in 1975, denied a state funeral.
So I found this WIP in my Google Docs that I started forever ago and thought that I would share some of it as a bit of sneak peak.
Emma tried not to stare at him, she really did but he struck such an impressive figure that it was hard not to. Captain Killian Jones stood at a large table across the room, staring intently at the map that was on it while having an intense conversation with her father King David. He was so very handsome with his bright blue eyes, raven colored hair and his chiseled features. Not that she would ever tell him that his ego was already big enough as it is, no her ever growing infatuation for the pirate will forever remain her secret.
Emma remembers when her parents announced that they were seeking the help of a former pirate with their fight against Regina. She had been shocked at the idea, imagine trusting a pirate (because that is what he was no matter what he said) with their kingdom's military secrets and strategies, what had her parents been thinking. It was only when they sat her down and explained how dire their circumstances truly were that she understood the need for such a radical decision.
Growing up Emma had heard the stories about her parents' battles with Regina or “The Evil Queen” as she was called throughout the Enchanted Forest and that she had been banished a short time after Emma was born for failing to enact the Dark Curse. Truth be told Emma hadn’t ever really given the woman much thought, she was gone and couldn’t hurt her family anymore or so she had thought. She had been 10 years old when it happened, her and her father had been riding through the kingdom when suddenly soldiers all in black came charging out of the forest and swarmed them.
Her father tried to fight them off but he had been vastly outnumbered, fearing that she was going to lose her father Emma felt anger like never before swell up inside of her. And when she let out a scream something unbelievable happened, a blinding light shot out of her and knocked the soldiers backwards. That was when Emma and her learned that she has magic and Regina was back.
For many years after that Emma learned about her magic and how to control it all while fearing for her family and the future of the kingdom. On the day she met Captain Jones her parents explained that Regina had been gaining followers and sympathy throughout the wild southern regions and her forces had begun to push through their outer defenses. They thought that with his past as a pirate Jones would be able to gather information in places they could not. Emma hadn’t known what to expect, she was picturing a weathered, haggard old man with a wooden leg and one eye but when the most handsome man dressed in head to toe black leather she had ever seen walked through the doors of the throne room to say she was shocked was an understatement.
Emma had instantly been captivated by him, his swagger, his confidence, until he opened his mouth and she realized how insufferable he really was. The man was a walking innuendo and she was sure that if he hadn’t had been such a fantastic asset to their cause that her father would have had him hanged ages ago. So what if her heart flutters every time he’s near or skips a beat when he throws a flirtatious smile her way, he was a scoundrel and that was that.
“Emma!" The sound of her mother's voice broke her from her musings of the past. Emma turned her head to see Snow hurriedly make her way over to her.
