Work Text:
Upon his birth, Prince Mika Carl Adolf Frederick of Sweden, Duke of Småland, was not expected to take the throne. His uncle King Gustav III of Sweden had a living son, who at the moment of his cousin’s birth, was married to Princess Frederica of Baden who was pregnant for a second time.
But Gustav IV was inept and erratic, he could not be trusted to rule over Sweden.
A coup d’état was staged in March 1809, which forced the reigning King to abdicate and go into exile.
Swedish Parliament decided to put the former King’s uncle on the throne, crowning him Charles XIII.
As the only surviving male issue, Prince Mika became the Hereditary Prince of Sweden.
The new King worried about the succession, considering there was a distinct lack of male heirs to the throne of Sweden, and immediately began searching for potential brides when he ascended the throne. After several years of carefully considering eligible princesses, the only Omega son of King Frederick William III of Prussia was chosen for the last remaining heir to the House of Holstein-Gottorp.
Prince Mika and Princess Michaela Christina were 3rd cousins once removed, with Frederick William I of Prussia and Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover as their common ancestors.
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Omega sons were not often born in the Prussian Royal family, hence Michael’s birth had been celebrated just as much as his father’s first-born son had been.
He was destined to become Queen. At least, that’s what his father always told him.
His mother had died when he was 5 years old, when negotiations with Sweden had already been initiated.
The marriage arrangements were finalised in January 1818, after the Prussian’s 13th birthday and a month before King Charles XIII of Sweden died, to be succeeded by his son.
From that moment on, the Omega watched his betrothed on Sweden’s throne, often visiting Sweden with his older brother Wilhelm to meet with the man he was to marry beyond the letters they wrote as a betrothed pair.
On his first visit to Sweden, he was 15 years old. As he saw his husband-to-be for the first time, he was astounded by their youth as he couldn’t remember Friedrich or Wilhelm ever looking so young.
The young King of Sweden was fairly handsome, with his platinum blond hair, shining ice blue eyes and a fairly typical Alpha stature. He was a little shy in the Princess’s presence, a trait with disappeared when he spoke to his ministers.
Michael found it quite adorable.
The Omega Princess made sure he knew as much about Sweden’s history and the Swedish language as he could, to be as prepared for his reign as the Queen of a foreign country. Had he been promised to a German Prince, such preparations would not have been necessary. Not that he minded, of course, as it gave him an excuse to spend most of his time in the library reading about Sweden and attempting to teach himself Swedish until one of his brothers came to get him.
It allowed him to spend his days, away from his father’s stifling court and in the company of his younger sister Louise, who was betrothed to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.
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Mika had to wait until his bride was 18 years old for the wedding to happen, but he could finally be considered a married man on 5 February 1823.
He had fallen in love with the Prussian over the years as they were courting, which was overall considered a desirable development since the pair met in person 3 years before the wedding in Stockholm.
His feelings had especially grown since the wedding of Micha’s older sister Alexandrine to the future Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, when the Tsar’s younger brother propositioned the then 17-year-old.
The King of Sweden and Norway hadn’t wanted to lose his fiancée and decided to immediately put more effort into the courtship which would be until their set wedding date.
But now they were a married pair, and doing their duty to provide heirs to the throne.
Similarly, to his distant cousins in Denmark, there was a distinct lack of male heirs.
The 22-year-old was the only male heir left of the House of Holstein-Gottorp in Sweden.
It was rather necessary for him to sire a few legitimate sons to carry on the lineage.
He knew his father had sired illegitimate sons elsewhere, such as the son of his mother’s lady-in-waiting Countess Augusta Löwenhielm. It was not his intention to ever betray his wife in such a way.
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With the Swedish Royal couple being young, fertile, and in love, it was seemingly inevitable that a child was born rather soon after the Royal wedding took place.
On 16 November of the same calendar year as the wedding, a Crown Prince for Sweden was born.
The Alpha boy was named Prince Oskar Gustaf Adolf Frederick of Sweden. He symbolised the continuation of the Swedish Royal dynasty, as Sweden had been reigned over by many different dynasties.
The House of Munsö (c. 970 – 1060) had been the first, followed by the House of Stenkil (1060 – 1126). Then the throne of Sweden had changed hands a lot between 1126 and 1250 as the House of Estridsen, the House of Sverker and the House of Eric fought for the throne. The House of Bjelbo brought relative peace to the country as they reigned continuously between 1250 and 1364. Then Albert of Mecklenburg inherited the throne, reigning until 1389 before the Kalmar Union (1389 – 1521), which fell apart due to Christian the Tyrant. The throne of Sweden fell in the hands of the House of Vasa, who would reign from 1523 until the abdication of Queen Christina in 1654, after which the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken took over from 1654 to 1720, when Queen Ulrica Eleanor gave the throne to her husband Frederick, Prince of Hesse-Kassel. And from the death of Frederick of Sweden (25 March 1751), the House of Holstein-Gottorp reigned over the northern country.
The junior Oldenburgian branch were still not quite an established Swedish Royal House, which was something Mika definitely wanted to change in the near future.
In just over 10 years of marriage, King Mika Carl and Queen Michaela Christina produced 8 children.
Their firstborn son, Oskar, was betrothed at a young age to his first cousin Princess Charlotte of Prussia (oldest daughter of Prince Albert of Prussia and Princess Marianne of the Netherlands). Their marriage produced 3 children; Christian Oskar, Charles Gustav, and Elisabeth Charlotte. Charlotte delivered a stillborn baby after her 4th pregnancy, and died shortly after. It was then decided that Oskar would marry another first cousin: Princess Anna of Prussia (youngest child of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach). They had 6 children together; Anna Frederica, Michael William, Marie Rosalie, Alexandrine, Christian Charles, and Dorothea Anna.
The couple’s second-born was a daughter, Princess Charlotte Beatrice Eleonore Frederika of Sweden. She married Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg and became his second wife. They had 3 children; William, Franz Joseph, and Hilda Charlotte.
On 23 September 1825, Queen Michaela Christina gave birth to another daughter, an Omega daughter, who the couple named Anna Marie Eugenia. She would marry Landgrave Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel in 1853, when the man was still mourning the loss of his first wife after several years. Despite the initial rocky start and emotional distance, the couple had 6 children; Frederick William, Elisabeth, Alexander Frederick, Frederick Charles, Marie-Polyxene, and Sybille.
A second son was born 1.5 years after Anna Marie Eugenia. Alexander Gustaf saw the light of life on 15 March 1827. He too would marry a first cousin: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia. They would enjoy a very happy marriage, despite the initial resistance towards the match from Olga’s parents. They had 3 daughters; Alexandra, Olga Marie, and Louise Charlotte.
A 3rd son joined the family on 10 May 1828. Charles Christian married on 14 May 1853 Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau, daughter of Prince Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Dessau and Princess Marie Luise Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. They had 4 daughters; Marie Louise, Marie Charlotte, Victoria Adelaide, and Margarethe.
A 3rd Princess was born to the Swedish Royal couple on 25 February 1830, and she was named Alexandrine Margarethe Caroline Mathilde, after one of her maternal aunts. Aged 20, she would become engaged to Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and married on 4 August 1853. They had 4 daughters and 1 son; Marie Anne, Elisabeth, Margarethe, Ernst, and Louise Charlotte.
The first Omega male born into the Swedish Holstein-Gottorp line was born on 3 July 1832, and given the name Hedwig Eleonore Alexandra. He was the only sibling to marry into another religion as his husband King Albert of Saxony was Roman Catholic. He never truly converted to Catholicism, which was met with a lot of criticism and scrutiny in the Kingdom of Saxony, yet still gave his husband 7 daughters and 1 son; Charles, Maria Carolina, Maria Amalia, Maria Franziska, Maria Antonia, Maria Eleonore, Maria Elisabeth, and Maria Cecilia.
Eleven months after the couple’s only Omega son, a fourth son was born. Prince Charles Michael of Sweden, born 18 June 1833. He married a very minor German Princess: Louise Reuss of Köstritz. They settled down in the far north of Sweden, often making trips to Norway. Their marriage produced 3 children; Michaela Louise, Christina, and Michael Adolf.