Moments in History When Royals Didn’t Get Their “Happily Ever After”

Peter the Great of Russia may be remembered for changing the course of Russian history, but it’s often forgotten that he wasn’t such a great husband. His first marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina was arranged, and Peter just wasn’t interested in building a relationship. Eudoxia seemed to genuinely care for Peter, but he grew bored and eventually became infatuated with a commoner named Anna Mons.

Although Peter didn’t end up marrying Anna Mons, he did go through with divorcing Eudoxia. As icing on the cake of his dislike for her, he had her sent off to a convent so she’d be out of his hair. Eudoxia had her time of redemption, though, because she made a grand return to Moscow when her grandson, Peter II, became tsar.