How romantic was courtship among the nobility?

Answer 1

not very romantic at all, by today's standards. oftentimes princesses were married off to foreign princes or kings. sounds fairly romantic, right? actually, wrong. literally, really, really wrong. to keep royal blood pure, royalty and nobility often married in the family. they had been keeping this practice for hundreds of years, so most royalty(even from other countries) and much of the nobility was at least distantly, or, in many cases, closely related to their spouse. and you know what that means! i hope you're sexually attracted to your cousin, because you're expected to (ahem) reproduce, starting with your wedding night. in addition, many times the men were much older, as well as being related to his young wife. as afore mentioned, royalty and nobility alike both married and reproduced in this custom,which led to weaker children (many had increased chances of occurrence of chronic illnesses and diseases, as well as a weaker immune system) which, in turn, again reproduced with relatives, often producing more children with genetic disease and disorders.