Captain__Spiff

Captain__Spiff t1_ix2kmw3 wrote

I'm German, we have a number of raccoons in the wild and also some in zoos. I've never seen any outside myself (except for maybe, maybe a single overran specimen but my sis is stupid).

The poor fella in that zoo has orientation problems, some sort of damage to the his inner ear. He's better off in the zoo anyway and people love him.

72

Captain__Spiff t1_iquzxw4 wrote

>Sophie married her maternal first cousin, the future Prince of Orange (later King William III), in Stuttgart on 18 June 1839 with the idea that she would in the end succeed in dominating him.[citation needed]

>The marriage was arranged. Her father, while being a liberal progressive in other aspects, still favored dynastic marriages and wished for his daughters to marry monarchs. Prior to her marriage, King Otto of Greece and Duke William of Brunswick were possible suitors for Princess Sophie. The engagement with the first came to nothing because Princess Sophie's ambitious father had no confidence in the newly established Greek monarchy of Otto. Chance prevented a proposal by the second candidate because her father let it be known that Princess Sophie was already betrothed. Sophie herself had preferred to marry William of Brunswick, and she stated herself that her marriage to William of The Netherlands was a sacrifice she made to her father.[2]

>After the wedding, Sophie and William settled in the Paleis aan het Plein in The Hague. Sophie came to have a good relationship to her father-in-law as well as to her uncle-in-law Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.[2] King William's mother, whom he completely relied on, was totally against the marriage to a daughter of the sister she loathed and treated her daughter-in-law and niece with disdain. She and her mother-in-law Anna were never to be on good terms: Anna was also her maternal aunt, but she had never been on good terms with her sister, Sophie's mother, and she had opposed the marriage between Sophie and her son.[2]

>The marriage between Sophie and William was arranged and never a happy one. Their relationship was not improved by the birth of their children, whose upbringing was a constant cause for conflict between their parents.[2] William was constantly unfaithful.[2] Sophie did not wish to live with him and devoted herself on cultivating her own intellectual interests and the private study of various subjects.[2] A divorce was contemplated early on, but was continually postponed because it was not seen as suitable for a king and queen.

834