With much of his fame resting on his effective efforts to modernize Russia, Tsar Peter desired to see his children married into the royal houses of Europe, something which his predecessors had consciously avoided. His heir was born of his first marriage to a noblewoman and had no problem securing a bride from the ancient house of Brunswick-Lüneburg. However, he was hard put to arrange similar marriages for the daughters born of his second wife. When Peter offered either of his daughters in marriage to the future Louis XV, he was snubbed by the Bourbons of France because of their post-facto legitimization.