Historians, archivists and numerous researchers of the life of the last empress of the Russian state seem to have studied and explained not only her actions, but every word and even every turn of her head. But here's what's interesting: after reading each historical monograph or new research, an unfamiliar woman appears in front of us.
Such is the magic of the beloved British granddaughter, daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse, goddaughter of the Russian sovereign and wife, the last heir to the Russian throne. Alix, as her husband called her, or Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova remained a mystery to everyone.
Probably, her coldish isolation and alienation from everything earthly, taken by her retinue and the Russian nobility for arrogance, is to blame for everything. The explanation of this inescapable sadness in her gaze, as if turned inward, is when you learn the details of children's and youthful years Princess Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Childhood and youth
She was born in the summer of 1872 in Darmstadt, Germany. The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and the daughter of the Queen of Great Britain, Duchess Alice, turned out to be a real sunbeam. However, grandmother Victoria called her - Sunny - Sunny. Blond, with dimples on her cheeks, with blue eyes, fidget and laughing Aliki instantly charged her prim relatives with a good mood, forcing even a formidable grandmother to smile.
The baby adored her sisters and brothers. It seems that she had especially fun with her brother Frederick and her younger sister Mary, whom she called May due to the difficulty in pronouncing the letter "r". Frederick died when Alika was 5 years old. His beloved brother died of a hemorrhage resulting from an accident. Mom Alice, already melancholic and gloomy, plunged into severe depression.
But as soon as the acuteness from the painful loss began to dull, a new grief happened. And not just one. The diphtheria epidemic, which happened in Hesse in 1878, took away from sunny Aliki first her sister May, and three weeks later her mother.
This is how Aliki-Sunny's childhood ended at the age of 6. She "went out" like a ray of sunshine. Almost everything that she loved so much disappeared: her mother, her little sister with her brother, the usual toys and books, which they burned, replacing them with new ones. It seems that then the open and laughing Aliki herself disappeared.
To distract two granddaughters, Alice-Aliki, Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna), and grandson Ernie from sorrowful thoughts, the imperious grandmother transported them, with the permission of her son-in-law, to England, to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Here Alice received an excellent education under the supervision of her grandmother. Carefully selected teachers taught her and her sister and brother geography, mathematics, history and languages. And also drawing, music, horse riding and gardening.
The objects were given to the girl easily. Alice played the piano brilliantly. Music lessons were not given to her by anyone, but by the director of the Darmstadt Opera. Therefore, the girl easily performed the most complex works and. And she mastered the wisdom of court etiquette without much difficulty. The only thing that upset her grandmother was that her beloved Sunny was unsociable, withdrawn and could not stand a noisy high society.
The Princess of Hesse graduated from the University of Heidelberg with a Bachelor of Philosophy.
In March 1892, another blow befell Alice. Her father died of a heart attack in her arms. Now the girl felt even more lonely. Only grandmother and brother Ernie, who inherited the crown, remained nearby. Ella's only sister has recently lived in distant Russia. She married a Russian prince and was called Elizaveta Fedorovna.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
Alice first saw Nicky at her sister's wedding. She was then only 12 years old. The young princess really liked this well-mannered and delicate young man, a mysterious Russian prince, so unlike her British and German cousins.
She met Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov for the second time in 1889. Alice went to Russia at the invitation of her sister's husband - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, uncle Nicholas. A month and a half spent in the St. Petersburg Sergiev Palace, and meetings with Nikolai turned out to be enough time to understand: she met her soul mate.
Only sister Ella-Elizaveta Fedorovna and her husband were happy with their desire to unite their fates. They became a kind of communicators between lovers, facilitating their communication and secret correspondence.
Grandmother Victoria, who did not know about the private life of the secretive granddaughter, planned her marriage to her cousin Edward, the Prince of Wales. An elderly woman dreamed of seeing her beloved "Sunshine" by the Queen of Britain, to whom she would hand over her powers.
But Aliki, in love with a distant Russian prince, calling the Prince of Wales "Eddie-cuffs" for her excessive attention to her dressing style and narcissism, confronted Queen Victoria with a fact: she would marry only Nicholas. The letters shown to the grandmother finally convinced the vexed woman that the granddaughter could not be kept.
The parents of Tsarevich Nicholas were not delighted with the desire of their son to marry a German princess. They counted on the marriage of a son to Princess Elena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe. But the son, like his fiancee in distant England, showed persistence.
Alexander III and his wife surrendered. The reason was not only the persistence of Nicholas, but also the rapid deterioration in the health of the sovereign. He was dying and wanted to hand over the reins of government to his son, who would have a personal life. Alice was urgently called to Russia, to the Crimea.
The dying emperor, in order to meet the future daughter-in-law as best as possible, with the last of his strength got out of bed and put on a uniform. The princess, who knew about the health of her future father-in-law, was moved to tears. Alix began to urgently prepare for marriage. She studied Russian and the basics of Orthodoxy. Soon she adopted Christianity, and with it the name Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna).
Emperor Alexander III died on October 20, 1894. And on October 26, the wedding of Alexandra Fedorovna and Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov took place. The bride's heart sank from such haste in a bad feeling. But the Grand Dukes insisted on the urgency of the wedding.
To preserve decency, the wedding ceremony was scheduled for the Empress's birthday. According to the existing canons, a retreat from mourning on such a day was allowed. Of course, there were no receptions or big celebrations. The wedding turned out with a mourning shade. As later wrote in his memoirs Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich:
“The spouses' honeymoon passed in the atmosphere of memorial services and funeral visits. The most deliberate dramatization could not have devised a more suitable prologue for the historical tragedy of the last Russian tsar. "
The second gloomy omen, from which the heart of the young empress again sank in anguish, happened in May 1896, during the coronation of the royal family. The famous bloody tragedy took place on the Khodynskoye field. But the celebrations have not been canceled.
Young spouses most time spent in Tsarskoe Selo. Alexandra Feodorovna felt good only in the company of her husband and her sister's family. Society received the new empress coldly and with hostility. The unsmiling and withdrawn empress seemed to them arrogant and prim.
To distract herself from unpleasant thoughts, Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova eagerly took up public affairs and took up charity. She soon made several close friends. In fact, there were very few of them. These are Princess Maria Baryatinskaya, Countess Anastasia Gendrikova and Baroness Sophia Buxgewden. But the closest friend was, the maid of honor.
A happy smile returned to the empress when daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia appeared one after another. But the long-awaited birth of the heir, the son of Alexei, returned Alexandra Fyodorovna to her usual state of anxiety and melancholy. The son was diagnosed with a terrible hereditary disease - hemophilia. It was inherited by the Empress from Victoria's grandmother.
The bleeding son, who could die from any scratch, became the constant pain of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II. At this time, an elder appeared in the life of the royal family. This mysterious Siberian man really helped the Tsarevich: he alone could stop the blood, which the doctors were not able to do.
The approach of the elder gave rise to a lot of rumors and gossip. Alexandra Fyodorovna did not know how to get rid of them and protect herself. Rumors spread. Behind the back of the empress, they whispered about her supposedly undivided influence on the emperor and state policy. About the witchcraft of Rasputin and his connection with Romanova.
Started First World War briefly plunged society into other concerns. Alexandra Feodorovna threw all her resources and efforts to help the wounded, widows of dead soldiers and orphaned children. The Tsarskoye Selo hospital was rebuilt into an infirmary for the wounded. The empress herself, together with her older daughters Olga and Tatiana, were trained in nursing. They assisted in operations and looked after the wounded.
And in December 1916, Grigory Rasputin was killed. How much Alexandra Feodorovna was “loved” at court can be judged from the surviving letter of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich to the empress's mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna. He wrote:
“All Russia knows that the late Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna are one and the same. The first is killed, now the other must disappear as well. "
As a close friend of the Empress Anna Vyrubova later wrote in her memoirs, the Grand Dukes and nobles, in their hatred of Rasputin and the Empress, themselves sawed off the branch on which they were sitting. Nikolai Mikhailovich, who believed that Alexandra Feodorovna "should disappear" after the elder, was shot in 1919 along with three other Grand Dukes.
Personal life
There are still many rumors about the royal family and the joint life of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, which are rooted in the distant past. Gossip was born in the inner circle of the monarchs. Maids of honor, princes and their wives who love to gossip were happy to come up with various "discrediting relationships" in which the tsar and tsarina were allegedly caught. It seems that Princess Zinaida Yusupova "tried" most of all to spread rumors.
After the revolution, a fake came out, presented as the memoirs of a close friend of the empress, Anna Vyrubova. The authors of this dirty libel were very respected people: the Soviet writer and professor of history P. Ye. Shchegolev. These "memoirs" spoke of the empress's vicious ties with Count A. N. Orlov, with Grigory Rasputin and Vyrubova herself.
A similar plot was in the play "The Empress's Conspiracy", written by these two authors. The goal was clear: to discredit the royal family as much as possible, remembering which the people should not regret, but indignate.
But the personal life of Alexandra Fedorovna and her beloved Nika, nevertheless, turned out fine. The couple managed to maintain tremulous feelings until their death. They adored their children and treated each other with tenderness. The memories of their closest friends, who knew firsthand about the relationship in the royal family, have been preserved about this.
Death
In the spring of 1917, after the tsar's abdication from the throne, the whole family was arrested. Alexandra Feodorovna with her husband and children was sent to Tobolsk. Soon they were transported to Yekaterinburg.
The Ipatiev House turned out to be last place the earthly being of the family. Alexandra Fyodorovna guessed about the terrible fate prepared by the new government for her and her family. About this shortly before his death, said Grigory Rasputin, whom she believed.
The queen with her husband and children was shot on the night of July 17, 1918. Their remains were transported to St. Petersburg and reburied in the summer of 1998 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the family tomb of the Romanovs.
In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna, like her whole family, was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, and in 2000 - by the Russian Orthodox Church. Romanova was recognized as a victim of political repression and rehabilitated in 2008.
"The martyrdom of the royal family, and even more so the unspeakable moral torment experienced by it, endured with such courage and high spirit, oblige to treat the memory of the late Tsar and his wife with special respect and caution."
Gurko Vladimir Iosifovich
As you know, the wife of the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, was the beloved granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England - Princess Victoria Alice Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the fourth daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.
In the history of Russia, the German princess Alice of Hesse was remembered as Alexandra Feodorovna - the last empress of Russia.
The site magazine has prepared 20 interesting and short facts about the life of one of the most powerful and noble, highly moral women of the 20th century - Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
The given name to her consisted of the name of her mother (Alice) and the four names of her aunts. Alice was considered the beloved granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny("Sun"). Nicholas II very often called her Alix, a derivative of Alice and Alexander.
Kinship
Nicholas II and Princess Alice were distant relatives, being descendants of German dynasties; and their marriage, to put it mildly, "had no right to exist." For example, through her father's line, Alexandra Feodorovna was both a fourth cousin (common ancestor - the Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm II) and Nikolai's second cousin (common ancestor - Wilhelmina of Baden). In addition, the parents of Nicholas II were the godparents of Princess Alice.
Love story
The love story of the Russian Tsar and the granddaughter of the Queen of England begins in 1884. He is a sixteen-year-old boy, slender, blue-eyed, with a modest and slightly sad smile. She is a twelve-year-old girl like him, with blue eyes and beautiful golden hair. The meeting took place at the wedding of her elder sister Elizabeth (the future great martyr) with Nikolai's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Both Nikolai and Alice (that was the name of the future Russian Tsarina at that time) felt deep sympathy for each other from the very beginning. Nikolai gives her a precious brooch, and she, brought up in a puritanical morality, in embarrassment and shyness does not dare to take it and return it to him.
Their second meeting takes place only five years later, when Alice comes to Russia to visit her older sister. But all this time Nikolai remembers about her. “I have loved her for a long time, and since she spent six weeks in St. Petersburg in 1889, I love her even more deeply and cordially.” Nicholas's cherished dream is to marry Alice. However, Nikolai's parents have other plans.
Marriage
In 1889, when the heir to the Tsarevich was twenty-one years old, he turned to his parents with a request to bless him for his marriage to Princess Alice. The answer of Emperor Alexander III was short: “You are very young, there is still time for marriage, and, in addition, remember the following: you are the heir Russian throne, you are engaged to Russia, and we still have time to find a wife. "
Queen Victoria and the parents of the latter were against the marriage union of Alice and Tsarevich Nicholas, hoping for his marriage with a more enviable bride - Helena Orleans, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Count of Paris. (the Bourbon dynasty) However, Tsarevich Nicholas was by nature soft and timid, in matters of the heart he was adamant, persistent and firm. Nikolai, always obedient to the will of his parents, in this case, with pain in his heart, disagrees with them, stating that if he fails to marry Alice, he will never marry at all. In the end, the parents' consent to kinship with the English crown was obtained ... True, this was more facilitated by other circumstances - the sudden severe illness of Emperor Alexander III, who suddenly died a month before the wedding of the lovers, and the full support of Princess Alice's sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (5th son of Emperor Alexander II)
"Happy only in the circle of relatives and friends"
When the girl was 6 years old, a tragedy struck in the family - they fell ill with diphtheria and their mother and sister died. The girl remembered for the rest of her life how an oppressive silence reigned in the palace, which was broken by the crying of the nanny behind the wall of little Alice's room. They took the girl's toys and burned them - they were afraid that she might get infected. Of course, new toys were brought in the next day. But that was no longer the same - something loved and familiar was gone. The event connected with the death of the mother and sister left a fatal stamp on the child's character. Instead of openness in her behavior, isolation and restraint began to prevail, instead of sociability - shyness, instead of smiling - external seriousness and even coldness. Only in the circle of the closest people, and there were only a few of them, she became the same - joyful and open. These character traits remained with her forever and dominated even when she became Empress. The Empress felt happy only among her own.
"Tsar's disease"
Alice inherited the hemophilia gene from Queen Victoria.
Hemophilia, or "royal disease", is a severe manifestation of genetic pathology that struck the royal houses of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thanks to dynastic marriages, this disease spread to Russia. The disease manifests itself in a decrease in blood clotting, therefore, in patients, any, even minor, bleeding is almost impossible to stop.
The difficulty in registering this disease is that it manifests itself only in men, and women, while remaining outwardly healthy, carry the affected gene to the next generation.
From Alexandra Feodorovna, the disease was transmitted to her son, Grand Duke Alexei, who from early childhood suffered from severe bleeding, who, even with a successful coincidence, would never have been able to continue the great Romanov family.
Grandmother and granddaughter
Queen Victoria and her kin. Coburg, April 1894. Next to the queen sits her daughter Vicki with her granddaughter Feo. Charlotte, Feo's mother, stands to the right of the center, third to the right of her uncle, the Prince of Wales (he is in a white jacket). To the left of Queen Victoria is her grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II, directly behind them is Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and his bride, nee Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt (six months later they will become the Russian emperor and empress) The Queen of England loved her granddaughter very much and cared about her upbringing in every possible way. The Duke of Darmstadt's castle was saturated with “the atmosphere of good old England”. English landscapes and portraits of relatives from foggy Albion hung on the walls. The upbringing was conducted by English mentors and mainly on English language... The Queen of England constantly sent her granddaughter her instructions and advice. Puritan morality was brought up in the girl from the very first years. Even the cuisine was English - almost every day rice pudding with apples, and at Christmas, goose and, of course, plume pudding and traditional sweet cake.
Alice received the best education at that time. She knew literature, art, spoke several languages, attended a philosophy course at Oxford.
Beautiful and kind
Both in her youth and in adulthood, the Tsarina was very good-looking. This was noted by everyone (even the enemies). As one of the courtiers described her: “The Empress was very good ... tall, slender, with a magnificently set head. But all this was nothing in comparison with the look of her gray-blue eyes, amazingly alive, reflecting all her excitement ... ”. And here is the description of the Tsarina, made by her closest friend Vyrubova: “Tall, with golden thick hair that reached to her knees, she, like a girl, constantly blushed with shyness; her eyes, huge and deep, brightened up during the conversation and laughed. At home they gave her the nickname "the sun". The Queen loved pearls the most. She adorned her hair, hands, and dresses with them. ”
The kindness was main feature character of the Queen, and her desire to help everyone around her was constant.
Her kindness to her husband and children exudes from every line of her letter. She is ready to sacrifice everything so that her husband and children feel good.
If any of the acquaintances, not to mention those close to the Queen, had difficulties, misfortunes, she immediately responded. I helped both with a warm sympathetic word and financially. Sensitive to any suffering, she took someone else's misfortune and pain close to her heart. If someone from the infirmary where she worked as a sister of mercy died or became disabled, the Tsarina tried to help his family, sometimes continuing to do so even from Tobolsk. The queen constantly remembered the wounded who passed through her infirmary, not forgetting to regularly commemorate all the dead.
When a misfortune happened to Anna Vyrubova (the empress's closest friend, admirer of Grigory Rasputin) (she got into a train accident), the Tsarina sat at her bedside all day and actually left her friend.
White Rose, Verbena and Atkinson
The empress, like any woman "with position and opportunities", paid great attention to her appearance. At the same time, there were some nuances. So, the empress practically did not use cosmetics and did not curl her hair. Only on the eve of the large palace exits, the hairdresser, with her permission, used curling tongs. The Empress did not do manicure, "because His Majesty could not stand manicured nails." As for the perfume, the empress preferred the White Rose of the Atkinson perfumery company. They, according to her, are transparent, without any admixture and infinitely fragrant. She used Verbena as her eau de toilette.
Sister of Mercy
During the First World War, Alexandra Feodorovna took up activities that were simply unthinkable for a person of her rank and position. She not only patronized the sanitary detachments, established and took care of hospitals, including in the palaces of Tsarskoye Selo, but together with her older daughters she graduated from medical assistant courses and began to work as a nurse. The Empress washed wounds, made bandages, and assisted in operations. She did this not to advertise her own person (which distinguished many representatives of high society), but at the call of her heart. The "infirmary service" did not evoke understanding in the aristocratic salons, where it was believed that this "belittles the prestige of the highest power."
Subsequently, this patriotic initiative led to many bad rumors about the obscene behavior of the queen and two older princesses. The Empress was proud of her activities, in photographs she and her daughters were depicted in the form of the Red Cross. Postcards appeared with a photograph of the queen assisting the surgeon during the operation. But contrary to expectations, it was condemnable. It was considered obscene that girls courting naked men. In the eyes of many monarchists, the tsarina, “washing the feet of the soldiers,” was losing her royalty. Some ladies of the court said: "The Empress wore an ermine robe more than the dress of a sister of mercy."
faith
According to the testimony of contemporaries, the empress was deeply religious. The church was her main consolation, especially at a time when the heir's illness was aggravated. The Empress held full services in court churches, where she introduced a monastic (longer) liturgical charter. Alexandra's room in the palace was a connection between the empress's bedroom and the nun's cell. The huge wall adjacent to the bed was covered with icons and crosses.
Last will
Today it is reliably known that the royal family could have been saved through the diplomatic efforts of European countries. Nicholas II was laconic in his assessment of possible emigration: "In such a difficult time, not a single Russian should leave Russia," Alexandra Feodorovna's moods were no less critical: "I prefer to die in Russia than to be saved by the Germans." In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, in August 2000 - by the Russian Orthodox Church.
"Delight in power"
Alexandra Feodorovna was filled with initiative and thirsted for a living cause. Her thought was constantly working, in the area of those issues to which she had concern, and she felt the rapture of power, which her royal spouse did not have. Nicholas II forced himself to be engaged in state affairs, but in essence they did not capture him. The pathos of power was alien to him. The ministerial reports were a heavy burden for him.
In all concrete, accessible to her understanding, issues the Empress understood excellently, and her decisions were as businesslike as they were definite.
All persons who had business relations with her unanimously asserted that it was impossible to report any case to her without first studying it. She posed to her speakers a lot of specific and very practical questions concerning the very essence of the subject, and she went into all the details and in the conclusion gave as powerful as precise instructions.
Unpopularity
Despite the empress's sincere efforts in the matter of mercy, there were rumors among the people that Alexandra Feodorovna defended the interests of Germany. On the personal order of the sovereign, a secret investigation was carried out on "slanderous rumors about the empress's relations with the Germans and even about her betrayal of the Motherland." It was established that rumors about the desire for a separate peace with the Germans, the transfer of Russian military plans by the empress to the Germans were spread by the German General Staff.
A contemporary, who personally knew the queen, wrote in her diary: “Rumor ascribes all failures, all changes in appointments to the empress. Her hair stands on end: whatever she is accused of, each stratum of society from its point of view, but a common, friendly impulse - dislike and distrust. "
Indeed, the "German Queen" was suspected of Germanophilia. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich wrote: “It's amazing how unpopular poor Alike is. It can be argued, of course, that she absolutely did nothing to give rise to suspicion of sympathizing with the Germans, but everyone is trying to assert that she sympathizes with them. The only thing that can be blamed on her is that she failed to be popular. "
A rumor arose about a "German party" rallied around the Tsarina. In such a situation, the Russian general spoke to the British at the beginning of 1917: “What can we do? We have Germans everywhere. The Empress is German. " These sentiments also affected the members of the royal family. Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote to the Tsar's mother in September 1914: “I made a whole graphic where I noted the influences: Hessian, Prussian, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, etc. , was against the war until the last minute and tried in every possible way to delay the moment of rupture. "
The tsarina could not but know about such rumors: "Yes, I am more Russian than many others ..." - she wrote to the tsar. But nothing could prevent the spread of speculation. The noblewoman MI Baranovskaya said in the volost government: "Our empress cries when the Russians beat the Germans, and rejoices when the Germans win."
After the sovereign's abdication, the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry under the Provisional Government tried and failed to establish the guilt of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in any crimes.
Comparison with Catherine II
During the war years, the tsarina's interference in state affairs increased. This violated the established traditions and lowered the authority of Nicholas II. But rumors, of course, exaggerated the influence of the empress: “The emperor reigns, but the empress, inspired by Rasputin, rules,” the French ambassador M. Paleologue wrote in his diary in July 1916.
In post-revolutionary pamphlets, she was called "The All-Russian Autocrat Alice of Hesse." Friends of the Empress allegedly called her "the new Catherine the Great", which was played up in satirical texts:
Ah, I made a series of plans,
To become "Ekaterina"
And Hesse I am Petrograd
She dreamed of calling in time.
Comparison with Catherine II could give rise to other historical parallels. It was said that the empress was preparing a coup in order to become regent with her young son: she de 'intends to play the same role in relation to her husband that Catherine played in relation to Peter III. " Rumors of a regency (sometimes even of a joint regency of the empress and Rasputin) appear no later than September 1915. In the winter of 1917, rumors circulated that the tsarina had already appropriated to herself a certain formal regency function.
After February, the allegations of the tsarina's omnipotence were confirmed by the assessments of authoritative contemporaries. declared: “All power was in the hands of Alexandra Feodorovna and her ardent supporters.<…>The Empress imagined that she was the second Catherine the Great and that the salvation and reconstruction of Russia depended on her. ”
Family lessons
In her diaries and letters, the empress reveals the secret of family happiness. Her family lessons are still popular today. In our time, when the most elementary human concepts of duty, honor, conscience, responsibility, loyalty are questioned, and sometimes simply ridiculed, reading these records can be a real event of a spiritual order. Advice, warnings to spouses, thoughts about true and imaginary love, reflections on the relationship of close relatives, evidence of the decisive importance of the home atmosphere in the moral formation of the child's personality - these are the range of ethical problems that concern the Tsarina.
Everyone is equal before God
Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughters There are many testimonies that the tsar and tsarina were unusually simple in dealing with soldiers, peasants, orphans - in short, with any person. It is also known that the Queen instilled in her children that everyone is equal before God and that they should not be proud of their position. Following these moral guidelines, she closely followed the upbringing of her children and made every effort to develop them all-round and strengthen the highest spiritual and moral principles in them.
Languages
As you know, the Empress before marriage spoke two languages - French and English; there is no information about the knowledge of the German language of a German by origin in the biography of the princess. Obviously this is due to the fact that Alix was raised personally by Queen Victoria, as the beloved granddaughter of the latter.
After marriage, Princess Alix had to study the language of her new homeland for a short time and get used to its way of life and customs. During her coronation in May 1896, after the disaster at the Khodynskoye field, Alexandra Feodorovna went around hospitals and “asked in Russian”. Baroness S.K. Buxgewden argued (clearly exaggerating) that the Empress had perfectly mastered the Russian language and "could speak it without the slightest foreign accent, however, for many years she was afraid to conduct conversations in Russian, fearing to make some mistake." Another memoirist, who also met with Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1907, recalled that "she speaks Russian with a noticeable English accent." On the other hand, according to one of the people closest to the Empress, Captain 1st Rank N.P. Sablina, "she spoke Russian well, albeit with a noticeable German accent."
Despite some discord of memoirists, we can confidently state that Alexandra Fedorovna coped with all the difficulties of the Russian language and was confidently fluent in it. Nicholas II also contributed to this to a large extent, over the years he found time to read Russian classics aloud to her. This is how she acquired considerable knowledge in the field of Russian literature. Moreover, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also mastered the Old Church Slavonic language. The devout Empress regularly attended church services, and the basis of her personal library in the Alexander Palace was precisely the service books.
Nevertheless, in most cases, the empress, for ease of communication with her husband, preferred English to Russian.
Charity
From the first days of the anointing, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova wanted to change the life of Russian high society a little. Her first project was the organization of a circle of needlewomen. Each of the ladies in the circle had to sew three dresses a year and send them to the poor. True, the existence of the circle was short-lived.
Alexandra Feodorovna was an ascetic of charity. After all, she knew firsthand what love and pain are. In 1898, during the outbreak of famine, she donated 50 thousand rubles from her personal funds for the hungry. She also provided all possible assistance to mothers in need. With the outbreak of the First World War, the Empress donated all her funds to help the widows of soldiers, the wounded and orphans. At the height of the war, the Tsarskoye Selo hospital was converted to receive wounded soldiers. As mentioned above, Alexandra Fedorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatiana, were trained in nursing by Princess V.I. Gedrots, and then assisted her during operations as surgical nurses. At the initiative of the Empress, in Russian Empire workhouses, schools for nurses, a school of folk art, and orthopedic clinics for sick children were created.
By the beginning of 1909, 33 charitable societies were under her patronage., communities of sisters of mercy, shelters, shelters and similar institutions, including: the Committee for finding places for military ranks who suffered in the war with Japan, the House of Charity for crippled warriors, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society, the Trusteeship for Labor Assistance, the school for nannies of Her Majesty in Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Society for Aid to the Poor, Society for Aid to the Poor in St. Petersburg, Brotherhood in the Name of the Queen of Heaven for the charity of idiotic and epileptic children, the Alexandria Shelter for Women and others.
Alexandra Novaya
In 1981 Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, in August 2000 - by the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the canonization, Alexandra Feodorovna became Tsarina Alexandra Nova, since among the saints there was already a Christian saint with the same name, revered as a martyr Tsarina Alexandra of Rome ...
The "Thomas" magazine continues the column "Thoughts of the Great", which publishes sayings and aphorisms of the holy fathers, writers and philosophers. Collections of sayings are an ancient tradition dating back to antiquity and early Christianity. Today we invite you to get acquainted with the wise sayings of Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova - passion-bearer and wife of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II.
About God and life by faith
True faith manifests itself in all of our behavior. It is like the juices of a living tree, which reach the farthest branches.
We know that when He refuses our request, then fulfilling it would be for our evil; when He leads us on the wrong road that we marked out, He is right; when He punishes or corrects us, He does it with love. We know that He does everything for our highest good.
Let others see in your life that faith is more than teaching or observance.
Remembering past mercies will support faith in God in future trials.
Do not be discouraged, but calmly trust the will of God, and no matter what happens to you, endure everything to the glory of the Lord, since after winter comes summer, after night - day, and after a storm - silence.
Messiah in Old Testament many times they are called the Servant of God. Service is not something base, it is Divine.
If our love is true and sincere, we always put our trust in heaven.
What is prayer? This is when we are close to Christ.
Religion makes others harsh and morose. But that's not Christian. The religion inspired by the word of Christ is sunny and joyous.
Joy is the difference of a Christian. A Christian should never be discouraged; he should never doubt that good will triumph over evil.
If the word of Christ dwells in us, it will compel us to help others.
About man and virtues
We must become real people.
To be great means to be happy - this is one of the erroneous opinions that most of mankind adhered to almost at all times. To be kind means to be happy - this is the secret available to those few wise and virtuous who are an adornment not only about themselves, but also an adornment of their neighbors and the Fatherland.
The soul writes its story on the body.
The more humble a person is, the more peace in his soul.
Humility is not about talking about your shortcomings, but about enduring what others say about them; listening to them patiently and even gratefully; in correcting the shortcomings that we are told; in not feeling hostility towards those who tell us about them.
When doing charity work, it is important not to drown in self-esteem.
The basis of a noble character is absolute sincerity.
Purity of thoughts and purity of soul are what really ennobles.
Encouragement inspires us; if it is not there, many noble possibilities are extinguished.
True wisdom does not consist in the assimilation of knowledge, but in its correct application for good.
The first lesson to learn and practice is patience.
If everything is good on the inside, then nothing will hurt on the outside.
If you are aware of who you are, you will not pay attention to what people say about you.
Be courageous is the main thing.
Real virtue is to act without witnesses as is usually done before the eyes of the world.
Trust your heart, especially when trust is good, listen to it.
One who has done good should not talk about it, but if they boast about it, good loses its nobility ...
Give without looking for anything in return, without calculating the benefit in the future; give it to children, the elderly, the dying, those who cannot repay, and those whom you will never see again, otherwise it will not be a blessing, but a bargaining; try to help even your enemies. Do not trust the distribution of your alms to dubious intermediaries, otherwise the very act, which the apostle called "the work of love" (1 Thess. 1, 3), will be in doubt. His own hand do what your heart tells you. This will introduce you to the life and needs of the poor, the creatures of Christ.
The longer I live, the more clearly I understand that the main difference between people strong and weak, great and insignificant is energy, invincible determination, a firm goal, in which death is a victory.
A person is never so beautiful as while praying for his forgiveness or forgiveness of another.
Morality is what determines the meaning of any deed - vain or non-worldly meaning.
The most difficult thing that a person must overcome is himself.
The relationship of people. Love, family
The life of mankind is the great common life of individual human creatures. It is necessary to understand that the existence of one person separately from all other people is the same as if a person exists separately from the cells of his own organism.
Each one bears the sacred responsibility for the happiness and supreme good of the other for the rest of his life.
We must try to ensure that everything we do, our whole life, is for the benefit of other people. We must live so as not to harm anyone, so that our life serves as an example for others.
Striving to make your neighbors happy is the path to your own happiness.
Most disputes between people are worthless. They are caused either by the intervention of outsiders, or by frivolous words, or by the action of unrepentant sins.
What the people around us need most is simply kindness.
Good words always connect.
No one deserves a greater reward than peacekeepers.
The possibilities are almost endless to help people just by talking to them. The one who knows how to speak with conviction, knows how to speak the language of love, can inspire others to good and wonderful deeds, comfort their grief, cheer up those who have fallen in spirit, enlighten those who are inexperienced - in a thousand ways he can help others.
Adversity is the time when you need to support your neighbor.
There are many people in the world who have fallen into despair, and we must be able to say a word of hope to them or do a good deed that will bring them out of despair and give them strength to return to a joyful, full life.
He who stops helping others becomes a burden for himself.
Every new friend who comes into our life trusts us. The most correct concept of friendship is that it gives us the opportunity to serve, help, protect another. The moment we have a new friend is a sacred moment. This is another life entrusted to us, so that we can be good for her, bring beauty into her, be her refuge and protection.
Fill your days with love. Forget yourself and remember others. If someone needs your kindness, then show this kindness immediately, now ... If your heart longs for words of encouragement, gratitude, support, say these words today.
One word covers everything - that is the word "love". In the word "love" there is a whole volume of thoughts about life and duty, and when we carefully and carefully study it, each of them comes out clearly and distinctly.
How sweet are the words of Truth, carried by the breath of love.
Only that life is worthy in which there is sacrificial love.
Jesus demands love not only as a beautiful feeling, but love that permeates all daily life affecting relationships with all people.
There can be no deep and sincere love where selfishness rules. Perfect love is perfect self-denial.
Life is too short to be wasted in struggles and quarrels, especially in the sacred circle of the family.
As long as you love, you forgive.
Marriage is a divine ceremony. He was part of God's plan when He created man. This is the closest and most sacred bond on earth.
Love does not grow, does not become great and perfect suddenly and by itself, but it takes time and constant care.
In love, special delicacy is needed. You can be sincere and loyal, and yet, in your speeches and actions, you may lack that tenderness that so captivates hearts ... The closer the relationship, the more painful the heart is from a look, tone, gesture or words that speak of irritability or are simply thoughtless.
It is impossible to imagine true femininity without purity. Even among this world, mired in sins and vices, it is possible to preserve this holy purity.
You can understand what a woman is like in the house she creates.
A woman is endowed with the gift of compassion, delicacy, the ability to inspire. This makes her look like a messenger of Christ with a mission to alleviate human suffering and sorrow.
Attitude towards women - here The best way check the nobility of a man.
Parents should be what they want their children to be - not in words, but in deeds. They should teach their children by the example of their lives.
The songs of childhood are never forgotten. Memories of them lie under the load of worried years, like delicate flowers under the snow in winter.
The importance of the environment is vital. We do not yet fully understand how much the atmosphere in the house where children grow up means to the development of their character. The very first place for us where we learn truth, honesty, love is our home - the most dear place for us in the world.
A life. Appeasement
Every day is life in miniature.
We often lose what we have dear, chasing the unattainable.
How many opportunities to do good we miss without even realizing the value of what we missed!
Due to constant troubles and worries, we do not reveal even half of the good that is in us.
The meaning of life is not to do what you like, but to do what you have to do with love.
Go ahead, make a mistake, fall and get up again, just keep going.
Often more heavenly grace is required for the mundane activities than for the great ones.
There is no person so poor that he could consider himself so. The wisdom is that a person should let the Lord decide everything for him.
Each has its place, and each is important in its place. The smallest and the most insignificant also have their places, and it is necessary that these small places be filled as much as the places occupied by the most important and significant persons.
Never be discouraged or let others be discouraged.
We are creators. Human lives everywhere, like unfinished buildings, and everyone who passes by put bricks on the wall or add some kind of decoration. Everyone with whom we come into contact, who speaks to us at least a word, who at least from afar influences us, leaves a dash of beauty or a sign of something bad in our character.
We must stay where we are, do our duty, carry our burden, do God's will... This is the path to peace of mind.
The peace that the Lord gives us is peace of the soul - not external peace, not idleness. You can enjoy it to the fullest, and at the same time continuously work and endure suffering and pain. Some of the best Christians the world has ever known were the greatest sufferers, but at the same time, nothing could disturb their peace of mind.
Only those with peace of mind can do their job well. A restless mind is not good for a good job.
Worry makes us weak.
An irritated mind cannot think clearly.
Peace is a Divine gift, but at the same time, you need to learn it. Learn by taking on the yoke of Christ.
The kindest thing a teacher can do to his students is to teach them to lead a life of faith and courage - a life of conquerors.
Biography of Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova
Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna, nee princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt; June 6, 1872 - July 17, 1918) - Russian Empress, wife of Nicholas II (since 1894).
The future empress was born in 1872 in Darmstadt (Germany), in the family of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. On July 1, 1872, she was baptized according to the Lutheran ceremony.
Alice was Queen Victoria's favorite granddaughter.
At the age of 12 (1884), Princess Alice first came to Russia for the wedding of her older sister Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna), who was married to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
Then, in 1889, Alice visited Russia for the second time at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. During this visit, the princess met Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
Young people immediately drew attention to each other, but they had to fight for their happiness, since the Tsarevich's parents were against them. On April 6, 1894, a manifesto announced the engagement of Nicholas and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
For several months before the wedding, Alisa studied the basics of Orthodoxy and the Russian language, and on October 21 (November 2), 1894, in Livadia (Crimea), she adopted Orthodoxy through chrismation with the name Alexandra and patronymic Feodorovna (Feodorovna).
On November 14 (26), 1894, the wedding ceremony of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. They had four daughters: Olga (3/15 November 1895), Tatiana (29 May / 10 June 1897), Maria (14/26 June 1899) and Anastasia (5/18 June 1901).
Some time later, on July 30 (August 12), 1904, the long-awaited son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, was born into the family of the young emperor. But to the great misfortune of the entire royal family, he inherited a serious illness through his mother - hemophilia.
Nicholas and Alexandra steadfastly endured this test, surrounding the Tsarevich with tender care and love. It was a truly friendly Christian family, where parents were able to give their children a good upbringing by word and example.
During World War I, in Tsarskoe Selo, where the imperial family lived most of the time, a hospital was equipped for wounded soldiers, and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatiana, worked there as surgical nurses (after receiving preliminary training).
On March 8 (21), 1917, after the February Revolution, the imperial family was arrested in accordance with the decree of the Provisional Government and was for some time under domestic confinement in the Alexander Palace, then, in early August 1917, was exiled to Tobolsk, and in April 1918 by decision of the Bolsheviks - to Yekaterinburg.
In Yekaterinburg, on the night of July 17, 1918, in the basement of the house of the merchant Ipatiev, the royal family suffered a martyr's death: Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and their children were shot ...
In August 2000, Emperor Nicholas II and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as holy martyrs.
Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova was born on June 7, 1872 in Darmstadt. The future Empress of the Russian Empire was the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse - Ludwig of Darmstadt and english princess Alice.
The parents named their daughter Alix Elena Louise Beatrice. She was the sixth child in the family. It is worth noting that Queen Victoria of England was her grandmother.
Alix's mother loved England, and her children received a real English upbringing. The daughter ate oatmeal for breakfast, ate potatoes and meat for lunch, and ate puddings and baked apples for dessert. Alix slept on a soldier's bed, and in the morning she took a cold bath.
Since childhood, Alix was characterized by shyness, with which she had to fight in adulthood. Her mother died early, saw Alix and the death of her little brother, who died in an accident. These events left a deep mark on her heart.
After the death of her mother, Alix took up her studies, and very hard. Her teacher was Margaret Jackson, an Englishwoman who provided big influence on the formation of the personality of the future empress. By the age of 15, the girl knew literature, history, art, geography and mathematics very well.
She played the piano well. The princess knew foreign languages- English and French, read serious literature.
With her future husband Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, Alix first met at the wedding of her older sister, who was married to Nikolai's uncle, Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov. Visiting her sister, she met more than once with the heir to the Russian throne.
In 1889, Nicholas II wanted to marry Alix, but did not receive the blessing of his parents for this. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna Romanovs believed that Alix was not the best wife for the future emperor. For a long time, Nikolai and Alix corresponded, exchanged gifts.
In the spring of 1894, the parents nevertheless gave their consent to the marriage of Nicholas II to Alix. It was not an easy decision. In order to become the wife of Nikolai Alexandrovich, Alix had to convert to Christianity. It was very difficult for Alix to renounce Lutheranism, but she still converted to Orthodoxy. Affected by the influence of Nicholas II and the elder sister Ella, who converted to Orthodoxy when she became the wife of Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov.
Alix arrived in the Russian Empire shortly before the death of her husband's father, Alexander III. The baptism was conducted by John of Kronstadt. During the rite of baptism, Alix received Russian name... Now she was called Alexandra Fedorovna. Patronymic Fedorovna, she received later, before the wedding. German princesses took Orthodox faith in front of the image Holy Mother of God Feodorovskaya - the patroness of the royal dynasty.
Alexandra Feodorovna diligently prepared for marriage. The future Empress diligently studied Russian. Russian speech came very easily to her. She quickly learned to write and read, a little later she was able to speak Russian fluently. In addition to the usual Russian language, Alexandra Feodorovna also learned the Church Slavonic language. This allowed her to read liturgical books and the works of Russian saints.
Their wedding took place on November 27, 1894. The wedding ceremony was conducted by John of Kronstadt. The royal couple, who were in mourning for the death of Alexander III, did not arrange receptions and celebrations. The young people did not go on their honeymoon either.
Contemporaries describe Alexandra Fedorovna as a very graceful woman. She was frail, beautifully built, with a beautiful neck and shoulders. Her hair was long, it was golden and thick. The empress's complexion is pink like that of little child... The eyes are large, dark gray, always alive. Later, sadness and anxiety betrayed a hidden sadness in the eyes of the empress.
On May 27, 1896, in the Assumption Cathedral, the coronation of the royal family took place. The anointing to the kingdom, the sacrament of the Church is the oath of the sovereign to rule the country, the acceptance of responsibility for the state and people before God. Absolute power bestows absolute responsibility. During the wedding to the kingdom, a tragedy occurred on the Khodynskoye field ...
Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II were depressed. But the planned celebrations could not be canceled. Russia’s ally, France, invested heavily in the festivities, and would have had a strong grievance if the festivities were canceled. The royal couple spent a lot of time in Moscow hospitals, empathizing with the victims.
From the first days of her anointing, the Empress wanted to change the life of Russian high society a little. Her first project on this occasion was the organization of a circle of needlewomen, consisting of court ladies. Each of its participants had to sew three dresses a year, and send them to the poor. The circle did not last long.
In 1895, Alexandra Feodorovna became a mother. The Empress gave birth to a daughter, Olga. In total, she had 5 children. Four daughters and one son - the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei. Russian society treated the Empress coldly. Soon this cold turned into open confrontation, hatred. Therefore, she plunged headlong into family affairs and charitable affairs.
Happy Alexandra Feodorovna felt only in the circle of her loved ones. She was engaged in raising children herself. She believed that communication with young ladies of high society would spoil her children, so she rarely took them to receptions. She did not spoil the children, although she loved them dearly. I ordered dresses for them myself. The clothes of the royal children also wore ceremonial uniforms with skirts that corresponded to the shape of the regiments led by the Grand Duchesses.
Alexandra Feodorovna was a great devotee of charity. She was an impeccable mother and wife, and knew firsthand what love and pain were. Provided all possible assistance to mothers in need. During the famine that broke out in 1898, she donated 50 thousand rubles from her personal funds for the hungry.
On the initiative of the Empress, workhouses, schools for nurses, orthopedic clinics for sick children were created in the Russian Empire. With the outbreak of the First World War, she spent all her money on helping the widows of soldiers, the wounded and orphans. Also the concern of Alexandra Feodorovna was the school of folk art, which she founded in St. Petersburg.
She taught children to keep diaries and write letters. Thus, she instilled in them literacy. It was a kind of educational trick. Children learned to express their thoughts competently and coherently, to share impressions. The royal couple were an example of a real Christian life.
The relationship of the Emperor and Empress was based on sincere love, which they gave not only to each other, but also to their children. The Romanov couple waited for an heir for a long time, for a long time, they prayed to God for a son. And, on August 12, 1904, a son was born in the family - Tsarevich Alexei.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova did not particularly go into state affairs, although her influence on the sovereign was enormous. The main concern in her life was still children, the upbringing of which took all the time.
During World War I, when the Emperor became supreme commander, and was at Headquarters, the Empress began to think about the affairs of the state, as it should be in such cases. Alexandra Fedorovna, worked with her daughters in hospitals. Often at night she came to the cemetery where the soldiers were buried. She walked around the graves and fervently prayed for the souls of the dead Russian soldiers.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova was brutally murdered along with her husband and children on July 17, 1918 in the basement of the Ipatiev House. The main thing in the life of the empress was love for God and neighbor, caring for her family and those in need. Prayer was a consolation for Alexandra Fyodorovna, the inspirer of all the empress's merciful deeds.
This term has other meanings, see Alexandra Fedorovna. Alexandra Fedorovna Friederike Luise Charlotte Wilhelmine von Preußen ... Wikipedia
Alexandra Fedorovna the name given in Orthodoxy to two spouses Russian emperors: Alexandra Fedorovna (wife of Nicholas I) (Princess Charlotte of Prussia; 1798 1860) Russian empress, wife of Nicholas I. Alexandra Fedorovna (wife ... ... Wikipedia
- (real name Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse of Darmstadt) (1872 1918), Russian empress, wife of Nicholas II (from 1894). Played a significant role in public affairs. Was under the strong influence of G.E. Rasputin. During the period 1 ... ... Russian history
Alexandra Fedorovna- (1872 1918) Empress (1894 1917), wife of Nicholas II (from 1894), nee. Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice, daughter led. Duke of Hesse of Darmstadt Ludwig IV and Alice of England. From 1878, the English was brought up. Queen Victoria; graduated ... ...
Alexandra Fedorovna- (1798 1860) Empress (1825 60), wife of Nicholas I (from 1818), nee. Frederica Louise Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III and Queen Louise. Mother of the imp. Alra II and Great. book Constantine, Nicholas, Micah. Nikolaevich and led. book ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary
- (25.V.1872 16.VII. 1918) Russian. Empress, wife of Nicholas II (from November 14, 1894). Daughter led. Duke of Hesse of Darmstadt Ludwig IV. Before marriage, she bore the name of Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice. Domineering and hysterical, had a great influence on ... ... Soviet Historical Encyclopedia
Alexandra Fedorovna- ALEXANDRA FYODOROVNA (real name Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice Hesse of Darmstadt) (1872-1918), born. Empress, wife of Nicholas II (since 1894). Played means. role in the state. affairs. Was under the strong influence of G.E. Rasputin. During the period 1 ... ... Biographical Dictionary
Russian Empress, wife of Nicholas II (from November 14, 1894). Daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse of Darmstadt Louis IV. Before marriage, she bore the name of Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice. Domineering and hysterical, ... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia
- ... Wikipedia
- ... Wikipedia
Books
- The fate of the Empress, Alexander Bokhanov. This book is about an amazing woman whose life was like both a fairy tale and an adventure novel. Empress Maria Feodorovna ... Daughter-in-law of Emperor Alexander II, wife of the Emperor ...
- The fate of the empress, Bokhanov A.N .. This book is about an amazing woman, whose life was similar to both a fairy tale and an adventure novel. Empress Maria Feodorovna ... Daughter-in-law of Emperor Alexander II, wife of the Emperor ...
Loading ...