Almost 90 years ago, Maria Dagmar Romanova, who went down in history as the wife of Emperor Alexander III and the mother of Nicholas II, passed away. She was the bride of Tsarevich Nicholas, and became the wife of his brother, was the mother of the Russian emperor, and became an exile, losing her son and grandchildren and ending her days alone. There were so many sharp turns and difficult trials in her destiny that it could have broken the will of even a strong-willed person, but she endured all the difficulties with steadfastness.
The fate of the Danish princess Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmar was predetermined from birth. Her parents were called father-in-law and mother-in-law throughout Europe - their daughters were enviable brides for many royal houses. They married their eldest daughter Alexandra to the English king Edward VII, and Dagmar was engaged to the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov. The young people treated each other with great tenderness, things were heading towards the wedding, but then Nikolai fell ill with meningitis and died suddenly. The bride spent her last days in Nice next to him. Together with her, his younger brother Alexander also looked after the heir. Their common grief brought them closer, and after the death of Nicholas, Alexander took his place not only in inheriting the throne, but also next to Dagmar.
According to legend, the dying Nicholas himself blessed his brother and bride for this union. The political benefits of such a marriage were obvious, the family pushed Alexander to this decision, and he himself felt sympathy for the Danish princess. And a year later, after the end of mourning, Dagmar agreed to his proposal. In 1866, she went to Russia, where she was greeted with jubilation by several tens of thousands of people. Later, she will be able to justify people's love with sincere devotion to her new homeland and her deeds.
The wedding took place in October 1866. Dagmar accepted the Orthodox faith and began to be called Maria Fedorovna. Six children were born in this marriage, and the firstborn was named in honor of the deceased Tsarevich Nicholas. It was he who was destined to become the last Russian emperor. During the reign of Alexander III, Maria Dagmar (or Dagmara, Dagmaria, as her husband called her) did not interfere in state affairs, but was actively involved in social activities: she headed the Russian Red Cross Society and many educational and charitable institutions, opened shelters for children and the poor, took patronage over the Cavalry and Cuirassier regiments, and together with the emperor participated in the creation of the funds of the Russian Museum.
After the death of Alexander III in 1894, Maria Feodorovna bore the title of Dowager Empress. The illness and death of her husband were a heavy blow for her. She wrote: “I still can’t get used to this terrible reality that my dear and beloved is no longer on this earth. It's just a nightmare. Everywhere without him there is a killing emptiness. Wherever I go, I miss him terribly. I can't even think about my life without him. This is no longer life, but a constant test that we must try to endure without lamenting, surrendering to the mercy of God and asking him to help us bear this heavy cross!”
Maria Feodorovna did not approve of her son’s choice; the German princess seemed to her not a strong enough support for Nicholas, who was too soft and delicate for a sovereign. Their relationship with their son deteriorated, she often expressed her dissatisfaction, for which she earned the nickname “angry empress” in court circles. According to the memoirs of E. Svyatopolk-Mirskaya, Maria Feodorovna more than once complained that “it’s terrible for her to see that her son is ruining everything, to understand this and not be able to do anything.”
The revolution overtook her in Kyiv, and from there she later moved to Crimea, where she lived for about two years. For a long time, the Empress did not want to believe rumors about the death of her son and his entire family. After the White Guards and the English squadron came to Crimea, Maria Feodorovna succumbed to the persuasion of her relatives and agreed to leave Russia. Then it seemed to her that it was temporary, and after the revolutionary events subsided, she would be able to return. But she never saw her second home again.
At first, the Empress lived in England, and then returned to Denmark, where she spent the last years of her life, which were very lonely and restless - her nephew, the Danish king, did not like his aunt. On October 13, 1928, Maria Dagmar Romanova died.
Her last wish was to rest next to her husband, but her will was fulfilled only in 2006, when her ashes were transported to Russia. In St. Petersburg, she was solemnly buried next to Alexander III, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the tomb of the Russian emperors.
Passed away 89 years ago Maria-Dagmar Romanova, who went down in history as the wife of Emperor Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II. She was the bride of Tsarevich Nicholas, and became the wife of his brother, was the mother of the Russian emperor, and became an exile, losing her son and grandchildren and ending her days alone. There were so many sharp turns and difficult trials in her destiny that it could have broken the will of even a strong-willed person, but she endured all the difficulties with steadfastness.
The fate of the Danish princess Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmar was predetermined from birth. Her parents were called father-in-law and mother-in-law throughout Europe - their daughters were enviable brides for many royal houses. They married their eldest daughter Alexandra to the English king Edward VII, and Dagmar was engaged to the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov. The young people treated each other with great tenderness, things were heading towards the wedding, but then Nikolai fell ill with meningitis and died suddenly. The bride spent her last days in Nice next to him. Together with her, his younger brother Alexander also looked after the heir. Their common grief brought them closer, and after the death of Nicholas, Alexander took his place not only in inheriting the throne, but also next to Dagmar.
According to legend, the dying Nicholas himself blessed his brother and bride for this union. The political benefits of such a marriage were obvious, the family pushed Alexander to this decision, and he himself felt sympathy for the Danish princess. And a year later, after the end of mourning, Dagmar agreed to his proposal. In 1866, she went to Russia, where she was greeted with jubilation by several tens of thousands of people. Later, she will be able to justify people's love with sincere devotion to her new homeland and her deeds.
The wedding took place in October 1866. Dagmar accepted the Orthodox faith and began to be called Maria Fedorovna. Six children were born in this marriage, and the firstborn was named in honor of the deceased Tsarevich Nicholas. It was he who was destined to become the last Russian emperor. During the reign of Alexander III, Maria Dagmar (or Dagmara, Dagmaria, as her husband called her) did not interfere in state affairs, but was actively involved in social activities: she headed the Russian Red Cross Society and many educational and charitable institutions, opened shelters for children and the poor, took patronage over the Cavalry and Cuirassier regiments, and together with the emperor participated in the creation of the funds of the Russian Museum.
After the death of Alexander III in 1894, Maria Feodorovna bore the title of Dowager Empress. The illness and death of her husband were a heavy blow for her. She wrote: “ I still can’t get used to this terrible reality that my dear and beloved is no longer on this earth. It's just a nightmare. Everywhere without him there is a killing emptiness. Wherever I go, I miss him terribly. I can't even think about my life without him. This is no longer life, but a constant test that we must try to endure without lamenting, surrendering to the mercy of God and asking him to help us bear this heavy cross!».
Maria Feodorovna did not approve of her son’s choice; the German princess seemed to her not a strong enough support for Nicholas, who was too soft and delicate for a sovereign. Their relationship with their son deteriorated, she often expressed her dissatisfaction, for which she earned the nickname “angry empress” in court circles. According to the memoirs of E. Svyatopolk-Mirskaya, Maria Feodorovna more than once complained that “ It’s terrible for her to see that her son is ruining everything, to understand this and not be able to do anything».
The revolution overtook her in Kyiv, and from there she later moved to Crimea, where she lived for about two years. For a long time, the Empress did not want to believe rumors about the death of her son and his entire family. After the White Guards and the English squadron came to Crimea, Maria Feodorovna succumbed to the persuasion of her relatives and agreed to leave Russia. Then it seemed to her that it was temporary, and after the revolutionary events subsided, she would be able to return. But she never saw her second home again.
At first, the Empress lived in England, and then returned to Denmark, where she spent the last years of her life, which were very lonely and restless - her nephew, the Danish king, did not like his aunt. On October 13, 1928, Maria Dagmar Romanova died. Her last wish was to rest next to her husband, but her will was fulfilled only in 2006, when her ashes were transported to Russia. In St. Petersburg, she was solemnly buried next to Alexander III, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the tomb of the Russian emperors.
The sister of Nicholas II also had to leave Russia forever: .
The wife of Tsar-Peacemaker Alexander III had a happy and at the same time tragic fate
Photo: Alexander GLUZ
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Eleven years ago, on September 28, 2006, a coffin containing the remains of Alexander III’s wife, Maria Fedorovna, was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. A few days earlier, the coffin was delivered from Denmark, the empress's homeland. Thus, the will of the monarch’s wife was fulfilled: to be buried next to her husband.
The ceremony was quite modest. Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir, members of the Romanov family were present. A white marble tombstone with a gilded cross on top was installed on the grave, identical to the tombstones in the imperial tomb.
Eight years earlier, here, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the presence of the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the remains of Maria Feodorovna's son, Emperor Nicholas II, her daughter-in-law and granddaughters were buried. True, discussions about who these remains actually belong to still continue.
Should have married my older brother...
...She was adored in her native Denmark, immediately accepted and loved in Russia, always mysterious to foreigners. She was an ardent bride, a tender and devoted wife, a loving and affectionate mother.
Her name was Sofia Frederika Dagmara, she was born in Copenhagen, was the daughter of Prince Christian of Luxembourg, later King Christian IX of Denmark.
Princess Dagmara was not even eighteen years old when her marriage to the heir to the Russian throne, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander II, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, was decided. That rare case when young people, matched for dynastic reasons, immediately sincerely fell in love with each other. They became engaged in 1865, while he was traveling in Europe. But soon the Tsarevich fell seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed him with tuberculous meningitis. His brother Alexander Alexandrovich arrived in Nice, where the heir was hastily sent for treatment. Together with Princess Dagmara, he looked after the sick.
It was then, near the bed of his dying brother, that the future Russian Emperor Alexander III felt that his heart was filled with love for this fragile girl. And in his thoughts Alexander did not allow blasphemous desires: with all his soul he wished for his brother’s recovery. But Nikolai himself soon realized that he was doomed. The illness burned him, and two days before his death he told his brother: “Sasha, don’t leave Mini! (this is how Princess Dagmara was nicknamed in the Romanov family - Author). Be her protection and support... If she is dear to your heart, marry her! Mini, become a good wife to him.” The future emperor was silent, stunned and depressed, and Dagmara, sobbing, exclaimed: “Come to your senses! You will definitely get better!”
After the death of his betrothed, Alexander did not speak about the will of his dying brother. But he tried in every possible way to please Dagmara: he gave flowers, knowing that she loved music very much, he took performances to concerts, and he brought books. And the heart of the young Danish woman thawed! The huge and powerful young man, next to whom she was like a thin stalk, turned out to be a wise and kind man, capable of understanding her soul...
The engagement took place in Copenhagen, and the wedding took place in the Church of the Winter Palace. This happened on October 28 (November 9, new style) 1866. The princess converted to Orthodoxy and became Maria Feodorovna.
Did not interfere in government affairs
Almost fifteen years later, after the death of Emperor Alexander II, who was killed by the Narodnaya Volya, his son inherited a difficult inheritance: the empire was rocked by unrest and conspiracies. Alexander Alexandrovich managed to strengthen the power, thereby delaying its collapse. During the reign of the Tsar the Peacemaker, Russia did not wage wars, and industry and the national economy developed at a speed that alarmed the Western world.
The Empress always understood her husband well, but she never interfered in his affairs or tried to influence the decisions he made.
But, without touching on state affairs, Alexandra Fedorovna brought considerable benefit to her new Fatherland. On her initiative, girls' schools were opened. Under the patronage of the queen, in particular, were the Alexander Lyceum, St. Petersburg and Moscow commercial schools, the Gatchina Orphan Institute, and charitable societies.
Maria Fedorovna was, in addition, a talented artist. The portraits, still lifes, and plot sketches she created have been preserved.
Without relying only on tutors and teachers
The Emperor and Empress had six children: Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas II, Alexander, George, Ksenia, Mikhail and Olga. Alexander died in infancy, George did not live to be thirty years old. Mikhail shared the fate of his crowned older brother: he was shot in 1918. Ksenia and Olga lived to a ripe old age and died abroad.
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Maria Feodorovna actively participated in the upbringing of her sons and daughters, not relying only on tutors and teachers. However, she never sought to suppress the will of the children. In this regard, the story of the matchmaking and marriage of her eldest son, the heir Nikolai Alexandrovich, is indicative.
In 1894, the Tsarevich met in Crimea the German Princess Victoria Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had come to stay with her Russian relatives. The twenty-six-year-old heir quickly fell in love with a beautiful and intelligent girl. The future emperor told his parents that he was going to woo and get married.
The Emperor and Empress were against this marriage. Alexander III, among others, put forward this very compelling argument. Alice was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England and, as doctors claimed, she probably inherited from her a terrible disease - hemophilia. That is, a crowned couple may have terminally ill sons. And this is a threat to the Russian state itself! Maria Fedorovna shared her husband's concern. But, after listening to her son, she firmly told the monarch: “If he loves, then let him marry! We can’t make our son unhappy when we ourselves have been living happily for so many years!”
The imperial couple were not disturbed by the heir’s contacts with the ballerina.
Here we cannot help but say about the empress’s attitude towards the love affair between the heir to the throne and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. In the language of the Soviet era, this topic has recently attracted unhealthy interest that resembles mass insanity. Meanwhile, according to historians, the king and queen did not attach much importance to this hobby of their son.
Nikki’s contacts with Matilda did not alarm anyone, because it was clear that marriage was out of the question, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladlen Izmozik told Komsomolskaya Pravda. - The marriage of the heir to the throne was a matter of national importance. Another question is that the young man needed to gain sexual experience, and in decent families this role was performed by milliners, maids, seamstresses, and finally, ballerinas.
In Valentin Pikul’s sensational novel “At the Last Line,” which is dedicated to the events preceding the collapse of the Russian Empire, there are the following lines: “The Tsarina spoke with Madame Myatlyova, who had a broken daughter and four dachas on the Peterhof highway, costing 100,000 rubles . “And I will pay you three hundred thousand for these dachas,” said Tsarina Myatlyova, “but you must close your eyes to the behavior of your daughter... What if my Niki needs a hygienic prelude to marriage!”
The October Revolution was met in Crimea
On October 20 (November 1, new style), 1894, having lived only 49 years, Emperor Alexander III died. And then everything went downhill. Russia was gripped by revolutionary fever, terrorists killed statesmen one after another. The courtiers who came into contact with all kinds of conspirators betrayed Emperor Nicholas II. How it all ended is well known.
In October 1917, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, along with her daughters and a small group of relatives, was in Crimea. A few months before this, she last saw her eldest son: she went to see him at Headquarters, in Mogilev.
In Crimea, the Bolsheviks put the former empress and her relatives under house arrest. Eyewitnesses recalled that during the search, the Bible was snatched from Maria Fedorovna’s hands. She begged him to leave her the book. And she heard in response: “An old woman your age has no business reading such nonsense!”
It's hard to say what saved their lives. They say that this was done by the head of the guard named Zadorozhny, who probably only posed as a Bolshevik...
In 1919, the British, finally remembering that the Romanovs were close relatives of their royal family, sent the cruiser Marlboro for the Dowager Empress: at that moment Crimea was in the hands of the White Guards. But she categorically refused to leave Russia unless all her relatives who were on the peninsula were allowed to emigrate. Allowed!
Photo: Wikipedia. The former empress aboard the cruiser Marlboro
Here the question arises: why didn’t the British Lion bother to save Emperor Nicholas II himself and his family:
“I understand that in 1917 the British authorities sought at all costs to keep Russia in the world war,” says Professor Izmozik. – And in order not to displease the Provisional Government, they gave up on the fate of the Russian monarch.
“Impostors” annoyed me
Maria Fedorovna did not remain in England for long. She left for her homeland, Denmark, where she lived her last years, not succumbing to the persuasion of emigrant circles to get involved in political activities.
But even more annoying than the politicians, she was besieged by “impostors”: her “granddaughters” who supposedly miraculously escaped execution. To one young lady who claimed that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the Empress said: “Young lady! You are still very young. You will have time to achieve success. But I’m not your helper: we both know very well that you are not my granddaughter!”
I didn’t believe in my son’s death
When the Empress settled in Copenhagen, a colonel who had arrived from Russia, sent to Denmark by Alexander Kolchak, wanted to visit her. He brought the results of an investigation proving the death of the royal family. But Maria Feodorovna refused to accept the messenger. She stated that she did not believe in the death of the family and forbade serving a memorial service for the murdered.
The future Empress Maria Alexandrovna was born in 1824 in Darmstadt, the capital of Hesse. The baby was named Maximiliana Wilhemina Augusta Sophia Maria.
Origin
Her father was the German Ludwig II (1777-1848) - Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine. He came to power after the July Revolution.
The girl's mother was Wilhelmine of Baden (1788-1836). She was from the Baden house of Zähringen. There were rumors at court that her younger children, including Maximilian, were born from a relationship with one of the local barons. Ludwig II - the official husband - recognized her as his daughter in order to avoid a shameful scandal. Nevertheless, the girl and her brother Alexander began to live separately from her father and his residence in Darmstadt. This place of “exile” was Heiligenberg, which was the property of Wilhelmina’s mother.
Meeting with Alexander II
The Romanovs had popular dynastic marriages with German princesses. For example, Maria's predecessor - Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas I) - was the daughter of the Prussian king. And the wife of the last Russian emperor was also from the House of Hesse. So, against this background, Alexander II’s decision to marry a German from a small principality does not seem strange.
Empress Maria Alexandrovna met her future husband in March 1839, when she was 14 years old and he was 18. At this time, Alexander, as heir to the throne, made the traditional European tour to meet the local ruling houses. He met the daughter of the Duke of Hesse at the play “Vestal Virgin”.
How was the marriage agreed upon?
After meeting, Alexander began to persuade his parents in letters to give permission to marry a German woman. However, the mother was against such a connection with the crown prince. She was embarrassed by rumors about the girl’s illegal origins. Emperor Nicholas, on the contrary, decided not to shoot from the shoulder, but to consider the issue more carefully.
The fact is that his son Alexander already had bad experiences in his personal life. He fell in love with the maid of honor of the court. His parents were sharply against such a relationship for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, this girl was of simple origin. Secondly, she was also a Catholic. So Alexander was forcibly separated from her and sent to Europe, just so that he could find a suitable match for himself.
So Nikolai decided not to risk breaking his son’s heart again. Instead, he began to ask in detail about the girl the trustee Alexander Kavelin and the poet Vasily Zhukovsky, who accompanied the heir on his journey. When the emperor received positive feedback, an order immediately followed throughout the court that it was henceforth forbidden to spread any rumors about the Hessian princess.
Even Empress Alexandra Feodorovna had to obey this command. Then she decided to go to Darmstadt herself to meet her daughter-in-law in advance. This was an unheard of event - nothing like this had ever happened in Russian history.
Appearance and interests
The future Empress Maria Alexandrovna made an excellent impression on her predecessor. After a face-to-face meeting, consent for the marriage was received.
What was it that attracted others so much about this German girl? The most detailed description of her appearance was left in her memoirs by her maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva (daughter of the famous poet). According to her, Empress Maria Alexandrovna had a delicate skin color, wonderful hair and a gentle look of large blue eyes. Against this background, her thin lips, which often depicted an ironic smile, looked a little strange.
The girl had a deep knowledge of music and European literature. Her education and breadth of interests impressed everyone around her, and many people later left their enthusiastic reviews in the form of memoirs. For example, the writer Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy said that the empress, with her knowledge, not only stands out from other women, but even noticeably outperforms many men.
Appearance at court and wedding
The wedding took place soon after all the formalities were settled. The bride arrived in St. Petersburg in 1840 and was most shocked by the splendor and beauty of the Russian capital. In December, she converted to Orthodoxy and received the name Maria Alexandrovna in baptism. The very next day, an engagement took place between her and the heir to the throne. The wedding took place a year later, in 1841. It took place in the Cathedral Church, located in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg. Now this is one of the premises of the Hermitage where regular exhibitions are held.
It was difficult for the girl to integrate into her new life due to lack of knowledge of the language and fear of not being liked by her father-in-law and mother-in-law. As she later admitted, Maria spent every day on pins and needles, feeling like a “volunteer”, ready to rush anywhere at a sudden command, for example, to an unexpected reception. In general, she was a burden for the princess, and then the empress. She was primarily attached to her husband and children, and tried to do only to help them, and not waste time on formalities.
The coronation of the couple took place in 1856 after the death of Nicholas I. Thirty-year-old Maria Alexandrovna received a new status, which frightened her all the time that she was the emperor’s daughter-in-law.
Character
Contemporaries noted the numerous virtues that Empress Maria Alexandrovna possessed. This is kindness, attention to people, sincerity in words and actions. But the most important and noticeable thing was the sense of duty with which she remained at court and carried the title throughout her life. Her every action corresponded to her imperial status.
She always observed religious tenets and was extremely devout. This trait stood out so strongly in the empress’s character that it was much easier to imagine her as a nun than as a reigning person. For example, Louis II (King of Bavaria) noted that Maria Alexandrovna was surrounded by the halo of a saint. This behavior in many ways did not coincide with her status, since in many state (even formal) affairs her presence was required, despite her behavior detached from the bustle of the world.
Charity
Most of all, Empress Maria Alexandrovna - the wife of Alexander 2 - was known for her widespread charity. All over the country, at her expense, hospitals, shelters and gymnasiums were opened, which received the epithet “Mariinsky”. In total, she opened and supervised 5 hospitals, 36 shelters, 12 almshouses, 5 charitable societies. The empress did not deprive the education sector of attention: 2 institutes, four dozen gymnasiums, hundreds of small schools for artisans and workers, etc. were built. Maria Alexandrovna spent both state and her own funds on this (she was given 50 thousand silver rubles a year for personal expenses).
Healthcare became a special area of activity that Empress Maria Alexandrovna dealt with. The Red Cross appeared in Russia precisely on her initiative. Its volunteers helped wounded soldiers during the Bulgarian war against Turkey of 1877-1878.
Death of daughter and son
The death of the heir to the throne was a great tragedy for the royal family. Empress Maria Alexandrovna - the wife of Alexander 2 - gave her husband eight children. The eldest son Nikolai was born in 1843, two years after the wedding, when his namesake grandfather was still Tsar.
The child was distinguished by a sharp mind and a pleasant character, for which all family members loved him. He was already engaged and educated when he injured his back in an accident. There are several versions of what happened. Either Nikolai fell from his horse or hit the marble table during a playful fight with his comrade. At first the injury was invisible, but over time the heir became paler and felt worse. In addition, doctors treated him incorrectly - they prescribed medications for rheumatism, which were of no benefit, because the true cause of the disease was not identified. Soon Nikolai found himself confined to a wheelchair. This became a terrible stress that Empress Maria Alexandrovna endured. His son’s illness followed the death of his first daughter, Alexandra, who died of meningitis. His mother was constantly with Nikolai, even when it was decided to send him to Nice for treatment for spinal tuberculosis, where he died at 22 years old.
Cooling relationship with husband
Both Alexander and Maria had difficulty coping with this loss in their own way. The Emperor blamed himself for forcing his son to do a lot of physical training, which was partly why the accident happened. One way or another, the tragedy alienated the spouses from each other.
The trouble was that their entire subsequent life together consisted of the same rituals. In the mornings it was a routine kiss and ordinary conversations about dynastic affairs. In the afternoon, the couple greeted another parade. The empress spent the evening with the children, and her husband constantly disappeared on state affairs. He loved his family, but his time was simply not enough for his relatives, which Maria Alexandrovna could not help but notice. The Empress tried to help Alexander in business, especially in the early years.
Then (at the beginning of his reign) the king happily consulted with his wife about many decisions. She was always aware of the latest ministerial reports. Most often, her advice concerned the education system. This was largely due to the charitable activities that Empress Maria Alexandrovna was involved in. And the development of education in these years received a natural push forward. Schools were opened, and peasants had access to them, who, among other things, were also freed from serfdom under Alexander.
The Empress herself had the most liberal opinion on this matter, which she shared, for example, with Kavelin, telling him that she warmly supported her husband in his desire to give freedom to the largest class in Russia.
However, with the advent of the Manifesto (1861), the Empress touched state affairs less and less due to some cooling of relations with her husband. This was also due to Romanov’s wayward character. The king was increasingly overtaken by whispers in the palace that he too often looked at the opinion of his wife, that is, he was under her thumb. This irritated the freedom-loving Alexander. In addition, the title of autocrat itself obliged him to make decisions only of his own will, without consulting anyone. This concerned the very nature of power in Russia, which was believed to be given by God to the only anointed one. But the real gap between the spouses was yet to come.
Ekaterina Dolgorukova
In 1859, Alexander II conducted maneuvers in the southern part of the empire (the territory of present-day Ukraine) - the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava was celebrated. The Emperor stopped on a visit to the estate of the famous Dolgorukov house. This family was a branch from the Rurik princes. That is, its representatives were distant relatives of the Romanovs. But in the middle of the 19th century there was a well-born family, and its head, Prince Mikhail, had only one estate left - Teplovka.
The Emperor came to his senses and helped Dolgorukov, in particular, he placed his sons in the guard, and sent his daughters to the Smolny Institute, promising to pay expenses from the royal purse. Then he met a thirteen-year-old girl who surprised him with her curiosity and love of life.
In 1865, the autocrat, according to tradition, visited the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. It was then that, after a long break, he again saw Catherine, who was already 18 years old. The girl was amazingly beautiful.
The emperor, who had an amorous disposition, began to send her gifts through his assistants. He even began visiting the institute incognito, but it was decided that this was too much, and the girl was expelled under the pretext of poor health. Now she lived in St. Petersburg and saw the Tsar in the Summer Garden. She was even made a maid of honor to the mistress of the Winter Palace, who was Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The wife of Alexander II had a hard time with the rumors swirling around the young girl. Finally, Catherine left for Italy so as not to cause a scandal.
But Alexander was serious. He even promised his favorite that he would marry her as soon as the opportunity presented itself. In the summer of 1867 he arrived in Paris at the invitation of Napoleon III. Dolgorukova went there from Italy.
In the end, the emperor tried to explain himself to his family, wanting Maria Alexandrovna to hear him first. The Empress, wife of Alexander II and mistress of the Winter Palace, tried to maintain decorum and did not allow the conflict to go beyond the residence. However, her eldest son and heir to the throne rebelled. This was not surprising. The future had a cool disposition even at a very young age. He scolded his father, and he, in turn, became furious.
As a result, Catherine nevertheless moved to the Winter Palace and gave birth to four children from the Tsar, who later received princely titles and were legitimized. This happened after the death of Alexander’s legal wife. The funeral of Empress Maria Alexandrovna gave the Tsar the opportunity to marry Catherine. She received the title of Most Serene Princess and the surname Yuryevskaya (like her children). However, the emperor was not happy in this marriage for long.
Illness and death
Maria Alexandrovna's health was undermined for many reasons. These are frequent childbirth, her husband’s betrayal, the death of her son, as well as the damp climate of St. Petersburg, for which the native German woman was not prepared in the first years of the move. Because of this, she began to suffer from consumption, as well as nervous exhaustion. According to the recommendation of her personal doctor, the woman went south to Crimea every summer, the climate of which was supposed to help her overcome illnesses. Over time, the woman almost retired. One of the last episodes of her participation in public life was visiting military councils during the confrontation with Turkey in 1878.
During these years, attempts were constantly made on Alexander II's life by revolutionaries and bombers. One day an explosion occurred in the dining room of the Winter Palace, but the empress was so ill that she did not even notice it, lying in her chambers. And her husband survived only because he stayed in his office, contrary to his habit of having lunch at a set time. Constant fear for the life of her beloved husband ate up the remnants of health that Maria Alexandrovna still possessed. The Empress, photographs of whom at that time show a clear change in her appearance, was extremely thin and looked more like her shadow than a person in her body.
In the spring of 1880, she finally fell ill, while her husband moved to Tsarskoye Selo with Dolgorukova. He paid his wife short visits, but could not do anything to somehow improve her well-being. Tuberculosis was the reason why Empress Maria Alexandrovna died. The biography of this woman says that her life was cut short that same year, on June 3, new style.
According to dynastic tradition, the wife of Alexander II found her last refuge in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The funeral of Empress Maria Alexandrovna became a mourning event for the entire country, which sincerely loved her.
Alexander briefly outlived his first wife. In 1881, he died after being wounded by a bomb thrown at his feet by a terrorist. The Emperor was buried next to Maria Alexandrovna.
Death of the groom, difficult relationship with his daughter-in-law and evacuation from the Russian Empire in 1919. How the mother of the last Russian emperor lived in exile. The mother of the last Russian emperor did not believe in the death of Nicholas II until the very end. To a telegram of condolences received from her nephew, the Danish King Christian X, the ruler replied that all this was nothing more than rumors.
She outlived her son by 10 years and kept waiting for Niki to arrive. On October 13, 1928, Maria Feodorovna passed away. Who was this woman, how did she get to Russia and how was she able to escape from it after 50 years.
Andersen's tales:
Princess Minnie - that was the name of the future Empress Maria Feodorovna in her childhood - was born in 1847 in Copenhagen in the family of the future king Christian IX. In total, the family had six children - three sons and three daughters. Father loved to characterize each princess in one word. So, he called his daughters “the most beautiful”, “the smartest” and “the kindest” (Alexandra, Maria and Tira).
Dagmar and her sisters and brothers received their education at home. The main subject that all children had to know was foreign languages, primarily French and English. In addition, boys were taught military affairs, and girls were taught how to run a household. For example, the future Russian empress knew how to sew at the age of 13.
She spent her childhood and youth in the “yellow castle”, where the famous writer Hans Christian Andersen was a member. The fact that we have his fairy tales is partly due to Minnie.
Marry in Russia:
Initially, Maria was supposed to marry another son of Alexander II - Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich.
At the insistence of his own father, the 20-year-old young man came to Denmark to meet his potential bride in the summer of 1864. The 17-year-old girl made such a strong impression on the young man that he almost immediately wrote to his mother.
- If you knew how happy I am: I fell in love with Dagmar. Don’t be afraid that it’s so soon, I remember your advice and can’t decide soon. But how can I not be happy when my heart tells me that I love her, I love her dearly. She is so pretty, simple, smart, cheerful and shy at the same time,” Nikolai wrote.
The heir to the Russian throne went to Darmstadt, where his parents were by that time. They decided to transport the bride to Russia in the near future, and to celebrate the wedding as soon as she turns 18 years old.
After this, he again went to Denmark. Historians point out that young people went horseback riding, boating and socialized a lot. The Danish court exhaled, and the Russian one too: there was a need to unite countries in this way, and it’s nice when children marry for love. The young people announced their engagement. By the way, residents of St. Petersburg learned that the heir was going to get married by 101 salvos of fireworks.
As it turned out, it was too early to rejoice. From the bride's house, the young man set off on a trip to Nice in the fall of 1864. Here the heir to the Russian throne began to have back pain, but he did not attach any importance to them, attributing everything to fatigue.
“God willing, I will rest and strengthen myself in the winter in Italy (where I was going to go), then a wedding, and then a new life - family, service and work,” he said.
However, the prince's plans were not destined to come true. In the spring of 1865, the Danish court received an alarming message from Nice. The prince became worse. By the time the bride arrived, the young man’s condition was so bad that the doctors said: it’s time to say goodbye.
On April 24, 1865, the Tsarevich died. His body was sent to St. Petersburg on the frigate "Alexander Nevsky". The most common reason why an heir dies is considered to be an incorrect diagnosis. He had cerebrospinal tuberculous meningitis, and was treated either for a common cold or for rheumatism.
"Sasha":
Soon after this, the princess began a correspondence with Alexander II. The Emperor insists on her coming to Russia and marrying her other son, the future sovereign Alexander III.
- I am very pleased to hear that you repeat about your desire to leave me near you. But my loss is so recent that now I’m simply afraid to show my lack of devotion to her. On the other hand, I would like to hear from Sasha himself whether he really wants to be with me,” she writes in response.
As it turned out, Alexander had long been in love with Maria.
“I wanted to propose to Dagmar, but I didn’t dare, although we were together,” he later wrote in his diary.
In the spring of 1866, he proposed marriage to the princess, and the engagement took place in June. Already in October she moves to Russia. On October 13 she was baptized under the name of Maria Feodorovna, and on October 28 the wedding took place. On the occasion of the celebration, all faulty debtors had their debts written off, and a number of prisoners were given an amnesty.
Despite the fact that noisy St. Petersburg was radically different from the quiet and calm Copenhagen, Maria quickly understood how to act. She actively learned dances that were popular at court, studied all the turns of the Russian language that many foreigners would not understand. Historians point out that she knew how to charm people and quickly won over most of the courtiers. And at receptions she devoted a few minutes to almost every guest.
Nicholas II and other children:
The birth of the heir to the throne was not only joy for Maria Feodorovna, but also a completely logical way to strengthen her position on the throne. About a year of agonizing waiting - and in 1867, doctors announced that she was expecting a child.
The boy was born on May 6, 1868. They named him Nikolai. According to one version, the name was given in honor of his great-grandfather, Nicholas I. The more common one says that the child was named in honor of his deceased uncle. Rumors immediately spread among the people that an unhappy fate awaited the boy: it was believed that calling him the same name as a suddenly deceased relative was a bad omen.
Subsequently, five more children were born into the family. The second son, named Alexander in honor of his grandfather, did not live even two years. The third son, Georges (George), born in 1871, fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 19. By that time, the world did not know how to fully cope with this terrible disease. Doctors advised sending the boy away from bustling St. Petersburg, to special climatic conditions. The royal couple ordered a castle to be built for him in the mountains near the village of Abastumani (now Georgia), where he lived until his death in 1899.
In 1875, the royal couple had their first daughter, Ksenia. The princess migrated with her mother in 1919, and after the death of Maria Feodorovna she left for Great Britain. Ksenia lived to be 85 years old. The youngest daughter of the royal couple, Olga, also migrated from Russia. But unlike her older sister, after her mother’s death she chose to stay in Denmark. She was forced to flee to Canada only in 1948, fearing persecution by the Soviet Union, where she was considered an enemy of the people.
Naughty Empress:
Maria Feodorovna was able to maintain good relations with her father-in-law (Alexander II) and not quarrel with her husband when a huge scandal broke out between the emperor and his son. The fact is that several years before his death, the Tsar-Liberator finally stopped hiding his relationship with his mistress Ekaterina Dolgorukova. The son repeatedly argued with his father about this, but this did not change anything.
After the death of his wife in 1880, Alexander II got married. The couple had four children. True, this marriage lasted only a year: in 1881, the Tsar-Liberator was killed.
Alexander III inherits the throne, Maria becomes empress. As historians point out, she was the wife of the sovereign in the same “canonical” concept: she was engaged in charity work and devoted a lot of time to her family. Her husband did not allow her to participate in any political affairs, and she did not aspire to do so.
About once a year they went to the empress’s homeland - Denmark. As General Nikolai Epanchin wrote, the emperor liked the modest (relative to St. Petersburg) life of the Danes, and especially the royal family. Alexander III walked a lot, went to shops, and examined the surrounding area.
In October 1888, a terrible accident occurred: a royal train coming from the south crashed at Borki station, 50 kilometers from Kharkov. No one from the imperial family was harmed. The roof of the carriage where Alexander III, his wife and children were located, collapsed, and the emperor was forced to hold it on his shoulders for several hours until help arrived.
After this, he began to complain of lower back pain. As it turned out, during the crash the emperor fell and was hit hard, but was able to quickly get up. However, according to doctors, this was enough for kidney disease to begin to develop.
The Emperor felt increasingly unwell. His complexion became sallow, his appetite disappeared, and his heart began to ache. After the hunt in 1894, his condition worsened even more. As it turned out, the king had nephritis - an acute kidney disease. It was decided to transport him to Livadia (Crimea). The emperor lost a lot of weight in a month, became haggard and practically could not speak. He hardly slept due to terrible pain. On October 20, 1894, he died while sitting in a chair. Maria Fedorovna, who had been nearby all this time, fainted.
Nicholas II became Russian Emperor. As it turned out a few years later, the last.
Niki the Tsar and the scandal with his daughter-in-law:
Contemporaries wrote about Maria Feodorovna as a loving mother, always ready to support her children in almost any endeavor. However, the relationship with the daughter-in-law - the wife of Tsar Nicholas II - somehow did not work out right away. You can read more about how the relationship between Alix and Nika developed here.
Contemporaries of the empress point out that the mother of Nicholas II disliked her daughter-in-law because she thought for too long about whether to agree to marry Nika. The fact is that this was almost the only royal marriage in the entire Russian history that was not based on mutually beneficial relations between the two countries. Nikolai really married for love. But Alix was afraid of converting to another faith, which was mandatory.
A very trusting relationship developed between Nicholas II and his mother, so the son told what was bothering him. But the reaction was unexpected.
“In the end, this is the most idiotic story one could imagine,” the ruler wrote to her son George about what she thought about the relationship between Alix and Nika.
Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was baptized the day after the death of Alexander III under the name of Alexandra Feodorovna. The lovers wanted to get married on the day when Nicholas II ascended the throne. The fact is that this date was the next day after the death of his father. As a result, relatives and courtiers dissuaded the young people from “getting married when there is a coffin nearby”, postponing the wedding for three weeks.
The strained relationship between the dowager mother-empress and her daughter-in-law was noticed at court in the first days of Alexandra Feodorovna in Russia. Soon after the funeral of Alexander III, another reception took place in the palace. According to tradition, Maria Fedorovna approached many people and talked for 2-3 minutes. She exchanged a few phrases with her daughter-in-law.
In addition, in the palace the Empress demanded that the daily routine that was under Alexander III be left. But the new emperor did not dare to argue with his mother, which infuriated his wife.
The empress simply hated Grigory Rasputin, of whose “healing gift” Alice was confident. She was sure that the “hypnotist” would destroy Nikolai. Historians are still arguing whether Maria Fedorovna was aware of the preparations for the murder of Rasputin, because one of those who dealt with him is her relative.
Execution of the royal family:
Maria Fedorovna spent the last months before the February Revolution in Kyiv, supervised the renovation of the hospital and was involved in charity work. It was whispered at court that she deliberately “escaped” from St. Petersburg, since in the dispute for Nicholas’s attention and influence on him she began to finally lose to her daughter-in-law after the murder of Rasputin.
Here, on March 2, 1917, she was surprised by the news of her son’s abdication of the throne. She rushes to Mogilev, where the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is located. Here the woman sees her eldest son for the last time.
Ksenia and Olga Romanov later recalled that their mother blamed Alix for everything.
Maria Fedorovna, together with her daughters Ksenia and Olga and their husbands, then moved to Crimea. Until the spring of 1918, she indicates in her diary that she sent letters to her son and daughter-in-law and even received replies. However, by March there were no more such records.
Staying in Crimea was actually an arrest for her. Denmark, Britain and Germany discussed with St. Petersburg the possibility of saving that part of the Romanov family that remained alive.
Then, in the spring, the situation in Crimea sharply worsened. The Yalta council demanded the immediate execution of all the Romanovs, and the Sevastopol council was waiting for an order from Petrograd, since the hostages could be taken there for public execution. On behalf of the Sevastopol Council, the Romanovs were moved to a safer palace so that they would not become victims of the “Yalta people.”
The fate of everyone who was in Crimea hung in the balance. By the beginning of summer, Yalta was occupied by the Germans, who began the occupation of Crimea. For Maria Fedorovna this turned out to be a salvation. Meanwhile, she begins to receive conflicting information from relatives abroad. Some claim that Nicholas was killed with his entire family, others talk about their salvation, others report that only the former emperor was killed.
- Terrible rumors are spreading about the fate of our beloved Nika. I can’t and don’t want to believe them, but I just can’t imagine how I can bear such tension,” Maria Feodorovna wrote in her diary at the end of July 1918 (Nicholas II and members of the royal family were shot on the night of July 18-19).
Since the Dowager Empress was sure that her son was alive, she did not flee to Denmark in September 1918, when a ship was sent for her, on which there was a nurse, “especially to examine the Empress.” She also did not believe Princess Lydia Vasilchikova, who managed to escape from Petrograd.
When Russian Imperial Army officer Pavel Bulygin arrived in Crimea at the end of September 1918 and reported that Nicholas was indeed no longer alive, Maria Fedorovna hesitated. Bulygin became the head of the security of the surviving members of the royal family. In January 1919, Maria Fedorovna came to terms with the idea that her beloved Niki could have been killed.
Evacuation:
The Danish king Christian X appeals to England several times on the issue of evacuating royal prisoners from Crimea. On April 7, 1919, the family was visited by the commander of the British naval forces in Sevastopol, Admiral Kalsorp. He conveys information that the English King George V, Maria Feodorovna’s nephew, is putting the Marlborough ship at her disposal for departure, but she must leave immediately.
The Empress asked the British to evacuate everyone whose lives were in danger due to the new government. Already on April 11, British ships entered the Yalta port to pick up refugees.
Through Constantinople and Malta, Maria Feodorovna arrived in England, where she stayed all summer. In August, she boards the ship Fionia and, together with her daughters, leaves for Denmark, Copenhagen.
Maria Feodorovna was financially supported by the English royal house. At the direction of George V, the Dowager Empress received an annual pension of ten thousand pounds sterling.
And his own nephew, the king of Denmark, did not treat his relatives very hospitably. For example, one day a servant from Christian X came to the Romanovs and asked them to turn off some of the lamps in order to save money. In addition, the nephew repeatedly offered Maria Feodorovna to sell or pawn the jewelry brought from Russia. But she kept them in a box under her bed until her death.
She still forbade serving a memorial service for Nicholas. When I saw the ships passing by, I was sure that Niki was on each of them. Well, at worst Alix.
Maria Fedorovna died on October 13, 1928 in Vidør near Copenhagen. Hundreds of Russian emigrants from Paris, London, Stockholm, and Brussels saw her off on her last journey.
“Most newspapers wrote about the funeral, shedding tears of emotion, that this was the funeral of old Russia,” wrote the plenipotentiary representative of the Country of Soviets in Denmark, Milail Kobetsky.
@ Alena Shapovalova
