#Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

♡ Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna with her niece, Princess Alice of Battenberg, 1888/1889. ♡

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

EXTREMELY rare photos of Princesses Victoria and Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine, early 1870s

Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2023

[krasivaa]

A page of the diary of 12-years old Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, when she met Tsesarevich Nikolai of Russia at the wedding day of her sister Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, who was marrying Nicholas' uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Both poem and drawing made by Alix!!

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Happy 159th birthday to Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna (née Princess of Hesse and By Rhine), Nov. 1st 1864 🤍

“Heard just before going out by telegraph from Louis, that dear Alice had got a 2nd daughter… & that both were doing well. Very thankful, as had felt rather anxious about her, but am sorry it is again a girl…”

— Queen Victoria’s diary, Nov. 1st 1864

[colorizedhistory]

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

True angels of God 💖✝️

Three royal women who became nuns: Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia (1864–1918), Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885–1969) and Princess Ileana of Romania (1909-1991).

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine | Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna

(Edited and colorized by me)

[colorizedhistory]

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE ELLA! 😍❤

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Two group photographs of Prince Louis and Princess Alice of Hesse with their two daughters, Victoria and Elisabeth, alongside Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, and Prince Alfred, 1865.

[roses-of-the-romanovs]

Alice and Alix

Alice on her daughter:

“She is a sweet, merry little person, always laughing, with a deep dimple in one cheek just like Ernie.”

“She is quite the personification of her nickname “Sunny”—much like Ella, but a smaller head, and livelier, with Ernie’s dimple and expression.”

“‘Sunny’ in pink, was immensely admired. She is still improving in looks since you saw her.”

“Aliky is very handsome and dear.”

Alexandra Feodorovna on her mother:

“I cried when I thought of my mother; this [the wedding of her brother Ernst] was the first festival since her death. I seemed to see her everywhere.”

“Darmstadt is only a little spot in the garden of my memories, but my mother died there, so I can’t really be blamed for liking Darmstadt.”

And one final tribute:

“The Empress’s boudoir, known as ‘Le Cabinet Mauve de l’Imperatrice,’ was a lovely room … Lovely pictures adorned the walls—and one of the Annunciation, and another of St. Cecilia, faced a portrait of the Empress’s mother, the late Princess Alice of England, Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt.”

“The mauve boudoir was flooded with moonlight, which fell directly on the portrait of the Empress’s mother, and on the picture of the Annunciation. Both seemed alive.... The sad eyes of the dead woman watched the gradually unfolding tragedy of her daughter’s life, whilst the radiant Virgin, overcome with divine condescension, welcomed the angel who hailed her as blessed among women.”

[la-belle-histoire]

Elizabeth Feodorovna, Friedrich August von Kaulbach. 1903.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

🤍

House of Hesse & of Romanov: Princess Elisabeth “Ella” of Hesse and by Rhine aka Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

Elisabeth was born as the second oldest child and daughter to Louis IV, The Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and his wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, a daughter of Queen Victoria. In German, she is also known as Elisabeth of Hessen-Darmstadt. One of her younger sisters was the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna aka Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. By her family, she was nicknamed Ella.

Elisabeth grew up very modestly for her status. She had to clean her own room and her mother made the dresses for the children themselves. Elisabeth often accompanied her mother Alice to a nearby hospital during the Austro-Prussian war. Elisabeth grew up bilingual. While she spoke English with her mother, she spoke German with her father.

Ella was a highly sought after bride. The future German Emperor Wilhelm II fell in love with her when he was still a student and proposed to her but she declined. A match supported by her grandmother Queen Victoria was with Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden. But again Ella declined and caused a major disruption in her relationship with Empress Augusta and it took some time for her to forgive the young princess for the rejection of her grandson.

The one who could finally win her heart was Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. She knew him since childhood because her great-aunt Empress Maria Alexandrovna aka Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine often visted her old home and took her sons with her. They bonded over the mutual experience of losing their parents and later also over their similar interest in art and religion. However, he had to proposed twice before Elisabeth accepted, much to the dismay of her grandmother Queen Victoria. The couple married on June 15th, 1884, in St. Petersburg. Ella could have legally kept her Protestant faith but she chose to convert in 1891, taking the not much changed name of Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Unlike her sister Alix, Elisabeth made a good impression on the Russian people and aristocracy. However, her marriage did not turn out happy. Sergei was a jealous man although she gave him no reason for it. The couple did not have children of their own but hosted parties especially for children and eventually took in Sergei’s niece and nephew Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Elisabeth encouraged Nicholas II. to pursue her sister Alix against her British families wishes. She was also the one who convinced her sister to convert to Orthodoxy after her initial refusal of Nicholas’ proposal because of a matter of faith.

Elisabeth’s husband Sergei was assassinated on February 18th, 1905. It came to her as a shock but she remained incredibly calm. Her family feared a nervous breakdown but it did not happen. Instead Elisabeth forbade herself from crying during mourning. She eventually even went to visit the assassin in prison and after hearing his reason for killing her husband, begged him to swallow his pride and she would petition to save his life. He denied but she still asked her brother-in-law to forgive him his crimes.

The death of her husband was a changing point in Ella’s life. She became a vegetarian and by 1909 a nun. After selling all her jewellery, including her wedding ring, and other items of worth, she founded the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and became its abbess. For many years, Elisabeth’s institution helped the poor and the orphans in Moscow by fostering the prayer and charity of devout women.

Elisabeth met her sister Alix for the last time in 1916, expressing concern about Rasputin’s influence over her and politics. Ella might have known about the murder of Rasputin beforehand since she sent telegrams out the night of it before the news was released to the public. Furthermore, she stated that the killing of Raputin had been a patriotic act.

Even though, she was a nun, she was still regarded as a member of the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution. She was exiled and moved across the country along with other relatives in 1918. Their last stop was Alapayevsk where they arrived on Max 20th, 1918. Elisabeth and other Romanovs were killed in the night from the 17th to 18th July 1918. It was later discovered that Ella and other did not immediately die from the gunshots. Ella for example died of wounds she suffered when falling into the pit but she still nursed Prince Ioann Konstantinovich by bandaging his head. Elisabeth’s final resting place is in the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem.

// Elsie Benett as Ella in The Last Czars - Season 01

[nadziejacher]

Марфо-Мариинская обитель милосердия в Москве и памятник великой княгине Елизавете Федоровне 🤍

Я в тг🙌🏻

[februaryfrost]

Princess Victoria of Battenberg and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Moscow. 1910.