#grand duchess maria alexandrovna of russia

[thepastisalreadywritten]

BORN ON THIS DAY:

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1853 – 24 October 1920) was the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

She was Duchess of Edinburgh and later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the wife of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

She was the younger sister of Alexander III of Russia and the paternal aunt of Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II.

[adini-nikolaevna]

Grand Duchess (later Empress) Elizaveta Alexeievna of Russia with her short-lived firstborn child, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. The little girl was rumored to be the biological daughter of Elizaveta’s lover, Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, rather than of the future Emperor Alexander I.

Courtesy of Sotheby’s

[thepaleys]

Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna on meeting the Hohenfelsens

(safe to say she was not impressed 🤣)

Paris, 16 June 1908

The young Swedish couple" has arrived in our hotel. Little Marie is a very sedate and calm little person, but she poured her heart out to Baby: she feels it terribly meeting here her step-mother and suffers greatly under it. As to poor little Dmitry, he is in perfect despair. He hates the whole thing and loathed the idea of seeing his new Geschwister [siblings]. He comes to me to talk about it.

Of course Uncle Paul and wife manquent de tact [are tactless] in every way: for instance, last Tuesday he arranged a big luncheon with quantities of his French acquaintances and asked us too. It was the first time poor Dmitry went to his house here and Uncle Paul presented him to all the guests as "mon fils aine" [my eldest son]. The boy simply se tordait de désespoir [curled up in despair], we observed it all and in the middle of this unknown company appeared these second children and all the affected French people went into loud ectasies about them [at this time, Vladimir was 11, Irina 4 and Natalie 2], whilst poor Dmitry was pale with concentrated rage and moral suffering.

Marie told Baby that she never would have come here, had she known, how it would be. And people are wonderfully taktlos. They all praise her to the skies when they talk to me, cette charmante Comtesse Hohenfelsen, "elle est adorable, cette femme". Vous trouvez [that charming Countess Hohenfelsen. She's adorable, don't you think?]. I answer, oh! Bien pour moi, c'est très pénible [for me it's all very painful] and I tell them a few truths. Then they at once turn the conversation, as French people hate when they are found at fault et ne désirent pas du tout en savoir d'avantage. [and don't want to be wrong in any way].

As to Uncle Paul, I cannot support at all him here; his whole attitude and tone I find detestable, I don't show it, à quoi bon and I am simply polite with his wife, like with any lady in society I don't care for. I simply writhe when I see in his house portraits of my mother, what a desecration! And he pointed them out to me! I thought one moment I would like to insult him before all his idiotic French guests.

"Dear Mama" - Diana Mandache

This is what I love about digging into original sources. When we read Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna's memoires, the idea we get is that she always had a pleasent relationship with her stepmother, but here (at least according to Maria Alexandrovna, who clearly still held a deep resentment towards her brother and his second wife) it seems things were not so smooth.

It's also interesting (and sad) to notice how she doesn't really consider Grand Duke Paul's children from his second marriage worthy of any note and is even annoyed that the French fawn over them and that Grand Duke Paul introduces Dmitri as his "eldest son", which seems to imply she doesn't consider Vladimir to be his son at all.

It kind of shows what the rest of the family thought about Grand Duke Paul's second family: so irrelevant that it was as if they didn't exist.

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, ~ Wife of Tsar Alexander II ~ Grandmother of Tsar Nicholas II ~

“Marie won the hearts of all those Russians who could get to know her. Sasha [Tsar Alexander Il] became more attached to her every day, feeling that his choice fell on God-given. Their mutual trust grew as they recognized each other. Papa [Tsar Nicholas I] always began his letters to her with the words: "Blessed be Thy Name, Mary." Dad joyfully watched the manifestation of the strength of this young character and admired Marie's self-control. This, in his opinion, balanced the lack of Sasha's lack of energy from which he constantly worried about.” - Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (the elder)

"I thought her very ladylike, kind and amiable. We were at ease at once, but she has a sad expression and looks so delicate. I think we should get on very well together, poor thing. I pity her much." - Queen Victoria

“The first time I set eyes on the Grand Duchess, she was already twenty-eight years old, but still looked very young. She retained that youthful appearance all her life; when she was forty, she could have been taken for a woman of thirty. Although she was tall and slender, the Empress was so thin and fragile that at first glance she gave no impression of a 'belle dame'. However, she was unusually elegant, with that special kind of grace only found in old German paintings…Although her facial features were regular, her beauty lay in the delicate color of her skin and her large blue eyes, which looked at you with both perception and timidity... She seemed almost out of place and uneasy in her role as mother, wife, and empress. She was tenderly attached to her family and conscientiously fulfilled the duties which her exalted rank demanded. Her mind was like her soul: refined, subtle, penetrating and extremely ironic, but lacking in breadth and initiative.” - Anna Tyutcheva, maid of honor to Maria Alexandrovna

[the-last-tsar]

Tsar Alexander III, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchesses Olga and Xenia Alexandrovna, Tsarevich Nicholas (later Nicholas II) and Grand Dukes Michael and George Alexandrovich with members of the Romanov family.

[loiladadiani]

Photographs: 1. Empress Maria Feodorovna holding her great-grandaughter Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe); sitting net to her are her granddaughter Princess Irina Alexandrovna and her daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna; 2. Beautiful photo of Xenia with her grandaughter Bebe; 3. Bebe and her father, Prince Felix Yusupov; 4. Bebe and her paternal grandmother, Princess Zenaida Yusupova; 5. Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe)

Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe) (1915 - 1983)

Irina Felixovna (Bebe), was the only daughter of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, niece of Tsar Nicholas II, and Prince Felix Yousupov. She was born on May 21, 1915. She lived with Felix's parents until the age of nine. Later, Felix would say that his daughter was difficult to control because she was raised by nannies, and his mother Zenaida spoilt her. Most people said that Irina Felixovna was difficult to control because she had a personality very similar to that of her father. Bebe was closer to her father than to her mother.

Princess Irina Felixovna married Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev. They had one daughter, Countess Xenia Nikolaevna Sheremeteva. Bebe died in 1983 in France where she is buried alongside her paternal grandparents and her parents.

[epoque-victorienne]

[graceofromanovs]

The children of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, early 1860s.

From left to right: Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna clinging unto her older brother Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (the future Emperor Alexander III), Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich holding unto the eldest Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, and Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich.

Source Royalty In Colour

[look-sharp-notes]

Камер-Казак Императрицы Марии Федоровны Тимофей Ксенофонтович Ящик. После свержения монархии Т.К. Ящик остается рядом с императрицей, продолжая охранять ее в Крыму. В условиях Гражданской войны на юге России в 1918 г. Ящик вывез в родную станицу дочь императрицы, младшую сестру Николая II, великую княгиню Ольгу Александровну. В доме камер-казака дочь Александра III родила своего второго сына Гурия. После того, как Мария Федоровна 11 апреля 1919 г. на английском крейсере «Мальборо» покинула Крым, Ящик сопровождал ее и продолжал охранять в Англии, а затем в Дании, куда императрица со свитой прибыла 19 августа 1919 г. Вскоре, по распоряжению Марии Федоровны, он вернулся в Россию, для того, чтобы организовать вывоз в Данию семьи великой княгини Ольги Александровны. В тех условиях это была тяжелейшая задача, с которой Тимофей Ксенофонтович справился блестяще.

Свою императрицу, верный «бодигард» – так он именовался в выданном ему во время пребывания в Великобритании паспорте, охранял вплоть до ее смерти в 1928 г. Тимофей Ксенофонтович оставил в пылающей России, на родной Кубани семью – жену и девятерых детей. Вывезти их в Данию, как он не пытался, ему не удалось. В 1922 г. его жену Марфу расстреляли «за контрреволюцию». Свою службу казак посчитал оконченной, только после того, как бессменно отстоял у гроба Своей Императрицы 3 дня. Произошло это в 1928 году. В Россию казак так и не вернулся. Скончался Тимофей Ксенофонтович в Копенгагене в 1946 году.

Chamber-Cossack of Empress Maria Feodorovna Timofey Ksenofontovich Yashik.

After the overthrow of the monarchy, T.K. The box remains next to the Empress, continuing to protect her in Crimea. During the Civil War in the south of Russia in 1918, Yashik took the daughter of the empress, the younger sister of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, to his native village. In the house of the Cossack chamberlain, the daughter of Alexander III gave birth to her second son, Gury. After Maria Feodorovna left Crimea on the English cruiser Marlborough on April 11, 1919, the Yashik accompanied her and continued to guard her in England, and then in Denmark, where the Empress and her retinue arrived on August 19, 1919. Soon, by order of Maria Feodorovna , he returned to Russia in order to organize the export of the family of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna to Denmark. In those conditions, it was a difficult task, which Timofey Ksenofontovich coped with brilliantly.

His faithful “bodyguard,” as he was called in the passport issued to him during his stay in Great Britain, guarded his empress until her death in 1928. Timofey Ksenofontovich left his family in his native Kuban, his wife and nine children, in burning Russia. No matter how hard he tried, he failed to take them to Denmark. In 1922, his wife Martha was shot “for counter-revolution.” The Cossack considered his service to be over only after he had stood at the tomb of His Empress for 3 days. This happened in 1928. The Cossack never returned to Russia. Timofey Ksenofontovich died in Copenhagen in 1946.

[allthingsromanov]

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, 1909.

Before being known as Empress of Russia, Alexandra was formally named Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother, Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse, had ties to the British royal family by her mother, Queen Victoria.

She also had a son named Alfred, who was the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. He married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, whose brother Emperor Alexander III would later have a son named Nikolai II that would become Tsar decades later.

[warwickroyals]

Sunderland's Royal Jewel Vault (4/∞) ♛

↬ Georgiyevna Tiara

The Georgiyevna Tiara, also known as Grand Duchess Anastasia's Kokoshnik Tiara, was bought by Queen Matilda Mary in 1922 for the price of $47,807. The tiara was sold to the new queen by Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of the tiara's original owner, Grand Duchess Anastasia Georgiyevna. Grand Duchess Anastasia, born Princess Adelaide of Sunderland, was a sister of Matilda Mary's husband, King Nicholas. The grand duchess was a huge admirer of jewellery and her collection became world-renowned for its size and value. Among her collection was a Bolin diamond tiara adorned with 23 cabochon aquamarines. Anya, as the grand duchess was called, received the tiara among several other gifts ahead of her 1894 wedding to Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich of Russia, a younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II. Like several of her Romanov relatives, Anya was imprisoned and eventually murdered following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Her jewels remained hidden in Petrograd until they were smuggled out of Russia, along with her surviving daughters, by Sunderlandian operatives. Over the next few years, Anya's daughters sold pieces of their mother's jewelry collection to support their lives in exile, with their aunt Matilda Mary making several large purchases to ensure certain jewels stayed within the family. Anya's ailing mother, Dowager Queen Alexandra, was heartbroken by the fate of her Russian family and forbade any of Anya's jewels to be worn in her presence. Following Alexandra's death in 1926, Matilda Mary began wearing the tiara for formal events and photographs. She had the tiara altered to accommodate drop pearls, which could easily be swapped with the original aquamarines. The tiara was passed down and eventually inherited by Queen Irene following the death of Queen Anne in 1973. Irene has worn the tiara consistently and it is rumoured to be her favourite tiara.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Empress Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, 1891

—

Maria Feodorovna (Mariya Fyodorovna; 26 November 1847 – 13 October 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was Empress of Russia from 1881 to 1894 as the wife of Emperor Alexander III.

She was the second daughter of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

Maria's eldest son became the last Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II.

Maria lived for 10 years after Bolshevik functionaries murdered Nicholas and his immediate family in 1918.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (6 April [O.S. 25 March] 1875 – 20 April 1960) was the elder daughter and fourth child of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark) and the sister of Emperor Nicholas II.

[adini-nikolaevna]

“Whenever I see the Empress among the public, I have the impression that she is immeasurably far away in soul, that she has nothing in common with this motley secular crowd that gathers around her. Her sisters-in-law, Grand Duchesses Maria Nikolaevna, Olga Nikolaevna and Alexandra Iosifovna, make a completely different impression. They shine with beauty, their facial features are more regular than those of the Empress, their posture is perhaps more regal, but the Empress has much more charm, a charm that comes from the soul and is difficult to define, but making one’s innermost soul-strings sound.”

- Anna Tyutcheva on Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

[thepaleys]

Letters from Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna about her meeting with Grand Duke Paul in Bavaria, in 1903

Tegernsee, 19 August 1903

Dearest Missy!

(...) Sandra was waiting for us at at Munich and only imagine that Uncle Paul and wife were staying at the hotel! It gave me quite a turn, but we did not meet them, as we left early next morning. (...)

Tegernsee, 28 August 1903

Well, I saw Uncle Paul alone for an hour at Munich. I had great emotions but it went off well. He talked nearly the whole time himself, was evidently pleased to see me and no disagreeable words passed between us, nor did he ask me to see his wife. He could not stop repeating how happy she made him and how ideal a woman she was. They are going to spend the winter at Paris and she is expecting! I cannot say how sorry I felt for him, though he tried to look jolly and pleased. A lost man, a lost man!

Tegernsee, 4 October 1903

Well, the séjours of our guests are coming to an end and all went off peacefully and in a satisfactory way. Uncle Paul left on Friday for Paris, where they spend the winter, Serge and Ella leave today for Darmstadt, but the children remain with us for another week. It was a struggle to get them all in and naturally with the amount of luggage and servants they bring, my poor house had the look of an hotel and no tidiness possible! (...)

I can really say that this interview, which frightened me at first, turned out ever so much better than I expected. Uncle Paul became quite himself again and seemed pleased to be amongst us. The children are nice, well behaved and very simple and natural. The little girl is a most reasonable small person and one can very well talk with her. She is not pretty, rather small and stumpy and awkward, I don't think she will ever get really pretty. The boy is sweet and has quite a different type, more refined and in the style of his father when he was a boy. Uncle Paul had to tell them, that he expected another baby soon, which was a blow to them and I believe they cried a good deal about it. But before us they were always self-possessed.

"My Dear Mama", Diana Mandach

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

New photo of members of the Greek and Russian Royal Families posted by Ilya aka LastRomanovs on Flickr and Sledstvie on Instagram

From left to right standing: Princess Marie of Greece and Denmark (later Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia), Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich of Russia, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia

From left to right sitting: Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna of Russia (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark), Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, Queen Olga of Greece and Denmark (née Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia)

No date of when and where this photo was taken was provided but it is most likely taken in the early 1890s (my guess is 1891) and probably when both Russian, Danish, and Greek royal families were in their yearly vacation to Denmark.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Propaganda:

Anastasia Nikolaevna was the last Grand Duchess to be born in Imperial Russia, but given her untimely death, many older grand duchesses outlived her.

Olga Alexandrovna outlived all the grand duchesses who had been BORN grand duchesses in Imperial Russia. She outlived her sister Xenia by several months.

Kira Kirillovna was 'only' a Princess at birth, but was elevated to Grand Duchess by her father Kirill Vladimirovich in 1924, after the fall of the dynasty.

Maria Vladimirovna is the granddaughter of Kirill Vladimirovich and present claimant to the headship of the House of Romanov. Whether she is entitled to the rank of Grand Duchess is a matter of some dispute.