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Tsarinas Consorts of Russia {16/16}: Alexandra Feodorovna (born as Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine).

"Alexandra Feodorovna — born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine —was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, one of the most powerful women in the world. As she grew up, Alix would become a firm favourite of that formidable matriarch, but it would take a devastating familial tragedy to truly bond them. As it was, the life of this little girl with the reddish-golden hair began without fanfare on 6 June 1872. She was the sixth child of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's second daughter, and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. A seventh child, and a fifth daughter, Marie or 'May', arrived several years later. Alix was baptised in the Protestant Lutheran faith; among her many godparents were the future Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his wife, Maria Feodorovna. The Hesse sisters — sans May — would all one day make a series of impressive dynastic marriages. However, despite their excellent dynastic pedigree, their home in Hesse, in Germany, was not a particularly prominent royal residence. In fact, it was something more akin to a regally remote outpost. Darmstadt, seat of the grand dukes of Hesse, was of modest size, with the family living mainly at the New Palace — where Alix was born — in the centre of the town. There, her mother would live a relatively modest life as the wife of a relatively modest German prince. Today, little remains of Alix for the casual sightseer to the city, although her mother is commemorated in a relief portrait or two, as well as the Alice Hospital. The Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene — built in 1897 — now serves as a shrine for icons of the murdered Russian royal family."

Rasputin and his Russian Queen | Mickey Mayhew

(Movie: Nicholas and Alexandra - 1971)

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Tsar Alexander III

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Grand Duchess Xenia with husband, Alexander Mikhailovich, and their children.

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Empress Alexandra with an old man.

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Maria

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Tsarevich Alexei.

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Nicholas and Alix.

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Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

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Grand Duchess Olga with wounded soldiers of WWI.

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Anastasia.

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Tsarinas Consorts of Russia {15/16}: Maria Feodorovna (Princess Dagmar of Denmark).

"By the time Marie married Alexander, her father was Christian IX, King of Denmark, her elder sister Alexandra was married to the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, and her brother Wilhelm was King of Greece. Yet when she was born in 1847 the young Dagmar, as she was then called, could have expected little of this glory. Her family lived in relative poverty in a small grace and favour mansion in Copenhagen, minor cousins of Denmark's King Frederick. Their situation only improved in 1852, when the childless King adopted Christian as his heir. For the first five years of her life, therefore, Dagmar was almost a commoner. She could hardly fail to be aware of the luck behind her sudden elevation. She revelled in her good fortune; her vivaciousness would eventually make her the most eligible bride in Europe."

Faberge's eggs | Toby Faber.

(movies: A Royal Affair / Anna Karenina)

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“This was the first child from the marriage of the Tsarevich and the Tsarevna, and the Tsarevich loved her exceptionally; She was also passionately attached him; […] when she was still very little, she cried bitterly when her father was absent. The Tsesarevna told me that the Grand Duke had never played with other children like he did with this child; she was his companion, and he constantly carried her in his arms. He became so attached to her…”

- Anna Feodorovna Tyutcheva on Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna, eldest child of the future Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

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Queen Olga of Greece with her mother, Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna! 🥺✨🤍

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Nicholas being followed by Grand Duchesses Anastasia, Maria and Tatiana.

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Emperor Alexander II of Russia with his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and two of their youngest children Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, 1860-61.

📷 Unknown via Royalty In Colour.

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Maria Ponders Childbirth

From undated letters from Maria to Alexandra.

“Does the infant really get born from the mother? Mama please write to me how it is born.”

“Mama try and give birth to a baby, I really want it, since usually it's so painful for the mother to give birth and you are now ill, so maybe this means you are having a baby.”

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A framed photo of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.