The marriage of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna is called holy. The last emperor and empress in Russian history carried their feelings through all the trials and tribulations.
5 years wait
Love for Alexandra Feodorovna, then a princess Hessian Alice, was the first love of Nicholas II. This feeling was born in him even before he came of age - at the age of 16, and the future king saw his wife in Alice, who was even younger - 12! The princesses' relatives still called their baby Sunny, that is, "Sun", and Nikolai was already thinking about the wedding. “I dream of someday marrying Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but especially deeply and strongly since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg. All this time I did not believe my feeling, I did not believe that my cherished dream could come true,” Nikolai wrote in his diary. For five years he waited for God's will for this marriage, for five years he humbly prayed, asked for "adults" and wrote a diary, on the first page of which there was a photograph of his Alice. Later he would write to her: “The Savior told us: “Whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” These words are endlessly dear to me, because for five years I prayed with them, repeating them every night, begging Him to make Alix’s transition easier. into the Orthodox faith and give her to me as a wife."
Water wears away the stone and breaks through the dam of the parental “no”. Five years later, the lovers get married to be together until their death.
Simplicity of habits
Despite the height of their position, which could not be higher, the emperor and empress led completely simple life, trying not to indulge in excesses and raising children in severity. They were convinced that everything superfluous only corrupts, that it is “from the evil one.” It is known that Nikolai preferred cabbage soup and porridge to exquisite French dishes, and instead of expensive wine he could drink ordinary Russian vodka. The emperor easily swam in the lake with other men, without making anything secret about his person and his body.
And Alexandra Fedorovna’s behavior during the war is known to many - she completed courses for nurses and, together with her daughters, worked as a nurse in a hospital. Evil tongues discussed this every now and then: they said that such simplicity would reduce the authority royal family, then - that the Empress hates Russians and helps German soldiers. No queen has ever been to Rus' nurse. And the activities of Alexandra and her daughters in the hospital did not stop from early morning until late at night.
There is a lot of evidence that the tsar and queen were unusually simple in dealing with soldiers, peasants, orphans - in a word, with any person. The queen instilled in her children that everyone is equal before God, and they should not be proud of their position.
Kayak trips
The royal family is usually presented in a solemn atmosphere, while performing the duties of the country's leaders. But you can’t live like this, and it’s even more difficult to preserve and strengthen your family in such conditions. The Emperor, Empress and their children can also be imagined... on a kayaking trip. Nicholas II had a passion for kayaks since childhood; his parents gave his first kayak to the Tsarevich at the age of 13. Many relatives of the future monarch knew about their love of water, and Nicholas II often received a boat or kayak as a gift for his birthdays.
Alexandra, with her sore legs (which forced her to early years sit in a wheelchair for a while), seeing her husband’s passion, joyfully shared it. And although the long stay in cold water It was contraindicated for her; she periodically kept company with her beloved husband. Memoirists, for example, mention her four-kilometer kayak trip through the Finnish skerries.
Charity
Workshops, schools, hospitals, prisons - Empress Alexandra was involved in all this from the very first years of her marriage. Her net worth was small, and to carry out charity events she had to reduce personal expenses. During the famine of 1898, Alexandra gave 50 thousand rubles from her personal funds to fight it - this is an eighth of the family’s annual income.
Living in Crimea, the empress took an active part in the fate of tuberculosis patients who came to Crimea for treatment. She rebuilt the sanatoriums, providing them with all the improvements - with her personal money.
They say that Empress Alexandra was a born sister of mercy, and the wounded were happy when she visited them. Soldiers and officers often asked her to be with them during difficult dressings and operations, saying that “it’s not so scary” when the empress is nearby.
Houses of charity for fallen girls, houses of hard work, a school of folk art...
“The August Family did not limit itself to monetary assistance, but also sacrificed Their personal labors,” testifies the monk Seraphim (Kuznetsov) in his book. - How many church airs, coverings and other things were embroidered by the hands of the Queen and Daughters, sent to military, monastic and poor churches. I personally had the opportunity to see these royal gifts and even have them in my distant desert monastery.”
Laws of Family Understanding
The diaries and letters of the royal family are becoming increasingly popular in Russia and abroad. Young couples look to them for recipes for maintaining strong and happy family. And, I must say, they find it. Here are some quotes:
"The meaning of marriage is to bring joy. Marriage is a Divine rite. This is the closest and most sacred connection on earth. After marriage, the main responsibilities of a husband and wife are to live for each other, to give their lives for each other. Marriage is a union two halves into a single whole. Everyone until the end of his life is responsible for happiness and greater good another."
"The crown of love is silence."
“Great art is to live together, loving each other tenderly. This should begin with the parents themselves. Every house is like its creators. A refined nature makes a house refined, a rude person will make a house rude.”
Gifts to each other
Small and large gifts to each other were an important part of the Romanov family life. In one of her diaries, Empress Alexandra writes: “A husband and wife must constantly show each other signs of the most tender attention and love. The happiness of life is made up of individual minutes, of small, quickly forgotten pleasures: from a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment and "countless small but kind thoughts and sincere feelings. Love also needs its daily bread."
The empress's notes are not a theory, but her daily life. She loved to surprise Nikolai and the children on a variety of occasions, and Nikolai appreciated and shared this tradition. Perhaps the most famous and traditional gift in their home was Faberge eggs for Easter.
One of the most touching and beautiful eggs is the clover egg. On its openwork rim there is an image of the Imperial crown, the date “1902” and the monogram of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna framed by clover flowers. And inside is a precious quatrefoil with 4 portraits of the royal daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. This egg is a symbol of the happy marriage of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, because the four-leaf clover, which is so rarely found in nature, is a promise of happiness. And the egg itself is symbolic: it is Easter, and eternal birth, and family, and the Universe, and faith in the appearance of an heir.
23 year honeymoon
All families remember their wedding day, but Alix and Nikolai even celebrated their engagement day every year. They always spent this day, April 8th, together, and separated for the first time when they were already over forty. In April 1915, the emperor was at the front, but even there he received a warm letter from his beloved: “For the first time in 21 years we are not spending this day together, but how vividly I remember everything! My dear boy, what happiness and what love you gave me for all these years... You know, I kept that “princess dress” that I was in that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...” After so many years of marriage, the Empress admitted in letters that she kisses Nicholas’s pillow when he was not around, and Nikolai still became shy, like a young man, if they met after a long separation.
It’s not for nothing that some contemporaries said with some envy: “Their honeymoon lasted 23 years...”
On the day of the wedding, Alix wrote in Nikolai’s diary: “When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and will remain together forever.”
WIFE OF NICHOLAS II
ALEXANDRA Fedorovna (wife of Nicholas II)
ALEXA;NDRA Feodorovna (May 25 (June 6), 1872 - July 16 (29), 1918, Yekaterinburg), Russian empress, wife of Nicholas II Alexandrovich (see NICHOLAY II Alexandrovich) (from November 14, 1894); daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Louis IV, granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria (see VICTORIA (queen)).
Before her marriage she was named Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice. The imperious and hysterical Alexandra Feodorovna had great influence on Nicholas II, was an ardent supporter of unlimited autocracy, and the head of the Germanophile group at court. She was extremely superstitious and had unlimited faith in G.E. Rasputin (see RASPUTIN Grigory Efimovich), who used the queen’s location in deciding political issues. During the First World War, Alexandra Feodorovna was a supporter of concluding a separate peace with Germany. After the February Revolution, in March 1917 she was arrested along with the entire royal family, exiled to Tobolsk, and then to Yekaterinburg, where, by order of the Ural Regional Council, she was shot along with her family in July 1918.
Biography
Relations with society
<…>
In culture
Maria Fedorovna
Children
Alexander I
Konstantin Pavlovich
Alexandra Pavlovna
Ekaterina Pavlovna
Elena Pavlovna
Maria Pavlovna
Olga Pavlovna
Anna Pavlovna
Nicholas I
Mikhail Pavlovich
Alexander I
Elizaveta Alekseevna
Nicholas I
Alexandra Fedorovna
Children
Alexander II
Maria Nikolaevna
Olga Nikolaevna
Alexandra Nikolaevna
Konstantin Nikolaevich
Nikolai Nikolaevich
Mikhail Nikolaevich
Alexander II
Maria Alexandrovna
Children
Alexandra Alexandrovna
Nikolai Alexandrovich
Alexander III
Maria Alexandrovna (Grand Duchess)
Vladimir Alexandrovich
Aleksey Aleksandrovich
Sergey Aleksandrovich
Pavel Alexandrovich
Alexander III
Maria Fedorovna
Children
Nicholas II
Alexander Alexandrovich
Georgy Alexandrovich
Ksenia Alexandrovna
Mikhail Alexandrovich
Olga Alexandrovna
Nicholas II
Alexandra Fedorovna
Children
Olga Nikolaevna
Tatyana Nikolaevna
Maria Nikolaevna
Anastasia Nikolaevna
Alexey Nikolaevich
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna with her family, Livadia, Crimea, 1913
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna with her sister Tsarina Alexandra and son-in-law Tsar Nicholas II
Interesting Facts
According to diplomat M.V. Mayorov, Alexandra Fedorovna not only did not seek, out of pro-German sympathies, to persuade her husband to a separate peace with Germany, as is usually attributed to her, but, on the contrary, played “a detrimental role in Nicholas II’s intention to wage a “war to a victorious end” “, while even “not paying attention to the colossal human losses of the Russian army.”
Biography
The fourth daughter (and sixth child) of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine Ludwig IV and Duchess Alice, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England.
She was born in Darmstadt (Hesse), on the day of the third discovery of the head of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John.
In 1884, she came to visit her sister, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Here she met the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich.
On November 2, 1894 (the day after the death of Emperor Alexander III) she converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy, taking a Russian name, and on November 26 she married the new Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II.
She considered the Siberian peasant G. E. Rasputin-Novy an elder and friend of her family.
She was killed along with her entire family in 1918 in Yekaterinburg. In 1981 she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and in 2000 by the Moscow Patriarchate.
When she was canonized, she became Queen Alexandra the New, since Queen Alexandra was already among the saints.
Relations with society
During her lifetime, Alexandra Feodorovna failed to become popular in her new homeland, especially in high society. Empress-mother Maria Feodorovna was fundamentally against her son’s marriage to a German princess, and this, along with a number of other external circumstances, coupled with the young empress’s painful shyness, immediately affected the attitude of the entire Russian court towards her.
As A. A. Mosolov, who was the head of the office of the Minister of the Court in 1916, believed, Maria Feodorovna, being a devout Dane, hated the Germans, not forgiving them for the annexation of Schleswig and Holstein in 1864.
The French ambassador M. Paleologue, however, noted in 1915:
Several times now I have heard the empress reproached for maintaining sympathy, preference, and deep tenderness for Germany on the throne. The unfortunate woman in no way deserves this accusation, which she knows and which drives her into despair.
Alexandra Feodorovna, born a German, was never her in mind or heart.<…>Her upbringing, her training, her mental and moral education were also entirely English. And now she is also English in her appearance, in her posture, in some inflexibility and puritanism, in the irreconcilable and militant severity of her conscience, and finally, in many of her intimate habits. This, however, is the extent of everything that stems from its Western origin.
The basis of her nature became completely Russian. Above all, and despite the hostile legend that I see springing up around her, I have no doubt about her patriotism. She loves Russia with a passionate love. And how can she not be tied to this adopted homeland, which for her summarizes and personifies all her interests as a woman, wife, empress, mother?
When she ascended the throne in 1894, it was already known that she did not like Germany and especially Prussia.
According to the testimony of the daughter of life physician E. S. Botkin, after the emperor read out the manifesto on the war with Germany, Alexandra Feodorovna cried with joy. And during the second Anglo-Boer War, Empress Alexandra, like Russian society, was on the side of the Boers (although she was horrified by the losses among the British officers).
In addition to the Empress-Mother, other relatives of Nicholas II did not like the young Empress. If you believe the testimony of her maid of honor A.A. Vyrubova, then the reason for this was, in particular, the following:
...In recent years, little cadets have come to play with the Heir. They were all told to handle Alexei Nikolaevich carefully. The Empress was afraid for him and rarely invited his cousins, frisky and rude boys, to see him. Of course, my family was angry about this.
In a difficult time for Russia, when there was World War, high society amused itself with a new and very interesting activity - spreading all kinds of gossip about Alexandra Feodorovna. If you believe A.A. Vyrubova, then around the winter of 1915/1916, the excited Mrs. Marianne von Derfelden (her sister-in-law) somehow ran to her sister Alexandra Pistolkors, the wife of a chamber cadet of the Highest Court, with the words:
Today we are spreading rumors in factories that the Empress is getting the Tsar drunk, and everyone believes it.
Other enemies of Alexandra Fedorovna did not hesitate to express their innermost thoughts on paper. Thus, her “namesake” A.F. Kerensky wrote in his memoirs:
...who could have predicted that the sparkling joy of the princess, the “Windsor ray of sunshine,” as Nicholas II affectionately called her, was destined to become a gloomy Russian queen, a fanatical adherent of the Orthodox Church.
The reason for the enmity towards the empress was not a mystery to N. N. Tikhanovich-Savitsky (leader of the Astrakhan People's Monarchist Party), who wrote to Nicholas II:
Sovereign! The plan of the intrigue is clear: by defaming the Tsarina and pointing out that everything bad comes from her, they inspire the population that You are weak, which means that it is necessary to take control of the country from You and transfer it to the Duma.
“If we allow our Friend to be persecuted, then we and our country will suffer for it” (about G. Rasputin and Russia, from a letter to my husband dated June 22, 1915)
“I want to beat off almost all the ministers...” (from a letter to my husband dated August 29, 1915)
“Big brutes, I cannot call them anything else” (about the Holy Synod, from a letter to my husband dated September 12, 1915)
“...a country where a man of God helps the sovereign will never perish. This is true" (about G. Rasputin and Russia, from a letter to my husband dated December 5, 1915)
“Yes, I am more Russian than many others, and I will not sit quietly” (from a letter to my husband dated September 20, 1916)
“Why do they hate me? Because they know what I have strong will and that when I am convinced of the rightness of something (and if Gregory blessed me), then I do not change my opinion, and this is unbearable for them” (about his enemies and about G. Rasputin, from a letter to my husband dated December 4 1916)
“Why don’t the generals allow you to send R. to the army? Banner" (small patriotic newspaper)? Dubrovin thinks that this is a shame (I agree) - but can they read all sorts of proclamations? Our bosses, really, are idiots” (about the newspaper “Russian Banner” and its Black Hundred publisher, from a letter to my husband dated December 15, 1916)
“I can’t understand people who are afraid to die. I have always looked at death as a deliverance from earthly suffering” (from a conversation with friend Julia Den on December 18, 1916)
“I prefer to die in Russia than to be saved by the Germans” (from a conversation in prison, March 1918)
In culture
The singer Zhanna Bichevskaya has a song “Queen Alexandra” on the album “We are Russians” (2002):
She lived by love simply, prayerfully and modestly -
I'm not afraid to say in front of the whole world -
Queen Alexandra is like the archangels,
That Rus' is begging for the last times...
The last Russian empress... is the closest to us in time, but perhaps also the least known in her authentic appearance, untouched by the pen of interpreters. Even during her lifetime, not to mention the decades that followed the tragic 1918, speculation and slander, and often outright slander, began to cling to her name. No one will know the truth now.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt; May 25 (June 6), 1872 - July 17, 1918) - wife of Nicholas II (since 1894). The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. She was born in Germany, in Darmstadt. The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.
When little Alex was six years old, a diphtheria epidemic spread in Hesse in 1878. Alice's mother and her younger sister May died from it.
father Alex (280x403, 32Kb)mother Alex (280x401, 26Kb)
Ludwig IV of Hesse and Duchess Alice (second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) are Alex's parents
And then the girl is taken in by her English grandmother. Alice was considered the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny. So Alix spent most of her childhood and adolescence in England, where she was raised. Queen Victoria, by the way, did not like the Germans and had a special dislike for Emperor William II, which was passed on to her granddaughter. All her life, Alexandra Fedorovna felt more drawn to her homeland on her mother’s side, to her relatives and friends there. Maurice Paleologue, the French ambassador to Russia, wrote about her: “Alexandra Fedorovna is not German either in mind or in heart and never has been. Of course, she is one by birth. Her upbringing, education, formation of consciousness and morality have become completely English. And now she is still English in her appearance, demeanor, a certain tension and puritanical character, intransigence and militant severity of conscience. Finally, in many of her habits."
2Alexandra Fedorovna (374x600, 102Kb)
In June 1884, at the age of 12, Alice visited Russia for the first time, when her older sister Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna) married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. In 1886, she came to visit her sister, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (Ella), the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Then she met the heir, Nikolai Alexandrovich. The young people, who were also quite closely related (they were second cousins through the princess’s father), immediately fell in love with each other.
Sergey Alexander., brother Nick 11 (200x263, 52Kb) Eliz. Fedor.-sister (200x261, 43Kb)
Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna (Ella)
While visiting her sister Ella in St. Petersburg, Alix was invited to social events. The verdict handed down by high society was cruel: “Uncharming. It holds on as if it had swallowed an arshin.” What does high society care about the problems of little Princess Alix? Who cares that she grows up without a mother, suffers greatly from loneliness, shyness, and terrible pain in the facial nerve? And only the blue-eyed heir was completely absorbed and delighted with the guest - he fell in love! Not knowing what to do in such cases, Nikolai asked his mother for an elegant brooch with diamonds and quietly placed it in the hand of his twelve-year-old lover. Out of confusion, she did not answer. The next day, the guests were leaving, a farewell ball was given, and Alix, taking a moment, quickly approached the Heir and just as silently returned the brooch to his hand. Nobody noticed anything. Only now there was a secret between them: why did she return her?
The childish naive flirtation of the heir to the throne and Princess Alice on the girl’s next visit to Russia three years later began to acquire the serious nature of a strong feeling.
However, the visiting princess did not please the parents of the crown prince: Empress Maria Feodorovna, like a true Dane, hated the Germans and was against the marriage with the daughter of Ludwig of Hesse of Darmstadt. His parents hoped until the very end for his marriage to Elena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris.
Alice herself had reason to believe that the beginning of an affair with the heir to the Russian throne could have favorable consequences for her. Returning to England, the princess begins to study the Russian language, gets acquainted with Russian literature, and even has long conversations with the priest of the Russian embassy church in London. Queen Victoria, who loves her dearly, of course, wants to help her granddaughter and writes a letter to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The grandmother asks to find out in more detail about the intentions of the Russian imperial house in order to decide whether Alice should be confirmed according to the rules of the Anglican Church, because according to tradition, members of the royal family in Russia had the right to marry only women of the Orthodox faith.
Another four years passed, and blind chance helped decide the fates of the two lovers. As if an evil fate hovering over Russia, unfortunately, young people of royal blood united. Truly this union turned out to be tragic for the fatherland. But who thought about it then...
In 1893, Alexander III became seriously ill. Here a dangerous question for the succession to the throne arose - the future sovereign is not married. Nikolai Alexandrovich categorically stated that he would choose a bride only for love, and not for dynastic reasons. Through the mediation of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, the emperor's consent to his son's marriage to Princess Alice was obtained. However, Maria Feodorovna poorly concealed her dissatisfaction with the unsuccessful, in her opinion, choice of an heir. The fact that the Princess of Hesse joined the Russian imperial family during the mournful days of the suffering of the dying Alexander III probably set Maria Feodorovna even more against the new empress.
April 3, 1894, Coburg-Alex agreed to become Nicholas's wife (486x581, 92Kb)
April 1894, Coburg, Alex agreed to become Nikolai's wife
(in the center is Queen Victoria, Alex's grandmother)
And why, having received the long-awaited parental blessing, Nikolai could not persuade Alix to become his wife? After all, she loved him - he saw it, felt it. What it took for him to persuade his powerful and authoritarian parents to agree to this marriage! He fought for his love and now, the long-awaited permission has been received!
Nicholas goes to the wedding of Alix's brother at Coburg Castle, where everything is already prepared for the Heir to the Russian Throne to propose to Alix of Hesse. The wedding went on as usual, only Alix... was crying.
“We were left alone, and then that conversation began between us, which I had long and strongly desired and, at the same time, was very afraid of. They talked until 12 o'clock, but to no avail, she still resists the change of religion. She, poor thing, cried a lot.” But is it just one religion? In general, if you look at portraits of Alix from any period of her life, it is impossible not to notice the stamp of tragic pain that this face carries. It seems like she always KNEW... She had a presentiment. Cruel fate, the basement of the Ipatiev House, terrible death... She was afraid and tossed about. But the love was too strong! And she agreed.
In April 1894, Nikolai Alexandrovich, accompanied by a brilliant retinue, went to Germany. Having gotten engaged in Darmstadt, the newlyweds spend some time at the English court. From that moment on, the Tsarevich’s diary, which he kept throughout his life, became available to Alex.
Already at that time, even before her accession to the throne, Alex had a special influence on Nicholas. Her entry appears in his diary: “Be persistent... don’t let others be first and bypass you... Reveal your personal will and don’t let others forget who you are.”
Subsequently, Alexandra Feodorovna’s influence on the emperor often took increasingly decisive, sometimes excessive, forms. This can be judged from the published letters from the Empress Nicholas to the front. It was not without her pressure that Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, popular among the troops, resigned. Alexandra Fedorovna was always worried about her husband’s reputation. And she more than once pointed out to him the need for firmness in relations with the courtiers.
Alix the bride was present during the agony of the groom's father, Alexander III. She accompanied his coffin from Livadia across the country with her family. On a sad November day, the body of the emperor was transferred from the Nikolaevsky station to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. A huge crowd crowded along the path of the funeral procession, moving along the pavements dirty with wet snow. The commoners whispered, pointing to the young princess: “She came to us behind the coffin, she brings misfortune with her.”
Tsarevich Alexander and Princess Alice of Hesse
November 14 (26), 1894 (on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, which allowed for a retreat from mourning) in the Great Church Winter Palace The wedding of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place. After the wedding, a thanksgiving prayer service was served by the members Holy Synod led by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Palladius (Raev); While singing “We praise You, God,” a cannon salute of 301 shots was fired. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his emigrant memoirs about their first days of marriage: “The wedding of the young Tsar took place less than a week after the funeral of Alexander III. Their honeymoon passed in an atmosphere of funeral services and mourning visits. The most deliberate dramatization could not have invented a more suitable prologue for the historical tragedy of the last Russian Tsar.”
5coronation (528x700, 73Kb)
Usually the wives of Russian heirs to the throne for a long time were on the sidelines. Thus, they had time to carefully study the mores of the society they would have to manage, had time to navigate their likes and dislikes, and most importantly, had time to acquire the necessary friends and helpers. Alexandra Fedorovna was unlucky in this sense. She ascended the throne, as they say, having fallen from a ship to a ball: not understanding the life that was alien to her, not being able to understand the complex intrigues of the imperial court.
9-Wedding of Nick 11 and Grand Duchess Alex.Fedor. (700x554, 142Kb)
In truth, her very inner nature was not adapted for the vain royal craft. Painfully withdrawn, Alexandra Feodorovna seemed to be the opposite example of a friendly dowager empress - our heroine, on the contrary, gave the impression of an arrogant, cold German woman who treated her subjects with disdain. The embarrassment that invariably gripped the queen when communicating with strangers prevented her from establishing simple, relaxed relationships with representatives of high society, which she vitally needed.
19-alex.fedor-tsarina (320x461, 74Kb)
Alexandra Fedorovna did not know how to win the hearts of her subjects at all; even those who were ready to bow to members of the imperial family did not receive food for this. So, for example, in women's institutes, Alexandra Fedorovna could not squeeze out a single friendly word. This was all the more striking, since the former Empress Maria Fedorovna knew how to evoke in college students a relaxed attitude toward herself, which turned into enthusiastic love for the bearers of royal power. The consequences of the mutual alienation that grew over the years between society and the queen, sometimes taking on the character of antipathy, were very diverse and even tragic. Alexandra Fedorovna’s excessive pride played a fatal role in this.
6tsaritsa-al.fed. (525x700, 83Kb)
The first years of married life turned out to be tense: the unexpected death of Alexander III made Niki emperor, although he was completely unprepared for this. He was bombarded with advice from his mother and five respectable uncles, who taught him to rule the state. Being a very delicate, self-possessed and well-mannered young man, Nikolai at first obeyed everyone. Nothing good came of this: on the advice of their uncles, after the tragedy on Khodynka Field, Niki and Alix attended a ball at the French ambassador - the world called them insensitive and cruel. Uncle Vladimir decided to pacify the crowd in front of the Winter Palace on his own, while the Tsar’s family lived in Tsarskoe - Bloody Sunday ensued... Only over time will Niki learn to say a firm “no” to both uncles and brothers, but... never to HER.
7nikolai 11 with his wife photo (560x700, 63Kb)
Immediately after the wedding, he returned her diamond brooch - a gift from an inexperienced sixteen-year-old boy. And the Empress will not part with her throughout her entire life together - after all, this is a symbol of their love. They always celebrated the day of their engagement - April 8th. In 1915, the forty-two-year-old empress wrote a short letter to her beloved at the front: “For the first time in 21 years we are not spending this day together, but how vividly I remember everything! My dear boy, what happiness and what love you have given me over all these years... How time flies - 21 years have already passed! You know, I saved that “princess dress” I was wearing that morning, and I’ll wear your favorite brooch...”
The queen's intervention in the affairs of government did not appear immediately after her wedding. Alexandra Feodorovna was quite happy with the traditional role of a homemaker, the role of a woman next to a man engaged in difficult, serious work. She is, first of all, a mother, busy with her four daughters: taking care of their upbringing, checking their assignments, protecting them. She is the center, as always subsequently, of her closely knit family, and for the emperor, she is the only beloved wife for life.
Her daughters adored her. From the initial letters of their names they made up a common name: “OTMA” (Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia) - and under this signature they sometimes gave gifts to their mother and sent letters. There was an unspoken rule among the Grand Duchesses: every day one of them seemed to be on duty with her mother, without leaving her a single step. It is curious that Alexandra Fedorovna spoke English to the children, and Nicholas II spoke only Russian. The empress communicated with those around her mostly in French. She also mastered Russian quite well, but spoke it only to those who did not know other languages. And only German speech was not present in their everyday life. By the way, the Tsarevich was not taught this.
8 al.fed. with daughters (700x432, 171Kb)
Alexandra Fedorovna with her daughters
Nicholas II, a domestic man by nature, for whom power seemed more like a burden than a way of self-realization, rejoiced at any opportunity to forget about his state concerns in a family setting and gladly indulged in those petty domestic interests for which he generally had a natural inclination. Perhaps, if this couple had not been so highly elevated by fate above mere mortals, she would have calmly and blissfully lived until her death hour, raising beautiful children and resting in God, surrounded by numerous grandchildren. But the mission of monarchs is too restless, the lot is too difficult to allow them to hide behind the walls of their own well-being.
Anxiety and confusion gripped the reigning couple even when the empress, with some fatal sequence, began to give birth to girls. Nothing could be done against this obsession, but Alexandra Feodorovna, who had learned with her mother’s milk her destiny as a queen of a woman, perceived the absence of an heir as a kind of heavenly punishment. On this basis, she, an extremely impressionable and nervous person, developed pathological mysticism. Gradually, the entire rhythm of the palace obeyed the tossing of the unfortunate woman. Now every step of Nikolai Alexandrovich himself was checked against one or another heavenly sign, and state policy was imperceptibly intertwined with childbirth. The queen's influence on her husband intensified, and the more significant it became, the further the date for the appearance of the heir moved forward.
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The French charlatan Philip was invited to the court, who managed to convince Alexandra Feodorovna that he was able to provide her, through suggestion, with male offspring, and she imagined herself to be pregnant and felt all the physical symptoms of this condition. Only after several months of the so-called false pregnancy, which was very rarely observed, the empress agreed to be examined by a doctor, who established the truth. But the most important misfortune was not in the false pregnancy or in the hysterical nature of Alexandra Fedorovna, but in the fact that the charlatan received, through the queen, the opportunity to influence state affairs. One of Nicholas II’s closest assistants wrote in his diary in 1902: “Philip inspires the sovereign that he does not need any other advisers except representatives of the highest spiritual, heavenly powers, with whom he, Philip, puts him in contact. Hence the intolerance of any contradiction and complete absolutism, sometimes expressed as absurdity. If at the report the minister defends his opinion and does not agree with the opinion of the sovereign, then a few days later he receives a note with a categorical order to carry out what he was told.”
Philip was still able to be expelled from the palace, because the Police Department, through its agent in Paris, found indisputable evidence of the French subject’s fraud.
Alex.fedor (527x700, 63Kb)
With the outbreak of the war, the couple were forced to separate. And then they wrote letters to each other... “Oh, my love! It’s so hard to say goodbye to you and see your lonely pale face with big sad eyes in the train window - my heart is breaking, take me with you... I kiss your pillow at night and passionately wish you were next to me... We have been through so much over these 20 years, we understand each other without words...” “I must thank you for your arrival with the girls, for bringing me life and sunshine, despite the rainy weather. Of course, as always, I didn’t have time to tell you even half of what I was going to, because when I meet you after a long separation, I always become shy. I just sit and look at you - this in itself is a great joy for me...”
And soon the long-awaited miracle followed - the heir Alexei was born.
The four daughters of Nikolai and Alexandra were born beautiful, healthy, real princesses: father's favorite romantic Olga, serious beyond her years Tatyana, generous Maria and funny little Anastasia. It seemed that their love could conquer everything. But love cannot defeat Fate. Their only son turned out to be sick with hemophilia, in which the walls of blood vessels burst from weakness and lead to difficult-to-stop bleeding.
12-Tsar and Family (237x300, 18Kb)The illness of the heir played a fatal role - they had to keep it secret, they painfully searched for a way out and could not find it. At the beginning of the last century, hemophilia remained incurable and patients could only hope for 20-25 years of life. Alexey, who was born a surprisingly handsome and intelligent boy, was ill almost all his life. And his parents suffered with him. Sometimes, when the pain was very severe, the boy asked for death. “When I die, will it hurt me anymore?” - he asked his mother during indescribable attacks of pain. Only morphine could save him from them, but the Tsar did not dare to have as heir to the throne not just a sick young man, but also a morphine addict. Alexei's salvation was loss of consciousness. From pain. He went through several serious crises, when no one believed in his recovery, when he rushed about in delirium, repeating one single word: “Mom.”
Alexey Nikol.-Tsesarevich (379x600, 145Kb)
Tsarevich Alexey
Having turned gray and aged several decades at once, my mother was nearby. She stroked his head, kissed his forehead, as if this could help the unfortunate boy... The only, inexplicable thing that saved Alexei was Rasputin’s prayers. But Rasputin brought an end to their power.
13-Rasputin and the Emperor (299x300, 22Kb)
Thousands of pages have been written about this major adventurer of the 20th century, so it is difficult to add anything to the multi-volume research in a small essay. Let's just say: of course, possessing the secrets of unconventional methods of treatment, being an extraordinary person, Rasputin was able to inspire the empress with the idea that he, a person sent by God to the family, had a special mission - to save and preserve the heir to the Russian throne. And Alexandra Feodorovna’s friend, Anna Vyrubova, brought the elder into the palace. This gray, unremarkable woman had such a huge influence on the queen that it is worth special mention about her.
14-Taneeva-Vyrubova (225x500, 70Kb) She was the daughter of the outstanding musician Alexander Sergeevich Taneyev, an intelligent and dexterous man who held the position of chief manager of His Majesty’s office at court. It was he who recommended Anna to the queen as a partner for playing the piano four hands. Taneyeva pretended to be an extraordinary simpleton to such an extent that she was initially declared unfit for court service. But this prompted the queen to intensively promote her wedding with naval officer Vyrubov. But Anna’s marriage turned out to be very unsuccessful, and Alexandra Fedorovna, as an extremely decent woman, considered herself to some extent guilty. In view of this, Vyrubova was often invited to the court, and the empress tried to console her. Apparently, nothing strengthens female friendship, as confidential compassion in amorous affairs.
Soon, Alexandra Fedorovna already called Vyrubova her “personal friend,” especially emphasizing that the latter did not have an official position at court, which means that her loyalty and devotion to the royal family were completely selfless. The empress was far from thinking that the position of a friend of the queen was more enviable than the position of a person belonging by position to her entourage. In general, it is difficult to fully appreciate the enormous role played by A. Vyrubova in the last period of the reign of Nicholas II. Without her active participation, Rasputin, despite all the power of his personality, would not have been able to achieve anything, since direct relations between the notorious old man and the queen were extremely rare.
Apparently, he did not strive to see her often, realizing that this could only weaken his authority. On the contrary, Vyrubova entered the queen’s chambers every day and did not part with her on trips. Having fallen entirely under the influence of Rasputin, Anna became the best conductor of the elder’s ideas in the imperial palace. In essence, in the stunning drama that the country experienced two years before the collapse of the monarchy, the roles of Rasputin and Vyrubova were so closely intertwined that there is no way to find out the degree of significance of each of them separately.
Anna Vyrubova on a walk in a wheelchair with Grand Duke Olga Nikolaevna, 1915-1916.
The last years of Alexandra Feodorovna's reign were full of bitterness and despair. The public at first transparently hinted at the pro-German interests of the empress, and soon began to openly vilify the “hated German woman.” Meanwhile, Alexandra Fedorovna sincerely tried to help her husband, she was sincerely devoted to the country, which had become her only home, the home of her closest people. She turned out to be an exemplary mother and raised her four daughters with modesty and decency. The girls, despite their high origins, were distinguished by their hard work, many skills, did not know luxury and even assisted during operations in military hospitals. This, oddly enough, was also blamed on the empress, they say, she allows her young ladies too much.
Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Livadia, 1914
When a rioting revolutionary crowd overran Petrograd, and the Tsar's train was stopped at Dno station for the abdication to be drafted, Alix was left alone. The children had measles and lay with a high fever. The courtiers fled, leaving only a handful of loyal people. The electricity was turned off, there was no water - we had to go to the pond, break off the ice and heat it on the stove. The palace with defenseless children remained under the protection of the Empress.
18-alex (280x385, 23Kb) She alone did not lose heart and did not believe in renunciation until the last. Alix supported the handful of loyal soldiers who remained to stand guard around the palace - now this was her entire Army. On the day when the ex-Sovereign, who had abdicated the Throne, returned to the palace, her friend, Anna Vyrubova, wrote in her diary: “Like a fifteen-year-old girl, she ran along the endless stairs and corridors of the palace towards him. Having met, they hugged, and when left alone, they burst into tears...” While in exile, anticipating an imminent execution, in a letter to Anna Vyrubova, the Empress summed up her life: “Dear, my dear... Yes, the past is over. I thank God for everything that happened, that I received - and I will live with memories that no one will take away from me... How old I have become, but I feel like the mother of the country, and I suffer as if for my child and I love my Motherland, despite all the horrors now ... You know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to tear LOVE OUT OF MY HEART, and Russia too... Despite the black ingratitude to the Emperor, which tears my heart... Lord, have mercy and save Russia.”
The abdication of Nicholas II from the throne brought the royal family to Tobolsk, where they, along with the remnants of their former servants, lived under house arrest. With his selfless act, the former king wanted only one thing - to save his beloved wife and children. However, the miracle did not happen; life turned out to be worse: in July 1918, the couple went down to the basement of the Ipatiev mansion. Nikolai carried his sick son in his arms... Following, walking heavily and holding her head high, was Alexandra Feodorovna...
On that last day of their lives, which is now celebrated by the church as the Day of Remembrance of the Holy Royal Martyrs, Alix did not forget to wear “his favorite brooch.” Having become material evidence No. 52 for the investigation, for us this brooch remains one of the many evidence of that Great Love. The shooting in Yekaterinburg ended the 300-year reign of the House of Romanov in Russia.
On the night of July 16-17, 1918, after the execution, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his family and associates were taken to this place and thrown into the mine. Nowadays on Ganina Yama there is a monastery in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.
male monastery (700x365, 115Kb)
In the marriage of Nikolai Alexandrovich with Alexandra Feodorovna, five children were born:
Olga (1895-1918);
Tatiana (1897-1918);
Maria (1899-1918);
Anastasia (1901-1918);
Alexey (1904-1918).
- Dearly beloved darling Sunny... God willing, our separation will not be long. I'm always in my thoughts with you, never doubt it... Sleep peacefully and sweetly. Your forever old hubby Nicky.
The last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, sent this letter to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna on a frosty December morning in 1916. In his diary, he wrote that in the evening of that day he “read a lot and was very sad.”
Love at second sight
The future empress, originally Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, was born in 1872 and was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. Her mother died when the girl was only six years old, so all the care of raising her fell on her grandmother and teachers. Historians note that already in adolescence, the girl had a good understanding of politics, knew history, geography, English and German literature. A little later she received a doctorate in philosophy.
When the girl was 12 years old, her older sister Ella married the younger brother of Russian Emperor Alexander III, Prince Sergei Alexandrovich. And the future empress, together with numerous relatives, went on a visit to St. Petersburg.
The girl watched with curiosity as her sister was met by a gilded carriage drawn by white horses at the Nikolaevsky station in St. Petersburg. During the wedding ceremony, held in the palace church in the Winter Palace, Alix stood to the side, with roses in her hair, dressed in White dress. Listening to the long service, incomprehensible to her, and inhaling the fragrance of incense, she glanced sideways at the sixteen-year-old Tsarevich (Nicholas).R. Massey "Nicholas and Alexandra".
Nikolai wrote in his diary that the girl, whose piercing gaze was impossible not to notice, made an indelible impression on him.
It is difficult to call this mutual love at first sight, since no records have been preserved about the relationship between Alice and Nikolai from the moment of the first visit until 1889, when Alix came to St. Petersburg again.
This time she stayed with her sister for six weeks. And she saw Nikolai every day. The young people did not hide their feelings.
“I dream of someday marrying Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but especially deeply and strongly - since 1889... All this time I did not believe my feelings, did not believe that my cherished dream could come true,” the Tsarevich wrote then Nikolai Alexandrovich in his diary after six weeks spent with Alice.
“Here’s your mistress, just don’t get married!”
The parents of the “groom” suddenly became an obstacle to the bright feeling of Nikolai and Alix. The fact is that the Darmstadt princess was not the most successful acquisition for the imperial house. With the help of marriages, foreign policy, economic and other state affairs were resolved, and a bride was already “prepared” for Nicholas. Alexander III planned that Elena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris, would become the crown prince's wife.
To begin with, Nikolai was sent to trip around the world in 1890 in the hope that he would be distracted and forget about his love. The Tsarevich went to Japan on the cruiser "Memory of Azov", visited Athens, visited Egypt, India, and Ceylon. But this did not help heal the wounds of the heart: the 21-year-old young man was firm in his decision.
Then Alexander III takes a desperate step. As historians say, it was he who initiated the acquaintance of the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya with the Tsarevich - in the hope that the new hobby would distract his son.
On March 23, 1890, Kshesinskaya took the final exam at the Imperial Theater School. The entire royal family was present at the premiere.
The Emperor, entering the hall where we had gathered, asked in a loud voice: “Where is Kshesinskaya? Be the decoration and glory of our ballet,” said Alexander III after the girl’s performance.
After this there was a gala dinner, before which the emperor ordered one of the students to sit further away from him, and, on the contrary, sat Matilda in her place. Nikolai was ordered to sit next to him.
“I fell in love with the heir from our first meeting,” she later recalled. The dinner, as Kshesinskaya herself recalled, passed on a “cheerful note.” And it seemed that she even attracted the attention of the Tsarevich, but...
- We went to a performance at the theater school. There was a short play and ballet. Very good. “We had dinner with the students,” Nikolai wrote about his first meeting with Kshesinskaya, without mentioning her in a single word.
"My grief knew no bounds"
“I positively really like Kshesinskaya,” Nicholas II wrote in his diary on July 17, 1890, after several meetings with the girl in St. Petersburg, and later in Krasnoye Selo.
The ballerina received the nickname “little Kshesinskaya” from Nikolai. The romance developed quite rapidly, but there was no talk of marriage. The heir’s mistress herself later recalled a conversation with her father, Mariinsky dancer Felix Kshesinsky. When the girl talked about what was happening, he asked if she understood that this relationship would not develop naturally. She firmly replied that she agreed, just to “drink the cup of love to the bottom.”
The romance ended shortly before the death of Alexander III and the subsequent coronation of Nicholas.
- On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir-tsarevich to Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. Although I knew for a long time that it was inevitable that sooner or later the heir would have to marry some foreign princess, my grief knew no bounds, Matilda herself wrote in her Memoirs.
Nikolai and “little Kshesinskaya” sent farewell letters to each other in 1894. She asked to reserve the right to call him “you.” He happily agreed, calling the ballerina the brightest memory of his youth.
Just a funeral and a wedding
Emperor Alexander III was very ill and could no longer influence his son’s wishes. Taking advantage of his father’s poor health, Nikolai goes with the ring to Coburg, where Alice then lived. The girl, who, of course, had heard rumors about the attitude of her potential “father-in-law”, the opinions of Russians about foreign queens (not too positive), seriously doubted whether she should throw in her lot with Nikolai, despite all her sympathy for him. For three days the princess did not give her consent, and only, as historians recall, pressure from her relatives helped her make up her mind.
By the way, Alix’s future wife reacted as wisely as possible to her affair with Kshesinskaya.
- My dear, dear boy, never changing, always faithful. Trust and believe in your dear girl, who loves you more deeply and devotedly than she can express, she wrote in his diary.
Nikolai left, hoping to return before the fall for the girl. But the health of his father, Emperor Alexander III, was deteriorating, so he could not personally pick up the bride. As a result, Nikolai summons Alix to Russia by telegram, explaining the situation.
The lovers met in Crimea, where by that time the sovereign himself was undergoing treatment.
The road to Livadia (a city in Crimea where Alexander III was located) took about four hours. Driving past Tatar villages, they stopped to accept flowers and traditional bread and salt. Alexander III in last time put on his ceremonial uniform to meet the bride and bless his son’s marriage.
The Emperor died in Livadia on October 20, 1894. His body was sent on the cruiser "Memory of Mercury" to St. Petersburg, where it arrived on November 1.
Alice was baptized the next day under the name of Alexandra Fedorovna. 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.
Sang. And she danced
When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and will remain together forever,” Alice-Alexandra wrote in her diary.
The wedding was scheduled for the birthday of Nicholas II's mother, Maria Fedorovna - November 14, 1894.
Alexandra was wearing a 475-carat diamond necklace. Heavy diamond earrings had to be secured with gold wire and “tied” to the hair. A wreath of traditional orange blossom was placed on top of the crown. Over the shoulder is the ribbon of the Order of St. Catherine.
She later wrote in her diary that she was terribly nervous before the wedding, not because of the marriage process itself or the responsibility, but because “I would have to wear a lot of unfamiliar things.”
On the afternoon of November 14, Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova officially became the Russian Empress. This happened immediately after the young people were declared husband and wife.
The Lord rewarded me with happiness that I could not even dream of by giving me Alix,” Nikolai wrote in his diary at the end of 1894.
Exemplary family man
Historians have called the family of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna nothing less than amazing. He wrote sweet notes for her, she left her messages in his diary, calling him sunshine, sweetheart and beloved.
The couple had five children - four daughters and the youngest son Alexei, who was expected to take the Russian throne.
The family, as historians write, loved to spend evenings together (if the sovereign was in St. Petersburg). So, after dinner they read, solved puzzles, wrote letters, and sometimes the empress or daughters played music.
A wife is still not only love and joint upbringing, but also, especially if you are an empress, also a reliable rear. At least one case speaks about how Alexandra provided for him.
In October 1900, Nikolai fell ill while the Romanovs were vacationing in Crimea. Life physician G.I. Hirsch diagnosed him with influenza ( viral disease). As contemporaries note, Nikolai was so ill that he could not take care of business.
Then the wife, who was interested in politics, studied the Bible and had a doctorate in philosophy, began to personally read and highlight the main points in the documents that were delivered to him.
Why did Alexandra nag Nikolai?
Any family cannot do without quarrels. Thus, the main theme of the lectures that Alexandra Feodorovna read to Nicholas II was the emperor’s excessive gentleness.
“You must simply order that this or that be done, without asking whether it can be done or not,” she wrote to him in 1915, when Nicholas II became commander-in-chief of the Russian troops during the First World War.
Historians note that Alexandra repeatedly demanded that her husband show his authority. It is possible that this was the reason for the cooling in their relationship.
“One Rasputin is better than ten hysterics a day,” Nikolai allegedly once threw out such a phrase in his heart.
But at the same time, he only wrote to his wife that he was already quite an adult and should not be treated like a child. In turn, the Empress, as they said in Petrograd, declared that “the men’s pants” in their family were on her.
In joy and in sorrow
I completely understand your action, my hero! “I know that you could not sign anything contrary to what you swore at your coronation,” Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to Nikolai after his abdication.
At midnight on March 2, 1917, in the carriage of the imperial train near Pskov, Nicholas II signed an act of abdication. The emperor's family was placed under arrest in Tsarskoe Selo.
Having received the news that her husband was no longer the emperor, the woman rushed with tears in her eyes to burn and tear all the letters to shreds so that they would not fall into the hands of the Provisional Government.
I heard muffled moans and sobs. Many of the letters were received by her even before she became a wife and mother, wrote Alexandra Fedorovna’s friend Lily Den in her memoirs.
Despite this, in April 1917, Nicholas wrote in his diary that the family celebrated the traditional engagement anniversary. They celebrated, as the Emperor emphasized, quietly.
Together until death
The family of the now former emperor, with him at their head, was sent to Tobolsk on July 31, 1917, by decree of the Council of Ministers. The journey took six days. At this time, Nikolai wrote every day in his diary not so much about himself as about his wife and children, worrying mainly about the fact that his wife slept poorly, his son’s arm hurt, and his daughters suffered from headaches from constant worry.
We had dinner, joked about the amazing inability of people to even arrange a room, and went to bed early,” Nikolai wrote after he saw where they would live in Tobolsk.
In general, Nikolai and Alexandra do not describe in their diaries the hardships that they had to endure while living in Tobolsk, in conditions of complete misunderstanding of what would happen to them next. In almost every entry of the former emperor it is mentioned that he spoke with Alix, but the topics are not revealed.
- After breakfast, Yakovlev came and announced that he had received orders to take me away, without saying where. Alix decided to go with me. There was no point in protesting, Nicholas II wrote in his diary on April 14, 1918.
Later it turned out that the royal family, by order of the Provisional Government, was transported to Yekaterinburg, to Ipatiev’s house, where they arrived on April 17.
Until his last day, Nikolai writes only warm words in his diary about his wife and their children.
Later, historians will more than once recall Alexandra’s words on her wedding day: “When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and will remain together forever.”
University, where she received a bachelor's degree in philosophy. The culture of journaling and correspondence characterized Princess Alice from childhood.
The crowned family became a model of a truly Christian, united family. The imperial couple had 4 daughters: passion-bearers Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna (November 3), Tatiana Nikolaevna (May 29), Maria Nikolaevna (June 14), Anastasia Nikolaevna (June 5). On July 30 of this year, the long-awaited heir to the throne, begged from God, was born - the passion-bearer Tsarevich Grand Duke Alexy Nikolaevich, to whom it was transmitted hereditary disease descendants of Queen Victoria - hemophilia. The empress took care of the upbringing and education of children, passed on to them her culture of correspondence and diary-keeping, and her religiosity. It is no coincidence that the royal family, according to historians, is “among the best documented in history.” In addition to written sources, more than 150 thousand photographs of the imperial family, in which everyone had a personal camera, have been preserved; More than a thousand albums with photographs are known.
The Empress took care of the health of all family members, especially her son. She conducted the initial training of the heir independently, later invited outstanding teachers to him and observed the progress of the teaching. Thanks to the empress's great tact, the Tsarevich's illness was kept a family secret. Constant concern for Alexy's life became main reason appearance at the court of G. E. Rasputin, who had the ability to stop bleeding using hypnosis, so in dangerous moments of illness he became the last hope for saving the child. The maternal torment of the empress and the desire to maintain peace in the family on the part of the tsar determined the role of Rasputin in the life of the court.
According to contemporaries, the empress was deeply religious. The church was her main consolation, especially at a time when the heir’s illness worsened. Lady-in-waiting S.K. Buxhoeveden noted that Empress Alexandra believed “in healing through prayer,” which she associated with her origins from the House of Hesse from Elizabeth of Thuringia (Hungary) (1207-1231), who established hospitals in Marburg, Eisenach, and Wartburg in the name of Great Martyr George and Saint Anna and who treated lepers. The Empress held full services in the court churches, where she introduced the monastic liturgical regulations. Alexandra Feodorovna’s room in the palace was “ connection of the empress's bedroom with the nun's cell. The huge wall adjacent to the bed was completely covered with images and crosses". Under the images stood a lectern covered with ancient brocade. In July of the year, Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna participated in the celebration of the glorification and opening of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov; a shrine and a canopy for the relics were built at the expense of the imperial family. A year before this, the Empress sent a lamp and church vestments to the Sarov Hermitage with a request to serve a daily prayer service for her health in the chapel built over the grave of St. Seraphim. She was sure that thanks to the prayers of the saint, Russia would receive an heir.
Due to the concerns of the imperial family, several Orthodox churches. In the homeland of Alexandra Feodorovna, in Darmstadt, a temple was built in the name of St. Mary Magdalene in memory of the first Russian Empress from the House of Hesse - Maria Alexandrovna. October 4 of this year in Hamburg in the presence of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Grand Duke of Hesse, in memory of the coronation of the Russian Emperor and Empress, founded a temple in the name of All Saints. At their own expense, the imperial family, according to the design of architects S. S. Krichinsky and V. A. Pokrovsky, created the Feodorovsky town in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoye Selo with a court cathedral in the name of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, consecrated on August 20 of the year, where a prayer room with a lectern and a chair was built for the empress. The underground church in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov was a genuine treasury of ancient icon painting and church utensils; it contained the Gospel of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich. Under the patronage of the empress, committees worked to build churches in memory of the sailors who died in the Russo-Japanese War, and the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Petrograd.
One of the first undertakings of the empress, who became famous for her charitable activities, was the patronage of the imperial women's Patriotic Society, according to a rescript from Emperor Nicholas II dated February 26 of the year. An unusually hard worker who devoted a lot of time to needlework, the empress organized charity fairs and bazaars where homemade souvenirs were sold. Under her patronage were many charitable organizations: House of Diligence with educational workshops for cutting and sewing and a children's boarding school; Society for Labor Assistance to Educated Persons; House of hard work for educated women; Olginsky shelter of hard work for children of persons being treated at the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene; Trusteeship of the Imperial Humane Society to collect donations for the vocational education of poor children; Labor Aid Society "Uley"; Tsarskoe Selo Society of Handicrafts and School of Folk Art for teaching handicrafts; All-Russian Guardianship for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy; Brotherhood in the name of the Queen of Heaven in Moscow (with it there was a shelter for 120 children - feeble-minded, crippled, epileptic - with a school, workshops, and a craft department); Shelter-nursery of the 2nd Temporary Committee for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy; Shelter named after Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in Harbin; nursery of the Peterhof Charitable Society; 4th Petrograd Committee of the All-Russian Guardianship for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy with a shelter for mothers and a nursery; “Nanny School” in Tsarskoe Selo, established at the personal expense of the Empress; Tsarskoye Selo Community of Sisters of Mercy of the Russian Red Cross Society (ROSC) and the House of the Empress for the charity of crippled soldiers; Holy Cross Community of Sisters of Charity ROKK; 1st Petrograd Ladies' Committee of the ROCC; Mikhailovskoye, in memory of General M.D. Skobelev, a society for medical assistance to low-income wives, widows, children and orphans of soldiers (it had an outpatient clinic, an inpatient department, and a shelter for girls - orphans of soldiers); All-Russian Alexander Nevsky Temperance Brotherhood (with its school, kindergarten, holiday village, book publishing house, folk choirs).
Of exceptional interest for Russian culture, history, and science are objects of palace life, collections of antiquities, collections of books and works of art compiled by the empress and the august family. All imperial orders intended for palaces were unique, and duplicates were not allowed. The library of the Empress and Grand Duchesses in the Winter Palace consisted of about 2 thousand volumes, and manuscripts were also kept there. Alexandra Feodorovna’s books were also in Livadia, Tsarskoye Selo, they are marked with a bookplate and are works of publishing and bookbinding art. The support of Alexandra Feodorovna and the entire imperial family of the Faberge company became a prerequisite for the emergence of a new direction in applied arts- “imperial style”, “Faberge design and style”. The Empress collected antiquities and assisted scientists. She received an honorary diploma from the Archaeological Institute, the committee for the construction of the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III in Moscow elected her an honorary member for her active assistance to the museum, and the Pergamon Hall of the museum was named in honor of the empress. Under the patronage of the empress was the Imperial Society of Oriental Studies, which had the goal of “ disseminating accurate and correct information about Russia among the eastern peoples, as well as familiarizing Russian society with the material needs and spiritual life of the East" Alexandra Feodorovna was a skilled artist; icons embroidered by her were preserved in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Darmstadt. By the beginning of the year, she made drawings of a Russian costume for a charity ball in the Winter Palace, in consultation with the director of the Hermitage I. A. Vsevolozhsky. The Empress was dressed in gold brocade clothes, created according to sketches from the clothes of Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna. Another work of Alexandra Feodorovna is a drawing of a sign for parts of the imperial convoy. The Empress collected works of laminated glass and personally gave production instructions to the imperial porcelain and glass factories.
IN last years reign, especially during the First World War, Alexandra Feodorovna became the subject of a ruthless and baseless smear campaign led by revolutionaries and their collaborators in both Russia and Germany. Rumors spread widely about adultery Empress, about her allegedly unchaste relationship with Rasputin, about her betrayal of the Motherland in favor of Germany. This lie, whipped up in order to overthrow the royal house and embarrass the Russian people, at one time became widespread not only in popular but also in scientific publications. However, despite the fact that the sovereign knew about the purity of the empress’s personal life, he also personally ordered a secret investigation into “slanderous rumors about the empress’s relations with the Germans and even about her betrayal of the Motherland.” Although in the pre-war period the Empress did support improving relations with Germany, 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. After the abdication of the sovereign, the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry under the Provisional Government tried and failed to establish the guilt of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna of any crimes.
However, the denigration of the image of the royal family, the widespread loss of faith and loyalty to it, and the obvious desire of broad layers of the empire's elite to abandon the monarchical structure of the state led to the removal of the imperial family from power. On March 2 of the year, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the throne for himself and for Tsarevich Alexy.
Imprisonment and martyrdom
By decision of the secular authorities of Russia, the reburial of the remains was carried out on July 17 of the year in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg, the funeral service was led by the rector of the cathedral.The Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Moscow Patriarchate, chaired by Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsky, found “ it is possible to raise the question of canonizing ... Empress Alexandra Feodorovna as a holy passion-bearer". By the resolution of the Holy Synod of October 10 of the year and the determination of the Council of Bishops on February 18-22 of the year, this position was approved. The canonization of Alexandra Feodorovna and other royal passion-bearers in the Council of New Martyrs of Russia took place at the Council of Bishops of the year.
On the spot former home Ipatiev built a temple-monument “on the blood” in the name of All Saints who shone in the Russian land. On September 23, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II served a prayer service on the site of the temple under construction and placed a mortgage deed at its foundation.
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- Maksimova, L. B., "Alexandra Feodorovna," Orthodox Encyclopedia, vol. 1, 553-558:
She was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad of the year. A.V. Kolchak was entrusted with the investigation of the murder of the royal family.
Gilliard, 162.
Alexandra Feodorovna, Diary entries, correspondence, 467.
Secrets of the Koptyakovskaya road, 3.
ZhMP, 1998, № 4, 31.
ZhMP, 1998, № 4, 10.
"Report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna... on the issue of the martyrdom of the royal family, proposed at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 10, 1996."
The “Thomas” magazine continues the “Thoughts of the Great” column, where sayings and aphorisms of holy fathers, writers, and philosophers are published. 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 Fedorovna Romanova, the passion-bearer and wife of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
About God and life by faith
True faith is manifested in all our behavior. It's like the sap of a living tree that reaches the farthest branches.
We know that when He denies us our request, then fulfilling it would be to our harm; when He does not lead us along the path we have planned, 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 from the example of your life that faith is more than doctrine or observance of rituals.
The remembrance of past mercies will support faith in God in the trials to come.
Do not lose heart, but calmly trust the will of God, and, no matter what befalls you, endure everything for the glory of the Lord, since after winter comes summer, after night comes day, and after storm comes silence.
Messiah in Old Testament many times called the Servant of God. Service is not something base, it is Divine.
If our love is true and sincere, we always trust in heaven.
What is prayer? This is when we are close to Christ.
Religion makes some people stern and gloomy. But this is not Christian. The religion inspired by the word of Christ is sunny and joyful.
Joy is the hallmark of a Christian. A Christian should never become discouraged; he should never doubt that good will triumph over evil.
If the word of Christ lives 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 humanity has held at almost all times. To be kind means to be happy - this is a secret accessible to those few wise and virtuous who are an adornment not only to themselves, but also an adornment to their neighbors and the Fatherland.
The soul writes its history 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 others talking about them; in listening to them patiently and even gratefully; in correcting the shortcomings that we are told about; is not to feel hostility towards those who tell us about them.
When doing charity, 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 truly ennobles.
Encouragement inspires us; if it is not there, many noble opportunities are extinguished.
True wisdom does not consist in the assimilation of knowledge, but in the correct application of it for good.
The first lesson to learn and execute is patience.
If everything is good inside, then nothing will harm the outside.
If you are aware of what you are, you will not pay attention to what people say about you.
Be courageous - that's the main thing.
True virtue is to act without witnesses as one usually acts before the eyes of the world.
Trust your heart, especially when this trust is good, listen to it.
Anyone who has done good should not talk about it, but if they boast about it, goodness loses its nobility...
Give without looking for anything in return, without calculating benefits in the future; give to children, the elderly, the dying, those who cannot repay, and those whom you will never see again, otherwise it will not be a benefit, but a bargain; 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 “labor of love” (1 Sol. 1:3), will be in doubt. With your own hand, do what your heart tells you. In this way you will become acquainted with 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 even death is victory.
A person is never so beautiful as when he prays for his own forgiveness or the forgiveness of another.
Morality is what determines the meaning of any action - vain or otherworldly meaning.
The most difficult thing a person must overcome is himself.
Relationships between people. Love, family
The life of humanity is a large 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 existed separately from the cells of his own body.
Each person has a sacred responsibility for the happiness and highest good of the other until the end 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 in such a way that we do not harm anyone, so that our life serves as an example for others.
Trying to make your neighbors happy is the path to your own happiness.
Most arguments between people are pointless. They are caused either by the intervention of strangers, or by frivolous words, or by the action of unrepentant sins.
What people around us need most is just kindness.
Kind words always connect.
No one deserves a greater reward than peacemakers.
The possibilities of helping people simply by talking to them are almost endless. One who knows how to speak with conviction, knows how to speak the language of love, can inspire others to good and wonderful deeds, console their grief, cheer up those who are discouraged, enlighten those who are inexperienced - can help others in a thousand ways.
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 tell them a word of hope or do a good deed that will lead them out of hopelessness and give them strength to return to a joyful, full life.
He who stops helping others becomes a burden to himself.
Every new friend who comes into our lives trusts us. The most correct concept of friendship is that it gives us the opportunity to serve, help, protect another. The moment we make a new friend is a sacred moment. This is another life entrusted to us so that we can be a blessing to it, bring beauty to it, be its 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 - the word “love”. The word “love” contains a whole volume of thoughts about life and duty, and when we study it closely and carefully, each of them appears 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 wonderful feeling, but as a love that permeates all daily life, affecting relationships with all people.
There cannot be deep and sincere love where selfishness rules. Perfect love is perfect self-denial.
Life is too short to waste it fighting and arguing, especially within the sacred circle of family.
As long as you love, you forgive.
Marriage is a Divine rite. He was part of God's plan when He created man. This is the closest and most sacred connection on earth.
Love does not grow, does not become great and perfect suddenly and on its own, but requires time and constant care.
Love requires special delicacy. You can be sincere and devoted, and yet your speeches and actions may lack that tenderness that so captivates hearts... The closer the relationship, the more painful the heart is from a look, tone, gesture or word that speaks of irritability or is simply thoughtless.
Without purity it is impossible to imagine true femininity. Even in the midst of this world, mired in sins and vices, it is possible to maintain this holy purity.
You can tell what a woman is like by the home she creates.
A woman is endowed with the gift of sympathy, delicacy, and the ability to inspire. This makes her seem like a messenger of Christ with a mission to alleviate human suffering and sorrow.
Attitude towards women - this is The best way test the nobility of a man.
Parents should be what they want their children to be - not in words, but in deeds. They must teach their children by the example of their lives.
Childhood songs are never forgotten. Memories of them lie under the burden of years filled with worries, 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 home where children grow up means for 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.
Life. Pacification
Every day is life in miniature.
We often lose what is dear to us, chasing the unattainable.
How many opportunities we miss to do good 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 should do with love.
Go forward, make mistakes, fall and get up again, just keep going.
Often more heavenly grace is required for ordinary things than for great ones.
No person is so poor that he can consider himself like that. Wisdom is for a person to allow the Lord to decide everything for him.
Everyone has their place, and everyone is important in their place. The smallest and most insignificant also have their places, and it is necessary that these small places be filled as well as the places occupied by the most important and significant individuals.
Never lose heart and never let others lose heart.
We are creators. Human lives there are unfinished buildings everywhere, and everyone who passes by places a brick on the wall or adds some decoration. Everyone with whom we come into contact, who speaks even a word to us, who even influences us from afar, leaves in our character a touch of beauty or a sign of something bad.
We must remain in our place, do our duty, bear 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. One 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 who have peace in their souls can do their jobs well. A restless mind is not suitable for good work.
Worry makes us weak.
An irritated mind cannot think clearly.
Peace is a Divine gift, but at the same time, we must learn it. Learn by taking upon yourself the yoke of Christ.
The kindest thing a teacher can do for his students is to teach them to lead a life full of faith and courage - a life of winners.
Biography of Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova
Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna, née 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 the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. On July 1, 1872, she was baptized according to the Lutheran rite.
Alice was Queen Victoria's favorite granddaughter.
At the age of 12 years (1884), Princess Alice first came to Russia for the wedding of her older sister Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna), who married 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.
The young people immediately drew attention to each other, but they had to fight for their happiness, because the parents of the Tsarevich 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, Alice studied the basics of Orthodoxy and the Russian language, and on October 21 (November 2), 1894, in Livadia (Crimea), she accepted Orthodoxy through confirmation with the name Alexandra and patronymic Fedorovna (Feodorovna).
On November 14 (26), 1894, the wedding of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. They had four daughters: Olga (November 3/15, 1895), Tatyana (May 29/June 10, 1897), Maria (June 14/26, 1899) and Anastasia (June 5/18, 1901).
Some time later, on July 30 (August 12), 1904, a 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 on his mother’s side - hemophilia.
Nicholas and Alexandra bravely endured this ordeal, surrounding the crown prince 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 the First World War, in Tsarskoe Selo, where the imperial family lived most of the time, a hospital was equipped for wounded soldiers, and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, along with her daughters Olga and Tatiana, worked there as surgical nurses (having undergone preliminary training).
On March 8 (21), 1917, after the February Revolution, the imperial family was arrested in accordance with the resolution of the Provisional Government and was for some time under home confinement in the Alexander Palace, then, at the beginning of August 1917, they were 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 merchant Ipatiev, the royal family suffered martyrdom: Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna 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 passion-bearers.