- 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 a 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, Nicholas was sent on a 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 put on his ceremonial uniform for the last time to meet his 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 while 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 Tsarskoye 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.”
Plan
Introduction
1 Biography
2 State duties
3 Policy impact (estimates)
4 Canonization
5.1 Letters, diaries, documents, photographs
5.2 Memories
5.3 Works of historians and publicists
Bibliography
Introduction
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna) (nee Princess Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt; May 25, 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.
Name day (in Orthodoxy) - April 23 according to the Julian calendar, memory of the martyr Alexandra.
1. Biography
Born in Darmstadt (Germany) in 1872. She was baptized on July 1, 1872 according to the Lutheran rite. The name given to her consisted of her mother's name (Alice) and four names of her aunts. The godparents were: Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III) with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter Princess Beatrice, Augusta von Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge and Maria Anna , Princess of Prussia.
In 1878, a diphtheria epidemic spread in Hesse. Alice's mother and her younger sister May died from it, after which Alice lived most of the time in the UK at Balmoral Castle and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Alice was considered the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny("Sun").
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. She arrived in Russia for the second time in January 1889 at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. After staying in the Sergius Palace (St. Petersburg) for six weeks, the princess met and attracted the special attention of the heir to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
In the early 1890s, the latter’s parents, who hoped for his marriage to Helen Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Count of Paris, were against the marriage of Alice and Tsarevich Nicholas. A key role in the arrangement of Alice’s marriage with Nikolai Alexandrovich was played by the efforts of her sister, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, and the latter’s husband, through whom correspondence between the lovers was carried out. The position of Emperor Alexander and his wife changed due to the persistence of the crown prince and the deteriorating health of the emperor; On April 6, 1894, a manifesto announced the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. In the following months, Alice studied the basics of Orthodoxy under the guidance of the court protopresbyter John Yanyshev and the Russian language with teacher E. A. Schneider. On October 10 (22), 1894, she arrived in Crimea, in Livadia, where she stayed with the imperial family until the death of Emperor Alexander III - October 20. On October 21 (November 2), 1894, she accepted Orthodoxy through confirmation there with the name Alexandra and patronymic Fedorovna (Feodorovna).
On November 14 (26), 1894 (on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, which allowed for a retreat from mourning), the wedding of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. After the wedding, a thanksgiving prayer service was served by members of the Holy Synod, led by Metropolitan Palladius (Raev) of St. Petersburg; while singing “We praise You, God,” a 301-shot cannon salute was given. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his emigrant memoirs about their first days of marriage:
The family lived most of the time in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1896, Alexandra and Nikolai traveled to Nizhny Novgorod for the All-Russian Exhibition. And in August 1896 they made a trip to Vienna, and in September-October - to Germany, Denmark, England and France.
In subsequent years, the Empress gave birth to four daughters: Olga (November 3 (15), 1895), Tatiana (May 29 (June 10), 1897), Maria (June 14 (26), 1899) and Anastasia (June 5 (18), 1901 of the year). On July 30 (August 12), 1904, the fifth child and only son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, appeared in Peterhof. Alexandra Feodorovna was a carrier of the hemophilia gene; the Tsarevich was born a hemophiliac.
In 1897 and 1899, the family traveled to Alexandra Feodorovna’s homeland in Darmstadt. During these years, the Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene was built in Darmstadt, which is still in operation today.
On July 17-20, 1903, the Empress took part in the celebrations of the glorification and discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Sarov Hermitage.
For entertainment, Alexandra Feodorovna played the piano with the professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory R.V. Kündinger. The Empress also took singing lessons from Conservatory professor N.A. Iretskaya. Sometimes she sang a duet with one of the court ladies: Anna Vyrubova, Alexandra Taneyeva, Emma Fredericks (daughter of V.B. Fredericks) or Maria Stackelberg.
In 1915, at the height of the First World War, the Tsarskoye Selo hospital was converted to receive wounded soldiers. Alexandra Fedorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatyana, were trained in nursing by Princess V.I. Gedroits, and then assisted her during operations as surgical nurses.
During the February Revolution, Alexandra Fedorovna was placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace. Yu.A. remained with her. Den, who helped her look after the Grand Duchesses and A.A. Vyrubova. At the beginning of August 1917, the royal family was exiled to Tobolsk by decision of the Provisional Government. Later, by decision of the Bolsheviks, they were transported to Yekaterinburg.
Alexandra Fedorovna was shot along with her entire family on the night of July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg.
2. State duties
Empress Alexandra was the chief of the regiments: the Life Guards of Her Majesty's Uhlan, the 5th Hussars of Alexandria, the 21st East Siberian Rifle and Crimean Cavalry, and among the foreign ones - the Prussian 2nd Guards Dragoon Regiment.
The empress was also involved in charitable activities. By the beginning of 1909, under her patronage there were 33 charitable societies, communities of nurses, shelters, orphanages and similar institutions, among which: the Committee for finding places for military ranks who suffered in the war with Japan, the House of Charity for crippled soldiers, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society , Trusteeship for labor assistance, Her Majesty's school of nannies in Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Society for Welfare of the Poor, Society for Assistance with Clothes to the Poor of St. Petersburg, Brotherhood in the Name of the Queen of Heaven for the charity of idiotic and epileptic children, Alexandria Shelter for Women and others.
Policy impact (estimates)
Count S. Yu. Witte, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire (1905-1906), wrote that Nicholas II:
General A. A. Mosolov, who was from 1900 to 1916 the head of the chancellery of the Ministry of the Imperial Household, testified in his memoirs that the empress failed to become popular in her new fatherland, and from the very beginning the tone of this hostility was set by her mother-in-law, Empress Maria Feodorovna, who hated Germans; According to his testimony, the influential Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was also opposed to her, which ultimately led to society’s aversion from the throne.
Senator V.I. Gurko, discussing the origins of the “mutual alienation that has grown over the years between society and the queen,” wrote in exile:
The Empress' chamberlain M. F. Zanotti showed investigator A. N. Sokolov:
Review of the Empress ballerina M. F. Kshesinskaya, the former mistress of Tsarevich Nicholas in 1892-1894, in her emigrant memoirs:
4. Canonization
In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in August 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church.
At canonization, Alexandra Feodorovna became Queen Alexandra the New, since Queen Alexandra was already among the saints.
Literature
5.1. Letters, diaries, documents, photographs
· August Sisters of Mercy. / Comp. N.K. Zvereva. - M.: Veche, 2006. - 464 p. - ISBN 5-9533-1529-5. (Excerpts from the diaries and letters of the queen and her daughters during World War I).
· Album of photographs of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, 1895-1911. // Russian Archive: History of the Fatherland in testimonies and documents of the 18th-20th centuries: Almanac.. - M.: Studio TRITE: Ros. Archive, 1992. - T. I-II.
· Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova. Wonderful Light: Diary entries, correspondence, biography. / Comp. nun Nektaria (Mac Lees).- Moscow: Brotherhood of St. Herman of Alaska, Publishing House Russian Pilgrim, Valaam Society of America, 2005. - 656 p. - ISBN 5-98644-001-3.
· Reports on cash inflows and outflows. amounts received at the disposal of Her Majesty G.I. Alexandra Feodorovna for the needs of the war with Japan for 1904-1909.
· Report on the activities of Her Majesty's Warehouse in St. Petersburg. for the entire period of its existence, from February 1, 1904 to May 3, 1906.
· Report on the activities of Her Majesty's Central Warehouse in Harbin.
· Letters from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to Emperor Nicholas II. - Berlin: Slovo, 1922. (In Russian and English).
· Platonov O. A. Russia's crown of thorns: Nicholas II in secret correspondence. - M.: Rodnik, 1996. - 800 p. (Correspondence of Nicholas II and his wife).
· The last diaries of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova: February 1917 - July 16, 1918 / Compiled, ed., preface, introduction. and comment. V. A. Kozlova and V. M. Khrustalev - Novosibirsk: Sibirsk. chronograph, 1999. - 341 p. - (Archive of Contemporary History of Russia. Publications. Issue 1 / Federal Archive Service of Russia, GARF).
· Tsesarevich: Documents, memories, photographs. - M.: Vagrius, 1998. - 190 pp.: ill.
5.2. Memories
· Gurko V. I. King and queen. - Paris, 1927. (And other publications)
· Den Yu. A. The real queen: Memoirs of a close friend of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. - St. Petersburg: Tsarskoye Delo, 1999. - 241 p.
Historians, archivists and numerous researchers of the life of the last empress of the Russian state seem to have studied and explained not only her actions, but every word and even every turn of her head. But here’s what’s interesting: after reading every historical monograph or new study, an unfamiliar woman appears in front of us.
Such is the magic of the beloved British granddaughter, daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse, goddaughter of the Russian sovereign and wife, the last heir to the Russian throne. Alix, as her husband called her, or Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova remained a mystery to everyone.
Probably, everything is to blame for her coldish isolation and alienation from everything earthly, taken by her retinue and the Russian nobility for arrogance. The explanation for this inescapable sadness in her gaze, as if turned inward, is found when you learn the details of the childhood and youth of Princess Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Childhood and youth
She was born in the summer of 1872 in Darmstadt, Germany. The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and the daughter of the Queen of Great Britain, Duchess Alice, turned out to be a real ray of sunshine. However, Grandma Victoria called her that – Sunny – Sunshine. Blond, with dimples on her cheeks, with blue eyes, fidgety and laughing, Aliki instantly filled her prim relatives with a good mood, making even the formidable grandmother smile.
The baby adored her sisters and brothers. It seems that she had especially fun with her brother Frederick and her younger sister Mary, whom she called May due to difficulty pronouncing the letter “r”. Fryderyk died when Alika was 5 years old. A beloved brother died of a hemorrhage resulting from an accident. Mom Alice, already melancholy and gloomy, plunged into severe depression.
But just as the sharpness of the painful loss began to dull, a new grief occurred. And not just one. The diphtheria epidemic that occurred in Hesse in 1878 took away first her sister May from sunny Alika, and three weeks later her mother.
Thus, at the age of 6, Alika-Sunny’s childhood ended. She “went out” like a ray of sunshine. Almost everything she loved so much disappeared: her mother, her sister and brother, her usual toys and books, which were burned and replaced with new ones. It seems that then the open and funny Aliki herself disappeared.
To distract two granddaughters, Alice-Aliki, Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna), and grandson Ernie from sad thoughts, the imperious grandmother transported them, with the permission of her son-in-law, to England, to Osborne House Castle on the Isle of Wight. Here Alice, under the supervision of her grandmother, received an excellent education. Carefully selected teachers taught her, her sister and brother geography, mathematics, history and languages. And also drawing, music, horse riding and gardening.
The subjects were easy for the girl. Alice played the piano brilliantly. Music lessons were given to her not by anyone, but by the director of the Darmstadt Opera. Therefore, the girl easily performed the most complex works and... And without much difficulty she mastered the wisdom of court etiquette. The only thing that upset the grandmother was that her beloved Sunny was unsociable, withdrawn and could not stand noisy social society.
The Princess of Hesse graduated from the University of Heidelberg and received a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
In March 1892, Alice suffered a new blow. Her father died of a heart attack in her arms. Now the girl felt even more alone. Only the grandmother and brother Ernie, who inherited the crown, remained nearby. The only sister Ella has recently lived in distant Russia. She married a Russian prince and was called Elizaveta Feodorovna.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
Alice first saw Nicky at her sister's wedding. She was only 12 years old then. The young princess really liked this well-mannered and subtle young man, the mysterious Russian prince, so different from her British and German cousins.
She met Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov for the second time in 1889. Alice went to Russia at the invitation of her sister’s husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Nikolai’s uncle. A month and a half spent living in the St. Petersburg Sergius Palace and meeting with Nikolai turned out to be enough time to understand: she had met her soul mate.
Only their sister Ella-Elizaveta Fedorovna and her husband were happy with their desire to unite their destinies. They became a kind of communicators between lovers, facilitating their communication and secret correspondence.
Grandmother Victoria, who did not know about her secretive granddaughter’s personal life, planned her marriage to her cousin Edward, Prince of Wales. The elderly woman dreamed of seeing her beloved “Sunny” become the Queen of Britain, to whom she would transfer her powers.
But Aliki, in love with a distant Russian prince, calling the Prince of Wales “Eddie-cuffs” for excessive attention to his manner of dressing and narcissism, confronted Queen Victoria with a fact: she would marry only Nicholas. The letters shown to the grandmother finally convinced the disgruntled woman that she could not keep her granddaughter.
The parents of Tsarevich Nicholas were not delighted with their son’s desire to marry a German princess. They hoped for their son's marriage to Princess Helena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe. But the son, like his bride in distant England, showed persistence.
Alexander III and his wife surrendered. The reason was not only Nicholas’s persistence, but also the rapid deterioration of the sovereign’s health. He was dying and wanted to hand over the reins to his son, who would have his personal life organized. Alisa was urgently called to Russia, to Crimea.
The dying emperor, in order to meet his future daughter-in-law as best as possible, with the last of his strength got out of bed and put on his uniform. The princess, who knew about the state of health of her future father-in-law, was moved to tears. They began to urgently prepare Alix for marriage. She studied Russian and the basics of Orthodoxy. Soon she accepted Christianity, and with it the name Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna).
Emperor Alexander III died on October 20, 1894. And on October 26, the wedding of Alexandra Fedorovna and Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov took place. The bride’s heart sank from such haste and a bad feeling. But the Grand Dukes insisted on the urgency of the wedding.
To preserve decency, the wedding ceremony was scheduled for the empress's birthday. According to existing canons, deviation from mourning on such a day was allowed. Of course, there were no receptions or big celebrations. The wedding turned out to have a mournful tint. As Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich later wrote in his memoirs:
“The couple’s honeymoon proceeded 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.”
The second gloomy omen, from which the heart of the young empress again sank in anguish, happened in May 1896, during the coronation of the royal family. A famous bloody tragedy occurred on the Khodynskoye field. But the celebrations were not cancelled.
The young couple spent most of their time in Tsarskoye Selo. Alexandra Fedorovna felt good only in the company of her husband and her sister’s family. Society received the new empress coldly and with hostility. The unsmiling and reserved empress seemed arrogant and prim to them.
To escape from unpleasant thoughts, Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova eagerly took up public affairs and became involved in charity work. Soon she had several close friends. In fact, there were very few of them. These are Princess Maria Baryatinskaya, Countess Anastasia Gendrikova and Baroness Sofia Buxhoeveden. But my closest friend was the maid of honor.
The happy smile returned to the empress when her daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia appeared one after another. But the long-awaited birth of the heir, the son of Alexei, returned Alexandra Fedorovna to her usual state of anxiety and melancholy. My son was diagnosed with a terrible hereditary disease - hemophilia. It was inherited through the empress's line from her grandmother Victoria.
The bleeding son, who could die from any scratch, became a constant pain for Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II. At this time, an old man appeared in the life of the royal family. This mysterious Siberian man really helped the crown prince: he alone could stop the bleeding, which the doctors were not able to do.
The approach of the elder gave rise to a lot of rumors and gossip. Alexandra Fedorovna did not know how to get rid of them and protect herself. Word spread. Behind the empress's back they whispered about her supposedly undivided influence on the emperor and public policy. About Rasputin's witchcraft and his connection with Romanova.
The outbreak of the First World War briefly plunged society into other concerns. Alexandra Fedorovna threw all her resources and strength into helping the wounded, widows of dead soldiers and orphaned children. The Tsarskoye Selo hospital was rebuilt as an infirmary for the wounded. The Empress herself, together with her eldest daughters Olga and Tatiana, were trained in nursing. They assisted in operations and cared for the wounded.
And in December 1916, Grigory Rasputin was killed. How Alexandra Feodorovna was “loved” at court can be judged from a surviving letter from Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich to the empress’s mother-in-law, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. He wrote:
“All of Russia knows that the late Rasputin and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna are one and the same. The first one is killed, now the other one must disappear too.”
As Anna Vyrubova, a close friend of the Empress, later wrote in her memoirs, the Grand Dukes and nobles, in their hatred of Rasputin and the Empress, themselves sawed off the branch on which they sat. Nikolai Mikhailovich, who believed that Alexandra Feodorovna “must disappear” after the elder, was shot in 1919 along with three other Grand Dukes.
Personal life
There are still many rumors about the royal family and the joint life of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, which go back to the distant past. Gossip arose in the immediate circle of the monarchs. Ladies-in-waiting, princes and their gossip-loving wives happily came up with various “defamatory connections” in which the Tsar and Tsarina were allegedly caught. It seems that Princess Zinaida Yusupova “tried” the most to spread rumors.
After the revolution, a fake came out, passed off as the memoirs of a close friend of the empress, Anna Vyrubova. The authors of this dirty libel were very respected people: Soviet writer and history professor P.E. Shchegolev. These “memoirs” talked about the empress’s vicious connections with Count A.N. Orlov, with Grigory Rasputin and Vyrubova herself.
There was a similar plot in the play “The Empress’s Conspiracy,” written by these two authors. The goal was clear: to discredit the royal family as much as possible, remembering which the people should not regret, but be indignant.
But the personal life of Alexandra Feodorovna and her lover Nika, nevertheless, turned out great. The couple managed to maintain tremulous feelings until their death. They adored their children and treated each other with tenderness. The memories of their closest friends, who knew firsthand about the relations in the royal family, were preserved about this.
Death
In the spring of 1917, after the Tsar abdicated the throne, the entire family was arrested. Alexandra Fedorovna with her husband and children was sent to Tobolsk. Soon they were transported to Yekaterinburg.
The Ipatiev House turned out to be the last place of the family’s earthly existence. Alexandra Fedorovna guessed about the terrible fate prepared for her and her family by the new government. Grigory Rasputin, whom she believed, said this shortly before his death.
The queen, her husband and children were shot on the night of July 17, 1918. Their remains were transported to St. Petersburg and reburied in the summer of 1998 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the Romanov family tomb.
In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna, like her entire family, was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church. Romanova was recognized as a victim of political repression and rehabilitated in 2008.
Leafing through the photo albums of the last imperial family, you can often see photographs of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in a wheelchair, or in bed and mostly in a sitting position. But at the time of her death in the Ipatiev House, she was only a little over forty. An inquisitive researcher, in this regard, will certainly become interested and try to find out what kind of illness or what life circumstances led the Russian Empress to this situation?
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
Having looked through various books and memoirs about the life of Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, at the baptism of Alexandra Feodorovna, you come to a very sad conclusion: the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II Romanov got a very, very unhealthy woman as his wife. She was already unhealthy from birth, which later affected her life and, alas, the fate of one of her children, Tsarevich Alexei.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in her home rooms
As it turns out, Alexandra Fedorovna suffered from neuralgia of the facial nerve and inflammation of the lumbosacral nerve and lumbago since childhood. The latter illness became especially aggravated after the empress was forced to stand for many hours during court ceremonies and celebrations. As a result, in the empress’s hands one can increasingly see a cane in photographs, and then she herself in a wheelchair. " Alix feels, in general, well, but cannot walk, because the pain begins immediately; she rides through the halls in armchairs“- this is what Nicholas II wrote to Empress Maria Feodorovna in March 1899.
On a walk in Tsarskoye Selo park
Walking with my husband and girls
The female characteristics of the body also played a cruel joke. So the beloved lady-in-waiting of the Empress A. Vyrubova wrote: “ Alexandra Fedorovna fell ill at the age of 14, when she began menstruating. At this time she begins to feel drowsy. She falls asleep. Then, during sleep, convulsions occur. It beats for several minutes. Then he calms down. Falls asleep again. Starts to talk or sing - in a terrifying way. She was treated. It's gone. When she turned 18, the disease began to recur, but rarely: two or three times a year.". Apparently, her behavior in public is also connected with these critical women's days, about which E.A. Svyatopolk-Mirskaya writes in her diary in February 1906: " Alexandra Feodorovna has a bad influence, that she is evil and has a terrible character, she is attacked by rages, and then she does not remember what she is doing."
Apparently because of these women's problems, Alexandra Fedorovna did not tolerate the heat well and therefore in warm rooms she began to have attacks of suffocation and could faint. In this regard, in the chambers of the palaces, the temperature of the premises was maintained even in winter at a very low degree.
During illness with family
Since 1908, the empress began to suffer from heart disease, court doctors constantly visited her, and she traveled abroad for treatment. Ksenia Alexandrovna notes this fact in her diary on January 11, 1910: " Poor Nicky is worried and upset about Alix's health. She again had severe pain in her heart, and she became very weak. They say that it is lined with nerves, the nerves of the heart sac. Apparently this is much more serious than they think"Also in February 1909, A.V. Bogdanovich writes in his diary: " About the queen, Stürmer said that she had terrible neurasthenia, that ulcers appeared on her legs, that she could end up going mad". In September of the same year, the following entry appears there: " Today Kaulbars said that the queen is completely ill - she has suffocation, her legs are swollen"Swollen legs, neurasthenia, ulcers - all these are signs of problems with the heart and blood circulation in the vessels.
During lunch in nature
On the yacht "Standard"
Moreover, the empress had very exotic diseases, such as allergies to floral scents. Therefore, in Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo and Livadia, only varieties of roses that had no scent were planted. Touching metal also caused problems for the empress, and because of this, all the baths and pools that Alexandra Feodorovna used were covered with suede covers.
On a walk with Tsarevich Alexei
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her family
With daughters and husband
Heart, head and leg diseases, i.e. varicose veins - all this hurts even from smoking! Yes, the last Russian empress smoked like a locomotive, although photographs of such an action can hardly be found anywhere. " Fasting is that I don’t smoke - I’ve been fasting since the very beginning of wars and I like to go to church" and I I feel bad, so I didn’t even smoke for a few days“- such messages can be read in the Empress’s letters to Emperor Nicholas II, who also loved to smoke. The Empress had a headache starting from the first day of her married life, which is reflected in diary entries and letters. What is this: from women’s problems or neuroses?
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her beloved maid of honor and friend Anna Vyrubova
All these women's problems and headaches among receptions, in church and dinners, as well as a somewhat strange relationship with Anna Vyrubova, gave rise to rumors that the empress was a sexual pervert - she preferred homosexual (lesbian) love to normal marital relationships with her husband.
The empress was watched very carefully and therefore periodically in the memoirs of one or another person close to the court at that time, one can find the following entries. So in December 1910 A.V. Bogdanovich writes: " More than ever, she is close to Vyrubova, to whom she says everything that the Tsar tells her, and the Tsar constantly expresses everything to the Tsarina. Everyone in the palace despises Vyrubova, but no one dares to go against her - she constantly visits the queen: in the morning from 11 to one, then from two o'clock to five, and every evening until 11 4/2 o'clock. It used to happen that during the arrival of Tsar Vyrubov she was reduced, but now she sits all the time. At 11 4/2 the Tsar goes to study, and Vyrubova and the Tsarina go to the bedroom. Sad, shameful picture!". And a little earlier, in May 1910, about the doctor's visits to the Empress, A.V. Bogdanovich wrote down: " There was the Rhine. He said about the young queen that she was repeatedly offered to call him, but she rejected everything and did not want to show herself to a specialist. One must think that she has something secret that she does not dare to trust, and, knowing that an experienced doctor will understand what is going on, rejects the help of specialists".
In a chair in nature
In 1912, the lesbian relationship began to be combined in rumors and records with the closeness of both ladies to Grigory Rasputin. Only they themselves know whether this was true, but judging by the touching letters and relationships between Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, rumors are rumors, and there was no sexual connection, and even in a very dubious form. And what if it was? This is a personal matter between two people who decided that it would be good for them.
The empress's illnesses probably played their evil role in Russian history, but the worst thing is that she could not give Russia a healthy heir to the throne and gave birth to a boy with hemophilia - a terrible hereditary disease transmitted to the child through the maternal line. So Alexandra Fedorovna put an end to the Romanov dynasty!
Empress Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova... Her personality in Russian history is very ambiguous. On the one hand, a loving wife, mother, and on the other, a princess, categorically not accepted by Russian society. A lot of mysteries and secrets are associated with Alexandra Feodorovna: her passion for mysticism, on the one hand, and deep faith, on the other. Researchers attribute responsibility for the tragic fate of the imperial house to her. What mysteries does the biography of Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova hold? What is its role in the fate of the country? We will answer in the article.
Childhood
Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova was born on June 7, 1872. The parents of the future Russian empress were the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and the English princess Alice. The girl was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and this relationship will play an important role in the development of Alexandra's character.
Her full name is Victoria Alix Elena Louise Beatrice (in honor of her aunts). In addition to Alix (as the relatives called the girl), the Duke’s family had seven children.
Alexandra (Romanova later) received a classical English education, she was brought up in strict traditions. Modesty was in everything: in everyday life, food, clothing. Even children slept in soldiers' beds. Already at this time, shyness can be traced in the girl; all her life she will struggle with natural suppression in an unfamiliar society. At home, Alix was unrecognizable: nimble, smiling, she earned herself a second name - “sunshine”.
But childhood was not so cloudless: first, his brother dies as a result of an accident, then his younger sister May and Princess Alice, Alix’s mother, die from diphtheria. This was the impetus for the six-year-old girl to withdraw into herself and become alienated.
Youth
After the death of her mother, according to Alexandra herself, a dark cloud hung over her and obscured her entire sunny childhood. She is sent to England to live with her grandmother, the reigning Queen Victoria. Naturally, government affairs took up all of the latter’s time, so the upbringing of the children was entrusted to the governess. Later, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna would not forget the lessons she received in her youth.
Margaret Jackson - that was the name of her teacher and teacher - moved away from the prim Victorian mores, she taught the girl to think, reflect, form and voice her opinion. Classical education did not provide for diversified development, but by the age of fifteen, the future Empress Alexandra Romanova understood politics, history, played excellent music and knew several foreign languages.
It was in her teenage years, at the age of twelve, that Alix first met her future husband Nikolai. This happened at the wedding of her sister and Grand Duke Sergei. Three years later, at the invitation of the latter, she again comes to Russia. Nikolai was captivated by the girl.
Wedding with Nicholas II
Nikolai's parents were not delighted with the union of young people - in their opinion, a wedding with the daughter of the French Count Louis-Philippe was more profitable for him. For the lovers, five long years of separation begin, but this circumstance brought them together even more and taught them to appreciate the feeling.
Nikolai does not want to accept his father’s will; he continues to insist on marrying his beloved. The current emperor has to give in: he senses an approaching illness, and the heir must have a party. But here, too, Alix, who received the name Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova after her coronation, faced a serious test: she had to convert to Orthodoxy and leave Lutheranism. She studied the basics for two years, after which she was converted to the Russian faith. It should be said that Alexandra entered Orthodoxy with an open heart and pure thoughts.
The wedding of the young people took place on November 27, 1894, again, it was performed by John of Kronstadt. The sacrament took place in the Church of the Winter Palace. Everything happens against the backdrop of mourning, because 3 days after Alix arrived in Russia, Alexander III dies (many then said that she “came for the coffin”). Alexandra notes in a letter to her sister the striking contrast between grief and great triumph - this brought the spouses together even more. Everyone, even haters of the imperial family, subsequently noticed the strength of the union and the fortitude of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II.
The blessing of the young couple for their reign (coronation) took place on May 27, 1896 in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. From that time on, Alix the “sunshine” acquired the title Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova. Later she noted in her diary that this was her second wedding - with Russia.
Place at court and in political life
From the very first day of her reign, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was support and support for her husband in his difficult state affairs.
In public life, the young woman tried to encourage people to give to charity, something she had learned from her parents as a child. Unfortunately, her ideas were not accepted at court; moreover, the empress was hated. The courtiers saw deceit and unnaturalness in all her proposals and even her facial expressions. But in fact, they were simply accustomed to idleness and did not want to change anything.
Of course, like any woman and wife, Alexandra Romanova influenced her husband’s government activities.
Many prominent politicians of that time noted that she had a negative influence on Nicholas. This was the opinion, for example, of S. Witte. And General A. Mosolov and Senator V. Gurko note with regret the non-acceptance of it by Russian society. Moreover, the latter blames not the capricious character and some nervousness of the current empress, but the widow of Alexander III, Maria Fedorovna, who never fully accepted her daughter-in-law.
Nevertheless, her subjects obeyed her, and not out of fear, but out of respect. Yes, she was strict, but she was the same towards herself. Alix never forgot her requests and instructions, each of them was clearly thought out and balanced. Those who were close to the empress sincerely loved her and knew her not by hearsay, but deeply personally. For others, the empress remained a “dark horse” and the subject of gossip.
There were also very warm reviews about Alexander. So, the ballerina (by the way, she was Nikolai’s mistress before the latter’s wedding to Alix) mentions her as a woman of high morality and a broad soul.
Children: Grand Duchesses
The first Grand Duchess Olga was born in 1895. People's dislike for the empress increased even more, because everyone was waiting for a boy, an heir. Alexandra, not finding a response or support for her endeavors from her subjects, completely delves into family life, she even feeds her daughter on her own, without using the services of anyone, which was atypical even for noble families, not to mention the empress.
Later Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia are born. Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna raised their children in simplicity and purity of spirit. It was an ordinary family, devoid of any arrogance.
Tsarina Alexandra Romanova herself was involved in education. The only exception was subjects with a narrow focus. Much attention was paid to outdoor sports and sincerity. The mother was the person to whom the girls could turn at any moment and with any request. They lived in an atmosphere of love and absolute trust. It was an absolutely happy, sincere family.
The girls grew up in an atmosphere of modesty and goodwill. Their mother independently ordered dresses for them in order to protect them from excessive extravagance and to cultivate meekness and chastity. They very rarely took part in social events. Their access to society was limited only by the requirements of palace etiquette. Alexandra Fedorovna, the wife of Nicholas 2, was afraid that the spoiled daughters of the nobility would have a detrimental effect on the girls.
Alexandra Fedorovna coped with the function of a mother brilliantly. The Grand Duchesses grew up to be unusually pure, sincere young ladies. In general, an extraordinary spirit of Christian splendor reigned in the family. Both Nicholas II and Alexandra Romanova noted this in their diaries. The quotes below only confirm the above information:
“Our love and our life are one whole... Nothing can separate us or reduce our love” (Alexandra Fedorovna).
“The Lord blessed us with rare family happiness” (Emperor Nicholas II).
Birth of an heir
The only thing that darkened the life of the spouses was the absence of an heir. Alexandra Romanova was very worried about this. On such days she became especially nervous. Trying to understand the reason and solve the problem, the empress begins to get involved in mysticism and gets even more involved in religion. This also affects her husband, Nicholas II, because he feels the mental torment of the woman he loves.
It was decided to attract the best doctors. Unfortunately, among them there was a real charlatan, Philip. Arriving from France, he so inspired the empress with thoughts of pregnancy that she really believed that she was carrying an heir. Alexandra Feodorovna developed a very rare disease - “false pregnancy”. When it became clear that the Russian Tsarina’s belly was growing under the influence of a psycho-emotional state, an official announcement had to be made that there would be no heir. Philip is expelled from the country in disgrace.
A little later, Alix nevertheless conceives and gives birth to a boy, Tsarevich Alexei, on August 12, 1904.
But she did not receive the long-awaited happiness of Alexander Romanov. Her biography says that the empress’s life from that moment on became tragic. The fact is that the boy is diagnosed with a rare disease - hemophilia. This is a hereditary disease, the carrier of which is a woman. Its essence is that blood does not clot. The person is overcome by constant pain and attacks. The most famous carrier of the hemophilia gene was Queen Victoria, nicknamed the grandmother of Europe. For this reason, this disease received the following names: “Victorian disease” and “Royal disease”. With the best care, the heir could live to a maximum of 30 years, but on average, patients rarely surpassed the age barrier of 16 years.
Rasputin in the life of the Empress
In some sources you can find information that only one person was able to help Tsarevich Alexei - Grigory Rasputin. Although this disease is considered chronic and incurable, there is a lot of evidence that the “man of God” could allegedly stop the suffering of the unfortunate child with his prayers. It is difficult to say how this is explained. It should be noted that the Tsarevich’s illness was a state secret. From this we can conclude how much the imperial family trusted this uncouth Tobolsk man.
A lot has been written about the relationship between Rasputin and the empress: some attribute to him exclusively the role of the savior of the heir, others - a love affair with Alexandra Fedorovna. The latest speculations are not unfounded - the society of that time was sure of the empress’s adultery, and there were rumors surrounding the tsarina’s betrayal of Nicholas II and Gregory. After all, the elder himself spoke about this, but then he was fairly drunk, so he could easily pass off wishful thinking. But it doesn’t take much to create gossip. According to those close to him, who did not harbor hatred for the august couple, the main reason for the close relationship between Rasputin and the imperial family was solely Alexei’s attacks of hemophilia.
How did Nikolai Alexandrovich react to rumors discrediting the pure name of his wife? He considered all this to be nothing more than fiction and an inappropriate interference in the private life of the family. The emperor considered Rasputin himself “a simple Russian man, very religious and believer.”
One thing is certain: the royal family had deep sympathy for Gregory. They were one of the few who sincerely grieved after the murder of the elder.
Romanov during the war
The First World War forced Nicholas II to leave St. Petersburg for Headquarters. Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova took upon herself government concerns. The Empress pays special attention to charity. She perceived the war as her personal tragedy: she sincerely grieved as she saw off the soldiers to the front, and mourned the dead. She read prayers over each new grave of a fallen warrior, as if he were her relative. We can safely say that Alexandra Romanova received the title “Saint” during her lifetime. This is the time when Alix becomes more and more involved in Orthodoxy.
It would seem that the rumors should subside: the country is suffering from war. Far from it, they became even more cruel. For example, she was accused of being passionate about spiritualism. This could not possibly be true, because even then the empress was a deeply religious person who rejected everything otherworldly.
Help for the country during the war was not limited to prayers. Together with her daughters, Alexandra mastered the skills of nurses: they began to work at the hospital, helping surgeons (assisting in operations), and providing all kinds of care to the wounded.
Every day at half past ten in the morning their service began: along with other sisters of mercy, the Empress removed amputated limbs, dirty clothes, and bandaged severe wounds, including gangrenous ones. This was alien to representatives of the upper noble class: they collected donations for the front, visited hospitals, and opened medical institutions. But none of them worked in operating rooms, as the empress did. And all this despite the fact that she was tormented by problems with her own health, undermined by nervous experiences and frequent childbirth.
The royal palaces were converted into hospitals, Alexandra Feodorovna personally formed sanitary trains and warehouses for medicines. She made a vow that while the war was going on, neither she nor the grand duchesses would sew a single dress for themselves. And she remained true to her word to the end.
The spiritual appearance of Alexandra Romanova
Was Alexandra Romanova really a deeply religious person? Photos and portraits of the empress that have survived to this day always show the sad eyes of this woman; some kind of sorrow lurks in them. Even in her youth, she fully embraced the Orthodox faith, abandoning Lutheranism, the truths of which she had been brought up with since childhood.
Life's upheavals make her closer to God; she often retires to pray when she is trying to conceive a boy, and then when she learns about her son's fatal illness. And during the war, she frantically prays for the soldiers who were wounded and died for their Motherland. Every day before her service in the hospital, Alexandra Fedorovna sets aside a certain time for prayer. For these purposes, the Tsarskoye Selo Palace even has a special prayer room.
However, her service to God consisted not only in diligent prayers: the empress launched truly large-scale charitable activities. She organized an orphanage, a home for the disabled, and numerous hospitals. She found time for her maid of honor, who had lost the ability to walk: she talked with her about God, spiritually instructed and supported her every day.
Alexandra Fedorovna never flaunted her faith; most often, when traveling around the country, she visited churches and hospitals incognito. She could easily merge with the crowd of believers, because her actions were natural, coming from the heart. Religion was a purely personal matter for Alexandra Fedorovna. Many at court tried to find notes of hypocrisy in the queen, but nothing worked.
So was her husband, Nicholas II. They loved God and Russia with all their hearts, and could not imagine another life outside of Russia. They made no distinctions between people, did not draw a line between titled persons and ordinary people. Most likely, this is why an ordinary Tobolsk man, Grigory Rasputin, at one time “took root” in the imperial family.
Arrest, exile and martyrdom
Alexandra Fedorovna ends her life by accepting martyrdom in the Ipatiev House, where the emperor’s family was exiled after the 1917 revolution. Even in the face of approaching death, while being held at gunpoint by a firing squad, she made the sign of the cross.
The “Russian Golgotha” was predicted to the imperial family more than once; they lived with it all their lives, knowing that everything would end very sadly for them. They submitted to the will of God and thus defeated the forces of evil. The royal couple was buried only in 1998.
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