August 1, 1914: Russia declares war on Germany

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, French Ambassador, German Emperor Wilhelm II, July Crisis, Maurice Paléologue, Mobilization, Willy and Nicky Correspondence, Winter Palace, World War I

Nicholas II (May 18, 1868 – July 17, 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on March 15, 1917.

Nicholas Alexandrovich was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

On November 26, 1894 Emperor Nicholas II married his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.

Princess Alix converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and was renamed Alexandra Feodorovna.

On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, Gavrillo Princeps, in Sarajevo, who opposed Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este

The outbreak of war was not inevitable, but leaders, diplomats and nineteenth-century alliances created a climate for large-scale conflict. The concept of Pan-Slavism and shared religion created strong public sympathy between Russia and Serbia.

Territorial conflict created rivalries between Germany and France and between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and as a consequence alliance networks developed across Europe. The Triple Entente and Triple Alliance networks were set before the war.

Emperor Nicholas II wanted neither to abandon Serbia to the ultimatum of Austria, nor to provoke a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with Wilhelm of Germany (the “Willy–Nicky correspondence”) the two proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down.

Nicholas II (right) with German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1905. Nicholas is wearing a German Army uniform, while Wilhelm wears that of a Russian hussar regiment.

Nicholas II and Wilhelm II were second cousins once removed. Wilhelm’s great-Aunt Charlotte of Prussia (sister to his grandfather Emperor Wilhelm I) was the wife of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia who was Emperor Nicholas II’s great-grandfather.

Emperor Nicholas II desired that Russia’s mobilization be only against Austria-Hungary, in the hopes of preventing war with Germany.

On 25 July 1914, at his council of ministers, Nicholas decided to intervene in the Austro-Serbian conflict, a step toward general war. He put the Russian army on “alert” on July 25. Although this was not general mobilization, it threatened the German and Austro-Hungarian borders and looked like military preparation for war.

However, his army had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and on July 30, 1914 Nicholas took the fateful step of confirming the order for general mobilization, despite being strongly counselled against it.

Emperor Nicholas II (left) with his first cousin King George V of the United Kingdom

On July 28, one month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary formally declared war against Serbia. On July 29, 1914, Nicholas sent a telegram to Wilhelm with the suggestion to submit the Austro-Serbian problem to the Hague Conference (in Hague tribunal).

Wilhelm did not address the question of the Hague Conference in his subsequent reply. Count Witte told the French Ambassador, Maurice Paléologue that from Russia’s point of view the war was madness, Slav solidarity was simply nonsense and Russia could hope for nothing from the war.

On July 30, Russia ordered general mobilization, but still maintained that it would not attack if peace talks were to begin. Germany, reacting to the discovery of partial mobilization ordered on July 25, announced its own pre-mobilization posture, the Imminent Danger of War.

Emperor Nicholas II declares war on Germany on the balcony of the Winter Palace August 1, 1914

Germany requested that Russia demobilize within the next twelve hours. In Saint Petersburg, at 7 pm, with the ultimatum to Russia having expired, the German ambassador to Russia met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov, asked three times if Russia would reconsider, and then with shaking hands, delivered the note accepting Russia’s war challenge and declaring war on August 1.

Less than a week later, on August 6, (the anniversary of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire) Emperor Franz Joseph signed the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Russia.

July 17, 1918: Assassination of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his Family.

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Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Christian IX of Denmark, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, German Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Russian Revolution

From the Emperor’s Desk: In the past on this blog I’ve written detailed accounts of the assassination of Emperor Nicholas II and his family. Today I will focus on genealogy, his marriage and briefly cover his reign.

Nicholas II (May 18, 1868 – July 17, 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917.

Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich was born in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo south of Saint Petersburg, during the reign of his grandfather Emperor Alexander II. He was the eldest child of then-Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and his wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark).

Grand Duke Nicholas’ father was heir apparent to the Russian throne as the second but eldest surviving son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He had five younger siblings: Alexander (1869–1870), George (1871–1899), Xenia (1875–1960), Michael (1878–1918) and Olga (1882–1960). Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexander’s death in 1894. He was also very close to his mother, as revealed in their published letters to each other.

His paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna (née Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine). His maternal grandparents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark (née Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel). Nicholas was of primarily German and Danish descent, his last ethnically Russian ancestor being Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1708–1728), daughter of Peter I the Great.

Nicholas was related to several monarchs in Europe. His mother’s siblings included Kings Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of the Hellenes, as well as the United Kingdom’s Queen Alexandra of King Edward VII.

Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and German Emperor Wilhelm II were all first cousins of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas was also a first cousin of both King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway (neé Princess Maud of the United Kingdom), as well as King Christian X of Denmark and King Constantine I of Greece.

Nicholas II and Wilhelm II were in turn second cousins once-removed, as each descended from King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, as well as third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandsons of Emperor Paul I of Russia.

In addition to being second cousins with the German Emperor through descent from Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. Nicholas and Alexandra were also third cousins once-removed, as they were both descendants of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia.

In 1884, Nicholas’s coming-of-age ceremony was held at the Winter Palace, where he pledged his loyalty to his father. Later that year, Nicholas’s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, married Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his late wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (who had died in 1878), and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

At the wedding in St. Petersburg, the sixteen-year-old Tsesarevich met with and admired the bride’s youngest surviving sister, twelve-year-old Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. Those feelings of admiration blossomed into love following her visit to St. Petersburg five years later in 1889. Princess Alix had feelings for him in turn.

In April 1894, Nicholas joined his Uncle Sergei and Aunt Elisabeth on a journey to Coburg, Germany, for the wedding of Elizabeth’s and Alix’s brother, Ernst Ludwig , Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, to their mutual first cousin Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (Nicholas II’s aunt).

Other guests included Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, German Emperor Wilhelm II, the Empress Friedrich (Emperor Wilhelm’s mother and Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter), Nicholas’s uncle, the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) and the bride’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Once in Coburg Nicholas proposed to Alix, but she rejected his proposal, as a devout Lutheran she was reluctant to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. But Emperor Wilhelm II later informed her she had a duty to marry Nicholas and to convert, as her sister Elisabeth had done in 1892.

Thus once she changed her mind, Nicholas and Alix became officially engaged on April 20, 1894. Nicholas’s parents initially hesitated to give the engagement their blessing, as Alix had made poor impressions during her visits to Russia. They gave their consent only when they saw Emperor Alexander III’s health deteriorating.

By that autumn, Emperor Alexander III lay dying. Upon learning that he would live only a fortnight, the Emperor had Nicholas summon Alix to the imperial palace at Livadia. Alix arrived on October 22; the Emperor insisted on receiving her in full uniform.

From his deathbed, he told his son to heed the advice of Witte, his most capable minister. Ten days later, Alexander III died at the age of forty-nine, leaving twenty-six-year-old Nicholas as Emperor of Russia.

That evening, Nicholas was consecrated by his father’s priest as Tsar Nicholas II and, the following day, Alix was received into the Russian Orthodox Church, taking the name Alexandra Feodorovna with the title of Grand Duchess and the style of Imperial Highness.

Nicholas and Alix’s wedding was originally scheduled for the spring of 1895, but it was moved forward at Nicholas’s insistence. Staggering under the weight of his new office, he had no intention of allowing the one person who gave him confidence to leave his side.

Instead, Nicholas’s wedding to Alix took place on November 26, 1894, which was the birthday of the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, and court mourning could be slightly relaxed. Alexandra wore the traditional dress of Romanov brides, and Nicholas a hussar’s uniform. Nicholas and Alexandra, each holding a lit candle, faced the palace priest and were married a few minutes before one in the afternoon.

During his reign, Emperor Nicholas II gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament (the Duma) major roles. Ultimately, progress was undermined by Nicholas’s commitment to autocratic rule and an unwillingness to work with the Duma.

Nicholas II signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which was designed to counter Germany’s attempts to gain influence in the Middle East; it ended the Great Game of confrontation between Russia and the British Empire.

He aimed to strengthen the Franco-Russian Alliance and proposed the unsuccessful Hague Convention of 1899 to promote disarmament and solve international disputes peacefully. Domestically, he was criticised for his government’s repression of political opponents and his perceived fault or inaction during the Khodynka Tragedy, anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday and the violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution.

His popularity was further damaged by the Russo-Japanese War, which saw the Russian Baltic Fleet annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima, together with the loss of Russian influence over Manchuria and Korea and the Japanese annexation of the south of Sakhalin Island.

During the July Crisis, which occured after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Nicholas supported Serbia and approved the mobilization of the Russian Army on July 30, 1914.

In response, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914 and its ally France on August 3, 1914, starting the Great War, later known as the First World War.

The severe military losses led to a collapse of morale at the front and at home; a general strike and a mutiny of the garrison in Petrograd sparked the February Revolution and the disintegration of the monarchy’s authority.

By March 1917, public support for Nicholas had collapsed and he was forced to abdicate the throne, thereby ending the Romanov dynasty’s 304-year rule of Russia (1613–1917).

After abdicating for himself and his son, the Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, Nicholas and his family were imprisoned by the Russian Provisional Government and exiled to Siberia. After the Bolsheviks took power in the October Revolution, the family was held in Yekaterinburg, where they were executed on July 17, 1918.

June 26, 1899: Birth of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia

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1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Ekaterinburg, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, House of Romanov, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (June 26,1899 – July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (neé Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine). Her murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Nikolaevna and the family name is Romanova.

Maria was born on June 26, 1899. She was the third child and daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra. She weighed 4.5 kg at birth. The birth of a third daughter led to widespread disappointment in Russia. Grand Duke Constantin Constantinovich, Nicholas’ cousin, wrote, “And so there’s no Heir. The whole of Russia will be disappointed by this news.” Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, Alexandra’s grandmother and Maria’s great-grandmother, wrote, “I regret the third girl for the country. I know that an heir would be more welcome than a daughter.” Nicholas insisted that he was happy with Maria’s birth, and he told Alexandra “I dare complain the least, having such happiness on earth, having a treasure like you my beloved Alix, and already the three little cherubs.”

Maria’s siblings were Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, and Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. Maria’s Russian title (Velikaya Knyazhna Великая Княжна) is most precisely translated as “Grand Princess”, meaning that Maria, as an “Imperial Highness” was higher in rank than other Princesses in Europe who were “Royal Highnesses”. “Grand Duchess” is the most widely used English translation of the title. However, in keeping with her parents’ desire to raise Maria and her siblings simply, even servants addressed the Grand Duchess by her first name and patronym, Maria Nikolaevna. She was also called by the French version of her name, “Marie”, or by the Russian nicknames “Masha” or “Mashka”.

At age eleven, Maria apparently developed a painful crush on one of the young men she had met. “Try not to let your thoughts dwell too much on him, that’s what our Friend said,” Alexandra wrote to her on December 6, 1910. Alexandra advised her third daughter to keep her feelings hidden because others might say unkind things to her about her crush. “One must not let others see what one feels inside, when one knows it’s considered not proper. I know he likes you as a little sister and would like to help you not to care too much, because he knows you, a little Grand Duchess, must not care for him so.

Until his own assassination in 1979, her first cousin Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, kept a photograph of Maria beside his bed in memory of the crush he had upon her. In 1910, Louis met the Romanov sisters. He later reflected that “they were lovely, and terribly sweet, far more beautiful than their photographs,” and he said that “I was crackers about Marie, and was determined to marry her. She was absolutely lovely.”

Maria was a noted beauty. She had light brown hair and large blue eyes that were known in the family as “Marie’s saucers.” Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Maria’s great-aunt, declared that Maria was “a real beauty… with enormous blue eyes.” Her mother’s friend Lili Dehn wrote that she “was exceeding fair, dowered with the classic beauty of the Romanoffs.” A gentleman at the Imperial court said that the infant Maria “had the face of one of Botticelli’s angels.” Her French tutor Pierre Gilliard said Maria was tall and well-built, with rosy cheeks. Tatiana Botkina thought the expression in Maria’s eyes was “soft and gentle”. Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, her mother’s lady-in-waiting, reflected that “[Maria] was like Olga in colouring and features, but all on a more vivid scale. She had the same charming smile, the same shape of face.” Sophie Buxhoeveden said that her eyes were “magnificent, of a deep blue,” and that “her hair had golden lights in it.”

During her lifetime, Maria, too young to become a Red Cross nurse like her elder sisters during World War I, was patroness of a hospital and instead visited wounded soldiers. Throughout her lifetime she was noted for her interest in the lives of the soldiers. The flirtatious Maria had a number of innocent crushes on the young men she met, beginning in early childhood. She hoped to marry and have a large family.

Maria and her entire family were assassinated on July 17, 1918.

She was an elder sister of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, whose alleged escape from the assassination of the imperial family was rumored for nearly 90 years. However, it was later proven that Anastasia did not escape and that those who claimed to be her were imposters. In the 1990s, it was suggested that Maria might have been the grand duchess whose remains were missing from the Romanov grave that was discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia and exhumed in 1991. Further remains were discovered in 2007, and DNA analysis subsequently proved that the entire Imperial family had been murdered in 1918. A funeral for the remains of Maria and Alexei to be buried with their family in October 2015 was postponed indefinitely by the Russian Orthodox Church, which took custody of the remains in December and declared without explanation that the case required further study; the 44 partial bone fragments remain stored in a Russian state repository.

May 26, 1896: Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

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coronation, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Moscow, Petrovsky Palace, Russian Empire

The coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was the last coronation during the Russian Empire. It took place on Tuesday, May 26, 1896, in Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

Preparations

On January 13, 1896, the manifesto “On the upcoming Holy Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties” was published, according to which the coronation ceremony was to be held in May, and inviting the Government Senate in Moscow, and other representatives of the Russian Empire, to attend. Responsibility for organizing the ceremony was assigned to the Ministry of the Imperial Court, on the basis of which the Coronation Commission and the Coronation Office were organized.

From May 6 to May 26, 1896 was the official coronation period, with May 25 being the birthday of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. On May 26, a manifesto was published that expressed the gratitude of the monarch to the inhabitants of Moscow.

“The plan of the city of Moscow with the designation of the places of residence of the HIGHEST Special Representatives, Representatives of Foreign States, Commanders and Senior Officials who have arrived in Moscow during the Holy Day. Coronations of Their Imperial Majesties in May 1896.

For the leadership of the Moscow Post Office officials assigned to different duties during the Holy Coronation, compiled by the Moscow Post-Director Art. Council K. Radchenko.

It was proposed that all persons participating in the May 9 ceremonial entrance of the imperial couple to Moscow arrive in Moscow no later than 5 May. The ceremonial entry was to be from the Petrovsky Palace on Petersburg Highway and further along Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Tverskaya streets.

Preparations for the celebrations were the responsibility of the Minister of the Imperial Court Count I. I. Vorontsov-Dashkov. The High Marshal was Count K. I. Palen; the supreme master of ceremonies was Prince A. S. Dolgorukov.

The duties of the herald were performed by E. K. Pribylsky, an official of the Senate. A coronation unit was formed from 82 battalions, 36 squadrons, 9 companies, and 28 batteries, under the command of the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, under whom was a special headquarters with the rights of the General Staff led by Lieutenant General N.I. Bobrikov. Vladimir Alexandrovich arrived in Moscow and took command on May 3, 1896.

In April 1896, more than 8,000 pounds of table settings were brought from St. Petersburg to Moscow, with gold and silver sets alone weighing up to 1,500 pounds. The Kremlin arranged 150 special telegraph wires to connect all the embassies.

Pre-coronation festivities

On Sparrow Hills—where the Vorobyov Palace used to be, and where, starting in 1817, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour designed by Karl Whitberg was constructed—a special “royal pavilion” was erected for the newly crowned couple.

On May 6 the birthday of Nicholas II, the emperor and empress arrived at the Smolensky railway station in Moscow, where they were met by members of the imperial family, dignitaries, imperial officials, and crowds of people. The Governor-General of Moscow—uncle to the emperor and husband of the empress’s sister Elizabeth Feodorovna—Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich arrived with the couple, having met the emperor and empress at Wedge station. From the station the imperial couple proceeded in a closed carriage to Petrovsky Palace.

The scale and pomp of the preparations significantly exceeded previous coronations.

On May 7 the imperial couple held an audience for the Emir of Bukhara Seid-Abdul Ahad Khan and his heir, as well as his excellency Khan Khiva Seid-Mogamet-Rahim-Bogadur-Khan, in the Petrovsky Palace.

On May 8 Maria Feodorovna, the Dowager Empress, arrived at Smolensky Railway Station, and was met by a large crowd of people.

That same evening, outside Petrovsky Palace, the imperial couple were serenaded by 1,200 people, which included the choir of the Imperial Russian Opera, conservatory students, members of the Russian Choral Society.

On May 9, the solemn entry into the city took place. A police escort came first, with a platoon of gendarmes, next came the imperial convoy, a string of carriages with dignitaries, followed by the horse guards, imperial personal convoy, one hundred of the Life-Cossacks, His Majesty’s regiment, six in a row, and so on.

Coronation ceremony

On May 26, the day of the Coronation, in all the churches in St. Petersburg, the liturgy was read and prayers of thanksgiving recited. The metropolitan cathedrals could not accommodate all the worshippers, in view of which prayers were also recited in the squares near a number of cathedrals and some churches, as well as in the Horse Guards.

The coronation ceremony began at 10 am with the emperor, his mother, and his wife seated on thrones on a special raised platform installed in the middle of the cathedral. The emperor sat on the throne of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, Empress Maria Feodorovna on the throne of Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich Tishayshy, and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on the throne of Grand Prince Ivan III of Russia.

The ceremony was presided over by Metropolitan Palladium, of St. Petersburg, the preeminent member of the most Holy Synod (the Synod at the time of the coronation having been transferred to Moscow). During the liturgy, the metropolitan con-celebrated with the metropolitans of Kiev, Ioanikiy (Rudnev), and of Moscow, Sergius (Lyapidevsky).

At the end of the liturgy the emperor and empress were anointed and then took communion of the Holy Mysteries at the altar. In the ministry of the liturgy, among others, John of Kronstadt also took part.

Post-coronation festivities

After the ceremony, on the same day, a royal meal was served in the Palace of Facets, in the Kremlin, which was attended by invited Russian subjects and by foreign representatives; and by tradition food was served in other parts of the palace.

The following day, May 27, at 10.30 am, a reception for ambassadors took place. From 11:30 am to 3 pm, the emperor and empress accepted greetings from deputations, from all over Russia, in the Andreevsky throne room.

On the morning of May 28, the kurtag (masked ball) in the Kremlin Palace was the first ball held, and was the first of a number of celebrations and balls.

In his diary, Nicholas II described what happened during those days:

May 25th. Monday.

We woke up with wonderful weather. Unfortunately I did not have time to take a walk because of the reports of Lobanov and Goremykin. Went to dinner at 11 o’clock. Breakfast with Mom and D. Fredy. We walked with them. We are very sorry to leave Alexandria; exactly that minute when the weather became summer and the green began to grow rapidly. At 3 1/2 we left for Moscow and settled in the Kremlin in our former rooms. I had to take the whole army of retinues of the princes who had come. At 7 o’clock we went with the whole family to the all-night vigil to “I will save for the golden lattice”. Dined at 8 1/2 Mom and left early to her. Confessed in the bedroom. May the merciful Lord God help us, may he support us tomorrow and bless on peace-working life !!! ✙

May 26, Tuesday.

Great, solemn, but heavy in a moral sense, for Alix, mom and me, day. From 8 am they were on their feet; and our procession began only in 1/2 10. The weather was fortunately wondrous; the Red Porch represented a radiant look. All this happened in the Assumption Cathedral, although it seems like a real dream, but do not forget all my life !!! Returned to his half past one. At 3 o’clock the same procession went again in the Faceted Chamber to the meal. At 4 o’clock everything ended quite well; a soul full of gratitude to God, i completely rested afterwards. Dined with Mom, which fortunately stood the whole test. At 9 o’clock went to the upper balcony, where did Alix ignite the electric illumination on Ivan the Great and then the towers and walls of the Kremlin were lit up consistently, as well as the opposite embankment and Zamoskvorechye.

We went to bed early.

On May 26, commemorative silver medal was struck “In memory of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II”.

The Khodynka tragedy (tomorrow)

Death of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikoleavich of Russia. Part II.

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Abdication, Battle of Tannenberg, Comander-in-Chief, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Exile, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikoleavich of Russia, Monarchist, Russian Revolution, Soviet Union

1915

The Grand Duke had no part in the planning and preparations for World War I, that being the responsibility of General Vladimir Sukhomlinov and the general staff. On the eve of the outbreak of World War I, his first cousin once removed, the Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, yielded to the entreaties of his ministers and appointed Grand Duke Nicholas to the supreme command. He was 57 years old and had never commanded armies in the field before, although he had spent almost all of his life on active service. His appointment was popular in the army. He was given responsibility for the largest army ever put into the field up to that date. He recalled that “… on receipt of the Imperial order, he spent much of his time crying because he did not know how to approach his new duties.”

Grand Duke Nicholas was responsible for all Russian forces fighting against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. He decided that their major effort must be in Poland, which thrust toward Germany like a salient, flanked by German East Prussia in the north, and Austro-Hungarian Galicia in the south. He planned to attend first to the flanks and when they were secure to invade German Silesia. In the north poor coordination of the two invading Russian armies resulted in the disaster of Tannenberg.

The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. A series of follow-up battles (First Masurian Lakes) destroyed most of the First Army as well and kept the Russians off balance until the spring of 1915.

The Grand Duke picked and chose from the various plans offered by his generals. The Grand Duke begged for the artillery and ammunition they desperately lacked, so he could not embark on a coherent plan for victory. Grand Duke Nicholas came to power because of his royal status, and the tsar’s belief that God was guiding his decision. He lacked the broad strategic sense and the ruthless drive to command all the Russian armies. His headquarters had a curiously calm atmosphere, despite the many defeats and the millions of casualties. He failed in terms of strategy and tactics, as well as logistics, selection of generals, maintaining morale, and gaining support from the government. On a personal level he was well liked by both officers and men.

After the Great Retreat of the Russian army, the Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Yanushkevich, with the full support of the Grand Duke Nicholas, ordered the army to devastate the border territories and expel the “enemy” nations within. The Russian authorities launched pogroms against German populations in Russian cities, massacred Jews in their towns and villages and deported 500,000 Jews and 250,000 Germans into the Russian interior.

As a result of his failure, Emperor Nicholas II removed the Grand Duke as commander of the Russian armed forces on August 21, 1915 and took personal command.

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikoleavich of Russia towering over Emperor Nicholas II

The Caucasus

Upon his dismissal, the Grand Duke was immediately appointed commander-in-chief and viceroy in the Caucasus (replacing Count Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov). While the Grand Duke was officially in command, General Yudenich was the driving figure in the Russian Caucasus army, so the Grand Duke focused on the civil administration. Their opponent was the Ottoman Empire. While the Grand Duke was in command, the Russian army sent an expeditionary force through to Persia (now Iran) to link up with British troops. Also in 1916, the Russian army captured the fortress town of Erzerum, the port of Trebizond (now Trabzon) and the town of Erzincan. The Turks responded with an offensive of their own. Fighting around Lake Van swung back and forth, but ultimately proved inconclusive.

It is reported that, while visiting the garrison of Kostroma he met Said Nursi, a famous Muslim cleric who was a prisoner of war. Because of Nursi’s disrespectful attitude, the Grand Duke gave an order to execute him. But after seeing Nursi’s devotion to his religion during his last prayer, Grand Duke changed his mind and amnestied Nursi. Nothing in the Grand Duke’s record suggests that he would have even considered such a war crime. At the time he was urging the Emperor to set up colleges for training Muslim clerics so they would not have to study abroad.

Nicholas tried to have a railway built from Russian Georgia to the conquered territories with a view to bringing up more supplies for a new offensive in 1917. But, in March 1917, the Tsar was overthrown and the Russian army began slowly to fall apart.

Revolution

The February Revolution found Nicholas in the Caucasus. He was appointed by the Emperor, in his last official act, as the supreme commander in chief, and was wildly received as he journeyed to headquarters in Mogilev; however, within 24 hours of his arrival, the new prime minister, Prince Georgy Lvov, cancelled his appointment.

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Grand Duke Nicholas Nikoleavich of Russia

Grand Duke Nicholas spent the next two years in the Crimean Peninsula, sometimes under house arrest, taking little part in politics. There appears to have been some sentiment to have him head the White Army forces active in southern Russia at the time, but the leaders in charge, especially General Anton Denikin, were afraid that a strong monarchist figurehead would alienate the more left leaning constituents of the movement. He and his wife escaped just ahead of the Red Army in April 1919, aboard the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Marlborough.

On August 8, 1922, Nicholas was proclaimed as Emperor Nicholas III of all the Russias by the Zemsky Sobor of the Priamurye region in the Far East by White Army general Mikhail Diterikhs. Nicholas was already living abroad and consequently was not present. Two months later the Priamurye region fell to the Bolsheviks.

In exile

After a stay in Genoa as a guest of his brother-in-law, Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, Nicholas and his wife took up residence in a small chateau at Choigny, 20 miles outside of Paris. He was under the protection of the French secret police as well as by a small number of faithful Cossack retainers.

He became the symbolic figurehead of an anti-Soviet Russian monarchist movement, after assuming on November 16, 1924 the supreme command of all Russian forces in exile and thus of the Russian All-Military Union, which had been founded in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by Gen Pyotr Wrangel two months prior.

The monarchists made plans to send agents into Russia. Conversely a top priority of the Soviet secret police was to penetrate this monarchist organization and to kidnap Nicholas. They were successful in the former, infiltrating the group with spies. (OGPU later lured the anti-Bolshevik British master spy Sidney Reilly back to the Soviet Union (1925) where he was killed.) They did not succeed however, in kidnapping Nicholas. As late as June 1927, the monarchists were able to set off a bomb at the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow.

Grand Duke Nicholas died on January 5, 1929 of natural causes on the French Riviera, where he had gone to escape the rigors of winter. He was originally buried in the church of St. Michael the Archangel Church in Cannes, France. In 2014 Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia (1922–2014) and Prince Dimitri Romanov (1926-2016) requested the transfer of his remains. The bodies of Nicholas Nikolaevich and his wife were re-buried in Moscow at the World War I memorial military cemetery in May 2015.

November 25, 1876: Birth of HRH Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess of Russia.

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Alfred of Edinburgh, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duchess of Russia, Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duke Kirill Alexandrovich of Russia Russian Orthodox Christianity, King Edward VII of United Kingdom, Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria Melita of Edinburgh

Today, November 25th, is the 145th anniversary of the birth of HRH Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess of Russia. (November 25, 1876 – March 2, 1936) Victoria Melita was the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and also of Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

Born a British princess, Victoria spent her early life in England and lived for three years in Malta, where her father served in the Royal Navy. In 1889 the family moved to Coburg, where Victoria’s father became the reigning duke in 1893.

In her teens Victoria fell in love with her first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (the son of her mother’s brother, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia) but his faith, Rusian Orthodox Christianity, discouraged marriage between first cousins. Bowing to family pressure, Victoria married her paternal first cousin, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine in 1894, following the wishes of their grandmother, Queen Victoria.

The marriage failed – Victoria Melita scandalized the royal families of Europe when she divorced her husband in 1901. The couple’s only child, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, who they nicknamed Ella, died of typhoid fever in 1903 at the age of 8.

In 1905, Victoria married Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia. They wed without the formal approval of Britain’s King Edward VII (as the Royal Marriages Act 1772 would have required), and in defiance of Russia’s Emperor Nicholas II. In retaliation, the Emperor stripped Kirill of his offices and honours, also initially banishing the couple from Russia.

They had two daughters and settled in Paris before being allowed to visit Russia in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia, where Nicholas recognized Victoria Melita as Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917 they escaped to Finland (then still part of the Russian Republic) where she gave birth to her only son, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in August 1917.

In exile they lived for some years among her relatives in Germany, and from the late 1920s on an estate they bought in Saint-Briac in Brittany. In 1926 Kirill proclaimed himself Russian Emperor in Exile, and Victoria supported her husband’s claims. Victoria died after suffering a stroke while visiting her daughter Maria in Amorbach (Lower Franconia).

HIH Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

She is the grandmother of Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, claimant to the Russian Throne, and the great-grandmother of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, claimant to the German Imperial Throne.

HI & RH Prince Georg Friedrich, The Prince of Prussia

The Act of 5th November of 1916

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Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hun, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Kingdom of Poland, Partition of Poland, Polish Lithuania Commonwealth, President Woodrow Wilson, Stanisław II August of Poland, World War I

The Act of 5th November of 1916 was a declaration of Emperors Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria. This act promised the creation of the Kingdom of Poland out of territory of Congress Poland, envisioned by its authors as a puppet state controlled by the Central Powers. The origin of that document was the dire need to draft new recruits from German-occupied Poland for the war with Russia. Even though the act itself expressed very little in concrete terms, its declaration is regarded as one of main factors in the Polish efforts to regain independence. Despite official statements, the German Empire really planned to annex up to 30,000 km² of prewar Congress Poland, with expulsion of between 2 and 3 million Poles and Jews out of these territories to make room for German settlers.

Following the declaration, on December 6, 1916, the Provisional Council of State was created, with Waclaw Niemojowski as its president, and Jozef Pilsudski as chairman of its Military Commission. Units of the Polish Military Organisation were put under management of the Provisional Council of State, but the council itself had very limited authority and, after the oath crisis was disbanded in August 1917.

Stanisław II August, Last King of an independent Poland

The Act of 5th November had a wide impact among the Allies of World War I. In December 1916, the Italian Parliament supported the independence of Poland, and in early 1917, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia returned to the idea of independent Poland, tied in a union with the Russian Empire that Russian officials proposed already in 1914. At the same time, US President Woodrow Wilson also publicly expressed his support of a free Polish state.

Stanisław II August (January 17, 1732 – February 12, 1798) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The defining crisis of his reign was the War of the Bar Confederation (1768–1772) that led to the First Partition of Poland (1772). The later part of his reign saw reforms wrought by the Diet (1788–1792) and the Constitution of May 3, 1791. These reforms were overthrown by the 1792 Targowica Confederation and by the Polish–Russian War of 1792, leading directly to the Second Partition of Poland (1793), and the Kościuszko Uprising (1794).

On October 24, 1795, the Act of the final, Third Partition of Poland was signed. One month and one day later, on 25 November, Stanisław II August signed his abdication and spent the last years of his life as a captive in Saint Petersburg’s Marble Palace.

Next week I will discuss more about the Kingdom of Poland (1916 – 1918)

Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Dagmar of Denmark). Part V

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coup d'état, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Grigori Rasputin, Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Russian Red Cross, World War I

Maria Feodorovna disliked Rasputin and unsuccessfully tried to convince Nicholas and Alexandra to send him away. She considered Rasputin a dangerous charlatan and despaired of Alexandra’s obsession with “crazy, dirty, religious fanatics. She was concerned that Rasputin’s activities damaged the prestige of the Imperial family and asked Nicholas and Alexandra to send him away.

Nicholas remained silent and Alexandra refused. Maria recognized the empress was the true regent and that she also lacked the capability for such a position: “My poor daughter-in-law does not perceive that she is ruining the dynasty and herself. She sincerely believes in the holiness of an adventurer, and we are powerless to ward off the misfortune, which is sure to come.”

When the Emperor dismissed minister Vladimir Kokovtsov in February 1914 on the advice of Alexandra, Maria again reproached her son, who answered in such a way that she became even more convinced that Alexandra was the real ruler of Russia, and she called upon Kokovtsov and said to him: “My daughter-in-law does not like me; she thinks that I am jealous of her power. She does not perceive that my one aspiration is to see my son happy. Yet I see we are nearing some kind of catastrophe and the Emperor listens to no one but flatterers… Why do you not tell the Emperor everything that you think and know… if it is not already too late”.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas II

World War I

In May 1914 Maria Feodorovna travelled to England to visit her sister. While she was in London, World War I broke out (July 1914), forcing her to hurry home to Russia. In Berlin the German authorities prevented her train from continuing toward the Russian border. Instead she had to return to Russia by way of (neutral) Denmark and Finland.

Upon her return in August, she took up residence at Yelagin Palace, which was closer to St. Petersburg (renamed Petrograd in August 1914) than Gatchina. During the war she served as president of Russia’s Red Cross. As she had done a decade earlier in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she also financed a sanitary train.

During the war, there was great concern within the imperial house about the influence Empress Alexandra had upon state affairs through the Emperor, and the influence Grigori Rasputin was believed to have upon her, as it was considered to provoke the public and endanger the safety of the imperial throne and the survival of the monarchy.

On behalf of the imperial relatives of the Emperor, both the Empress’s sister Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her cousin Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna had been selected to mediate and ask Empress Alexandra to banish Rasputin from court to protect her and the throne’s reputation, but without success. In parallel, several of the Grand Dukes had tried to intervene with the Emperor, but with no more success.

During this conflict of 1916–1917, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna reportedly planned a coup d’état to depose the Emperor with the help of four regiments of the imperial guard which were to invade the Alexander Palace, force the Tsar to abdicate and replace him with his underage son under the regency of her son Grand Duke Kirill.

There are documents that support the fact that in this critical situation, Maria Feodorovna was involved in a planned coup d’état to depose her son from the throne in order to save the monarchy. The plan was reportedly for Maria to make a final ultimatum to the Emperor banish Rasputin unless he wished for her to leave the capital, which would be the signal to unleash the coup.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas II

Exactly how she planned to replace her son is unconfirmed, but two versions are available: first, that Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia would take power in Maria’s name, and that she herself would thereafter become sole empress of Russia (like Catherine the Great did over 100 years prior); the other version further claims that Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia would replace the Emperor with his son, the heir to the throne, Maria’s grandson Alexei, upon which Maria and Paul Alexandrovich would share power as regents during his minority.

Maria was asked to make her appeal to the Emperor after Empress Alexandra had asked the Emperor to dismiss minister Polianov. Initially, she refused to make the appeal, and her sister-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna stated to the French Ambassador: “It’s not want of courage or inclination that keeps her back. It’s better that she don’t. She’s too outspoken and imperious.

The moment she starts to lecture her son, her feelings run away with her; she sometimes says the exact opposite of what she should; she annoys and humiliates him. Then he stands on his dignity and reminds his mother he is the emperor. They leave each other in a rage”. Eventually, she was however convinced to make the appeal. Reportedly, Empress Alexandra was informed about the planned coup, and when Maria Feodorovna made the ultimatum to the Emperor, the Empress convinced him to order his mother to leave the capital.

Consequently, the Empress Dowager left Petrograd to live in the Mariinskyi Palace in Kiev the same year. She never again returned to Russia’s capital. Empress Alexandra commented about her departure: “it’s much better Motherdear stays … at Kiev, where the climate is better and she can live as she wishes and hears less gossip”.

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Dagmar of Denmark). Part IV

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Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Dagmar of Demark, DukePeter of Oldenburg, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra only Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duke George of Russia, King Christian IX of Denmark, Livadia, Precedence, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom

On November 1, 1894, Alexander III died aged just 49 at Livadia. In her diary Maria wrote, “I am utterly heartbroken and despondent, but when I saw the blissful smile and the peace in his face that came after, it gave me strength.” Two days later, the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Livadia from London. While the Prince of Wales took it upon himself to involve himself in the preparations for the funeral, the Princess of Wales spent her time comforting grieving Maria, including praying with her and sleeping at her bedside.

Maria Feodorovna’s birthday was a week after the funeral, and as it was a day in which court mourning could be somewhat relaxed, Nicholas used the day to marry Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna.

As Empress Dowager, Maria was much more popular than either Emperor Nicholas III or Empress Alexandra. During her son’s coronation, she, Nicholas, and Alexandra arrived in separate carriages. She was greeted with “almost deafening” applause. A visiting writer Kate Kool noted that she “provoked more cheering from the people than did her son. The people have had thirteen years in which to know this woman and they have learned to love her very much.”

Richard Harding Davis, an American journalist, was surprised that she “was more loudly greeted than either the Emperor or the Empress.” Once the death of Alexander III had receded, Maria again took a brighter view of the future. “Everything will be all right”, as she said. Maria continued to live in the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg and at Gatchina Palace.

During the first years of her son’s reign, Maria often acted as the political adviser to the Emperor. Uncertain of his own ability and aware of her connections and knowledge, Emperor Nicholas II often told the ministers that he would ask her advice before making decisions, and the ministers sometimes suggested this themselves. It was reportedly on her advice that Nicholas initially kept his father’s ministers.

Maria herself estimated that her son was of a weak character and that it was better that he was influenced by her than someone worse. Her daughter Olga remarked upon her influence: “she had never before taken the least interest … now she felt it was her duty. Her personality was magnetic and her zest of activity was incredible. She had her finger on every educational pulse in the empire.

The fact that Russian court custom dictated that an empress dowager took precedence over an empress consort, combined with the possessiveness that Maria had of her sons, and her jealousy of Empress Alexandra only served to exacerbate tensions between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Sophie Buxhoeveden remarked of this conflict: “Without actually clashing they seemed fundamentally unable … to understand one another”, and her daughter Olga commented: “they had tried to understand each other and failed. They were utterly different in character, habits and outlook”. Maria was sociable and a good dancer, with an ability to ingratiate herself with people, while Alexandra, though intelligent and beautiful, was very shy and closed herself off from the Russian people.

1903. L to R. Princess Victoria, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia

In 1899, Maria’s second son, George, died of tuberculosis in the Caucasus. During the funeral, she kept her composure, but at the end of the service, she ran from the church clutching her son’s top hat that been atop the coffin and collapsed in her carriage sobbing.

In 1892, Maria arranged Olga’s disastrous marriage to Peter, Duke of Oldenburg. For years Nicholas II refused to grant his unhappy sister a divorce, only relenting in 1916 in the midst of World War I. When Olga attempted to contract a morganatic marriage with Nikolai Kulikovsky, Maria Feodorovna and the Emperor tried to dissuade her, yet, they did not protest too vehemently. Indeed, Maria Feodorovna was one of the few people who attended the wedding in November 1916.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Maria was spending increasing time abroad. In 1906, following the death of their father, King Christian IX, she and her sister, Alexandra, who had become queen-consort of the United Kingdom in 1901, purchased the villa of Hvidøre. The following year, a change in political circumstances allowed Maria Feodorovna to be welcomed to England by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Maria’s first visit to England since 1873. Following a visit in early 1908, Maria Feodorovna was present at her brother-in-law and sister’s visit to Russia that summer.

A little under two years later, Maria Feodorovna travelled to England yet again, this time for the funeral of her brother-in-law, King Edward VII, in May 1910. During her nearly three-month visit to England in 1910, Maria Feodorovna attempted, unsuccessfully, to get her sister, now Queen Dowager Alexandra, to claim a position of precedence over her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary.

In 1912, Maria faced trouble with her youngest son, when he secretly married his mistress, much to the outrage and scandal of both Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas.

October 13, 1928: Death of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The former Dagmar of Denmark. Part I.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, George I of the Hellenes, King Christian IX of Denmark, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Princess of Wales, Russian Empire, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia

Maria Feodorovna (November 26, 1847 – October 13, 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was a Danish princess who became Empress of Russia as spouse of Emperor Alexander III (reigned 1881–1894).

She was the second daughter and fourth child of King Christian IX of Denmark (r. 1863–1906) and of Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Louise was born as the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Charlotte of Denmark. Charlotte of Denmark watithe daughter of Frederik, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway, and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

From L to R. Dagmar, Wilhelm, Alexandra. Seated King Christian IX of Denmark

Charlotte played some part in the succession crisis which occurred because her half first cousin, King Frederik VI of Denmark, lacked a male heir. In 1839, her brother Christian VIII of Denmark succeeded their cousin on the throne, and during his reign, Charlotte had an important position at the Danish royal court in Copenhagen because her brother favored that her line of the family should succeed to the throne after his male line had died out. This meant Louise of Hesse-Cassel had a better hereditary claim to the throne than her husband King ChristianIX of Denmark. But I digress. I have written about this elsewhere on the blog.

Due to the brilliant marital alliances of his children, King Christian IX became known as the “Father-in-law of Europe.” Dagmar’s eldest brother would succeed his father as King Frederik VIII of Denmark (one of whose sons would be elected as King Haakon VII of Norway).

Dagmar’s elder, and favourite, sister, Alexandra married Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in March 1863. Alexandra, along with being queen consort of King Edward VII, was also mother of George V of the United Kingdom, which helps to explain the striking resemblance between their sons Nicholas II and George V.

Within months of Alexandra’s marriage, Dagmar’s second older brother, Wilhelm, was elected as King George I of the Hellenes. Wilhelm actually became King a few months before his father succeeded to the Danish throne. Her younger sister was Princess Thyra, who became Duchess of Cumberland with her marriage to Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and a straight male line descendant of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover.

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Dagmar also had another younger brother, Valdemar. He had a lifelong naval career. He was paternal uncle of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He married Princess Marie d’Orleans on October 22, 1885 at the Château d’Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. Marie was the eldest child of Robert, duke of Chartres, and his wife, Princess Françoise d’Orléans. I will write more on Prince Valdemar later this month.

Dagmar was known for her beauty. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge said that Dagmar was “sweetly pretty” and commented favorably on her “splendid dark eyes.” Her fiancee Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was enthusiastic about her beauty. He wrote to his mother that “she is even prettier in real life than in the portraits that we had seen so far. Her eyes speak for her: they are so kind, intelligent, animated.”

Due to the rise of Slavophile ideology in the Russian Empire, Alexander II of Russia searched for a bride for the heir apparent, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, in countries other than the German states that had traditionally provided consorts for the tsars. In 1864, Nicholas, or “Nixa” as he was known in his family, went to Denmark and proposed to Dagmar. Her future mother-in-law Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) gave her a pearl necklace and Nicholas gave her diamonds. In total, the betrothal gifts Dagmar received from her future in-laws cost 1.5 million rubles.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich

In April, Nicholas grew gravely ill with cerebrospinal meningitis. Alexander II of Russia sent a telegram to Dagmar: “Nicholas has received the Last Rites. Pray for us and come if you can.” On April 22, 1865, Nicholas died in the presence of his parents, brothers, and Dagmar. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, the future Alexander III.

Dagmar was devastated by Nicholas’ death. Nicholas’ parents struggled to “pull Princess Dagmar away from the corpse and carry her out.” She was so heartbroken when she returned to her homeland that her relatives were seriously worried about her health.

She had already become emotionally attached to Russia and often thought of the huge, remote country that was to have been her home. Many were sympathetic towards Dagmar. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge wrote of “poor dear Minny’s sorrow and the blight which has fallen upon her young life.” Queen Victoria wrote “how terrible for poor Dagmar… the poor parents and bride are most deeply to be pitied.”

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Alexander II of Russia and Maria Alexandrovna had grown fond of Dagmar, and they wanted her to marry their new heir, Tsarevich Alexander. In an affectionate letter, Alexander II told Dagmar that he hoped she would still consider herself a member of their family. Maria Alexandrovna tried to convince Louise of Hesse-Kassel to send Dagmar to Russia immediately, but Louise insisted that Dagmar must “strengthen her nerves… [and] avoid emotional upsets.”

In June 1866, Tsarevich Alexander visited Copenhagen with his brothers Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duke Alexei. While looking over photographs of Nicholas, Alexander asked Dagmar if “she could love him after having loved Nixa, to whom they were both devoted.” She answered that she could love no one but him, because he had been so close to his brother. Alexander recalled that “we both burst into tears… [and] I told her that my dear Nixa helped us much in this situation and that now of course he prays about our happiness.”

Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The lavish wedding took place on November 9, 1866 in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Financial constraints had prevented her parents from attending the wedding, and in their stead, they sent her brother, Crown Prince Frederick. Her brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, had also travelled to Saint Petersburg for the ceremony; pregnancy had prevented the Princess of Wales from attending.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich

After the wedding night, Alexander wrote in his diary, “I took off my slippers and my silver embroidered robe and felt the body of my beloved next to mine… How I felt then, I do not wish to describe here. Afterwards we talked for a long time.” After the many wedding parties were over the newlyweds moved into the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg where they were to live for the next 15 years, when they were not taking extended holidays at their summer villa Livadia in the Crimean Peninsula.

Maria and Alexander had an exceptionally happy marriage. She was widely recognized as “the only person on the face of the earth in whom the Autocrat of all the Russias puts any real trust. In his gentle consort, he has unlimited confidence.” Despite her anti-Russian sentiments, Queen Victoria wrote favorably about Maria and Alexander’s marriage. She wrote that “[Maria] seems quite happy and contented with her fat, good-natured husband who seems far more attentive and kind to her than one would have thought….I think they are very domestic and happy and attached to each other; he makes a very good husband.”