December 23, 1777: Birth of Alexander I, Emperor of Russia

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Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Emperor Paul of Russia, Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Louise of Baden, Napoleonic Wars

Alexander I (December 23, 1777 – December 1, 1825) was the Emperor of Russia between 1801 and 1825. Alexander was the first King of Congress Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland, reigning from 1809 to 1825.

Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia

Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and Maria Feodorovna, (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) a daughter of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, Empress Catherine II. Some sources allege that she planned to remove her son (Alexander’s father) Paul I from the succession altogether. Andrey Afanasyevich Samborsky, whom his grandmother chose for his religious instruction, was an atypical, unbearded Orthodox priest.

Samborsky had long lived in England and taught Alexander (and Constantine) excellent English, very uncommon for potential Russian autocrats at the time.

On October 9, 1793, Alexander married Princess Louise of Baden, a daughter of Charles Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife, Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Louise grew up in a close, warm family environment in Karlsruhe during the long reign of her grandfather Charles Friedrich, Margrave of Baden. Princess Louise came to Russia in November 1792, when she was chosen by Empress Catherine II of Russia as a bride for her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, the future Emperor Alexander I.

Princess Louise of Baden, Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna of Russia

Louise converted to the Orthodox Church, took the title of Grand Duchess of Russia and traded the name Louise Maria for Elizabeth Alexeievna. She married Alexander when he was fifteen and she was fourteen. Initially the marriage was happy. Elizabeth was beautiful, but shy and withdrawn. She had two daughters, but both died in early childhood. During the reign of her father-in-law, Emperor Paul I, Elizabeth supported her husband’s policies and she was with him on the night of Paul’s assassination.

Emperor Paul of Russia was assassinated on March 23, 1801. Paul’s successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had “given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination”. General Nikolay Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, “Time to grow up! Go and rule!” Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause of death.

Emperor Alexander I ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and during the early years of his reign, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, but continued Russia’s absolutist policies in practice. In the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and (in 1803–04) major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities.

Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the State Council, which was created to improve legislation. Plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution.

Emperor Alexander I of Russia

In foreign policy, Alexander changed Russia’s position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance. In 1805 he joined Britain in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon, but after suffering massive defeats at the battles of Austerlitz and Friedland, he switched sides and formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon’s Continental System.

Alexander fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812 as well as a short war against Sweden (1808–09) after Sweden’s refusal to join the Continental System. Alexander and Napoleon hardly agreed, especially regarding Poland, and the alliance collapsed by 1810.

Alexander’s greatest triumph came in 1812 when Napoleon’s invasion of Russia proved to be a catastrophic disaster for the French. As part of the winning coalition against Napoleon, he gained territory in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as immoral threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He also helped Austria’s Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements.

Emperor Alexander I of Russia

During the second half of his reign, Alexander became increasingly arbitrary, reactionary, and fearful of plots against him; as a result he ended many of the reforms he made earlier. He purged schools of foreign teachers, as education became more religiously driven as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the strict artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev, who oversaw the creation of military settlements.

Alexander died of typhus December 1, 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia. He left no legitimate children, as his two daughters died in childhood. Neither of his brothers wanted to become Emperor. A period of great confusion followed. Next in line to the imperial throne was his brother Grand Duke Constantine. However, despite Grand Duke Nicholas having proclaimed Constantine as Emperor in Saint Petersburg, Constantine had no desire for the throne and abdicated his rights to the throne.

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia

However, since news traveled slowly in those days, the confusion lasted until Constantine, who was in Warsaw at that time, finally confirmed his refusal of the imperial crown. Additionally, on December 25, Nicholas issued the manifesto proclaiming his accession to the throne, dating his accession starting with the death of Alexander I on December 1st.

Emperor Nicholas I of Russia

With the confusion over who was to be the next emperor, the Northern Society scrambled in secret meetings to convince regimental leaders not to swear allegiance to Nicholas. These efforts would culminate in the Decembrist revolt, when liberal minded Russian army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Emperor Nicholas I’s assumption of the throne. The uprising, which was suppressed by Nicholas I, took place in Peter’s Square in Saint Petersburg.

Because Emperor Alexander I’s sudden death in Taganrog, under allegedly suspicious circumstances, it caused the spread of the rumors and conspiracy theories that Alexander did not die in 1825, but chose to “disappear” and to live the rest of his life in anonymity.

July 6, 1796: Birth of Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland

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Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Charlotte of Prussia, Decemberist Revolt, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Emperor Paul of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, King of Poland

Nicholas I (July 6, 1796 – March 2, 1855) reigned as Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 1825 until his death in 1855.

Nicholas was born at Gatchina Palace in Gatchina to Grand Duke Paul Petróvich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia (née Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg). Sophie Dorothea was Daughter of Duke Friedrich Eugene of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

Five months after his birth, his grandmother, Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia died and his parents became Emperor Paul and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. He was a younger brother of Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who succeeded to the throne in 1801, and of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia. Riasanovsky says he was, “the most handsome man in Europe, but also a charmer who enjoyed feminine company and was often at his best with the men.”

In 1800, at the age of four years, Nicholas was named Grand Prior of Russia and entitled to wear the Maltese cross.

February 1814, Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich and his brother Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, visited Berlin. Arrangements were made between the two dynasties for Nicholas to marry Charlotte, then fifteen years old, to strengthen the alliance between Russia and Prussia.

Charlotte’s parents were Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Nicholas was only second in line to the throne, as the heir was his brother Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich who, like Emperor Alexander I, was childless. On a second visit the following year, Nicholas fell in love with the then-seventeen-year-old Princess Charlotte.

Nicholas was tall and handsome with classical features. The feeling was mutual, “I like him and am sure of being happy with him.” She wrote to her brother, “What we have in common is our inner life; let the world do as it pleases, in our hearts we have a world of our own.”

Hand-in-hand, they wandered over the Potsdam countryside, and attended the Berlin Court Opera. By the end of his visit, in October 1816, Nicholas and Charlotte were engaged.

On June 8, 1817 Princess Charlotte came to Russia with her brother Wilhelm. After arriving in St. Petersburg she converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and took the Russian name “Alexandra Feodorovna”.

Charlotte of Prussia, Grand Duke Alexandra Feodorovna

On her nineteenth birthday, July 13, 1817, she and Nicholas were married in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace. “I felt myself very, very happy when our hands joined,” she would later write about her wedding. “With complete confidence and trust, I gave my life into the hands of my Nicholas, and he never once betrayed it.”

Nicholas and Charlotte were third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandchildren of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia.

With two older brothers, it initially seemed unlikely Nicholas would ever become tsar. However, as Alexander and Constantine both failed to produce legitimate sons, Nicholas remained likely to rule one day.

In 1825, when Alexander I died suddenly of typhus, Nicholas was caught between swearing allegiance to his brother as the new Emperor Constantine and accepting the throne for himself.

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother Alexander I’s reign.

However, he had secretly renounced his claim to the throne in 1823 although this information was not widely known, it was especially unknown to the court. Therefore, for 25 days after the death of Alexander I, from December 1, 1825 to December 26, 1825 he was known as His Imperial Majesty Constantine I, Emperor and Sovereign of Russia, although he never reigned and never actually acceded to the throne.

The interregnum lasted until Constantine, who was in Warsaw at that time, confirmed his refusal of the Imperial Crown.

Additionally, on December 25, Nicholas issued the manifesto proclaiming his accession to the throne. That manifesto retroactively named December 1, the date of Alexander I’s death, as the beginning of his reign. During this confusion, a plot was hatched by some members of the military to overthrow Nicholas and seize power.

While some of the army had sworn loyalty to Nicholas, a force of about 3,000 troops tried to mount a military coup in favour of Constantine. The rebels, although weakened by dissension between their leaders, confronted the loyalists outside the Senate building in the presence of a large crowd.

In the confusion, the Emperor’s envoy, Mikhail Miloradovich, was assassinated. Eventually, the loyalists opened fire with heavy artillery, which scattered the rebels. Many were sentenced to hanging, prison, or exile to Siberia. The conspirators became known as the Decembrists.

Having experienced the trauma of the Decembrist Revolt on the very first day of his reign, Nicholas I was determined to restrain Russian society. The Third Section of the Imperial Chancellery ran a huge network of spies and informers with the help of Gendarmes. The government exercised censorship and other forms of control over education, publishing, and all manifestations of public life.

He appointed Alexander Benckendorff to head this Chancellery. Benckendorff employed 300 gendarmes and 16 staff in his office. He began collecting informers and intercepting mail at a high rate. Soon, because of Benckendorff, the saying that it was impossible to sneeze in one’s house before it is reported to the emperor, became Benckendorff’s creed.

Emperor Paul I of Russia. Part II.

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Emperor Paul I of Russia, Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia, Empress Elizabeth of Russia, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Imperial Court

Empress Catherine II and her son and heir Paul maintained a distant relationship throughout her reign. The aunt of Catherine’s husband, Empress Elizabeth, took up the child as a passing fancy. Elizabeth proved an obsessive but incapable caretaker, as she had raised no children of her own. Paul was supervised by a variety of caregivers. Roderick McGrew briefly relates the neglect to which the infant heir was sometimes subject: “On one occasion he fell out of his crib and slept the night away unnoticed on the floor.”

Even after Elizabeth’s death, relations with Catherine hardly improved. Paul was often jealous of the favours she would shower upon her lovers. In one instance, the empress gave to one of her favourites 50,000 rubles on her birthday, while Paul received a cheap watch. Paul’s early isolation from his mother created a distance between them that later events would reinforce.

Catherine never considered inviting him to share her power in governing Russia. And once Paul’s son Alexander was born, it appeared that she had found a more suitable heir. The use made of his name by the rebel Yemelyan Pugachev, who impersonated his father Peter, tended no doubt to render Paul’s position more difficult.

Catherine’s absolute power and the delicate balance of courtier status greatly influenced the relationship at Court with Paul, who openly disregarded his mother’s opinions. Paul adamantly protested his mother’s policies, writing a veiled criticism in his Reflections, a dissertation on military reform. In it he directly disparaged expansionist warfare in favour of a more defensive military policy.

Unenthusiastically received by his mother, Reflections appeared a threat to her authority and added weight to her suspicion of an internal conspiracy with Paul at its centre. For a courtier to have openly supported or shown intimacy towards Paul, especially following this publication, would have meant political suicide.

Paul spent the following years away from the Imperial Court, content to remain at his private estates at Gatchina Palace with his growing family and perform Prussian drill exercises. As Catherine grew older, she became less concerned that her son attend court functions; her attentions focused primarily on the future Emperor Alexander I. It was not until 1787 that Catherine may have in fact decided to exclude her son from succession.

After Alexander and his brother Constantine were born, she had them placed under her charge, just as Elizabeth had done with Paul. That Catherine grew to favour Alexander as sovereign of Russia rather than Paul is unsurprising. She met secretly with Alexander’s tutor de La Harpe to discuss his pupil’s ascension, and attempted to convince Alexander’s mother Maria to sign a proposal authorizing her son’s legitimacy. Both efforts proved fruitless, and though Alexander agreed to his grandmother’s wishes, he remained respectful of his father’s position as immediate successor to the Russian throne.

Catherine suffered a stroke on 17 November 1796, and died without regaining consciousness. Paul’s first act as Emperor was to inquire about and, if possible, destroy her testament, as he feared it would exclude him from succession and leave the throne to Alexander. These fears may have contributed to Paul’s promulgation of the Pauline Laws, which established the strict principle of primogeniture in the House of Romanov, leaving the throne to the next male heir. Paul, as an emperor, also sought to seek revenge for the deposed and disgraced Peter III and for the coup of his mother Catherine II.

Emperor Paul was idealistic and capable of great generosity, but he was also mercurial and capable of vindictiveness. In spite of doubts of his legitimacy, he greatly resembled his father, Peter III, and other Romanovs as well and shared the same character. During the first year of his reign, Paul emphatically reversed many of his mother’s policies. Although he accused many of Jacobinism, he allowed Catherine’s best known critic, Radishchev, to return from Siberian exile. Besides Radishchev, he liberated Novikov from Schlüsselburg fortress, and also Tadeusz Kościuszko, yet after liberation both were confined to their own estates under police supervision. He viewed the Russian nobility as decadent and corrupt, and was determined to transform them into a disciplined, principled, loyal caste resembling a medieval chivalric order.

Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Grand Duchess of Russia. Conclusion

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Annulment, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Grand Dutchess Anna Fyodorovna of Russia, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold of Saxe-Cobu-Gotha, Morganatic Marriage, Patron of the Arts

Despite her misery in her marriage to Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, the young Grand Duchess began to grow up and became more and more attractive to the Russian court, who nicknamed her the “Rising Star”. This made Constantine extremely jealous, even of his own brother Alexander.

Constantine forbade Anna to leave her room, and when she had the opportunity to come out, Constantine took her away. Countess Golovina recalled: The married life of Anna Fyodorovna was hard and impossible to maintain, in her modesty, she needed the friendship of Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden, wife of her brother-in-law Alexander), who was able to smooth things out between the frequent quarrelling spouses…”. During the difficult years in the Russian court, Anna became close to Grand Duchess Elizabeth, of similar age.

In 1799 Anna left Russia for medical treatment and didn’t want to return. She went to her family in Coburg; however, they didn’t support her, as they feared for the reputation of the Ducal family and their finances. Anna left Coburg to have a water cure; but at the same time, the St Petersburg’s court made their own plans. Under the pressure of the Imperial family and her own relatives, the Grand Duchess was forced to return to Russia. In October 1799 the weddings of Grand Duchesses Alexandra and Elena were celebrated. Anna was forced to attend.

The assassination of Emperor Paul I on March 23, 1801 gave Anna an opportunity to carry out her plan to escape. By August of that year, her mother was informed that the Grand Duchess was seriously ill. Once informed about her daughter’s health, Duchess Augusta came to visit her. In order to have a better treatment she took Anna to Coburg, with the consent of both the new Emperor Alexander I and Grand Duke Constantine. Once she arrived to her homeland, Anna refused to come back. She never returned to Russia.

Life after separation

Almost immediately after her return to Coburg, Anna began negotiations for a divorce from her husband. Grand Duke Constantine wrote in response to her letter:

You write to me that I allowed you to go into foreign lands because we are incompatible and because I can’t give you the love which you need. But humbly I ask you to calm yourself in consideration to our lives together, besides all these facts confirm in writing, and that in addition to this other reason you don’t have.

By 1803 the divorce was still refused, because Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna feared that her son Constantine could contract a second morganatic marriage, and the official separation would damage the reputation of the Grand Duchess.

At first, the grand duchess feared an unfavorable opinion about her conduct among the European courts; however, they showed their sympathy. Still legally married, Anna, eager to have a family, found solace in clandestine affairs.

On 28 October 1808, Anna gave birth to an illegitimate son, named Eduard Edgar Schmidt-Löwe. The father of this child may have been Jules Gabriel Émile de Seigneux, a minor French nobleman and officer in the Prussian army. Eduard was ennobled by his mother’s younger brother, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and assumed the surname von Löwenfels by decree on 18 February 1818.

Later, Anna moved to Bern, Switzerland, and gave birth to a second illegitimate child in 1812, a daughter, named Louise Hilda Aglaë d’Aubert. The father was Rodolphe Abraham de Schiferli, a Swiss surgeon, professor and chamberlain of Anna’s household from 1812 to 1837. In order to cover another scandal in Anna’s life, the baby was adopted by Jean François Joseph d’Aubert, a French refugee. After the affair ended, Schiferli maintained a tender and close friendship with the Grand Duchess until his death.

Two years later, in 1814, during the invasion of France by Russian troops, Emperor Alexander I expressed his desire of a reconciliation between his brother and Anna. Grand Duke Constantine, accompanied by Anna’s brother Leopold, tried to convince her to return with him, but the Grand Duchess categorically refused. That year, Anna acquired an estate on the banks of Aare River and gave it the name of Elfenau. She spent the rest of her life there, and, as a lover of music, made her home not only a center for domestic and foreign musical society of the era but also the point of reunion of diplomats from different countries who were in Bern.

Finally, on March 20,1820, after 19 years of separation, her marriage was officially annulled by a manifesto of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. Grand Duke Constantine remarried two months later morganatically with his mistress Countess Joanna Grudzińska and died on June 27, 1831. Anna survived her former husband by 29 years.

In 1835, her son Eduard married his cousin Bertha von Schauenstein, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke Ernest I; this was one of the few happy events in Anna’s last years – she soon lost almost all the people she loved: her parents, her sisters Sophie and Antoinette, her own daughter Louise (who, married Jean Samuel Edouard Dapples in 1834 died three years later in 1837 at the age of twenty-five), her former lover and now good friend Rodolphe de Schiferli (just a few weeks after their daughter’s demise), her protector Emperor Alexander I, her childhood friend Empress Elizabeth…at that point the Grand Duchess wrote that Elfenau became the House of Mourning.

Anna Fyodorovna died in her Elfenau estate in 1860, aged 79. In her grave was placed a simple marble slab with the inscription, “Julia-Anna” and the dates of her birth and death (1781-1860); nothing more would indicate the origin of the once Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Grand Duchess of Russia. Through the five children of her son Eduard she has many descendants.

Alexandrine of Baden, wife of her nephew Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha wrote:

Condolences must be universal, because Aunt Juliane was extremely loved and respected, because much involved in charity work and in favor of the poor and underprivileged.

September 23, 1781: Birth of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Part I.

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Duke Franz Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold II of Belgium, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Juliane Henriette Ulrike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (September 23, 1781 – August 12, 1860), also known as Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia was a German princess of the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (after 1826, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) who became the wife of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.

Family

Princess Juliane was the third daughter of Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta Caroline Reuss of Ebersdorf. She was named in honour of her grand-aunt, Queen Juliane Marie of Denmark and Norway. Juliane Marie was born a Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and was one of the 17 children of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife Antoinette Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1696–1762), youngest daughter of his first cousin Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen, she was queen of Denmark and Norway between 1752 and 1766, second consort of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway.

Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel sister, Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld’s paternal grandmother. Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel married Ernst Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on April 23, 1749 at Wolfenbüttel. Among her notable great-grandchildren were Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, his wife and cousin, Queen Victoria oftheUnitedKingdom, Ferdinand II of Portugal, Empress Carlota of Mexico and Leopold II of Belgium. Her eldest son was Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld father of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the subject of this blog entry, bring her family information full circle.

Marriage Plans

Empress Catherine II of Russia began to search a suitable wife for her second grandson, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich after the marriage of her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander, with Louise of Baden in 1793. The empress spoke of pride about the young grand duke as an enviable match for many brides in Europe, as he was the second in line to succession to the Russian Empire.

Soon a marriage offer arrived from the court of Naples: King Ferdinand I of the Two-Siciles and Queen Maria Carolina, the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, (and a sister of France’s queen consort, Marie Antoinette) suggested a marriage between the Grand Duke and one of their many daughters, which the Empress immediately rejected.

In 1795, her General, Baron Andrei von Budberg-Bönninghausen was sent in a secret mission to the ruling European courts, to find a bride for Constantine. He had a huge list of candidates, but during his trip became ill and was forced to stay in Coburg. He was attended by the Ducal court doctor, Baron Stockmar, who, once he knew the real intention of his trip, drew the general’s attention to the daughters of Duke Franz. Budberg wrote to Saint Petersburg that he found the perfect candidates, without visiting any other courts.

After a little consideration, Empress Catherine II consented. Juliane’s mother, Duchess Augusta Caroline, once she knew that one of her daughters would be a Grand Duchess of Russia, was delighted with the idea: a marriage with the Imperial Russian dynasty could bring huge benefits for the relatively small German Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

However, in Europe there were other views; for example, Charles-François-Philibert Masson, in his Secrets Memoirs of the court of Saint-Petersburg wrote about the unenviable role of German brides in the Russian court: Young touching victim, which Germany sends as a tribute to Russia, as did Greece who sent their maids to the Minotaur…

Life in Russia

Juliane, along with her mother and two elder sisters, Sophie and Antoinette, travelled to Saint Petersburg at the request of Empress Catherine II of Russia. After the first meeting, the Empress wrote: “The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg was beautiful and worthy of respect among women, and her daughters are pretty. It’s a pity that our groom must choose only one, would be good to keep all three. But it seems that our Paris give the apple to the younger one, you’ll see that he would prefer Julia among the sisters…she’s really the best choice.”

However, Prince Adam Czartoryski, in his Memoirs, wrote: Constantine was given an order by the Empress to marry one of the princesses, and he was given a choice of his future wife. This point of view was confirmed by Countess Varvara Golovina, who also wrote: After three weeks, the Grand Duke Constantine was forced to make a choice. I think that he did not want to marry anyone at all.

After the young Grand Duke chose Juliane, she began her training as a consort. On February 2, 1796, the 14-year-old German princess took the name of Anna Fyodorovna in a Russian Orthodox baptismal ceremony and 24 days later, on February 26, she and Constantine were married.

The Empress Catherine II died nine months later, on November 6, 1796. By virtue of her wedding, she was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.

This union, in connection with the wedding of her brother Leopold who had married Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, daughter of King George IV of the United Kingdom, made the little Duchy of Saxe-Coburg the dynastic heart of Europe. In addition, thanks to relations with the Russian Empire, Saxe-Coburg was relatively safe during the Napoleonic Wars. However, on a personal level, the marriage was deeply unhappy. Constantine, known to be a violent man and fully dedicated to his military career, made his young wife intensely miserable.