#Emperor Nicholas II

[empress-alexandra]

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with their eldest daughter Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna, 1896

[adini-nikolaevna]

“A day I will remember forever . . . at exactly 9 o’clock a baby’s cry was heard and we all breathed a sigh of relief! With a prayer we named the daughter sent to us by God ‘Olga’!”

- Emperor Nicholas II of Russia on the birth of his first child, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, 3/15 November 1895

[alexandminnie]

Imperial Pet Alert: Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s dog: EIRA

I finally stumbled upon a good picture of him (the few mentions of Eira I have read say that “he” was a male “Scotch Terrier” who adored his mistress, as she adored him) but liked to bite everybody else’s heels.

If you start looking carefully at some of Alexandra’s photos from this time period, you will be able to identify the unobtrusive ball of fur nearby. I have posted some of those here and there.

Here we see Eira in full possession of his mistress’ chair, apparently not bothered by the camera but obviously impatient to get the whole nonsensical exercise over.

[escapismsworld]

House of Fabergé

Manufactured by Henrik Emmanuel Wigstrom.

Nephrite, silver gilt, enamel chalcedony and gold.

Given in 1908 by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia to his cousin King Edward VII to mark their meeting at Reval.

[loiladadiani]

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in Saint Petersburg - A Shrine to Emperor Alexander II

On March 1, 1881 (Julian calendar), as Alexander II's carriage passed along an embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The Tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage to see the extent of the damage around him. A second terrorist had been waiting nearby to throw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the Tsar. The Tsar asked to be taken to the Winter Palace to die there. Nihilists had made five previous unsuccessful attempts on the life of Alexander II. The Tsar had said that he was feeling more and more like a hunted beast.

Alexander III had the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood built, two years after the assassination of his father, to honor and memorialize him. The iconic church presently does not function as such; it is a secular museum.

The church stands along a canal. Paved roads run along both sides of the canal. During the church's building, the canal was narrowed so that the church could include within its walls the section of road on which the Tsar had been driving. An elaborate shrine was constructed at the end of the church opposite the altar, on the exact place of Alexander's assassination (see the canopy over that spot on the last photo of the spread above.) The shrine is embellished with semi-precious stones, contrasting with the simple cobblestones of the old road exposed on the shrine's floor.

Construction of the church started during the reign of Alexander III and finished during the reign of Nicholas II. The Imperial Family and private donors funded construction. The church cost 4.5 million rubbles to build. Seven thousand (7000) square meters of mosaic decorate the church's walls.

[tsaralbert]

A picture of a young Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

[thepastisalreadywritten]

BORN ON THIS DAY:

Alexandra Feodorovna (6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1872 – 17 July 1918), Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine at birth, was the last Empress of Russia as the consort of Emperor Nicholas II from their marriage on 26 November [O.S. 14 November] 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March [O.S. 2 March] 1917.

She was the sixth child and fourth daughter among the seven children of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his first wife, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, Prince Consort.

[the-last-tsar]

"Nicky's diary entry for the last day of 1894 is poignant in its expression of endings and new beginning: "Read until 7.30 and then went upstairs for the service. It was painful to stand in church and think of the terrible changes, which have happened this year. But putting faith in God I look forward to the next year without fear -- because for me the worst has already happened, that which I feared all my life! But together with this irrevocable grief the Lord has rewarded me also with a happiness which I could never have imagined. He has given me Alix.""

Alix and Nicky | Virginia Rounding.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Illustrated postcard of the Russian Imperial Family.

Interestingly, the blurriness on that little portrait of Nicholas II is a fault of the card, not the scan. The card itself is blurry there for some reason.

[krasivaa]

Blood is thicker than water

~☆~royal lookalikes~☆~

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his first cousin once removed, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. -@nickisgirl ❣️💙

@krasivaa's royal series

[historicalcouples]

“As you can imagine,” Maria Feodorovna wrote to her mother, “the departure from Livadia was also very sad. We followed him on foot from the top of the church down to the steamer, where another prayer service was held for the population. We walked terribly slowly for 2½ hours, so everyone had a lot of pain in their legs after that ...

On board the ship, his coffin was placed in the middle of the upper deck, and the adjutant generals and adjutants kept watch, while the priests recited a prayer aloud. We arrived in Sevastopol just before sunset, so it was quite cold, there was also a memorial service...

Yesterday was our wedding day, which we will never celebrate together again, but just think, he thought about it three days before he died and chose a wonderful bracelet for me, which he gave to the valet with the words that this is a gift for me on the wedding day! Now Alix gave it to me, and—you can imagine how it touched me and at the same time plunged me into despair—it was no longer he who gave it to me! How quickly these years have flown by, and now that my happiness is gone, I must live on, without him, who was everything to me!!! I don't know how I can bear this pain and this terrible grief!

Only our Lord God can help me bear this heavy cross that He has placed on me! Just imagine my return home and arrival at the Anichkov Palace without him. I really dread everything I have yet to endure! I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, my angel Mama, for your blessed letter, which I received back in Livadia ...

But I, my angel Mama, am finishing this mournful, woeful letter. May the Lord hold His protecting hand over you and help us all! I kiss you with all my heart, I remain your infinitely loving and grateful, but desperate Minnie."

Maria Feodorovna on her husband's death (1894)

[empress-alexandra]

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia with his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, onboard Imperial Yacht Standart during King Edward VII and his family’s visit in 1908.

[adini-nikolaevna]

The children of Emperor Alexander III of Russia.

[cgcosmo]

[stone-cold-groove]

His Majesty Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia - 1896.

[loiladadiani]

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna during the early days of grief after the assassination of her husband Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich. Alone and with her sister and brother in law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Emperor NIcholas II.