#alexander ii

[graceofromanovs]

Members of the House of Romanov, the last reigning Dynasty of Russia.

From the first Romanov Russian Tsar Michael I (reigned 1613-1645) until the last Emperor Nicholas II (reigned 1894-1917). Including the 18 members of the house executed from 1918 until 1919; Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (13 June 1918). Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, Maria Nikolaevna, Anastasia Nikolaevna, and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich (17 July 1918). Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich, and Prince Vladimir Paley (18 July 1918). Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich (28 January 1919).

[elsalouisa]

"Our sole client in Italy was Queen Marguerite, who died the winter of 1925-1926. She was very loyal to us from the beginning, and we sent her a number of charming frocks, directly or indirectly, every year. Our relationship with her was always one of the most pleasant, although it was marked by an amusing contretemps that took place through no fault of ours. We had made a dress for her to wear upon one of her visits to Russia, and when she came to put it on, her maid — I don’t know how — quite forgot to remove a strip of paper on which was written in big letters, “Worth, 7 Rue de la Paix, to Her Majesty the Queen of Italy, blue satin embroidered in pearls and silver”, a device always fastened on dresses to enable the packer to verify the shipment. When Her Majesty came into the room, Emperor Alexander II gave her one look and then exclaimed, “What's this? Are you a walking advertisement for the House of Worth ?” Queen Marguerite glanced down, saw the legend, and laughed with the others until she wept, and declared that at least it was proof that the gown was new.

Once she asked me to try to place the Murano laces, of which she was the patroness, and I was fortunate enough to be able to dispose of several very large orders to the Italian aristocrats who came to our House. Political events, the change in fashions — which made the use of the Murano lace impossible — later severed our relations".

Jean-Philippe Worth "A century of fashion"

[romanovsonelastdance]

Three Emperors: Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas I.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tsar Alexader II, Alexander III and Nicholas I of Russia

Russian vintage postcard

[chic-beyond-the-wall]

Ladies of the House of Romanov, second row (left to right): Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Empress Maria Feodorovna (Alexander III), Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Nicholas II). First row (left to right): Empress Catherine the Great, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Nicholas I), Empress Maria Alexandrovna (Alexander II), and Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna.

[royalty-nobility]

Coronation Banquet for Alexander II

Artist: Vasily Timm (Russian, 1820–1895)

Medium: Oil painting

Date: 1856

Description

Coronation banquet of Tsar Alexander II (1856) in the main hall of the Palace of Facets

[ciderbird]

no Russian emperor crowned after 1800 can introduce successful reforms. All they know is censorship, be depressed, support old crusty European monarchies, mary Germans and lie

[loiladadiani]

Grand Duke Alexey Alexandrovich in youth.

Grand Duke Alexey Alexandrovich (1850 - 1908)

Grand Duke Alexis was the fifth child and the fourth son of Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Alexis was Nicholas II's favorite uncle, as well as a favorite of Empress Maria Feodorovna (and a frequent dance partner of the Empress since Sacha did not like to dance. He also acted as a mediator between her and Sacha at the very beginning of their marriage, when they had differences.) He stood as one of Tsarevich Alexis' godparents.

1. Maria Feodorovna sitting between Tsarevich Alexander and Grand Duke Alexis; 2. Grand Duke Alexis with his family, embracing his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich

Alexey made a career in the Navy. Grand Duke Alexey rose through the ranks, holding many important posts. He was appointed General Admiral by his brother Alexander III as a reward for making a significant contribution to modernizing the equipment of the Russian navy. But his improvements might not have been enough. After the Russian defeat to the Japanese in the Battle of Tsushima, Alexey was relieved of his command for incompetence (he died just three years after this, at age 58.) It did not help that his expenses in jewelry for the beautiful women in his life had increased through the years, and he was suspected of corruption. He had acquired a reputation as a "man of fast women and slow ships." Of course, somebody had to pay for Russia's loss to Japan, and he was in the right place at the right time.

Admiral Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

Was Alexey a hero or a rake? Neither, it seems. The following is the consensus of several authors and contemporaries who knew him well: He had a kind heart and would not intentionally hurt anybody. He was not a thief. He was not a plotter or acted against anybody for his own advancement, but he was, in fact, not very competent as an admiral and made a number of wrong decisions that had terrible consequences for the Russian naval forces.

Alexis was beloved by most of his family, although his cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, did not have anything good to say about him in his book "Once a Grand Duke;" Sandro paints Alexey as a hard-drinking, greedy, womanizing dilettante without any redeeming qualities. Sandro very much wanted Alexis' job and was well situated to get it; I don't know how objective he could be under those circumstances (Sandro's book is used as a source for much of what is written about the Romanovs, but inaccuracies and mistakes have been identified in the information it provides.)

Alexis suffered a broken heart early in his life. Although his affairs with beautiful women were notorious throughout his life, he is the only Grand Duke, son of a Tsar, who remained unmarried. His is a life of plenty but not a happy life.

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich and Alexandra Zhurovskaya

Alexei fell in love with one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting at age twenty. Her name was Alexandra Zhukovskaya; she was the daughter of a poet (who had taught the Imperial children) and not an aristocrat. Alexandra became pregnant. Alexis’s father, Alexander II, opposed the affair violently and said no when Alexis asked permission to marry. The Emperor also refused his son's request to grant the mother and unborn child a title. Some historians believe Alexey married Alexandra, and the Russian Orthodox church annulled the marriage at the Emperor's behest.

Alexandra Zuhrovskaya

There are letters in which Alexis begs his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, to intercede so that he does not have to abandon Alexandra; they also declare his love for her. Alexander II sent Alexey on an extensive world tour (he was away from Russia for two years; his tour included a very successful visit to the United States.) Alexandra gave birth to their son while he was away. The Imperial family continued to put pressure on her until she terminated the relationship with Alexey.  She was married off to Baron Christian-Henrich von Wohrmann and sent to live with him in Munich/Bavaria. Alexis never saw her again but did not abandon her and his son. He settled a large sum and a generous lifetime pension on Alexandra and made provisions for the future of the boy.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich with General Custer - the photo commemorates their "buffalo hunt."

Before her child was born, Alexandra had secured the title of Baroness Seggiano from the Republic of San Marino, with the right to pass it to her son. After Alexander II died and Alexey's elder brother was crowned Alexander III, Alexey's son was given the Russian nobiliary title of Count Belevsky and a coat of arms.

Grand Duke Alexis' son: Count Alexey Alexeevich Belevskiy-Zhukovskiy (1871–1931)

Count Alexey Alexeevich Belevskiy-Zhukovskiy (1871–1931), the Grand Duke's son followed a military career like all Romanov males. His first marriage (he married twice) took place in Ilinskoye Manor, the state of his uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, near Moscow. The Count acted as his uncle's aide-de-camp for many years. He was well-accepted in Imperial circles. There are several candid photos of Sergei and his wife Ella, where he can be identified (he looks more like his uncle Sergei than his father.) As far as we know, he never met his father (although I doubt that Grand Duke Sergei did not, at some point, arrange a meeting between his brother and his nephew.) Several of the Count's descendants live in New York City.

It is interesting to note that the major source of relentless opposition to Alexey's marriage to Alexandra and to the legitimization of his son was Emperor Alexander II, the same man who would have children with his much younger mistress, establishing a second family while his first wife was still alive, and who would bring that second family to live in the Winter Palace where his first wife resided and where she died. He married his second wife barely a month after Alexey's mother's death.

[krasivaa]

Romanovs men edit💋

my edit made by using capcut!!

i'm in love help mee😩😜

They are all so handsome, gentle and clever

[historicalcouples]

"In the end I had to go to the bedroom where I was laid on a terrible couch. And then it all started with pain and my moaning. The emperor held one of my hands, Sasha did not let go of the other, and the empress came up from time to time and kissed me. Finally it was all over, and the cry of the baby announced the birth of our angelic son. I will never forget this happy moment in my life. I thanked the Lord for the fact that everything was over and that He gave us a son. Dear Sasha, who had been restraining himself all this time, was now sobbing like a child. And we all congratulated each other: parents, grandparents, those - us, and I thought about my beloved parents.

At 4:30 everything was over. Bazhanov came and read prayers, and my Sasha held the little one in his arms. Then Madame Mikhailova helped carry me to bed, where I immediately fell asleep. In the evening, my father-in-law came again, and, thank God, I felt completely healthy. My Sasha and I were in complete bliss!!! At 8:30 I fell asleep and woke up only at 9:30 the next day."

Maria Feodorovna on the birth of her first child, Nicholas II (May 6/18, 1868)

[ykzzr]

On April 24, 1865 Tsesarevich Nicholas died. Eldest son of Tsar Alexander II and older brother of Tsar Alexander III, who was supposed to be Nicholas II..

In 1860, during the races in Tsarskoye Selo, Niksa fell from his horse and received a severe bruise in his back. But not wanting to seem weak and pampered, he says that he does not hurt at all. No one knows that this episode will be fatal in the fate of the young heir to the throne.

Time passes, but the pain in the back doesn’t go away and only intensifies every day. Dr. Shestov, assigned to the heir, assures that this is just rheumatism, not paying attention to the abscess on the back at the site of the bruise. Niksa is treated with baths, warming, massages and straightening, the pain from which is so strong that the heir screams and cries.

The prescribed treatment gave no improvement and Niksa suffered from headaches, weakness and back pain, Everyone seems to see Nicholas' deteriorating condition except his father, Alexander II who is sure this is just rheumatism, and his son is simply exaggerating his pain.

There was no remedy in the spas of Europe, and after participating in the Berlin maneuvers of 1864, in which Nikolai had to ride a horse, he could no longer move independently and straighten his back.

The last home of the heir was a villa in Nice, where he is being moved on the advice of European doctors. Even a board of eminent physicians find it difficult to diagnose Nexa, only when he appeared to vomit. Doctors finally make the correct diagnosis “tuberculous meningitis”.

Niksa died at the age of 21, after four hours of pain. He passed away and was surrounded at that moment by his parents, brothers, and his bride, the Danish Princess Dagmar, who didn’t leave him until his last breath.

The death of the beloved Tsesarevich becomes a tragedy not only for the dynasty, but for the whole country, which passionately loved the heir to the throne.

After the death of Niska, his younger brother, Grand Duke Alexander, became Tsesarevich, and the next emperor of the Russian Empire will be Alexander III, and he will be the husband of the Danish princess Dagmar, who will be Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Alexander III will name his first son Nicholas, in honor of his beloved brother. It is this son who will become Emperor Nicholas II - the last Russian emperor.

It is difficult to say whether Nicholas Alexandrovich's life could have been longer and happier if he had been diagnosed in time and received adequate treatment. This disease was not really studied at that time, moreover, it was a very rare disease.

“Nicholas had a great future, and he was probably going to be the most educated monarch not only in Russia but also in Europe.” -Boris Chicherin

Dear Niksa on his deathbed.

[graceofromanovs]

Emperor Alexander II of Russia with his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and two of their youngest children Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, 1860-61.

📷 Unknown via Royalty In Colour.

[elsalouisa]

Cezarevna Maria Fedorovna to her mother, Queen Louise of Denmark:

"Oh! my angelic blessed Mama! Can anyone believe that all this horror is really true? The ways of the Lordare past understanding, and we poor people cannot comprehend that he can permit this most awful of events. Oh, what sorrow and despair, that our beloved Emperor should be torn away from us and even in this dreadful way! No, anyone who has not seen the appalling sight himself can never imagine anything like it! I can still see it before me, night and day! The condition was truly heartrendering! His face and head and upper body were untouched but his legs were completely crushed and torn up to the knees, so that at first I did not understand what I was actually looking at, a bleeding mass with half a boot on the right foot: all that was left of the left was the sole of his foot! Never in my life have I seen anything like it: no it was horrible.

This is how we (Sascha and I) found him, lying on his bed with his eyes still openm and breathing, but unconscious, and less than 3/4 of an hour after our arrival, it was all over: naturally after the enormous loss of blood, all the doctors' efforts were in vain. Poor Uncle Micha (Alexander II's brother Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevuch), who had been with the Emperor at Aunt Cathy's just a few minutes before, had heard the first explosion from her house, immediately rushed out, and arrived at the corner of the street when the second explosion took place, which he clearly saw, and to his question of whether the Emperor was not hurt, he was answered: the Emperor got out of the carriage and walked home unscathed, so he was quite calm and when he cam a bit closer he saw a crowd of soldiers and Cossacks carrying something, and then he saw it was the Emperor they were carrying , half naked since his trousers had been torn off, and the poor legs in that appalling state, which I have already described to you!

You can imagine poor Uncle Mischa's horror and despair at this terrible sight, after he had seen him just 10 minutes before happy and pleased at Aunt Cathy's! Uncle Mischa asked him he he was suffering, after which the poor Emperor could still say in a weak voice: 'quickly home, home! and looked at him with an expression, said Uncle Mischa, that he will never be able to forget! They carried him to a police officer's sled and then drove him as quickly as possible to the palace, but already unconscious!

We found the entire stairs and corridor spattered with the blood that had flowed from him and the wounded Cossacks who carried the Emperor right to his bed, so you can imagine what an awful impression this sight already made on us, we who still only knew that he was wounded.

To see the unfortunate widow's despair was more than heartrendering , so that in an instant, everything that we previously felt against her was gone and only the greatest, most sincere sympathy for her boundless pain remained. I cannot tell you how much I pity her: in such moments, one forgets and forgives everything, and I am certain that if he could see our true feelings for the one he loved most on this earth, he would be pleased with it ...

But for my beloved Sascha, iot was the hardest of all blows! - Imagine to lose one's father in this way, and then the awesome yoke that Our Lord is placing upon him! I am disconsolate and say, as I heard Papa say to you when Frederik VII died: our happiest and lovely time is now past. It was indeed a difficult time for you two then, but it cannot be compared to what we are going through here! My peace and calm are gone, for now I am never again rest assured about Sascha: if I did not have firm faith in God, that he will help us when we do not renounce Him. He himself is touching, in his profound sorrow and despair over his beloved father, but he is calm, trusts firmly in our Lord, and is filled with courage and energy.

May our Lord hear my prayer and protect him and preserve him as he is, in every respect, and bless all his ways and help him to carry out everything with wisdom and crown with success all his good intentions for the country and the people's well-being, happiness and blessing!"

[romanovsonelastdance]

The family of Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

[lionhearteddame]

Tsarevich Nicholas ”Nixa” Alexandrovich, eldest son of Tsar Alexander II and heir to the Russian throne, 1843-1865.

Nixa resembled his mother, Empress Maria, more than his father both in character and appearance according to Count Sergey Dmitrievich Sheremetev, as in his memoir wrote;

”[…] Their characters were similar. Nikolai Alexandrovich looked much more like his mother, and much less that of the sovereign. He disagreed with his father in many ways and they often didn’t understand each other.”

Nixa was engaged and set to marry Princess Dagmar of Denmark but tragically passed away in France 1865 from illness. Dagmar later married in his brother Alexander, who became Alexander III.

[best-romanov-monarch]

Finale

Put the champaigne on ice, everyone, we are at the final step of our journey! By this time next week, we will know who is the very best Romanov, as found out by the most scientific method you could possibly use - a tumblr poll. The winner (along with a winner of every bonus poll) will be announced in a big celebratory post that will be pinned as sign that this epic competition has finally come to an end. Consider this a reminder that this week is your final chance to participate in propaganda, antipropaganda and all the other shenenigans that come with holding a monarchical poll on tumblr. This blog may end up endorsing other polls (look forward especially for our favourite weirdo Alexander I. on the Napoleonic Sexymen Tournament), but this will be effectively the very end of its active service.

As mentioned in a previous post, the two final candidates for the Best Romanov aren't fighting just for the title, but for the very definition of the term. The thing is, you can theoretically see both of them as Best Romanov, just by completely different metrics. Are we going by moral criteria, at which point we must endorse the least autocratic ruler Russia had untill... Maybe Gorbachev? Look the point is, the bar is on the ground here, and Alexander II. stepped over it.

Or are we searching for a ruler that best embodied Romanov traditions of dynastic drama, autocracy, imperialism and very, very light reformism, while closing a book on the whole era of interdynastic shenenigans (Pavel I. and the dekabrists aside, because dynasty members didn't actually participate in those - at least in any capacity that we can prove) and being that quintesential Romanov creature - a toxic girlboss?

Both of these people are still well-regarded, for the most part (for a Russian monarch I mean). Both of them were incredibly sexy, as is the Romanov way. You could (and should, seriously, post propaganda, people!) make the case for both of them being deserving of the title. But there is only one crown of Monomakh and one throne (unless you're Ivan V. and Pyotr I., we guess). There can be only one victor.

So... Who *is* the best Romanov monarch, really?