#empress maria feodorovna

[adini-nikolaevna]

“My eldest daughter Alexandra is soft, sensitive and intelligent; she is very sweet, although not beautiful. But Elena is surprisingly good; she is extremely kind, but too playful. Maria has a brilliant mind and a beautiful heart, but her beautiful appearance was damaged by smallpox. Ekaterina, this one is a beautiful little doll, darling; very funny; the youngest, spoiled child of her mother.”

- Grand Duchess (later Empress) Maria Feodorovna of Russia on her four elder daughters, Grand Duchesses Alexandra, Elena, Maria, and Ekaterina, ca. 1791.

[empress-alexandra]

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Princess Dagmar of Denmark), mother of the last Russian Tsar, early 1880s.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Happy 176th birthday to the very beloved Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia! 💞

November 26th, 1847.

[thyramalie]

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on a swing photographed by her daughter Xenia, 1912.

(x)

[ykzzr]

Emperor Alexander III with his wife Empress Maria feodorovna and her sister Princess Alexandra of Wales 1890s

[royal-confessions]

“The friendship between the sisters, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, was one of the most beautiful aspects of royalty, especially at a time when political interests often outweighed the fraternal bonds between siblings.” - Submitted by Anonymous

[alexandminnie]

Another peek into Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's closet

When it comes to Empress Maria Feodorovna's clothing, finding out the details is easy. She had a long history with the House of Worth in Paris (although she was patron to others on occasion.)

I have always wanted to know why Minnie did not like her daughter-in-law's (Empress Alexandra) taste in attire (statements about this come up everywhere; Minnie tried to advise, but Alexandra dug in her heels and that was that.) It is easy to figure out. They were two very different women and their tastes in clothing showed it. As a young Empress, Minnie was all about strong colors and enjoyed working with the designers at Worth and participating in her own clothing design. Her dresses usually had interesting details. She enjoyed dressing the part of the Empress.

As you will see in this sampling of dresses that belonged to Alexandra Feodorovna, her preferred color palette was different....there is a lot of silver, lilac, pink, and beige. Her dresses' lines are simpler but equally sumptuous and elegant as those Minnie wore. They are just different.

I was trying to find out what couture house Alexandra predominantly used...she did use Worth on occasion, as well as Brizac (a house in Saint Petersburg) but I was very surprised to read something else.

Many of  Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's gowns were designed by one Nadezhda Lamanova. Interestingly, Nadezhda Lamanova was female. While almost all of the labor force making Haute Couture dresses at the time was female, it was rare to find a female designer. And Nadezhda designed the Empress's dresses.

Nadezhda Lamanova underwent training as a seamstress at the Moscow School of Sewing. Two years later, she went to work for a fashion house. In 1885, she opened her own dressmaking shop in Moscow and successfully built up her business until it became Moscow's most popular dressmaking establishment. Eventually, her work came to the attention of the Imperial Court and she was designated as “Supplier of the Court of Her Imperial Majesty” with her designs worn by the ladies of the Court and the Empress herself.  Finally,  starting around 1901, Lamanova also designed costumes for theatrical productions.

The last dress above is a dress designed by Lamanova

[krasivaa]

Blood is thicker than water

~☆~royal lookalikes~☆~

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia and her grandmother, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. -@abigaaal 💝🎀

@krasivaa's royal series

[loiladadiani]

Photographs: 1. Empress Maria Feodorovna holding her great-grandaughter Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe); sitting net to her are her granddaughter Princess Irina Alexandrovna and her daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna; 2. Beautiful photo of Xenia with her grandaughter Bebe; 3. Bebe and her father, Prince Felix Yusupov; 4. Bebe and her paternal grandmother, Princess Zenaida Yusupova; 5. Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe)

Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe) (1915 - 1983)

Irina Felixovna (Bebe), was the only daughter of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, niece of Tsar Nicholas II, and Prince Felix Yousupov. She was born on May 21, 1915. She lived with Felix's parents until the age of nine. Later, Felix would say that his daughter was difficult to control because she was raised by nannies, and his mother Zenaida spoilt her. Most people said that Irina Felixovna was difficult to control because she had a personality very similar to that of her father. Bebe was closer to her father than to her mother.

Princess Irina Felixovna married Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev. They had one daughter, Countess Xenia Nikolaevna Sheremeteva. Bebe died in 1983 in France where she is buried alongside her paternal grandparents and her parents.

[adelinacarlito]

“I hug you with all my heart, my beloved Sasha, and ask God to bless you and dear children. Yours for life. Your faithful and devoted Minnie”

Maria Feodorovna to Alexander III

(From the book 'Imperatritsa Maria Fedorovna' [by Yu. V. Kudrina] )

[adini-nikolaevna]

“Your sympathy is a great comfort to me and my daughter, who has endured such a severe trial at such an early age... She tells me that she would not for anything in the world wish to change the past, no matter how short, but happy it was; and I will never forget his look when the Tsar led her by the hand to his bed! It was pure happiness, and he recognized her all day when he was dying. He said goodbye to her, kissed her, and held her hand tightly in his until he died! We were on the road for four days and four nights, and she never left his bedside, kneeling next to him day and night, until at one o'clock in the afternoon she kissed him and he exhaled his young life! It was terrible for me, because I loved him very much and saw how all the happiness of the poor young bride had faded away... Minnie went to Darmstadt for the day to see his parents again. The whole dear family was so kind and sweet to her that the separation was doubly painful for her."

- Queen Louise of Denmark in a letter to Queen Victoria, on her daughter Princess Dagmar’s grief at the death of her fiancé, Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia. Dagmar went on to become Empress Maria Alexandrovna as the wife of Nicholas’s brother, Emperor Alexander III. Their firstborn son was named after the uncle he never knew, he is known to history as Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor.

[empress-alexandra]

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Princess Dagmar of Denmark), mother of the last Russian Tsar, early 1880s.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Sisters 🩵

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, during the late 1870s or early 1880s.

[thyramalie]

Sisters Alexandra, Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna) and Thyra with their dogs at Bernstorff Palace, date unknown.

[ykzzr]

Danish relatives celebrate the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna by making the letter M, and we see her daughter Olga in the middle and her brother Vladimir on the right, maybe the one on the left wearing a white hat is Mikhail.

[royal-confessions]

“In their youth, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and her sister, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, showed a certain enthusiasm in their photographs together. However, as they grew older, this enthusiasm was replaced by anguish and perhaps agony. I believe this is due to the difficult losses they both suffered throughout their lives.” - Text & Image Submitted by cenacevedo15