#grand duchess alexandra nikolaevna

[adini-nikolaevna]

“In the evening I was taken to venerate the body of the deceased. This was the first deceased woman I had ever seen . She was remarkably beautiful; lay on her deathbed like a statue carved from white marble; beside her lay her newborn child, whom, it seems, she did not even carry to term, and he lived only for a few hours. The room was in twilight, everything was quiet and sad; Only the voice of the deacon could be heard, quiet and sad, chanting the Gospel.”

- Maria Fredericks, a mourner who viewed Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia as she lay in state at the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The painting is called “A Farewell to Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna,” and the artist is Carl von Steuben.

From: https://vk.com/wall-223683431_363

[the-last-tsar]

Alexandra with Olga and Tatiana.

[oceanlilacs]

Russia! My astonished child's eyes see huge palaces, beautiful parks, fountains, gardens, amazing gatherings of relatives, military parades, religious services in churches glittering with gold, jewels so breathtaking you can hardly believe they are real [... ] My eyes also see long corridors, vestibules, and halls, of a size beyond compare, opening one into another, and our feet trotting timidly over wide stretches of floors, so unbounded and polished, that we seemed to walk on ice. And everywhere, a very characteristic smell: a mixture of turpentine, Russian leather and cigarette smoke, with a fragrance, unique in its own way, that distinguished the imperial palaces. Imperial is the right word, fantastic, like in fairy tales [...] every superlative is at its place in that Russia of the Tsars, that Russia full of splendour, which today is no more...

－ Queen Marie of Romania, “Story of My Life”

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Queen Alexandra with her grand-niece Maria on board the imperial yatch Standart, 1908.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

~ 💗 OTMA lookalikes 💗 ~

Olga Nikolaevna — Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)

Tatiana Nikolaevna — Maria Alexandrovna (Maria of Hesse)

Maria Nikolaevna — Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)

Anastasia Nikolaevna — Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)

(Thank you to @duchessnoor for inspiring this post!)

[krasivaa]

Blood is thicker than water

~☆~royal lookalikes~☆~

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna and her mother, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, AKA Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. -@abigaaal ❤️‍🔥🌻

@krasivaa's royal series

[romanov-pahlavi]

Nicholas II’s little known third brother: Alexander (1869-1870)

Up until the early 20th century infant mortality in Imperial Russia was among the highest in the world. Many a family lost at least one child either during childbirth or disease. Infant mortality was something that did not discriminate, regardless of one’s position in life, including members of the Russian Imperial Family.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was born on 7th June (O.S. 26th May) 1869. He was the second child, of the then Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III) and Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna (future Empress Maria Feodorovna, née Princess Dagmar of Denmark).

Alexander was the younger brother of the future Emperor Nicholas II, and third in line to the Russian throne at the time of his birth.

Sadly, the “Angel Alexander” did not live a full year, he died of bacterial meningitis, one month before his first birthday, on 2nd May (O.S. 20th April) 1870, age 10 months and 26 days.

The doctors who observed the infant – obstetrician Jacob Schmidt, pediatrician Karl Rauchfus and surgeon Gustav Hirsch recorded the course of the disease in detail. They noted that on the night of 15/16 April, after the secondary flu which infected the child’s right lung, signs of acute damage to the meninges appeared. On 17th April, there was a “slight improvement in the patient’s condition”, on 18th April – “a feverish state of moderation”, on 19th April – “for the most part he was conscious”, but the next day there was a deterioration and sudden death. Tsesarevich Alexander wrote in his diary: “God, what a day You sent us and what is this test that we shall never forget to the end of our lives? Be it Your Will Lord and we shall conciliate before You and Your Will.”

“The doctors maintain he did not suffer, but we suffered terribly to see and hear him,” Maria Feodorovna wrote to her mother, Queen Louise of Denmark.

Grand Duke Alexander was sketched on his deathbed by the famous Russian portrait artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887). The only photograph of the “Angel Alexander”, was taken by his parents posthumously.

Sergei D. Sheremetev, the adjutant to Tsesarevich Alexander, accompanied the infant’s body on horseback to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, where he was buried in the SS Peter and Paul Cathedral. The infant Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was laid to rest in the northern nave of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in a tiny white marble sarcophagus. On the upper edge of the sarcophagus there is a gilded cross made of bronze, on the side there is a bronze plaque with an epitaph inscribed on it

Alexander’s death was the first of many personal losses which the Empress Maria Feodorovna would endure before her own death in 1928. She outlived her beloved husband “Sasha”, her parents, her sister Alexandra, all four of her sons, and five grandchildren.

[royal-confessions]

“I wish to see another royal who have "THAT REGAL PRESENCE" similarly to Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Hungary, Queen Alexandra of Uk,Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Princess Magaret.” - Submitted by n-rnova

[thestarik]

Anastasia watches her mother and one of her sisters play chess, with Anna Vyrubova.

[loiladadiani]

The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughters posing with George, Prince of Wales.

They are very serious but not frowning. Olga and Tatiana seem to have more experience with being serious but relaxed at this point. Poor Maria and Anastasia don't manage it as well.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia with her eldest daughters Grand Duchess Tatiana and Olga Nikolaevna of Russia as red cross nurses, in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Infirmary during the First World War, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Russian vintage postcard

[adini-nikolaevna]

“At 7 in the morning, the first signs of premature birth occurred.

At 8 o'clock the distinguished young woman [Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna] took Holy Communion according to the rite of the Greek Church. Her confessor had demanded to see her, and so the Grand Duchess' desire for the ordinance was brought about in a natural way. According to the custom of the Greek religion, the sick woman asked not only her parents present but also her husband's forgiveness for any slights. This was so touching for the young gentleman, who was not used to this ecclesiastical form, that he knelt by the bed and also asked for forgiveness for any worries that he had caused her during the short time of their marriage.

An hour later she gave birth almost painlessly and unusually easily to a boy who screamed loudly and audibly, although he was only 25 weeks old. I went with the child and all members of the august family, except her father and mother, into the next room, where I wrapped him in warm cotton wool to await the baptism. All the members gradually approached the basket to see their sister's child . The prince [Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel] also approached and seemed deeply touched with fatherly joy, which dwindled with each passing moment.”

A Protestant priest had been sent to perform the baptism. However, when he had not arrived after three quarters of an hour, and the weak spark of life threatened to go out at any moment, the fear arose in the entire circle of those present that the child might die without the sacrament of baptism. Someone, I think it was the Duke of Leuchtenberg, had opened the door of the sick room and saw the emperor kneeling beside the bed. No one dared to disturb this moment, and yet danger was imminent.

I handed over the care of the young prince to a very capable chambermaid, entered the mother's room and actually saw the emperor [Nicholas I] at her bedside, holding both of her hands in his in a half-kneeling position.

To get his attention I made a small noise, but he would not look up, and I was forced to wave. He immediately got up, came toward me, led me to the doorway and asked,

“What do you want?”

“The child is in danger of dying any minute; the clergyman has not come. Does Your Majesty wish to baptize your grandson yourself, lest he die without the ordinance?”

“Yes, yes. Certainly.”

The emperor immediately went into the next room and entered the circle of his family surrounding the basket with the child. When the bowl of water was given to him as ordered, he performed the baptism with a dignity and emotion that made the deepest impression on me. Everyone knelt around the great emperor, who was baptizing his youngest grandchild. Then, without another word, he left the room and returned to his daughter’s bedside.

After a good half hour the summoned clergyman finally appeared in full regalia, decorated with several medals. The child was barely alive; but he performed the baptism according to the regulations of the Protestant church.

Of these two baptisms, that of the grandfather of his grandson was certainly recorded in heaven.”

— Imperial physician Dr. Martin von Mandt on the premature birth of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, the short-lived son of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia.”

[the-last-tsar]

"It is for me to thank you, my darling, for coming here all the way with our girlies and bringing here life and sunshine notwithstanding the rainy weather. Of course, as usual, I did not tell you half the things I had intended to say, because when we meet after a long separation, somehow I get stupidly shy and sit and gaze at you - which already is a joy for me!"

Letter from Nicholas II to Alexandra, where he thanks the visit that she made together with their daughters to the Stavka headquarters, where Nicholas was with Alexei. July 13, 1916.

A lifelong passion | Andrei Maylunas & Sergei Mironenko

[oceanlilacs]

💌 “We must expect anything, even a disaster. All I ask of Russia is to hold fast. She will hold. Don't doubt it!” － Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (Miechen) to Maurice Paléologue

💌 “It seems that all are mad... I am absolutely depressed. All that happened is so terrible... My God, what awaits us and what will that end with?” － Marie Feodorovna, in a message to Xenia, after the Archduke's assasination, 1914

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Princess Alexandra of Hohenlohe-Langenburg(nèe Edinburgh), with her first cousin 1x, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, during February of 1900. 🥹🤍💐

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna recovering from Typhoid Fever, with her brother Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and her mother Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarskoe Selo 1913