The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia was born on this day, 6th June 1872 to Grand Duke Louis VI of Hesse and by the Rhine and his wife, Princess Alice, who was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The baby princess was given the name of Alix Viktoria Luise Beatrice. Her first name was a Germanic approximation of her mother’s name and the middle names honoured her formidable grandmother and three of her aunts.
I can see similarities between Alix’s childhood and that of Marie Antoinette, a Queen for whom she was later to have much sympathy. Both were doted on by their parents, both came from large families (Alix was the sixth of seven children) both had a sister with whom they were especially close (in Alix’s case this was princess Marie); in the background of both their childhoods there is a powerful female matriach (Alix was a favourite granddaughter of Queen Victoria) and both experienced the loss of siblings in childhood (a haemophiliac brother died after a tumble from a window and princess Marie died at the age of four in the same diptheria bout that killed their mother).
Although Alix’s family nickname was ‘Sunny’, later photographs of her as a child always seem to show her as melancholy with sad wide eyes and a downturned mouth. Of course, you never see anyone precisely dancing jigs of joy in Victorian photography and most photographs of the young Alix seem to show her in mourning for her mother and sister, but even so she was clearly a thoughtful, serious minded girl.
After the death of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria took her motherless Hesse grandchildren under her wing and it seems that little Alix was her especial favourite as she took a great interest in the girl’s education and future well being. This even involved trying to matchmake Alix with her grandson Eddy, the Duke of Clarence who was expected at that time to become King. However, Alix gracefully turned the match down and we are told that Queen Victoria respected her for standing up to her.
Why was pretty princess Alix so determined not to marry her cousin, Eddy? Well, it seems that a few years previously, at the wedding of her sister Elizabeth to Grand Duke Sergei of Russia in St Petersburg in 1884 she had met the young Tsarevich Nicholas, heir to the Russian throne and they had developed a bit of a crush on each other.
Despite the annoyances of geography and also Nicholas’ parents being opposed to the match (despite the fact that his father, Tsar Alexander was Alix’s godfather, they weren’t keen on the prospect of a German bride and wanted him to marry Princess Hélène d’Orléans who, ironically, was madly in love with Alix’s spurned cousin Eddy, the Duke of Clarence) the young Nicholas and Alix eventually got their way and became engaged in April 1894.
It wasn’t exactly a popular match – princess Alix had paid frequent visits to the Russian court over the years as her blooming romance with Nicholas flourished and grew and her shy, quiet manners had not exactly won her fans in the rather brash and flamboyant world of Russian high society. Also, Nicholas’ father had remained opposed to the bitter end and had only changed his mind when his son, madly in love with Alix by this point, informed him that he would never marry and would become a monk if he could not have his heart’s desire.
Nicholas’ father died during their engagement and they were married less than a month later on the 26th of November 1894. It was clearly a love match and the young couple were obviously devoted to each other – Alix may have been shy and diffident with most people, but her love for Nicholas was incredibly passionate and wholehearted. It’s as though the sad girl of the old photographs exploded into life and happiness when she was joined to the love of her life and their letters to each other bear a testament to their mutual adoration, which was so rare for a royal couple at that time.
Like Marie Antoinette before her, I think that Alix was one of those very shy people who blossom when in the company of the people that they truly love and care for but seem aloof, cold and haughty to everyone else. It’s bad enough being like that when one is a private person and able to hide away from the world (as both women eventually contrived to do) but for a Queen and Empress, forced to meet strangers and be smiling and sociable at all times, this must have been painful indeed.
Like Marie Antoinette, Alix was unpopular both in the country as a whole and at her new husband’s court because of her German background and what they saw as her aloof ways, which made it impossible to really get to know her. Their positions demanded that they allow themselves to become public property with every detail of their lives examined and observed but both women were equally determined to resist this – preferring instead to pour their energies into their private lives and children.
I find it particularly sad that both women were actually really keen on charitable work and helping people and were also both frustrated by the luxurious and ceremonial trappings of their lives but nonetheless had (and still have) a reputation for being uncaring to the point of callousness about the ordinary people that they longed to assist and for being in avaricious thrall to the lifestyle that they never felt completely comfortable with.
Sadly and tragically for both, the similarities don’t end there…
In the first picture, she looks so much like her mother! I’m rather fond of Princess Alice.
I really like Princess Alice too – I was reading about her wedding again recently and it sounds horribly gloomy and funereal, poor girl. :(
Thank you for this beautiful post! The comparisons you make between “Alicky’s” life, as she was known in the bosom of her family, and Marie Antoinette, present a really nice perspective.
Of course Marie Antoinette’s marriage was hardly a love match, although over time she and Louis developed a deep emotional bond and I think they did love each other, au fond, although it was not a Grand Passion, like Nicky and Alicky. Have you ever read any of the love letters of Nicholas and Alexandra or the entries that she made in his diary? They wrote in English , interestingly, and did call each other Nicky and Alicky and when you read these effusive, passionate letters, some of which were written during Nicky’s dark hours near the end of his reign, before he was deposed, you see how much the pair of them relied upon each other to be their rock.
From an early love letter from Nicky to Alicky: “I love you my own darling as few persons can only love! I love you too deeply and strongly for me to show it; it is such a sacred feeling, I don’t want to let it out in words, that seem too meek, and poor and vain.”
Alicky to Nicky [not necessarily in response to the above]: “I am yours, you are mine [interestingly, a translation of or allusion to the Hebrew words from the Song of Songs, uttered by the bride during many Jewish wedding ceremonies..."My beloved is mine and I am his."], of that be sure. You are locked in my heart, the little key is lost and now you must stay there forever.”
You’re welcome! I was totally obsessed with Nicholas, Alexandra and their family when I was growing up so it’s nice to write about them every so often, although they make me feel so very sad!
Yes, I’ve read their letters and her messages to him. I always find it amazing how such a shy woman felt such a blazing passion – they really were everything to each other.
Another wonderful post. I have always had a fondness for Alix, and think that like Marie Antoinette, she was terribly misunderstood. I think one of the biggest mistakes she and Nicky made was not being up front about the fact that their son had haemophilia. Have you ever seen the fim Nicholas and Alexandra with Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman. I’ve only seen it once, and the ending was so traumatic for me, that I have never been able to watch it again.
Oh yes she was definitely very misunderstood and still continues to be – I suppose because the lurid tales are considered more interesting than the truth, which is that they were shy women who just wanted a quiet life. It’s so sad.
They really should have been honest about Alexei’s condition.
Oh yes, I’ve seen the film a few times now – I find it incredibly harrowing. :/
I do so love your blog, Melanie. Thats all, really :)
I saw that movie, too — and only once — for the same reason. I can still remember the hail of bullets.
I read about the Romanovs long ago, and they’ve stuck with me ever since. I’ve always felt terrible for Alexandra, who must have suffered terribly physically and mentally. I can completely understand about her pain with sciatica — it’s a miserable place to be when an attack comes, and multiply that with the mental turmoil over Alexis’ hemophilia — well, every day must have been a horror for her. No wonder she became so religious, praying for some miracle. I’ve also read that she may have had porphyria as well, and that would not have helped things along as well.