Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (German: Alix Victoria Helena Luise Beatrice Prinzessin von Hessen und bei Rhein) 6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918, under the name Alexandra Fyodorovna (Russian: Императрица Александра Фёдоровна), was Empress consort of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of the Russian Empire. Born a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, she assumed the name Alexandra Fyodorovna upon blessing into the Russian Orthodox Church, which canonised her as Saint Alexandra in 2000.

Alexandra is best remembered as the last Tsaritsa of Russia, as one of the most famous genetic carriers of haemophilia, as well as for her support of authoritarian control over the country. Her notorious friendship with the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin was also an important factor in her life.

[edit] Early life

She was born Princess Alix Victoria Helena Luisa Beatrice in Darmstadt, Hesse and by Rhine, a grand duchy that was then part of the German Empire. Her father was Grand Duke Louis IV, and her mother was the former Princess Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Alix was baptized on 1 July 1872 according to the rites of the Lutheran Church and given the names of her mother and each of her mother's four sisters, some of which were transliterated into German. Her godparents were the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, the Tsarevich of Russia, the Tsarevna of Russia, Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Landgravine of Hesse.

In 1878 when Alix was six, her mother died. She became very close to her maternal grandmother and was often thought to be Victoria's favourite granddaughter. As a result, Alix spent much of her early years in the United Kingdom, and frequently stayed with her English relatives at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. As a little girl, she was called Sunny. But after the loss of her mother and younger sister, May, she became more sullen and withdrawn. In 1892 when she was twenty, her father died, and her brother, Ernst Ludwig, succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

[edit] Marriage

Alix was married relatively late for her rank in her era, having refused a proposal from Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) despite strong familial pressure. She had, however, already met a relative by marriage, the Tsarevich of Russia, whose mother was the sister-in-law of Alexandra's uncle, Prince of Wales and whose uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was married to Alix's sister Elizabeth. At first, Nicholas's father, Tsar Alexander III, refused the prospect of marriage, but later relented as his health began to fail. Alix was troubled by the requirement she renounce her Lutheran faith, as a Russian tsarina had to be Orthodox; but she was persuaded and eventually became a fervent, even fanatic convert. She and Nicholas became engaged in April 1894. Alexander III died in November of that year, and Nicholas became Tsar of all the Russias at the age of twenty-six.

Alix of Hesse accompanied the Imperial family as they returned to St. Petersburg with the body of the Tsar, and it is said that the people greeted their new Empress-to-be with ominous whispers of "She comes to us behind a coffin".^{[citation needed]}

The couple were married 1 November 1894.

[edit] Empress Alexandra

On May 14th 1896, Nicholas and Alexandra were crowned Emperor and Empress of Russia in Moscow.<ref>Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II at Google Video</ref><ref>The Last Coronation of a Russian Tsar.</ref> The coronation celebrations was marred by the deaths of several thousand peasants in the Khodynka Tragedy, who had come to receive gifts.

Alexandra was unpopular at court and with the Russian people. She was hurt by their unenthusiastic reception, and declared herself to be tired of the loose morals and etiquette of the Russian court. She did not attempt to forge bonds with the other members of the large Romanov family and she generally attended as few court occasions as possible. She was unfavourably compared to her popular (and still youthful) predecessor, The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and a sister of the Princess of Wales, who had a higher court precedence. In Russia, Dowager Empresses outranked Empress Consorts, unlike at most royal courts of Europe. This was not conducive to happy family relations. Her failure to produce an heir to the Russian throne in her first four attempts was also judged harshly.

Alexandra was fiercely protective of her husband's role as Tsar, and actively supported his rights as an autocratic ruler. She was a fervent advocate of the divine right, and believed that it was unnecessary to attempt to secure the approval of the people.

[edit] Rasputin

The birth of Alexei occurred at the height of the Russo-Japanese War on August 12, 1904. The Tsarevitch was the Heir Apparent to the throne of Russia, and Alexandra had fulfilled her most important role as Tsarina, in bearing a male child. The excitement was short-lived, when it was discovered Alexei suffered from hemophilia, which could only have been transmitted from Alexandra's side of the family. Haemophilia was generally fatal in the early 20th century, and had entered the royal houses of Europe via the daughters of Queen Victoria, who was a carrier. Alexandra had lost a brother to the disease, as well as an uncle, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany; her sister Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was also a carrier of the gene and, through her marriage to her cousin Prince Heinrich of Prussia, spread it to the Prussian royal family. Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, another of Queen Victoria's granddaughters and a first cousin of Alexandra's, was also a carrier of the haemophilia gene. She married King Alfonso XIII of Spain and two of her sons were haemophiliacs. As an incurable and life threatening illness, suffered by the sole male heir, the heir's disease was kept secret from the Russian people. As a carrier of the haemophilia gene, Alexandra was not a haemophiliac but she likely produced lower than normal clotting factor, having only one normal copy of the gene instead of two. Her status as a carrier, in addition to her worry over her son's health, might have been one reason for her reportedly poor health.

At first Alexandra turned to Russian doctors and medics to treat Alexei; however, their treatments generally failed, and Alexandra increasingly turned to mystics and holy men. One of these, Grigori Rasputin, appeared to have a success still inexplicable today. Rasputin's unpopularity, however, and the dark rumours about him led Nicholas to distance him from the family.

In 1912, Alexei suffered a life-threatening haemorrhage in the thigh and groin while the family were at Spala, Poland. At this point Alexandra took the advice of her intimate friend Anna Vyrubova and sent a telegram to Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin's response, that Alexei was over the worst and the doctors should leave him to recover, coincided with his revival. From 1912 onwards, Alexandra came to rely increasingly on Rasputin, and to believe in his ability to ease Alexei's suffering. This reliance enhanced Rasputin's political power, which was seriously to undermine Romanov rule during the First World War.

[edit] World War One

The outbreak of World War I was a pivotal moment for Russia and Alexandra. The war pitted the Russian Empire of the Romanov dynasty against the German Empire of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, ruled by her brother, formed part of the German Empire. This was of course the place of Alexandra's birth. This made Alexandra very unpopular with the Russian people, who accused her of collaboration with the Germans. The German Kaiser, William II, was also Alexandra's first cousin. Ironically, one of the few things that Empress Alexandra and her mother-in-law Empress Maria had in common was their utter distaste for Kaiser Wilhelm II.

When the Tsar travelled to the front line in 1915 to take personal command of the Army, he left Alexandra in charge of St. Petersburg. Alexandra was not gifted at government, and constantly appointed and reappointed new ministers, which meant the government was never stable nor efficient. This was particularly dangerous in a war of attrition, as neither the troops nor the civilian population were ever adequately supplied. She paid great attention to the self-serving advice of Rasputin, and their relationship was widely (and inaccurately) believed to be sexual in nature. She was the focus of ever increasing and extremely negative rumours, and widely believed to be a German spy in the Russian court. Rasputin was eventually murdered by junior members of the Romanov family Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov, who was married to the Tsar's niece Princess Irina (daughter of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich) in 1916.

[edit] Revolution

World War I put what proved to be unbearable burden on Imperial Russia's government and economy, both of which were dangerously weak. Mass shortages and hunger became the daily standard of living of tens of millions of Russians due to the disruptions of the war economy. Fifteen million men were diverted from agricultural production to fight in the war, and the transportation infrastructure (primarily railroads) were diverted towards war use, exacerbating food shortages in the cities as available agricultural products could not be brought to urban areas. Inflation was rampant which, combined with the food shortages and the poor performance by the Russian military in the war, generated a great deal of anger and unrest among the people in St. Petersburg and other cities.

The decision of the Tsar to take personal command of the military did not improve its performance. His relocation to the front, leaving the Tsaritsa in charge of the government, helped undermine the Romanov dynasty. The poor performance of the military led to rumors believed by the people that the German-born Tsaritsa was part of a conspiracy to help Germany win the war.

The severe winter of 1916–17 essentially doomed Imperial Russia. Food shortages worsened and famine gripped the cities. The mismanagement and failures of the war turned the soldiers against the Tsar, whose personal command of the military made him personally responsible for the defeats.

By March 1917, conditions had worsened. Steelworkers went out on strike on March 7th, and the following day, International Women’s Day, crowds hungry for bread began rioting on the streets of St. Petersburg to protest food shortages and the war. After two days of rioting, the Tsar brought in the Army to restore order, and the next day, on the 11th, they fired on the crowd. That very same day, the Duma, the elected legislature, urged the Tsar to take action to ameliorate the concerns of the people. The Tsar responded by dissolving the Duma.

On the 12th of March, soldiers sent to suppress the rioting crowds mutinied and joined the rebellion, thus touching off the February Revolution (like the later October Revolution of November 1917, the Russian Revolutions of 1917 get their names due to the Old Style calendar). Soldiers and workers set up the "Petrograd Soviet" of 2,500 elected deputies. Anarchy was rampant.

During the snowballing crisis, the badly stressed Tsar suffered a nervous breakdown and failed to take further action. As, under the divine right of kings doctrine he and his Tsarina feverently believed in, HE was the government, there was no government. On the 13th, the Duma threw its lot in with the rebels, establishing a Provisional Government, led by the liberal Alexander Kerensky. The Duma informed the Tsar that day that he must abdicate.

Nicholas tried to get to St. Petersburg by train from army headquarters at Mogiliev. The route was blocked so he tried another way. His train was stopped at Pksov where after receiving advice from a number of different sources he first formally abdicated the throne for himself and later on seeking medical advice for himself and his son the Tsarevich Alexei. Alexandra was now in a perilous position as the wife of the deposed Tsar, hated by the Russian people. Nicholas finally was allowed to return to the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo where he was under arrest with his family. Despite the fact he was a cousin of both Alexandra and Nicholas, King George V refused to allow them to evacuate to the United Kingdom, as he was alarmed by their unpopularity in his country and the potential repercussions on his own throne.

The Provisional Government formed after the revolution kept Nicholas, Alexandra and their children confined in their primary residence, the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, until they were moved to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917, a step by the Kerensky government designed to remove them from the capital and possible harm. They remained in Tobolsk until after the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, but were subsequently moved to Red-controlled Yekaterinburg.

The Tsar and Tsaritsa and all of their family, including the gravely ill Alexei, along with several family servants, are believed to have been executed by firing squad in the basement of the Ipatiev House, where they had been imprisoned, early in the morning during the night of July 17, 1918, by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. Alexandra watched the murder of her husband and two servants before military commissar Peter Ermakov killed her with a gun shot to the left side of her head before she could finish making the sign of the cross. Ermakov, in a drunken haze, stabbed her dead body and that of her husband's, shattering both their rib cages.

[edit] Identification and burial

After the execution of the Romanov family in the Ipatev House, Alexandra's body, along with Nicholas, their children and some faithful retainers who died with them, was stripped and the clothing burnt according to the Yurovsky Note. Initially the bodies were thrown down a disused mine-shaft, 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg. A short time later they were retrieved, their faces were smashed and the bodies dismembered and disfigured with sulphuric acid were hurriedly buried under railway sleepers with the exception of two of the children whose bodies have still not been located. The bodies missing are assumed to be those of Marie and Alexis. In the early 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the presumed bodies of the majority of the Romanovs were located along with their loyal servants, exhumed and formally identified. A secret report by Yurovsky, which came to light in the late 1970s, but did not become public knowledge until the 1990s, helped the authorities to locate the bodies.

DNA analysis represented a key means of identifying the bodies. A blood sample from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (a grandson of Alexandra's oldest sister, Princess Victoria of Hesse and the Rhine) was employed to identify Alexandra and her daughters through their mitochondrial DNA. They belonged to Haplogroup H (mtDNA). Nicholas was identified from DNA obtained from among others his late brother Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia. Grand Duke George had died of tuberculosis in the late 1890s and was buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St.Petersburg. Alexandra, Nicholas and their children (except Alexei and one daughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, whose remains were missing) were reinterred in the Romanov family crypt in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998, with much ceremony, on the eightieth anniversary of the execution. The Russian Orthodox Church, however, does not acknowledge the remains as those of the Romanovs, owing to the absence of Nicholas's sabre wound and other recent challenges.<ref>Molecular, forensic and haplotypic inconsistencies regarding the identity of the Ekaterinburg remains</ref> In 2000 Alexandra was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church together with her husband Nicholas II, their children, and other selected members of the Romanov dynasty.

A rather romanticised version of Alexandra's life was dramatised in the 1971 movie Nicholas and Alexandra, based on the book by the same title written by Robert Massie, in which the tsaritsa was played by Janet Suzman.

[edit] Titles

• Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine
• Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra Fyodorovna of Russia (created prior to marriage)
• Her Imperial Majesty Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna, Empress of all the Russias

[edit] Notes

<references />

[edit] External links

• (Russian) The Murder of Russia's Imperial Family, Nicolay Sokolov. Investigation of murder of the Romanov Imperial Family in 1918.
• FrozenTears.org A media presentation of the last Imperial Family.
• Alexander Palace Time Machine Alexander Palace Time Machine - a site on Alexandra's home in Tsarskoe Selo
• Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna by Sophie Buxhoeveden
• The Real Tsaritsa The Real Tsaritsa by Lily Dehn
• The Religious Character of Alexandra Feodorovna The Religious Character of Alexandra Feodorovna by Vladimir Gurko
• God in All Things God in all Things - the Religious Beliefs of Russia's Last Empress by Janet Ashton
• Letters of Alexandra in Exile Letters of Alexandra in Exile in English and Russian
• Letters of Tsaritsa to the Tsar 1914-1917 Letters of the Tsaritsa to the Tsar 1914-1917
• Marriage Ceremony of Nicholas and Alexandra Marriage Ceremony of Nicholas and Alexandra
• Jewels of the Romanovs Jewels of the Romanovs
• Nicholas and Alexandra Exhibition Nicholas and Alexandra Exhibition
• Hemophilia A (Factor VIII Deficiency)[1]

• • The Romanovs in Film A complete filmography of the Romanovs.

de:Alice von Hessen-Darmstadt (Zarin) es:Aleksandra Fiodorovna Romanova fr:Alix de Hesse et du Rhin it:Alessandra d'Assia nl:Alexandra Fjodorovna ja:アレクサンドラ皇后 no:Alexandra av Hessen-Darmstadt pl:Aleksandra Fiodorowna Romanowa pt:Alexandra de Hesse ru:Александра Фёдоровна (императрица, жена Николая II) fi:Aleksandra Fjodorovna (Alix) sv:Alexandra av Hessen uk:Олександра Федорівна (російська імператриця)