In the Hesse archive I found a remarkable document from 1824 – a list of addresses for notification letters on the occasion of the birth of Princess Maria in the family of the Crown Prince Ludwig of Hesse and Rhine. The meticulous inventory contains 59 entries, under number 15 is listed none other than Emperor Alexander I. Could he have imagined that he would give a patronymic to this little girl, who was destined to become the wife of his august nephew. The list opens with the King of Bavaria, and ends with the Republic of Bern and the city of Frankfurt.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/360

On September 6, 1824 a Bavarian newspaper opens its fresh issue with news from Darmstadt: Her Royal Highness the Great Heroine of Hesse and the entire court attended the christening of the newborn Princess took place in the Crown Prince's palace. The godparents were the King of Bavaria, the Queen of the Netherlands, the wife of the Elector of Hesse, the Margravine of Baden. All this happened on August 26, but the news flows at that time were not so swift, and the report about another child in the Grand Ducal family of miniature Hesse-Darmstadt was clearly not "Breaking News". But in vain, because the future Empress of All Russia was born and baptized.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/254

Contained in the "personal file" of the newborn Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine is a copy of the first "press statement" on the occasion of her christening:
Darmstadt, August 26
In the presence of Her Royal Highness, the Grand Duchess of Hesse and the entire Grand Ducal Court, the solemn baptism of the newborn princess took place today at the palace of His Highness the Crown Prince. The princess received the name Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie Godparents are His Majesty the King of Bavaria, Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, Her Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse and Her Highness the Margravine of Baden.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/364

I discovered a touching document in the Hessian archives - the first invoice for the purchases of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
Dated August 1824, a fiscal document records purchases by the Grand Ducal Court for a young fashionista. Woolen blankets, yarn, caps, blouses, and silk vests were purchased in the name of Her Highness Princess Marie.
Well, for special occasions, bonnets with lace were purchased for the Princess’s wardrobe.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/397

By all accounts, Princess Marie of Hesse (future Empress Maria Alexandrovna) was a calm and thoughtful child. If you look at one of the invoices for 1825, for the Princess, among other things,
“a comb, sponges, a cup, a plate, two pencils, ... a chamber pot”
were purchased. If you compare this with purchases for her one year older brother, Prince Alexander, you will notice that the boy “consumed” significantly more pots (apparently breaking them), and noticeably fewer pencils.
An invoice dated February 1830, issued by the “court cutler” Jean Karp, stands out against the backdrop of typical acquisitions for a girl:
“At the direction of Her Highness Princess Marie, he made a small penknife with a silver blade.”
So the Princess will meet the sixth year of her life (literally) fully armed.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/882

On this day we will remember the elder sister of Empress Maria Alexandrovna - Princess Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine. She was not destined to live a long life - the girl born in 1821 would die in Lausanne. 1803 this city would become the capital of the canton of Vaud, the birthplace of Augustus Senarclen de Grancy, the actual father of the girl. With the death of Elizabeth, Princess Marie will become the only daughter in the Grand Ducal family.
The issue of the "Regenburger Zeitung" for June 7, 1826 opened with sad news from Lausanne:
"Darmstadt, June 1st. On the 27th of last month, Princess Elisabeth, eldest daughter of His Highness the Grand and Crown Prince of Hesse, died at Lausanne, where she accompanied her most serene mother when she was scarcely 6 years old. The noble parents, brothers and sisters of the Princess, and The entire Grand Ducal House is deeply saddened by the sad loss of this cheerful and hopeful child."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1103

a few words about the “pedagogical findings” of the teacher of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her older brother Alexander: Captain Frey started the so-called “Register of Grimaces and Tears” for both pupils. Daily reports were entered into the document - how many times Marie and Alexander cried and grimaced.
Of course, at the end of each month, the teacher kept the balance. It often turned out that Alexander "disgraced the masculine race", because he cried more often than his sister.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/244

Another find in the “children’s” archive folder of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. In the calligraphic handwriting of the (then) Hessian Princess will write a poem about Truthfulness. Perhaps these lines, written by a child’s hand, will take root in the soul of the future Empress for the rest of her life:
Truthfulness.
Truth, child, in words and looks!
Truth, child, in every matter!
Only the truth can make you happy
Get on a smooth path.
True to everyone
That they see you!
You can fight back freely and
The angels will bow to you.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/454

Empress Maria Alexandrovna will go down in history as one of the devoutly believing Russian Tsarinas. It would not be a mistake to note the merit in this of the Hessian Princess’s teacher of religion, Karl Zimmermann (1803-1877), who instilled in the girl a sincere love for Christianity.
To this day, this grand ducal court preacher is considered one of the most significant Hessian evangelical theologians.
Maria's studies with Zimmermann began in 1832 and continued until she moved to St. Petersburg. In 1840, the theologian, who later became the head of the Hessian Evangelical Church, dedicated poems to his pupil on the occasion of her engagement.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/380

An important part of Princess Marie of Hesse's education was "study trips". Of course, these travels cannot be compared with the scale of the months-long educational wanderings throughout Russia and Europe of her future husband, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich.
Her brother Prince Alexander remained Marie’s faithful travel companion and at the same time the “chronicler” of such trips. It is in his diary of a trip to Baden for 1832 that we find evidence of the mastery of craft skills by the future Empress:
“In Gaggenau, my sister and I saw a glassblowing workshop for the first time, and we both blew a glass. Then we had breakfast and went on foot to Mount Amalienberg... In the evening we drank tea in my aunt’s pavilion, and I swung on the swing with my cousins and my sister.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/997

Empress Maria Alexandrovna, reforming the system of women's education, professed the principle of its practical preparation for the future lives of pupils. As I found out from her own childhood letters to her mother, the future Empress herself wouldn't get lost either in the kitchen or in the garden:
“...We had a great time yesterday and were pleasantly surprised when we saw that Emil had also arrived... After tea, dad paid us a visit; we four girls went into our house and cooked there; for cooking we had cream, baking utensils, cherries, sugar, salt and herbs. The house is full of ants, as is the tree, and the cherries are not yet ripe. We also did a little gardening. The weather was very good all this time, only this morning, to everyone’s delight, it started raining...”
I wonder what kind of dish Princess Marie of Hesse prepared from these ingredients?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1054

The mother of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Wilhelmina of Baden, was known as a connoisseur of beauty. The epistolary legacy of the Grand Duchess captures how the mother instilled in her 8-year-old daughter a taste for music: Wilhelmina shares what musical works she enjoyed while away:
“... I went to the theater twice and saw parts of “Fra Diavalo” and “The Mute Girl of Portici.”
It is about two operas by the French composer Daniel-François-Esprit Aubert: “Fra Diavolo” (or “The Inn of Terracina”, 1830) and “La muette de Portici" (The Mute Girl of Portici, 1828).
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/803

Surprisingly, Empress Maria Alexandrovna also showed herself in the agricultural field, for example,
“establishing a factory for working Ardennes horses, a pigsty and a poultry house in Ilyinskoye...”.
At the same time, the Empress “had in mind the distribution among rural owners of improved breeds of cattle, work horses, pigs and birds, which would supply landowners with animals suitable for breeding”.
Of course, the Empress’s “agricultural preferences” have roots in her childhood...
“... in the evening we walked to Jugenheim, where everything is extremely dry, I took these beautiful roses from the veranda, where the roses are very beautiful, we were just watering the garden near our little house, everything is drying up in our little garden... the Welsh hen has fifteen little [chickens] , very beautiful, among them are three white ones...”
- Princess Marie of Hesse informs her mother.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1137

God is truth; His word unites
It is nothing other than the truth
And gives peace to life,
The one who will not forget the truth.
Conscience free and clear,
Let me, God, save!
And all that they entrust to me,
So I can see your face!
Maria Princess of Hesse!
I found such a poetic note in the children's archive of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna. I wonder who the author of the text is. Perhaps Princess Marie herself?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/471

In the autumn of 1835, the inhabitants of Hesse-Darmstadt will observe a unique phenomenon - Halley's Comet will illuminate the starry sky. Of course, the young members of the Grand Ducal family, Marie and Alexander, will not stand aside either. The young prince will even try to draw an astronomical mystery. And the people spoke of a gloomy omen and future tragedies. Surprisingly, it is a fact that already in January 1836 Marie and Alexander will lose their beloved mother. In the same year, the grandfather from the paternal side of Senarclens-Grancy will also be gone.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/237

Almost nothing is known about the hobbies of the young Hessian Princess Marie, but historians are inclined to believe that she was a “bookworm.”
Wilhelmina of Baden, the mother of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna, attached particular importance to literature and history in her upbringing and education.
There is information that young Marie avidly read the works of Walter Scott.
Perhaps that is why, already being the Empress, she will become interested in historical subjects, in particular, the biographies of her predecessors on the Russian throne.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/382

In Princess Marie’s children’s archive I found a poem “Virtue” written in her hand. As it turns out, this is a song by Johann Bornhardt (1774-1843). In addition to being a talented composer, pianist and guitarist, he worked as a music teacher. Obviously, his “didactic” achievements were popular outside of his native Braunschweig. To understand the prerequisites for the formation of Marie’s artistic tastes, it is also interesting that Bornhard was a friend of the romantic writer Ernst Klingemann (1777-1831), the same one known under the pseudonym Bonaventure.
Virtue.
Guide me in my youth
Let me find beauty
only by having you
Only you can give
dignity to my life.
After all, only a beautiful face alone
Will not give virtue of heart.
Without virtue
I would have wasted away in my youth.
Oh virtue! Virtue! lead me
And let every heart beat be for you!
Maria Princess of Hesse.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/514

Mother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna died on January 27, 1836. Already in the autumn of the same year, August von Senarclens de Grancy marries Countess Louise von Otting und Fünfstetten (1810–1876). Amazing parallels - in 1880, even before the expiration of a year of mourning for his wife, a similar matrimonial step would be taken by the actual son-in-law of Senarclens de Grancy, Alexander II.
The choice of the Swiss fell on the half-niece of the Bavarian king, thus nominally becoming the stepmother of 12-year-old Mary. By the way, one of the sons from this marriage (in fact, the half-brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna) is buried in St. Petersburg.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/225

Over the 42 years (1838–1880) of active correspondence between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her closest friend, Elizabeth of Prussia, more than 1,000 sheets of text have been preserved.
"In general - not the intrusive, but heartfelt denominator” of this intense “in different tones, but at the same time full of harmony” exchange of opinions between two “similar, but still different” ladies was religion.
As promised earlier (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/343), I am sharing a link to the published abstracts of my speech at the XVI International Scientific Conference of Russian Association of Women's History Researchers and IEA of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/495

600 years before the birth of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, in 1224 Sophia of Brabant was born. The daughter of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (Elizabeth of Thuringia, 1207-1231), she will become the founder of the Landgraviate of Hesse.
The family union of Sophia with Henry II Duke of Brabant, will give the first Landgrave of Hesse - Henry I the Child (1244 - 1308).
Through perseverance, faith and wisdom, Sophia, after the death of her husband, manages to preserve her Hessian possessions in the war for the Thuringian inheritance, despite military failures, transfer them to her son and achieve his recognition as an “Imperial Prince”.
Sophia and Henry II of Brabant rested in Villers-la-Ville (Belgium). Surprisingly, the senior branch of the aristocratic family of Senarclens de Grancy, a relationship with which is also attributed to the Empress, is also connected with North Brabant, the possessions of the medieval ancestors of the Princess Marie.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1145

In August 1824, when the first cry of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna was heard in Darmstadt, her uncle Emperor Alexander I would send Alexander Pushkin into exile. Thus, the estate of the poet’s mother, the village of Mikhailovskoye in the Pskov province, will acquire a poetic aura.
Pushkin will also pay attention to the nearby Svyatogorsk Holy Dormition Monastery with its ancient icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, which was found in the middle of the 16th century by the holy fool-shepherd Timothy.
Empress Maria Alexandrovna will also honor this monastery. In 1859, she donated elaborate rugs to the revered icons of the Hodegetria and the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
By that time, the great Russian poet, whose daughter had already been in the service of Empress Maria Alexandrovna since 1852, would also rest in the monastery.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1155

On August 8, 1824 Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie was born in Darmstadt - a girl who will be destined to fight: for recognition, for life, for love. Fate will smile at her, giving both noble recognition (she will become the legitimate Princess of Hesse and by Rhine) and the real Russian Tsarevich.

No one could have thought then, on August 8, 1824, that the cry of a child, which disturbed the calmness of the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, announced the birth of the future Empress of Russia.

https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/167

let's remember Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna and Empress Maria Feodorovna (senior).
Not without the participation of these royal relatives, Princess Marie of Hesse will become Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
Well, today they are all in the Peter and Paul Cathedral - the tomb of the Imperial House of Romanov.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/369

Little is known about the sister of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse. The girl will die at the age of 5 from scarlet fever. The tragedy happened in 1826 in Lausanne. The mother's love was so great that, contrary to tradition, she decides to bury the child not in the Grand Ducal Tomb, but to build a Mausoleum in her favorite park, Rosenhöhe. In 1831, the building designed by Georg Moller (1784-1852) will be ready.
Tuesday, June 7, 1831. In the morning, at 3 o'clock, the remains of Princess Elizabeth and her two little siblings were buried. The procession arrived in Rosenhöhe at ½ 4 o'clock, and shortly before this the chapel was consecrated by the court preacher Leidheiter, and the court preacher Zimmermann was also at the altar. After the coffins were placed in place, a short speech followed and the youngest children from the Elizabethan institution placed a wreath on the coffin.
- says an archival note from a contemporary.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/664

Despite the fact that Wilhelmine of Baden was actively involved in raising her children, they still needed a (relatively) professional educator. In November 1829, Captain Christian Conrad Frey (1798-1870) was appointed as the teacher of 5-year-old Marie and her 6-year-old brother Alexander. He fulfilled this honorable duty until April 1841, when both of his pupils went to distant brilliant St. Petersburg.
Surely, the “practice-oriented” edifications of the teacher came in handy for them: to stay straight, not to stick out your chin too much on a horse and in dances, always brush your teeth, protect yourself from the cold, learn Russian as quickly and diligently as possible.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/243

In the archive of the young Princess of Hesse, I noticed her children's note - the teachers practiced not only penmanship, but also raised the girl in the spirit of fulfilling her duty. Decades will pass, the handwriting of the girl who became the Russian Empress will become less “readable”, bur the values invested by her teachers will obviously remain with Maria Alexandrovna for the rest of her life:
Always kind, obedient, hardworking, pure, free from deception and lies, pleasing everyone and faithful to her duty, only this is joy, this is happiness, all this lifts my spirits, I am the same and I always do this, for the joy of my parents. Marie Princess of Hesse
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/439

It is noteworthy that young Maria’s regional knowledge of Russia was obviously formed long before she met her future husband, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich.
I drew attention to Maria’s essay, written by the princess in the 1830s, in which she concludes that the characteristics of the Russian construction industry are resource-based:
“But when cholera morbis approached our region in 1831, it was decided to build a log house in Seeheim in order to protect ourselves as much as possible from infection. In 15 days, a house with 29 rooms was built and commissioned. This type of construction is especially common in Russia, where there is an abundance of wood. Marie Princess of Hesse"
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/417

Gambling is not entirely compatible with the image of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. However, roulette also figured in her life... although in early childhood.
Wilhelmina of Baden, mother of Princess Marie, will remind her 7-year-old daughter while visiting relatives in Karlsruhe:
“... In the evening, when I play roulette, I also think about you, because it amused you so much in Bruchsal...”.
Obviously, the future Empress visited Bruchsal Palace, which dates back to the 18th century, more than once. 8-year-old Prince Alexander, brother of the Princess, writes down in his diary the details of his trip with the sister to Baden:
“At 12 o’clock we arrived in Bruchsal, sat down at the table and after an extremely hearty lunch we rode to Durchlach on four gray horses...”
The Baden grandmother of the future Empress Amalia used Bruchsal as a widow's residence. The grandchildren will visit their grandmother at the end of June 1832, and a month later she will be gone.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/894

Wilhelmine of Baden supported figures and institutions of culture and art. Letters from the Grand Duchess to her daughter, the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna, indicate that the mother was engaged in practice-oriented aesthetic education of her daughter:
“...glad you enjoyed the art exhibition and hope all those beautiful paintings have given you a new interest in drawing and you will show me some beautiful landscape paintings...”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/824

The characteristic artistic taste of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna was obviously formed already in childhood:
“...The day before yesterday we all went to an art exhibition, which we liked endlessly, but especially Saint Genevieve, we stayed there for almost two hours, arrived here at seven o’clock in the evening, drank tea and then went for a walk,”
writes 8-year-old Princess Marie of Hesse.
We are probably talking about the work of Karl Eduard Steinbrück (1802 – 1882), a German historical painter and etcher of the Düsseldorf school. The 1835 canvas “Saint Genevieve” is in the collection of the Hessian State Museum of Darmstadt.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1110

On January 27, 1836, the mother of Princess Mary of Hesse, Grand Duchess Wilhelmina, passed away.
"Owing to the sad death today of Her Serene Lady Wilhelmine Louise, Reigning Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, née Princess of Baden, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke has graciously deigned that from today, for a period of four weeks, not only will the funeral bells be rung in all the churches of the Grand Duke Duchy daily from 11 to 12 a.m., but also that all public dancing, games, music...and other entertainment throughout the Grand Duchy be stopped.
During a period of general mourning, fixed at a duration of twelve weeks, collegiate councilors and assessors, ... all civil servants to the last mentioned rank and below must wear plain black clothing unless issued a service uniform."
- announced the government gazette on January 28, 1836.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/653

Princess Marie of Hesse's "educational program", written by her mother Wilhelmine of Baden, also included "study trips". They can be judged from the Princess’s letters:
“...we are going to Biederstein, which I am very happy about, and also to see Munich, Louis and Matilda, who will soon arrive there...”.
Obviously, the directions of travel were determined by visits to relatives, for example, to Bavaria or Baden. Thus, Marie will get acquainted with the now defunct Biederstein Palace in Munich, where her aunt Caroline, Queen of Bavaria, lived.
Of course, these trips are not comparable to the large-scale study trips of the Princess’s future husband, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/851

Opinions about the cause of death of Princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788-1836), mother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, differ. This is largely due to the fact that the doctors were not able to accurately diagnose the Grand Duchess: her diagnose would “wander” from typhus and intestinal disorders up to nervous fever. There is also information about a severe lung disease. But, unfortunately, Wilhelmine had little chance of surviving, here are just some of the methods of treatment - in a feverish state, she is forced to take ice baths or bleed.
The future Empress Maria Alexandrovna will also appreciate the importance of medical diagnostics.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/240

Today's weekend report is dedicated to Milan. Not only Empress Maria Alexandrovna, but also her future husband will visit this city. Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich will be in Milan in 1838 on the way to his destiny - in March 1839 (as part of his European "study" trip) he will meet the Hessian princess, who will become his wife.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/180

In 1838, the year-long journey of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich across Europe will begin. Father, Emperor Nicholas I, will send his son on a journey to “learn the foreign light.” In this, conceived as a study trip, the future Emperor Alexander II will gain not only regional knowledge, but also the love of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
The 20-year-old young man will begin his acquaintance with Europe from Scandinavia, Sweden and Denmark. A significant part of the route lay through German lands: Ems, Weimar, Berlin, Munich... Then the path lay through Italy - Verona, Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples. In the winter of 1839, Alexander arrived in Austria through Genoa and Turin, and then through Germany (incl. Darmstadt...) to Holland and London.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/838

It is generally accepted that the meeting of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich with Princess Marie of Hesse, as well as the fateful visit to Darmstadt in March 1839, were an accident. In the Hessian archive, however, I found reports from August 1838, which were busy thinking and collecting information about the travel plans of the Tsarevich.
“I humbly inform Your Highness that His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Heir to the Throne left Hanover on July 31 and will arrive in Frankfurt on August 3... No one, however, knows about his future plans, which probably depend on his health...
The distinguished guests will stay at the "Russian Court" (Russischer Hof).
Darmstadt, August 2, 1838."
Perhaps even then the Russian pilgrim was considered as a potential guest and son-in-law? One thing is certain, the Grand Ducal Court in Darmstadt closely monitored the traveler’s movements and definitely “took him on a pencil.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1163

The first meeting of Princess Marie of Hesse with her future husband, Tsarevich Alexander in 1839, literally became legendary. The fabulous romance of that meeting and the outbreak of love was surrounded by a variety of legends. For example, in 1877, the American reader became acquainted with the following interpretation of the events of almost forty years ago in the Chicago daily tribune:
“When Alexander was heir to the throne, he went from court to court in quest of a wife. The Grand Duke Louis, of Hesse-Darmstadt, had several daughters, but only one of them pleased the Russian Prince. While her sisters were arrayed in jewels and silks, the youngest sat apart in a simple white dress. It was Marie Alexandrovna, the present Empress of Russia..."
Agree, the story sounds fabulous, and the fact that Princess Marie was the only daughter in the Grand Ducal family can be forgotten for a while...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1122

On March 25, 1839, 14-year-old Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, as if in a fairy tale come to life, will find her love and destiny in the person of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (1818 - 1881).
A 20-year-old young man who traveled around Europe under the wise guidance of his mentor Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, who had a difficult assignment from the august parents of his pupil - to find a worthy bride for the future Emperor. The decision came unexpectedly and easily...
“In you I see not only Sasha’s future, but also the future of all Russia,” Emperor Nicholas I will say a little later to Princess Marie.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/847

Petersburg will become the hometown and final resting place of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The ceremonial entry of Princess Marie of Hesse into St. Petersburg will take place on September 8, 1840. Then the young bride of the Tsarevich will be amazed by the beauty of Northern Palmyra.
However, the Empress’s attitude towards St. Petersburg will not be unambiguous - “the reason for this” is that Maria Alexandrovna loved Moscow:
The Empress wrote that St. Petersburg “brings me to dullness in those moments when it was necessary to show that I had not lost my Moscow courtesy.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/814

Materials from the Saxon Archives indicate that in August 1840, Princess Maria of Hesse, accompanied by her future mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her daughter Olga Nikolaevna, stayed with the Saxon royal couple in Dresden. The Marshal's archive stores not only the seating arrangements for the gala dinners, but also for the concert, which the royal travelers enjoyed on their way to St. Petersburg. If at dinner Marie sits next to Olga, then at the concert she was given the honor of being next to the King of Saxony himself.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/311

On the way to the Russian border (to the city of Kalisz, which is today in Poland), Marie Princess of Hesse was accompanied by the Chief of Ceremonies of the Darmstadt Court, Baron Ferdinand von Türkheim zu Altdorf (1789-1848).
Of course, his work did not go without reward, as he honestly reports to Grand Duke Ludwig II:
"I humbly report to Your Royal Highness about my return... from a trip to Kalisz... I respectfully inform Your Royal Highness that... Prince Volkonsky, on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor, presented me with the insignia of the Order of St. Anne in diamonds."
But not everything is so simple - permission to wear the Russian Order will be given to him only a month later.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/649

As soon as the engagement of the Hessian Princess Maria and Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich took place, the bureaucratic machine began to work - so the head of the Grand Ducal government, Karl du Thil (1777-1859), immediately wrote to foreign institutions about the significant event:
“...I hasten to announce that the engagement of Her Highness Princess Maria, daughter of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke, our Most Gracious Sovereign, to His Imperial Highness the Tsarevich and Heir Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich of Russia, took place today.
Darmstadt, May 4, 1840
to the Grand Ducal Embassy in Berlin"
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/337

On April 28, 1841, a fateful event for the country and the world will take place - the wedding of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Emperor Alexander II.
The wedding dress of the 16-year-old bride included a more than luxurious combination of jewelry: a diamond tiara, earrings, necklace, bracelets, and a sundress embroidered with diamonds. But the main “jewel” on the wedding day was the sprigs of orange flowers with which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna decorated the bride’s head.
More than 30 thousand people were allowed into the Imperial Palace. The two-week celebrations amazed us with their scope and luxury. The wedding gifts of the Royal couple to the newlyweds also corresponded to this scale; one of these will be Rastrelli’s masterpiece, Anichkov Palace.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/987

Upon moving to St. Petersburg, Princess Maria needed not only cultural acclimatization, but also physical one. The Hessians had not previously experienced all the “delights” of the northern humid climate. It is not surprising that the bride experiences the unprecedented temperature difference between the overheated halls and the frost outside extremely painfully. Maria begins to get sick. Throughout January and half of February 1841 she is completely cut off from the world. Of course, this is fertile food for the “friends” of the princess, who is still alien to the high society.
So the Austrian envoy telegraphs Metternich: “Russian superstition uses these circumstances as a reason for the relationship, which begins with such sad omens, to build a bad horoscope.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/287

In the homeland of Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna, celebrations on the occasion of the wedding of the daughter of the Hessian land with the Russian Heir will take place on May 8-9, 1841. Congratulations will be accepted by the father of the future Empress, Grand Duke Ludwig II, her mother, Wilhelmine of Baden, died five years earlier.
“Today, in honor of the marriage, a large ceremonial banquet was held at the Grand Ducal Palace, in which the Russian envoy to the Grand Ducal Court, Count Medem, as well as the Imperial Army, GeneralMeyendorff. The Grand Duke deigned to make a toast to the Emperor and Empress, accompanied by 51 cannon salvos, then a toast to the well-being of the newlyweds, followed by a salvo of 31 cannons... On May 9, the Austrian envoy to the German Confederation, Count von Munch-Bellinghausen, and the Imperial Russian envoy arrive here in the High Bundestag von Oubril to congratulate the Grand Duke...”
- Hessian newspapers reported.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1034

The engagement of Princess Marie of Hesse to Tsarevich Alexander gave rise to a lot of talk in the German press, the newspapers were especially concerned about the extremely young age of the bride:
Berlin, April 15. The Russian Empress is expected in Fischbach next month. She will stay there for a few weeks and then, on the advice of doctors, use the resort in Ems. As they say, the Emperor will go to Warsaw..., but later he will come to Germany... The Heir to the Russian throne will probably visit his serene mother in Ems. Information about the time of his marriage is contradictory. The Princess of Darmstadt is still very young, and therefore it is possible that they want to maintain her status as a bride for some time. However, this coming fall she will go to Russia to convert to the Greek religion there.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/703

The Saxon Court Register of the “Presences of Foreign Rulers” for 1840 opens with entries about the stay in Dresden of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich from March 30 to April 2. Apparently, Alexander stopped in the Saxon capital on his way to his bride, Princess Marie of Hesse and Rhine.
But unlike the “spontaneous” arrival of his mother, preparations for the visit of the distinguished guest began already in February 1840. The future Emperor was received appropriately: receptions, gala dinners and, of course, a cultural program.
The Tsarevich, accompanied by the Saxon Royal Family, will visit "Les Huguenots" - an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer in five acts to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne (based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée "Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX").
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/322

The newspaper “Der Bayerische Volksfreund” in August 1840, albeit with a post-week delay, still reported news of matrimonial logistics from Darmstadt:
Darmstadt, August 9. The Empress of All Russia left here this morning at 8 o'clock. Princess Marie, accompanied by the Crown Grand Duke and her other brothers and sisters, followed Her Majesty after a painful and touching farewell to her father's home. The large square in front of the Grand Ducal Palace was filled with people of all classes, and when the departing princely bride appeared in an open carriage, the pain of the public poured out into tears. Words of farewell and greetings sounded from all sides; handkerchiefs fluttered everywhere, sending farewell greetings.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/578

The press closely followed the movements of Russian monarchs around Europe in connection with the upcoming wedding of Tsarevich Alexander and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. So the “Regensburger Zeitung” for June 22, 1840 writes:
Frankfurt, June 16. The Emperor and Empress of Russia have arrived. The Heir Grand Duke of Russia arrived here yesterday from Darmstadt and went to meet his royal parents as far as Hanau. Various members of the Grand Ducal Court of Hesse arrived today to greet the Emperor and Empress, and the Kurprince Co-Regent of Hesse hastened to arrive from Hanau to Fulda the day before yesterday to greet Their Majesties already there. – Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elena received the Grand Duke of Russia in Wiesbaden on Sunday.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/558

The "Munich Political Newspaper" for August 1840 will publish a message about the departure of Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine to St. Petersburg in its editorial.
The article says that Marie's upcoming departure brought many distinguished guests to Darmstadt - the Queen of Bavaria and the Bavarian Crown Prince, and, of course, Empress Alexandra and Grand Duchess Olga from Russia.
The journalists paint touching scenes of Marie’s farewell to her beloved homeland, with her toys, and how 72 noble maidens give her a farewell tapestry they have woven with views of the beauties of the Hessian land. But on her 16th birthday, Marie, accompanied by the Tsarina, as well as the teacher de Grancy (she will go to St. Petersburg) and Oberhofmeisterin von Riedesel (she will accompany the pupil to the border), will go to Weimar, then to Berlin, and then through Warsaw to the capital of the Russian Empire.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/394

On April 16, 1841 at 08:00, Maria Alexandrovna, who had already converted to Orthodoxy, will appear together with her groom, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, before the altar.
The wedding will be remembered by the bride's brother - Alexander of Hesse (by the way, a colonel in the Imperial Army) by the fact that he will receive the Order of St. Andrew.
“No one has ever received an order so undeservedly... unless one considers such a merit participation in a luxurious wedding dinner with golden dishes... when on the left hand are all the ladies in Russian costumes, and on the right are the gentlemen in the parade,” he wrote.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/373

Issues of education are relevant for royal families. If the young Hessian Princess Maria needed to “finish learning” the Russian language after moving to St. Petersburg, then her older brother’s list of “failures” was much more extensive. Contemporaries note that with regard to military training, Prince Alexander (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/107) created a real embarrassment at the Imperial Court. Due to insufficient experience, the young captain of the Cavalry Regiment turned out to be practically unsuitable for service. The commander of the Corps of Pages was responsible for “improving” the qualifications of the Hessian. And the result was not long in coming.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/279

In the homeland of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, not only architectural monuments and archives, but also natural attractions remind of the Hessian princess.
To this day, an ancient thousand-year-old linden tree stands there. The tree, according to experts, remembers the times of the Frankish kingdom. Local community courts have been held under this linden tree since the time of Charlemagne.
The Empress Maria Alexandrovna also hid in its trunk for the sake of children who wanted creepy stories. Once, wrapped in white robes, she played the role of a “ghost,” tickling the nerves of the children who came to the mysterious linden tree one moonlit evening.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/586

One of the fundamental events in the fate of Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine was her transition to the Orthodox Church. The future Empress accepted Orthodoxy very organically. As it turns out, the Princess’s mother, Wilhelmine, and her sister, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, played a significant role in this.
Count Orlov would write to Emperor Nicholas I that the sincere acceptance of the Orthodox Faith was facilitated by “the decisive preference of [her mother, Grand Duchess Wilhelmine] for our religion, which she knew from her sister, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, and which she bowed to after reading the confession of our faith.”
The Holy Confirmation of the Princess of Hesse will be performed by Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov, 1782/1783 – 1867) on December 17, 1840.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/899

Marie will come to the beautiful St. Petersburg as a 16-year-old Hessian Princess, will experience both the happiest and saddest moments of her life here and will remain here forever.
“Petersburg is much more beautiful than I thought; The Neva contributes a lot to this; this is a wonderful river; I think it is difficult to find a more majestic city: at the same time it is lively; The view from the Winter Palace to the Neva is exceptionally good,”
she will write to her brother.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/619

Perhaps, out of excitement before the upcoming wedding of Princess Marie of Hesse and Tsarevich Alexander, there were protocol embarrassments...
In a report from one of the Hessian courtiers dated September 16, 1840, Ludwig II of Hesse and the Rhine reported:
"I humbly report... the return of Mrs. von Riedesel and myself from a trip to Kalisz last night and present... the letters of Her Highness Princess Marie and His Imperial Highness... I respectfully inform Your Royal Highness that Her Majesty the Empress in Kalisz has awarded Order of St. Catherine to Obergoffmeister Riedesel..."
The venerable lady Wilhelmine von Riedesel (1779-1855), who served as the mother of Princess Marie, was mistakenly given a 1st class badge "in advance" instead of a 2nd class badge. This is how the labors of the Obergoffmeister were noted, who went to accompany the future Russian Empress to the border of her new homeland.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/616

I found a remarkable article in the May issue of the “Regensburger Zeitung“ for 1840. Preparing the public for the upcoming marriage of Princess Marie of Hesse to the Russian Heir, journalists present an connection overview of the Hessian Ruling House to Russia.
The article recalls the Hessian Grand Duchess Natalia Alekseevna (the first wife of Paul I) and her older brother Grand Duke Louis I, who served in the military service of the St. Petersburg Court and as a major general “gained fame on the Danube in the region against Turkey.” They also remembered the mother of the “current Russian Empress”, who was brought up at the Darmstadt Court. Of course, the authors also mentioned that Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna (wife of Alexander I) was the sister of Wilhelmina, the mother of Princess Marie.
Well, the article ends with the news that the happy groom of the Hessian bride donated 1000 ducats to Darmstadt for charitable purposes.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/510

The answer to yesterday’s question is simple: as (apparently, almost with a heart attack from spontaneity) the Saxon court bureaucrats will record, that “completely unexpectedly” they received news of the arrival of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Princess Maria of Hesse and by Rhine, as well as Prince Charles of Prussia (Junior brother of Alexandra Fedorovna)…
“Completely by chance” our guests found in Saxony... Alexandra Feodorovna’s elder brother, the Prussian King Frederick William IV (with his wife), who, by the way, ascended the throne only a couple of months ago.
Don’t you think it’s a good coincidence - you can show your daughter-in-law to your older brother and greet the new king of your “small homeland”?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/314

Although it was decided that Maria would go to Petersburg accompanied by her brother Alexander, he would join his sister a little later. Being apart, Alexander writes to his sister a "report from the menagerie" - a report about their pets. Maria learns from her brother that their beloved fox has died. The Hessian prince tells of a "solemn and dignified" funeral: the animal was wrapped in gold-embossed paper and buried under the roses in the garden.
I wonder what foreign intelligence might think if they intercepted the "report" of the Prince to the future Russian Empress?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/253

Popularity and fame are probably partly measurable in the posters of stars purchased by their fans. Even in the 19th century, specialized publications informed about the release of such “products.”
The Stuttgart “Morning Newspaper for Educated Readers” for February 1840 notified art and culture lovers about the release of new lithographs. Among them is the portrait of Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (von Wagner), published in Mannheim (“Artaria und Fontaine”). The price is also indicated - 1 florin 30 kreuzers
And in St. Petersburg and Karlsruhe (in “Belten”) a lithograph of the Princess’s portrait in a small format was published.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/537

Language subtleties matter. The bride of the future Tsar Alexander II and her brother, who arrived in St. Petersburg, preferred to be called the Prince and the Princess of Hesse and by Rhine. Especially Alexander was embarrassed when "Darmstadt" was used in his title. The fact is that in translation from German the name of the Hessian capitalwas “unappetizing”: “Darm” means „colon” (although the etymology of the city name is completely different).
But some representatives of the St. Petersburg high society deliberately called the Hessian "newcomers" using "Darmstadt" in the title: such a taunt was perceived by the brother and sister at first as humiliating.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/258

The Hessian Archives contain massive invoices from Paris, issued in the name of Prince Emil of Hesse and by Rhine (1790-1856).
“Dated 19 July 1840. Invoice to His Royal Highness Prince Emile of Hesse for the dowry of Her Royal Highness Madame Princess Marie,” reads the invoice bearing the logo of "Lechat", the Parisian store of "Arnaud and Drouet, suppliers to Her Majesty the Queen of Württemberg".
Prince Emil is Princess Marie's (future Empress Maria Alexandrovna), uncle, who will actually act as the main delegate of the Hessian Court during the wedding celebrations in St. Petersburg. Once an ally of Napoleon, to whom he (according to rumors) promised the throne of one of the large German principalities, in June 1840 he would be awarded the Orders of St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/862

On May 4, 1840 at 1:30 p.m., the engagement of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich and Princess Marie of Hesse took place - the „Munich Political Newspaper” wrote about this on May 9, 1840.
The engagement, according to the newspaper, “was a consequence” of a letter received from His Majesty the All-Russian Emperor.
“101 cannon salvos unanimously announced a joyful event,” writes an excited journalist.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/414

The travels of the already named bride of the Russian Tsarevich are the subject of keen interest in the European press: the Würzburg newspaper for May 10, 1840 reports that
“the royal bride of the Russian Heir to the Throne, Marie Princess of Hesse, and Her Royal Highness the Crown Grand Duchess Matilda” are expected in Munich.”
It is noteworthy that after a couple of months, Matilda will be awarded the Russian Order of St. Catherine. Matilda of Bavaria (1813-1862) was the wife of Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine, brother of Maria Alexandrovna. It is in honor of her that the Mathildenhöhe district in Darmstadt will be named, the first building in which will be the Russian Church of Mary Magdalene - the initiative of the grandson of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, another representative of the Hessian ruling family.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/433

The union of the Hessian Princess Marie and the Russian Tsarevich Alexander looked very fabulous to the press. Obviously, correspondents (as today) were looking for or inventing “hard news”. The refutation of the latter was not long in coming:
Darmstadt, April 18. The local newspaper reports today: “Although we are far from being able to boast that we are more fully informed of the events that might occur in the Grand Ducal family, we cannot help but write in regard to the article of the Darmstadt correspondent published in the supplement to the Frankfurter Journal of the 16th this year and fail to provide certain assurances that no information within the meaning of this article has been communicated to either military or civilian officials. — His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Heir to the Throne continues to live, as before, in the most friendly relations with the Grand Ducal family.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/662

Bavarian newspapers will follow the visit of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna to Bavaria:
“...On May 29 [1840], Her Highness the Princess arrived [in Augsburg] at a quarter to 7 o'clock, accompanied by Baroness de Grancy, Countess von Sandizel, Major Baron von Throth...and continued on her way to the palace Biederstein near Munich.”
The reason for Princess Marie of Hesse's trip to Bavaria immediately after her engagement in May 1840 is very humane. Young Marie was in a hurry to meet with her only living aunt - her mother’s sister. The instinct of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna did not let her down - already in November 1841, the Dowager Queen of Bavaria, Caroline of Baden, would pass away.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/450

And here is another example of when the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna became a “news headliner.” The issue of the "Münchner Tagpost" (June, 1840) opens with the name of Maria Princess of Hesse and by Rhine. To the welcome ode to the bride of the Russian Tsarevich, they did not spare the first two pages of the issue, which reported that
“Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Hesse arrived with her retinue at Biederstein in the middle of the day on Sunday.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/564

And here is how European newspapers described the touching moment of the meeting of the young Hessian Princess Marie with her future father-in-law, Emperor Nicholas I, in Darmstadt:
Frankfurt, June 17. Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of All Russia will spend today here. Immediately upon their arrival yesterday, the Emperor and the Tsarevich went on foot to the Grand-Ducal Hessian Palace, where the entire Grand-Ducal Hessian Court had gathered. The Emperor fatherly embraced Princess Marie of Hesse, who bowed before him.
"Later, the Imperial Family undertook a fact-finding trip to get to know the outskirts of the city, and today, from early morning, one could meet the Emperor and the Tsarevich walking around the city" - the newspaper will add.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/597

And yet the meeting, although it was a bride's viewing, was purely among relatives. Judge for yourself - both Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and King Frederick William IV of Prussia had Hesse-Darmstadt roots: Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt (1751–1805) was their paternal grandmother. And Friederike’s sister, Wilhelmine, is known as Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna (1755–1776), the wife of the future Paul I. The Queen of Prussia (Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria) who traveled with her husband was the niece of Wilhelmine of Baden, that is, she was Maria Alexandrovna’s cousin.
Well, and to top it off - according to their common Hessian great-grandfather, Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Fedorovna were each other’s second cousins.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/319

German newspapers in 1840 were concerned not only with the emotional and political, but also with the quite mundane financial dimension of engagement events:
“…huge sums, part of which had previously been advanced by a famous banker in Frankfurt in the amount of 600,000 florins, along with those coming from Russia, are all being put into circulation. “It is expected that the Grand Duke will stay in Darmstadt for two months and then visit The Hague. He celebrates Greek Easter at the expense of his father, the Emperor... Because of all these events and expenses, the previously decided expansion of the Grand Ducal Palace in Mainz was not carried out; the family will not move into it until next year. ... further expenses were covered by the sale of part of the Darmstadt Court garden in Frankfurt am Main to the post office and the Russian Court Hotel for 39,000 florins...”
writes the newspaper "Frankischer Merkur" from Bamberg on April 24, 1840.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/468

The farewell of Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine with her family and Motherland in the person of Grand Duke Louis II will take place exactly on the first day after the 16th birthday of the future Russian Empress. The ceremonial handshake between the father and the daughter is depicted in an engraving by Friedrich Loesser, "dedicated in the most merciful privilege and with the deepest reverence."
Well, the young princess has a long way to glorious Petersburg ahead of her.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/252

This ode to Marie Princess of Hesse and by Rhine was published on the front page of one of the Munich newspapers (1840). The occasion was the arrival of the bride of the Russian Tsarevich to Bavaria to visit her aunt (the Dowager Queen of Bavaria).

A flower when it opens
That is, nature’s beautiful decoration:
And where the blooming purity of the soul reigns,
There is an immaculate trace of God.

Daughter of the ruling family, your ancestors see
At you from the heavenly hemisphere;
Looking here, with a smile of delight,
And seeing the rose of this earthly world.

They see an angel in the splendor of youth;
And they send him their blessing.
Accept it, accept it, beautiful image of virtue
Saints call it the kiss of the Divine...

https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/601

If we believe the Bayreuth newspaper of 1840, then the Kranichstein hunting castle became the site of the “inauguration” of the engagement of Princess Marie of Hesse and Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich: the young people officially appeared in the status of bride and groom.
Darmstadt, April 18.
The day before yesterday at 12 o'clock the Grand Duke-Heir, quite unexpectedly, without further diplomatic formalities, went to His Royal Highness the Grand Duke to personally ask his father's consent and blessing for an alliance with his daughter-princess... Later, the Princess received congratulations from her esteemed brothers and sisters and relatives as the bride of His Imperial Highness, the heir to the throne, and for the first time sat next to her royal groom during lunch, which took place in the Grand Duke’s hunting castle, Kranichstein, located in a beautiful park and lovingly restored .
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/612

Anichkov Palace. This masterpiece by Rastrelli is associated with several generations of the Imperial House of Romanov. By the way, in 1841 the palace would become a wedding gift from Emperor Nicholas I to the newlyweds - Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich and Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna. The parents of the future Emperor Alexander III will continue the tradition and give Anichkov as a wedding gift to their son Alexander and hisDanish bride Dagmar.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/723

The health of the young Hessian Princess Maria and her love for Tsarevich Alexander will be stronger than the ailments, although even on Easter before the wedding the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna will have to take care.
And in parallel with this, preparations are underway. It is noteworthy that the bride’s dowry will not be collected by her official father, Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, but in fact by Maria’s half-brother, Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine (1809-1877).
It is he who will become the main addressee for Maria and her correspondence with her “father’s house.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/290

As many as one and a half columns in the December issue of the Nuremberg newspaper “Herald of Peace and War” are devoted to the upcoming ceremony of the transition of Princess Marie of Hesse to Orthodoxy, followed by engagement with Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich.
Journalists will inform the reader about the exact timing of ceremonial acts, and about the protocol subtleties of who presents wedding rings to whom and at what moment... Readers will also learn about the guests of the celebrations: of the family members of the crowned bride, only her elder brother Alexander of Hesse is named.
In the spirit of the name of the newspaper, elements of the military ceremony will also be emphasized: 51 cannon salvoes after the exchange of rings, and 31 cannon salvoes during the prayer of thanksgiving...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/488

The future Empress Maria Alexandrovna owes her fate to music - with Gaspar Spontini’s opera “The Vestal Virgin” at the Darmstadt Opera House, the acquaintance of the Princess of Hesse with Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich began, which grew into love and marriage in four decades.
Still, not much is known about the Empress’s musical preferences, as well as whether she played music... However, the childhood letters of the future Empress reveal the secret of Princess Marie’s musical education.
“We walk a lot, because now my piano lessons are always in the afternoon so that we can walk in the evenings,”
8-year-old Princess Marie of Hesse wrote to her mother Wilhelmine of Baden in Marienbad.
Keeps the Princess's children's archive and written requests to her mother for permission to
“tune the piano in Jugenheim.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1083

The echo of joyful events in the family of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna was not immediately heard in Darmstadt. Glasses to the young mother and son Nicholas, who was born on September 20, 1843, will be raised in Hesse only in October (but with cannon fire!), as reported by the Fürther Tagblatt newspaper:
To celebrate the happy confinement of Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the Darmstadt court dined on October 2nd at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 51 cannon shots accompanied the toast to the Emperor and Empress of Russia and 31 a second for the Grand Duke Heir to the throne, his wife and the newborn prince.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/651

The first year of young Marie and her brother's stay in St. Petersburg takes place in an endless series of parades, celebrations and balls. For the Hessian newcomers, all this brilliant action is something new, hitherto unprecedented.
But those who have been living in such “ordinary life” for a long time also note the shortcomings of the modus vivendi at the Court of Nicholas I.
The Austrian envoy Eduard von Woyna (1795-1850) wrote to Vienna on February 25 / March 9, 1842: “Balls, festivities, dances, costume balls follow one after another with such speed that even the most serious people do not have time to engage in politics.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/306

In 1843, a son, Nicholas (1843-1865), was born in the family of the Tsesarevich Alexander and Tsesarevna Maria. The event is grandiose - after all, everyone understands that he is the future Emperor. The uplifting wave of this news reached Siberia as well. In honor of such an event, the gold miners decide to erect a stone temple in the city. Of course, the royal family does not stand aside. On behalf of Nicholas in 1858 the temple will receive the icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is symbolic that the height of the icon corresponded to the height of the Tsesarevich. Empress Maria Alexandrovna, a year after the death of her son, in 1866 will present the cathedral with a full sacristy.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/267

The September edition of the newspaper Passavia (Lower Bavaria) reports news from August 20, 1842 from St. Petersburg.
The Imperial Family is still in Peterhof, although in the coming days it is going to Tsarskoe Selo, where it plans to stay until the beginning of winter. And Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of the Tsarevich, is already there and will remain until the expected birth.
The estimates turned out to be correct - at the time the issue was printed, the young family had already welcomed their first child, Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842-1849)
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/630

In December 1843, Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna and her husband would visit her homeland. It is noteworthy that in memory of that visit, a commemorative silver coin of 1 guilder will be minted with the profile of Hereditary Grand Duke Ludwig (brother of Princess Marie of Hesse) and the inscription “In memory of December 20, 1843.”
Of course, that visit was also reflected in the German press:
"Frankfurt, December 9. Yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock the following arrived here: "His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke the Heir and his wife, Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, with their retinue and servants, after having previously arrived: His Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine, His Highness Prince George, His Highness Prince Emil, His Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke and his wife and His Highness Prince Karl of Hesse and his wife...” - writes the newspaper "Der Bayerischer Landbote".
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/682

1844 a monument to the legendary great-grandfather of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna will be inaugurated in Karlsruhe. Karl Friedrich (1728-1811), Grand Duke of Baden, will hold the record for the longest reign: 73 years! In an article in "Aschaffenburger Zeitung" dated November 24, 1844, dedicated to the new architectural dominant in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden, a meticulous calculation is given:
"Both marriages of Karl Friedrich occurred: 9 children, 27 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 36 great-great-grandchildren, a total of 100 descendants. Among those living today: 4 children, 16 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, a total of 67."
What follows is an "inventory list" of the descendants of Karl Friedrich. “Grand Duchess Maria of Russia” also appears on this list. It is noteworthy that the “catalog” is completed by the youngest descendants of the great Baden - the great-great-grandchildren - “Grand Duchess Alexandra and Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/729

The future Empress Maria Alexandrovna actively showed herself in the field of charity not only in Russia, but also in her “small Motherland”. Such examples did not go unnoticed by the press, as the Frankfurter Ober-Post-Amts-Zeitung newspaper wrote in its issue of April 22, 1844:
"Darmstadt. The highest Russian guests ... in their noble and gentle spirit have not in the most generous manner forgotten the poor people of this city with generous donations. Already at the beginning of this year, Her Imperial Highness Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna deigned to provide the sum of 1000 florins at the disposal of the Grand Ducal District Council for the purpose of distributing it among petitioners during her Stay... - Shortly before the Easter, Their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Duke Heir to the Throne and his wife had the honor of graciously conveying a gift of 1000 florins for distribution to the residents of Darmstadt and Bessungen in need of help.. "
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/779

The March editions of European newspapers for 1845 will “explode” the news of the birth of the “Prince” in the family of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna:
“... 301 cannon salvos from the ramparts of the Peter and Paul Fortress announced the happy event of the birth of the Prince... This was all the more warmly received by all classes of the capital because in recent months so many sad words have been said about the Imperial family,” writes “Der bayerische Volksfreund”
The fact is that in August 1844, 180 years ago, the 19-year-old Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna, the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas I, died. The inconsolable parent will believe that this death is a bitter price to pay for the suppression of the December Uprising in the year of Alexandra’s birth.
The birth of a grandson, the future Emperor Alexander III, restored vitality to the Imperial family.
“The former mourning of the Imperial Court has been lifted,” the newspapers will announce.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/909

"The honorary exile" of Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna’s brother to the Caucasus turned out to be “not a walk in the park” for Alexander of Hesse.
The 21-year-old Major General of the Imperial Army will show true soldier's wisdom and courage, surprising the commander Count Vorontsov. For his participation in the dramatic Battle of Dargin, the Hessian will receive a now well-deserved reward - the St. George Cross.
Still a very young guy, he will write about his experiences to the closest person - his sister in St. Petersburg: “I can tell you that three days ago I was afraid that I would ever be able to see you again, dear Marie. But we survived, I'm glad I was there; It is very valuable for a soldier to look death in the face. You feel more worthy of your form.” July 21, 1845
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/419

The brother of Tsarevna Maria, Alexander of Hesse (1823-1888), will prove himself to be a real soldier. In order to remove thePrince from the Court and the threat to the matrimonial plans of the Tsar’s daughter Olga Nikolaevna, the Hessian is strongly recommended to go to the Caucasus.
On April 20, 1845, the moment of farewell will come - the Royal couple will give Alexander a ring for good luck; the object of his adoration, Olga, will limit herself to advice to read the 90th Psalm.
Well, the most poignant thing will be the farewell to his sister Maria and brother-in-law Alexander. The Tsesarevna’s brother noted in his diary: “Sasha was very touched. Dear, kind man."
The modest retinue of the 21-year-old Prince consisted of 27 people, among other things: a doctor, a valet, a cook, 2 non-commissioned officers, 12 Cossacks... The Prince also had 37 horses.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/399

The Tsarskoye Selo School for Girls of the Clergy, opened in 1843 on the initiative of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, very soon - in 1846 - will come under the guardianship of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna. The fact is that Olga Nikolaevna will marry the Crown Prince of Württemberg Charles and leave Russia.
As Tsesarevna, and later as Empress, Maria Alexandrovna attended this exemplary educational institution.
There is information that she even took part in taking exams for pupils.
Material evidence of guardianship was the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God donated by Maria Alexandrovna, liturgical objects and other icons, as well as a significant number of books repeatedly donated by the patroness.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/599

It is symbolic that with the appearance of the girl (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/377?single), her mother, Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna (by chance or not), will radically change the interior of her favorite cozy boudoir in the Winter Palace: “boyish” blue tones will be replaced by “girlish” shades of red.
By the late autumn of 1853, when the St. Petersburg court returned to the capital, work on the renovated boudoir was completed. The author of the new concept for the premises was the architect Harald Bosse. His masterpiece is rightfully considered one of the standards of the “second Rococo” style, popular in the mid-19th century.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/378

The contribution of Empress Maria Alexandrovna to the development of women's education is diverse. The creation of a network of diocesan women's schools is a special direction of this activity, which she began back in 1848 together with Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov).
August 28, 1876 is considered the date of opening of the Simbirsk Diocesan Women's School. However, its history is much “older” - back in the 1840s, a shelter for orphan girls was formed at the Spassky Convent, and then in 1870 the shelter was transformed into a school for girls of the clergy.
The history of the School was also marked by the visit of the Empress’s eldest son, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, in 1863. The students presented him with “a napkin skillfully embroidered with silks.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1071

Trusting relationship between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and King Ludwig II of Bavaria is well known. However, historical documents also testify to the regular communication of Tsesarevna Maria with Bavarian relatives, in particular, with the parents of that same “Fairytale King” - the future King Maximilian II and Maria of Prussia.
The newspaper "Fränkischer Merkur" for April 16, 1844 writes:
"Darmstadt, April 11. His Highness Prince Alexander of Hesse left us this afternoon at one o'clock in the afternoon and went back to St. Petersburg. He was also accompanied to Langen by Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna and His Highness Prince Karl of Hesse; he also arrived there His Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke - At noon, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his wife arrived at the Grand Ducal Court and received the farewell visit of Prince Alexander..."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/758

On April 15, 1849, the consecration of the Grand Kremlin Palace took place. The building designed by Konstantin Ton with 700 rooms was conceived as a “rhyme” to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The brainchild of Nicholas I was supposed to cost 6 million rubles, but in the end it cost twice as much. 11 years of construction work was crowned with a celebration, in which Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna took part. News reached Europe:
“...at 10 o’clock Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Iosifovna arrived. The next day... the Emperor and the Heir arrived... accompanied by his sons, to the ringing of bells and to the joyful cries of the people who filled the Kremlin, the Sovereign set out from the Nicholas Palace to the Assumption Cathedral... His Majesty and Their Highnesses attended a prayer service, and then headed to the Grand Palace."
Tsesarevna will write to her brother in Darmstadt about “our dear Kremlin, now even more beautiful with a magnificent palace.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/932

It is known, that Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna learned the Russian language in the luxury of its teaching by the great Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783-1852). However, information has also been preserved that he also involved his colleagues in the “creative workshop” in this. 180 years ago, in March 1844, his close friend Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852) came to Zhukovsky in Darmstadt.
The teacher will introduce his Hessian pupil to Gogol. According to contemporaries, Maria Alexandrovna,
“aware of the originality of his direction and some of his morbidity, sympathized with his suffering and remained his deep admirer to the end.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/944

Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna had family ties with the Grand Duchy of Baden. It is no coincidence that in February 1844 she will visit her aunt Grand Duchess Stephanie: Napoleon's adopted daughter was the wife of the (by then deceased) Charles of Baden, the younger brother of Wilhelmina - the mother of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna. And that visit will not escape the attention of the press - Nürnberger Zeitung report:
Baden. (Mannheim, February 1) Yesterday at noon Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and His Highness Prince Alexander of Hesse arrived here and stayed at the Grand Ducal Palace with Her Royal Highness Grand Duchess Stephanie. Those mentioned left for Darmstadt at 5 pm.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/754

"Women and weapons are incompatible" - this thesis is unfair in relation to Empress Maria Alexandrovna. As it turns out, Maria Alexandrovna will carry her love for edged weapons throughout her life.
She enthusiastically wrote to her teacher and friend Baroness Marianne de Grancy in 1850 that
“The Tsarevich gave... a lovely dagger brought from Tiflis (you know my weakness for this weapon), then a small dagger that can serve as a carved knife...”.
And this addiction to edged weapons begins in childhood - let’s remember the invoice dated February 1830, issued by the “court cutler” J. Karp:
“At the direction of Her Highness Princess Marie, I made a small penknife with a silver blade.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/947

Newspapers for mid-October 1851 will report from St. Petersburg:
"October 14. Yesterday the baptism of Grand Duchess Olga, daughter of Grand Duke Constantine, took place. The godparents were: the Emperor, Duke Joseph of Saxe-Altenburg, Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna and Crown Princess Maria of Hanover.”
This girl will be destined to become the Queen of Greece, and her godmother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, will become her co-mother-in-law: the Empress’s son, Grand Duke Pavel, will marry Olga Konstantinovna’s eldest daughter, Alexandra (1870 - 1891). The granddaughter of the Empress, Elena will marry Olga's son, Nicholas Prince of Greece... the granddaughter of Maria Alexandrovna's brother, Prince Alexander of Hesse - Alice Battenberg will marry Prince Andrew (Olga's son) - their youngest son is Prince Philip.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/920

The news of the birth of Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Maria Alexandrovna, will reach the inhabitants of the German principalities almost a week later.
On September 25, 1843, the people of Darmstadt will receive the news that “awakens universal joyful participation” that “the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine has happily given birth to a Prince.”
The Bayreuth newspaper will report on September 29: “It is reported that the gratifying news from Warsaw has been received through telegraph channels that on September 20, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna Tsesarevna was happily delivered of childbirth.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/294

The courage, perseverance and faith of Empress Maria Alexandrovna prevailed in many situations. One of the clearest examples of her endurance was her behavior during childbirth, which was noted by her obstetrician, Dr. von Scholz.
The following lines are contained in his certificate, preserved in the homeland of the Princess of Hesse in Darmstadt:
... Her Imperial Highness experienced this second childbirth with remarkable composure, calmness and was strong and firm in her faith in the mercy of the Almighty's help.
Tsarskoe Selo
September 8, 1843
Dr. v. Scholz
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/595

On September 20, 1843, the young family of Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna and Tsarevich Alexander will receive a new member- a long-awaited boy! The heir will be named Nicholas in honor of his grandfather. But the grandfather himself will find the good news in Warsaw. However, the grandmother, Alexandra Fedorovna, will be woken up at 1:30 a.m. and asked to come to the woman in labor. Already at 4:30 in the morning, a divine service will be served at the bed of Maria Alexandrovna, who has already experienced the happiness of motherhood for the second time. A 301 cannon salvo will follow in honor of the newborn.
Little is known about Maria Alexandrovna’s feelings at these hours , but her Prussian mother-in-law pedantically records that she went to bed at six o’clock.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/292

The love of Empress Maria Alexandrovna for pearls is visibly evidenced by the many portraits of her. However, the Empress’s jewelry preferences, apparently, were not limited to this.
Some experts believe that one of the first jewelry given by Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich to his Hessian bride was a sapphire brooch made in the 1840s from a large Burmese sapphire surrounded by diamonds.
The fate of the jewel remains mysterious, but in 2011 the brooch appeared at Sotheby’s auction, where it will be sold for more than 6 million Swiss francs.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/666

Obviously, the young couple of Tsarevich Alexander and Tsesarevna Maria loved the “small homeland” of the Hessian princess. Judging by newspaper reports in 1844, the young parents spent their time in Hesse during the winter months.
The "Bayreuther Zeitung" newspaper reported:
Darmstadt, January 2 His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Tsarevich departed for St. Petersburg at 11 a.m. today after a three-week stay at the Grand Ducal Court. Her Imperial Highness Tsesarevna Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, who accompanied her Serene Highness to Langen station, will remain in the circle of the Grand Ducal Family for some time to come.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/777

May 13, 1844 is a symbolic beginning of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna's path in the cause of charity was her conscious membership in the legendary Women's Patriotic Society - the oldest women's charitable organization in Russia. By the way, this organization will be created by the aunt of the Hessian Princess, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna. The news about Maria Alexandrovna’s admission to the Society will also appear on the pages of European newspapers. "Der Bayerische Landbote" will provide the text of the rescript of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna:
“My dearest Daughter-in-Law in accordance with your desire to participate in the charitable activities of the St. Petersburg Women's Patriotic Society, it is with true pleasure and spiritual joy that I proposed to the Council to accept you as a Full Member thereof and to provide you with the management of the Private School that has been until now under the beneficial guardianship of my most kind daughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra...”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/733

On December 16, 1798 the talented obstetrician Wilhelm von Scholz was born. It was he who would deliver the birth of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna on February 26, 1845, when she would give Russia the future Alexander III. And in the Hesse archive there is an “extract from the royal maternity hospital” sent to the homeland of the happy mother:
February 26 this year Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to a son. The high-born mother, like the newborn Grand Duke, are, according to the circumstances, in quite satisfactory well-being. May Heaven mercifully preserve all its best blessings and protect the further prosperity of the high imperial family.
St. Petersburg, Winter Palace
February 27. this year 1845
Dr. W. von Scholz, Obstetrician of the Imperial Household
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/567

On December 16, 1798 the talented obstetrician Wilhelm von Scholz was born. It was he who would deliver the birth of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna on February 26, 1845, when she would give Russia the future Alexander III. And in the Hesse archive there is an “extract from the royal maternity hospital” sent to the homeland of the happy mother:
February 26 this year Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to a son. The high-born mother, like the newborn Grand Duke, are, according to the circumstances, in quite satisfactory well-being. May Heaven mercifully preserve all its best blessings and protect the further prosperity of the high imperial family.
St. Petersburg, Winter Palace
February 27. this year 1845
Dr. W. von Scholz, Obstetrician of the Imperial Household
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/567

Portraits of Empress Maria Alexandrovna show her love for a variety of bracelets. Some experts believe that it was the Empress who also wore a unique gold bracelet with a rare flat diamond.
It is noteworthy that under the so-called “portrait diamond” there was a portrait of Emperor Alexander I (1777-1825), in whose honor the patronymic name was chosen for the Hessian bride of the Russian Tsarevich.
Today, a masterpiece of jewelry art can be seen in the Diamond Fund of Russia.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/707

Newspapers in 1846 will depict the bright wedding of the sister-in-law of Empress Maria Alexandrovna - Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892) with Prince Charles of Württemberg (1823-1891).
An entire page of the "Leipziger Zeitung" is a description of the celebration. It is noteworthy that Tsesarevna will play an important role in the ceremony: she and Tsarevich, Olga’s brother, will precede the bride and groom on the way to the Church, and after the ball in Peterhof, it will be Maria and Alexander who will meet the newlyweds in their chambers.
And the point here is not only in court protocol, but in real friendship:
“... after the first official words and congratulations on the occasion of the engagement, Marie hugged me like a sister; She remained my sister until her death.”
- Olga will write about the events of 1840.
“... [Olga] is one of the most outstanding women I know, and my best friend...”
- Empress Maria Alexandrovna would reinforce the words of her friend in 1869.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/928

On April 22, 1847, the future imperial couple would give birth to their third son, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 - 1909). The newborn’s uncle, Prince Alexander of Hesse, noted in his diary:
“The little creature, as soon as it came into this world, screamed and groaned like a crow, he was immediately appointed commander of the Guards Dragoons and assigned to the Preobrazhensky Regiment and the Guards.”
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Vladimir was well educated and sincerely interested in culture and art, although in childhood he had a “creative” approach to spelling issues:
“Proshtyay, dear Mother,” Vladimir writes in a children’s letter dated July 18, 1856.
A philanthropist, art collector and trustee, he would not only become president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, but would also prove himself in the military field.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/963

In the retinue of Princess Marie of Hesse, when she goes to her aunt, the Dowager Queen Caroline of Bavaria, there will be a certain Baron von Trotha.
It turned out that the figure of Karl Hermann von Troth (1804 -1891) is remarkable - this is a real long-liver of the apparatus: he entered military service in the Grand Ducal Hessian Army in 1821 - even under the Grand Duke Ludwig I, the new Grand Duke Ludwig II will assign Trotha an outhouse - adjutant and entrusted in 1840 not only with escorting the future Russian Empress Maria to Bavaria, but also sending Trota to Russia as a military comrade of Maria Alexandrovna’s brother, Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was Trote who in 1848 would be tasked with conveying the news of the death of Ludwig II to the court in St. Petersburg. Trota will continue to serve with the next Hessian ruler, Ludwig III.
But the series of Ludwigs in Trota’s career will not end there... he will also serve Ludwig IV.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/519

Nowadays, an object of biographical topography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna in Moscow that has not been preserved is the ancient Church of St. Nicholas on Pupyshi.
The temple was also known as the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quiet My Sorrows.” It is in front of this icon that Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna will pray on April 14, 1849. Impressed by the image of the Mother of God, she will ask Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) for a miniature copy of the icon.
God's providence will decree that the finished image of the icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” will be sent to the Tsesarevna on June 24 - a week earlier, Maria and Alexander would lose their first-born, daughter Alexandra.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/773

The relationship between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her brother, Prince Alexander, was extremely confidential. When Tsar Nicholas I decides to marry the Hessian (the list of highly recommended brides varied), Alexander will write to his dearest person - his sister:
“I believe that people marry for themselves, and not for someone else; and in view of the fact that it is not my intention to commit myself at the age of 23 either in Darmstadt, with the prospect of doing nothing else, or in St. Petersburg, where without a fortune I will not be able to live married in principle, therefore you, perhaps, will also consider it natural, that I will evade a pre-prepared snare.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/490

At the age of 26, Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna will receive a number of educational institutions under her guardianship from the royal mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna:
Educational Society with the Alexander School, the Ekaterininsky, Pavlovsky, Orphan Institutes at the Educational Home with the Alexander Orphanage...
This will be the “soft” transfer of charitable responsibilities to the future Empress, who will not only continue the traditions of her predecessor, but will also put educational work on a modern footing. Her key ally will be the innovative teacher Konstantin Ushinsky.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/788

Contemporaries noted the filigree ability of Empress Maria Alexandrovna to communicate with a variety of people. We find further confirmation of this in a newspaper report from the Order Feast of St. George in 1850:
“If anything could make the splendor of the holiday even more special, it would be the appearance of Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna. Arm in arm with their husband, they deigned to move from table to table and talk with the participants in the feast. At the end of the reception, when Her Imperial Highness was about to leave, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich raised a toast to her health, which caused numerous exclamations: “Hurray!”... After the holiday for the soldiers, the Tsarevich gave a gala dinner in honor of generals and officers of all ranks, marked with a cross or sign of the Order of St. George, at the end of which the Tsesarevna graciously deigned to talk with each of her guests without exception,”
writes “Neue Münchener Zeitung”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/936

Throughout her life, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will retain her love for the place of her childhood freedom - Jugenheim. On the occasion of her 27th birthday the Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
“One of the most charming places in our area, rich in natural beauty, is Jugenheim with Heiligenberg, the graceful country residence of the late Grand Duchess Wilhelmina. The country house is located on a mountain ledge, between two picturesque mountain gorges, at the foot of Melibocus and Felsberg, famous mountain road attractions often visited by tourists and nature lovers. There is not only a charming view of the mountains and valleys of the Odenwald, picturesque villages, farms and mills, but also of the wide Rhine... This charming country estate now belongs to Prince Alexander of Hesse... Here he spent many happy days of a cheerful youth with his sister, now Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna..."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/924

Connections between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Of course, he was not destined to personally meet the Empress. But his daughter, the Empress’s namesake, will not only meet her, but will also become a maid of honor to Her Imperial Majesty.
Pushkin's eldest daughter, Maria Alexandrovna (1832 -1919), graduated from the legendary Catherine Institute and in 1852 entered high service at the Court. In mature age she would marry Major General Leonid Hartung (1834-1877). Family happiness will be destroyed by a spouse’s bullet fired at himself due to a false accusation of embezzlement.
The image of this Maria has remained in world literature - Leo Tolstoy will paint the appearance of Anna Karenina from life for Pushkin’s eldest daughter.
Having tragically lost her husband, Maria, out of need, turns to Alexander II for help, who will assign her a monthly pension of 200 rubles.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1141

17.10.1853 - a long-awaited daughter was born into the family of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander II. They will name her Maria in honor of her great-grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Well, coupled with her patronymic, she will become the namesake of her august mother - Maria Alexandrovna. However, the good news will be overshadowed by politics: the day before the birth, the Ottoman Empire will declare war on Russia. Therefore, European newspapers were surprised by unexpected content of the expected Imperial Manifesto: the content of the document turned out to be peaceful - the Tsar had a granddaughter.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/375

The name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna is associated with the now lost Sarindar Church (Bucharest, Romania): the temple will be destroyed in 1893 by an earthquake. And 40 years before the tragedy, in August 1853, prayers for the health of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna will be heard. Here is what the Magdeburgische Zeitung wrote:
“In Bucharest, on the 3rd, in honor of the name day of Grand Duchess Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna, Maria Nikolaevna (widow of the Duke of Leuchtenberg) and Maria Pavlovna (widow of the recently deceased Grand Duke of Weimar), a solemn service was held in the Sarindar Church.”
Surprisingly, the granddaughter of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (daughter of the Empress and Emperor Alexander II) will become the last Queen of Romania.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/916

As soon as the threat of an unwanted love union between Grand Duchess Olga and Alexander of Hesse, brother of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna, disappeared (Olga became engaged to her Württemberg groom), the Imperial Family began to be tormented by remorse towards the Hessian...
Wanting to make amends, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna tries to woo him to Louise, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was visiting her in Palermo at the time.
In her multi-step move, Alexandra Fedorovna resorts to the help of her daughter-in-law: Maria writes to her brother that
She constantly hears from Palermo about what tender memories he left with the girl.
Maria lets her brother know that the Empress is waiting for his visit to Palermo, where Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin “may” also be there
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/542

Even as Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna is not only involved, but also in some way identifies herself with the foreign policy formed by her father-in-law, Emperor Nicholas I. The Hessian Princess has a keen sense of the peculiarities of subtle and sometimes caustic diplomatic lexicology:
“Napoleon III happily swallowed [the address] “our friend” (ami) instead of “our brother” (frere), although this was not to his taste. As for Turkey, we are not so sure; everything can come to a head... some of the reservists have been mobilized; society is very busy with this and rumors of war have spread everywhere.”
The point is that Nicholas I disdainfully addressed Napoleon not in the manner accepted among monarchs “mon frere”, but only “mon ami”.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/581

Siege of Petropavlovsk of 1854 became for the Imperial Family, including Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna, an encouraging example of valor on the fronts of the Crimean War.
Surprisingly, that this battle also resonated in the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
In December of the same 1854, Kamehameha III (1813 - 1854), ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom, passed away. On the occasion of farewell to him, salvos will be fired from English and French ships, the same ones that returned defeated from the Kamchatka campaign...
"If Petropavlovsk had been taken
by the allied fleets Kamchatka and
Alaska would be a part of the British
and French possessions today,” the Honolulu Star-bulletin would write in 1917.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1151

The idea of creating the monument “Glory” in honor of
“The memory of those who fell while repelling the Anglo-French fleet and landing on August 20 and 24, 1854”
is attributed to Rear Admiral Stackelberg. It was he who at one time commanded the legendary ship “Svetlana”, on which the son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Alexei, would make more than one long journey.
The plan, voiced in 1878, would come to life after the death of Empress - the monument was delivered from Petersburg and installed on the Petropavlovskaya Spit in 1882.
“At the time when our ships fired salute shots, a private English yacht standing in the roadstead was also decorated with flags,”
note the compilers of the “Historical Bulletin” for 1883.
The order of the Maritime Department in 1880 for the production of copper and bronze parts for the monument was received by Adolphe Morand. The items made by the manufacturer were in use by the Imperial Family.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1126

Empress Maria Alexandrovna is rightfully considered an active pilgrim. The legendary Trinity-Sergius Lavra occupied a special place in her travels to Christian shrines. News of Maria Alexandrovna’s pilgrimage reached the pages of European newspapers.
The June 1854 issue of the Allgemeine Zeitung reports:
Moscow, May 31. Yesterday at 9 1/4 o'clock in the morning arrived here: Their Imperial Highnesses Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna with Grand Dukes Vladimir and Alexei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna with Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna with Princes Evgeniy and Sergei Maximilianovich and the Princess Evgenia Maximilianovna and today at 2 o’clock in the afternoon we went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/967

During the Crimean War, the European press closely followed the open and hidden parts of the diplomatic machinery. At the same time, a prominent place in this was given to Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
“The Viennese correspondent asserts that Prussia is again attempting to open negotiations between Russia and the West, which is supposed to have been the real purpose of the meeting at Stolzenfels... Prussia strongly recommended that 4 guarantees be accepted, before the Allied Powers increase their demands. This is supported by Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who, together with von Nesselrode, used all her influence on her husband in favor of peace. It was she who prompted him to go south so that he could see with his own eyes the true state of affairs... According to the news, Emperor Alexander is really full of desire to take a decisive step towards peace if Prince Gorchakov gives up hope of holding the Crimea all winter,”
the Neue Münchener Zeitung.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1023

A remarkable example of English "propaganda" from the time of the Crimean War (1853-1856). In the British satirical magazine "Punch," in October 1855, a seditious poem "The Czarina to Her Mate" will be published, in which an imaginary appeal of Empress Maria Alexandrovna to Emperor Alexander II is played out:
" What can you hope to get by going on?
You see, the stake for which you play'd is lost,
My dear, you know Sebastopol is gone;
...
Leave off at present, saving all you can;
Another day you 'll have a better chance;
Wait that, and bide your time, there's a dear man.
Run not the risk of having to resign…”
It's intriguing to consider whether the Russian satirists dared to express such boldness in relation to the English Queen.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/955

Special relationship that connected Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna with her royal father-in-law, Emperor Nicholas I.
“In you I see not only Sasha’s future, but also the future of all Russia,” he will say, addressing the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
According to the memoirs of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, her father Nicholas I always began his letters to Maria with the words: “Blessed is Your Name, Maria.”
Some researchers believe that these words refer us to the words of the Apostle Luke, the only evangelist who described the Events of the Annunciation:
“The angel came to Her and said: Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/903

The reign of Empress Maria Alexandrovna begins with trials - the bloody Crimean War (1853-1856) is underway. Already in the first months on the throne, the Empress demonstrates her accumulated experience in charitable activities. The dramatic and desperate defense of Sevastopol in 1855 prompted Maria Alexandrovna to take active actions that would be noticed by the international press:
“Empress Maria Alexandrovna ordered the opening of a special department in her office in the Winter Palace to accept voluntary monetary and other donations for widows and orphans of military personnel who died and wounded near Sevastopol. To control the delivered gifts, a book is kept in which the names of the donors, who will also be known to the Empress, must be entered. The Emperor expresses his gratitude to the sender, Mr. Baumgarten, for a shipment of several hundredweight of dressing material that arrived from Breslau,” reports the Zweibrücker Wochenblatt in May 1855.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/979

With the death of Emperor Nicholas I in 1855, a new stage began in the life of Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna - she actually became the Empress. A symbolic act of increasing responsibility will be her husband’s decision to provide patronage over his once ward regiment:
On February 19, 1855, Emperor Alexander II renamed the Heir's Life Cuirassier Regiment to Her Majesty's Life Cuirassier Regiment.
“Zweibrücker Wochenblatt” of March 20, 1855 writes:
“Emperor Alexander took patronage over all those Guards regiments whose chief was the late Emperor, and, in addition, he remains chief of the Guards Engineer Battalion, 1st Guards Artillery Brigade, 1st Cadet Corps and all units of which he was already the chief as Heir to the Throne. However, Empress Maria Alexandrovna was appointed chief of his former Life Cuirassier Regiment, and Heir to the Throne Nikolai Alexandrovich was appointed chief of his former Uhlan Regiment...”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/975

One of Empress Maria Alexandrovna's close friends was Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (September 11, 1822 - 1892). The daughter of Nicholas I, she will accompany her father and mother during the viewing of the bride of her elder brother Alexander in Darmstadt: “I remember exactly that after the first official words and congratulations on the occasion of the engagement, Marie of Darmstadt hugged me like a sister; She remained my sister until her death.”
But Maria could become not only a sister, but also a sister-in-law for Olga: The diaries of Alexander of Hesse (the brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna) indicate that he had a particularly warm relationship with the 20-year-old Tsar’s daughter.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/280

An important aspect in the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was the continuation of the tradition of patronage over the regiments of the Imperial Army. While still Tsesarevna, on September 12, 1842, she was appointed chief of the Pskov Dragoon Regiment. Since then, it officially began to be called “The Cuirassier Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna.” She replaced her husband in this “post”. However, the monogram on the regimental stars from “A” (in honor of Alexander) to “M” would be changed only in 1856, when the couple actually became Emperor and Empress, and the regiment would be called “Her Majesty’s Life Cuirassier.”
The officers and lower ranks of this regiment should have on their cuirass a star of the same type as those on the previous black cuirass of Her Majesty’s Cuirassier Regiment, but with a monogram M in the middle of the star, and silver on the officers’ cuirass, and copper on the lower ranks, said the order of the Minister of War.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/633

Charity of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was not limited to the borders of the Russian Empire. For example, the Tsarina provided support to the needy (both people and historical monuments) in Italy.
Often away from (her new) homeland, she continued to "keep her finger on the pulse" of her educational and philanthropic initiatives in Russia. Fortunately, the technology of the time made this possible.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/233

In the German War of 1866, Hesse-Darmstadt and Prussia found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades. Of course, the heart of Empress Maria Alexandrovna empathized with the fate of her native Grand Duchy. All the more painfully did she and her brother, Alexander of Hesse, perceive the “betrayal” on the part of the younger generation of the House of Hesse (when they go to the hated Berlin). An additional irritant was Queen Victoria, an old “friend” of the Empress and mother-in-law of her nephew, Ludwig.
“Ludwig and Alice, if I may say so, have a devilish penchant for inappropriate visits; these English princesses certainly inherited this motor excitement from their mother..." the Empress wrote to her brother in January 1867.
Maria Alexandrovna had no idea that her son Sergei and grandson Nikolai were marrying the daughters of that same English princess: Ella (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna) and Alix (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna)
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/647

On March 14, 1867, the memorial St. Nicholas Chapel will be founded in Nice in memory of the eldest son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Tsarevich Nicholas.
Nixa, as his family called him, would arrive in Nice at the end of 1864 for treatment. Death would end the life of the heir to the Throne on takeoff - shortly after his engagement to Princess Dagmar of Denmark. It seemed that everything was still ahead, but fate decreed otherwise: Nixa died painfully on April 24, 1865 at Villa Bermon, specially rented for him by Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
Nixa's parents will purchase a villa in order to erect a chapel on its territory, designed by David Grimm. The consecration will take place a year later with the participation of Nixa’s younger brother, the future Emperor Alexander III. The memory of the deceased is also preserved by Tsarevich Boulevard, named so by the authorities of Nice in memory of the late Tsarevich.
Carpe diem...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/807

Not much is known about the communication between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her grandson, the future Emperor Nicholas II. However, the royal grandmother will not forget about her grandson in her will.
The Empress bequeaths to him symbols of continuity and fidelity to the Faith, Fatherland and Dynasty: the Icon of St. Nicholas, a watch that belonged to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (1843-1865)*, cufflinks with the code “N”, and portraits of the grandson’s august parents.
*this is the eldest son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, as a result of his death his younger brother Alexander (the future Alexander III, father of Nicholas II) will become Tsarevich
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/827

Empress Maria Alexandrowna never visited the territory of modern Kazakhstan. But her future husband, Tsarevich Alexander, as well as her grandson, Tsarevich Nikolai will visit Uralsk, located in the European part of Kazakhstan. The foundation stone of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in 1837 and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1891 are associated with these visits.
But we are going to Kazakhstan, also because the Empress supported the Orthodox Church in this part of the then Empire. There is information that in 1870 she granted an audience to Maria Kosminichna Kabanova, who came from a Kazakh Muslim family but converted to Orthodoxy.
Maria was active in missionary work and asked the Tsarina for help for newly baptized Kazakh women in need. The Empress donated 100 rubles and thereby set an example for other representatives of high society about the importance of supporting missionary work.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/577

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. In 1871, the Royal parents sent their son on a trip around the world
to forestall the transition of amorous hobbies into matrimonial obligations.
The Grand Duke will visit Africa, North America and get to Vladivostok, but he will be able to get into the city on the second try: ice in December 1872 did not allow him to get to the port, but in early May 1873 the frigate Svetlana dropped anchor in the Zolotoy Rog ("Golden Horn") Bay.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/427

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich could not resist the charms of the maid of honor of his royal mother. According to historians, in 1869, the 19-year-old son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and 27-year-old Alexandra Zhukovskaya realized that they loved each other.
It is assumed that the young people consolidated their relationship with a morganatic marriage.
Of course, the reaction of the Grand Duke's parents was not long in coming - in 1871, their son was offered Svetlana... The frigate "Svetlana" became the home for the Grand Duke during his trip around the world.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/638

In summer, I will continue the "resort theme". Empress Maria Alexandrovna set the fashion for new resorts. For example, it is believed that it was she who made Italian San Remo to the prestigious resort (1874/75).. The love of the Empress and San Remo will be mutual: she will give the city legendary tall palm trees, and the city will name the main street Corso Imperatrice in her honor. But there were emergencies at sone resorts.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/184

The history of public schools of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in particular, the Alexander-Mariinsky House of Charity, is connected with the name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. On one of her visits to the Lavra in 1868, the Empress arrived with her daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.
She wished to visit a women's charity home, where she communicated with the pupils. Archimandrite Anthony, seeing the interest, invited the young guest to become a trustee - to which she received an affirmative answer.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/583

The family happiness of her only daughter is a subject of concern for Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and, as some researchers claim, for conversations “in a raised voice” with her crowned husband. After such a stormy conversation, the Empress goes to Sorrento, from where she writes about the state of matrimonial affairs to her brother:
“The choice is small - the Prince of Württemberg did not like it, and Strelitz frightened poor Marie, because the Prince himself in question said (about the place) that it was a “small and boring hole” ..."
Sorrento, March 20, 1873
...and daughter’s “British” (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/751) happiness is just around the corner..
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/831

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky is a special figure for the union of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. It was he, the Tsarevich’s tutor, who would become the Russian language teacher for his pupil’s Hessian bride. In 1868, a large-scale campaign to raise funds for the Vasily Zhukovsky School in Belev began. It is Maria Alexandrovna who will become the “icebreaker” of this movement:
“Her Majesty was pleased to donate 250 rubles from her own funds for this item.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/762

Sometimes there were special incidents with educators. So, Vasily Zhukovsky, however, already "posthumously" will actually become a father of the daughter-in-law for his former royal pupils - Empress Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander II. (NB:09.09.1868?)
This collision will be discussed in more detail in a weekend report from Geneva.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/248

The son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich during his visit to the USA, will visit, according to various estimates, from 20 to 34 cities in the country! The colossal scale of the program envisaged for a representative of the Imperial House of Romanov will require that US President Ulysses Grant provide the guest with the entire Western Division of the US War Department.
Alexey shares his regional studies reflections with his mother:
“There is a remarkable difference between the Americans of the North and the South. Here (i.e., southerners) they look much more like Europeans, completely different manners, now it’s clear that they are old feudal lords and generally similar to our old nobility.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/655

On March 12, 1874, the only daughter of Empress Maria Alexandrovna - her namesake - after a brilliant wedding with Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, will arrive from St. Petersburg to London with her newly-made husband. The lucky mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, will meet the newlyweds at the station.
However, Empress Maria Alexandrovna “keeps her finger on the pulse” and remains true to herself, retelling to her brother the messages of the maid of honor Vyazemskaya from London:
“...It’s strange to hear her talk about the etiquette of Windsor, about the Queen’s fears, about the mystery in which everything happens. The boredom that reigned there almost suffocated her. The English were very surprised when they heard Marie and Baryatinsky talking in their natural voices to their neighbors to the right and left at the first dinner in a small circle. They couldn’t even understand that they had no fear, because they themselves always talk to each other under the weight of this feeling.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/751

Let's introduce Empress Maria Alexandrovna as a driver of humanitarian politics. It was she who made the decisive contribution to the creation of the Russian Red Cross Society in 1867.
Weekend report from the Les Eaux-Vives suburb in Geneva.
The place is symbolic - it was here that the first Russian church was located (by chance or not, but in a house that once belonged to the Senarclens (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/217?single) family), and in 1864, at the Villa La Grange located here, the First Geneva Convention for the Protection and Relief of Sick and Wounded Soldiers in War was signed.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/299

A funny note in the "Fränkischer Kurier" for 1868: May 18 of this year. Count F. Berg, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland, was in the theatre when he received a telegram about an addition to the Royal family. The Count ordered his adjutant to announce the good news from the stage, after which the national anthem was played. The jubilation was marred by the fact that some ladies in the audience did not stand up, for which they were removed from the performance. And so the birth of the future Emperor Nicholas II was reflected in the Western press.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/66

People usually talk about “youthful maximalism.” However, the correspondence of Empress Maria Alexandrovna with her brother Alexander shows the opposite - the epistolaries of already adult people are full of idealism and achromatopsia of values.
As you know, Hesse-Darmstadt was an enemy of Prussia in the war of 1866. The Empress's brother refuses to accept new realities and cannot adapt to them. Therefore, in letters to his sister in January 1867, he condemns their nephew Ludwig, the future Grand Duke, who went on a visit to Prussia:
“Ludwig probably wants to apologize to the King for the fact that he fulfilled his duty as Prince of Hesse in the last war...”
Alexander also complains about his older brother, Grand Duke Ludwig III, who did not prohibit the young “collaborator’s” trip to Berlin:
“He is indifferent to everything that does not directly concern his wallet.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/636

As is known, Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880), following medical prescriptions, improved her fragile health at European resorts. One of these places was Lake Como.
In the fall of 1868, the Italian press, excited by the lake's flooding, will also write about the threat to Villa Ciani in Lugano, where the Russian Empress was staying.
Exactly 30 years before these events, the future Alexander II (1818-1881) also visited these places - even before his marriage to the Hessian princess (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/26?single) Maria.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/147

The sincere religiosity of Empress Maria Alexandrovna is widely known. One of the images she revered was the miraculous Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God.
According to legend, the creator of this shrine was the Evangelist Luke himself.
After almost 600 years have passed since the first documentary mention of the icon, it appears in 1839 in St. Petersburg. Emperor Nicholas I revered the image so much that he kept it in his office. It is believed that it will be over the head of the monarch on the day of his death, March 2, 1855.
On May 12, 1868, the image will be transferred to the Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg. It is known for certain that Empress Maria Alexandrovna was presented with a copy of the shrine after the Tsarina’s prayer in 1870 before the miraculous image.
The fate of the icon is sad - in 1983 it will be stolen from the Epiphany Cathedral of Vyshny Volochok.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/748

St. Andrew's Skete on Athos. The history of the monastery is also connected with the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
The pearl among the dozen churches of the monastery - St. Andrew's Cathedral was founded in 1867 by the son of the Empress, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich: in memory of the rescue of Alexander II from an assassination attempt in Paris. One of the boundaries of the temple will be consecrated in honor of the heavenly patroness of the Empress, Mary Magdalene.
Three years later, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will make a “royal” gift to the monastery. A special bell will be cast in the Vyatka province. Its production will take a symbolic 333 poods* and 33 pounds of metal. The double-headed eagle with which the bell was decorated was reminiscent of the “royal” benefactress.
*Russian measure of weight = 16.38 kg
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1079

Having inherited a love of art, the Empress Maria Alexandrovna herself will pass it on to her children. A clear indication of this is that the children, being already adults, staged theatrical performances themselves, and, as archival materials indicate, they invited their royal mother:
“I am sending you, Dear Ma, a poster for today’s performance, which represents our theater and a scene from the first Russian play , which we gave in the winter. – To the right is the figure of Vladimir from the French play, and to the left is Alexey in the Russian play. Minnie [future Empress Maria Feodorovna] and I are almost crying that you again cannot be with us for the evening. - It’s very, very annoying and a pity, because the plays are going so well and if we succeed tonight, then this will be our best performance...”
- Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor Alexander III) will write to Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/913

Not much is known about the musical preferences of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. But it can be argued that she was at least familiar with the operatic masterpieces of Richard Wagner. The “producer” of the controversial musical genius was none other than King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a friend and nephew of the Russian Empress.
One of the epistolary evidence of “advancement” is a letter from Ludwig to his august aunt in St. Petersburg in 1869:
"... I dare to send you photographic images of the rooms in which you lived here; I am enclosing a book about Wagner's Die Meistersinger, maybe you will kindly look through it..."
And a Sunday report from the “homeland” of those same “Meistersinger”.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/480

On November 19/20, 1872, the legendary visit of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich to the USA began - the frigate "Svetlana" arrived in New York. The young representative of the Imperial House of Romanov was received with state honors. The distinguished guest will travel to Washington on a special train. US President Ulysses Grant also met with him.
Obviously, the charity of his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, served as an example for her son - in Chicago, Alexei will donate an astronomical amount of $5,000 in gold to the needs of the homeless!
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/641

The pearl of the art collection of Empress Maria Alexandrovna is “Madonna Conestabile” by Raphael Santi.
The last owner of the painting, Count Conestabile, decided to part with the family heirloom in 1869 and himself offered the Hermitage to purchase the art collection from him. This is how the bureaucratic machine was launched through the Ministry of the Court. Obviously, the matter reached the Empress: the Ministry reported her desire to purchase the painting “Madonna Conestabile”.
During complex negotiations, the owner agrees to sell the painting for 310,000 francs without the obligation to buy the rest of the collection. In 1871, Emperor Alexander II acquired and gave the painting to his wife. She bequeaths the work to the Picture Gallery of the Imperial Hermitage.
The Soviet Government will put the painting up for sale. However, due to its miniature size and poor preservation, it is rated as “doubtful,” which will save the Empress’s pearl for Russia.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1019

The range of international contacts of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was not limited to "regular" monarchs. On May 28, 1873, European newspapers will report on the visit of the Empress of All Russia to the Vatican.
She will be accompanied by the Grand Duchesses Maria Alexandrovna and Maria Nikolaevna, her brother Prince Alexander of Hesse, as well as a “numerous retinue,” as journalists noted.
However, only her namesakes will go to an audience with Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) with the Empress Maria.
The fact that at the end of the visit the Pope will send the Empress a “luxurious bouquet” will not go unnoticed by the press. It seems that with her charm the Empress “converted” even the Pope.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1106

Through the capital of the Kingdom of Poland lay the path to St. Petersburg of the young Hessian Princess Marie in 1840. It was in Warsaw, where she would visit, accompanied by her future mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, 29 years later, the Cathedral of Mary Magdalene would be erected - in honor of Empress’ Maria Alexandrovna heavenly patroness.
Warsaw newspapers wrote:
“On Sunday, July 11, 1869, on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the temple was consecrated... At 9 o’clock, to the ringing of the bells of the cathedral church, the city clergy... walked in procession from the cathedral church to transfer the image of St. Mary Magdalene, graciously bestowed by the Most Serene Empress Maria Alexandrovna..."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/447

From May to November 1872, a technical revolution will take place in the Winter Palace - special heating systems will be installed in the premises of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The “driver” of innovation is the new physician of the Empress, Dr. Sergei Botkin (1832-1889). It is he who will purposefully use spa treatment and the most modern technological solutions to maintain the fragile health of Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
Well, the children, especially the younger ones, will be waiting for their beloved “Ma” to return home...
"Dear Ma!
How I rejoice that the time of Your arrival here is approaching every day...
Your Piz*
9th November 1872
Tsarskoe Selo"
*Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/474

1874, the Tobolsk Women's School became the Mariinsky School. The name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna in the title of the educational institution was not a formality: evidence of communication between the students and the royal patroness of the Tobolsk Mariinsky Girls' School has been preserved, in particular, the following telegram:
January 16, 1874
Tobolsk-St. Petersburg
Pupils and employees of the Tobolsk Women's School named after Your Imperial Majesty, having offered warm prayers to the Almighty for the health and longevity of the Royal couple, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna and His Royal Highness Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, on the occasion of such a joyful heart of every Russian event, they cast loyal feelings at the feet of Your Majesty.
Trustee wife of Major General Sologub
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/610

Obviously, the mother’s heart worried about her daughter, who married (even to a real Prince) and left her father’s house... Empress Maria Alexandrovna, in her lively and ironic manner, shares with her brother news from London from the “family front” of Maria Alexandrovna the Younger:
"...Marie found out that the Queen drinks whiskey (with water, but more often without it), and that she is afraid of Brown [the Queen's servant], who treats her like a small child and looks at her as if with pity. One day, when she gave Marie a taste of this brandy, she made such a grimace that she now offers her only water. This impudent daughter-in-law claims that her mother-in-law is bored, and since she tells her everything that comes to mind, she forces her [mother-in-law] laugh and thus be at her mercy. Honestly, it is difficult to take this mother-in-law seriously, and I sympathize with Marie in this."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/783

In the fall of 1874, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will go to London - the reason is joyful: a speedy addition was expected in the daughter's family (on October 15, the first-born, Alfred Jr., will be born). The Empress stayed at Buckingham Palace.
It is noteworthy how Queen Victoria recalled the royal co-mother-in-law:
“The Empress is much more pleasing and better looking than her Photographs. She is very tall, very ladylike, and amiable and très-grande Dame, with a sad expression and very delicate in appearance."
Ten years later, 1884 enchanted Victoria will order a copy of the portrait of Empress Maria Alexandrovna after Heinrich von Angeli.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/736

On April 4, 1870, the Alexander Nevsky Church will be consecrated in Grodno (in today's Belarus). The creation of the temple is directly related to the Name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her family.
In the fateful year of 1866, an attempt was made on the life of the Empress’s royal husband, Alexander II. It is in honor of the miraculous salvation of the monarch that the construction of the temple will be initiated. Members of the Imperial Family will support the construction, and on February 4, 1870, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will give the church a set of silver liturgical objects, full vestments for the priest, deacon and cleric, an altar and a lectern. And on June 24, 1870, the saved Alexander II will pray in the temple.
In 1938, the church will be destroyed by decision of the Polish authorities, since its appearance has an “anti-Polish meaning.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/577

1874 the first visit of Emperor Franz Joseph to Russia took place. Relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia were not easy and were complicated by “special” personal relations between the monarchs... It is noteworthy that Empress Sisi will not come to St. Petersburg. Empress Maria Alexandrovna, in turn, will give a cool reception to the Austrian monarch.
On February 13, 1874 upon arrival, Maria Alexandrovna will receive the royal guest, but will limit herself to protocol formalities, and the next day she will give a dinner in honor of Franz Joseph, after which there will be “La Traviata” at the Mariinsky Theater, but the Empress will not join.
The diaries of Alexander of Hesse indicate that his sister was in solidarity with Maria of Leuchtenberg (sister of Alexander II): “I will be polite to this person, but nothing more.” “Unfortunately,” notes Prince Alexander, “the Empress thinks the same, she only expresses herself more cautiously.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/737

Prince Alfred (6 August 1844 – 30 July 1900) – Duke of Edinburgh, son-in-law of Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880). Touching letters from the son of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) to his Russian mother-in-law about the birth of the Empress's grandchildren have been preserved:
"My dear mother... We are both so happy and so grateful for this dear little daughter, whom we are going to call Maria, and we hope that you will be so kind as to be her godmother..." (30 October 1875).
At the same time, the relationship between the Empress and the Queen, despite their family ties, was complicated. There is evidence that Maria Alexandrovna once called Victoria "a crazy old witch" in her heart. There are many reasons for this – from Victoria's cool attitude towards her daughter-in-law, Maria Alexandrovna the Younger (1853-1920) (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/138?single) to the foreign policy confrontation with England. Surely, the august ladies still remember the "competition" for the Russian Tsarevich (the future Emperor Alexander II, 1818-1881).
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/143

Empress Maria Alexandrovna, obviously being a caring grandmother, regularly received information about the development of her grandchildren. Here, on November 10, 1875, her English son-in-law Alfred writes to her news about her newborn granddaughter Maria and her one year older brother (father’s namesake):
…The baby grows fat and is in excellent health and is a very pretty child. Alfred gets fatter every day and grows enormously. He is getting very sharp and cleaner, says a great many words but does not walk yet.
The Christening will probably be at Windsor on the 27th but it is not quite settled yet. May my Mama represent you on the occasion?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/437

On October 29, 1875, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will have another granddaughter. Parents - Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna and Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha - will name their daughter Maria (1875-1938). The girl will have a bright and dramatic fate: she will become the last Queen of Romania.
Well, then in 1875, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will receive many telegrams, one of which will say: “I wish you and the Emperor happiness on the occasion of the birth of our granddaughter.” These laconic lines in German will be sent by the mother of the Empress's son in-law, Queen Victoria.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/402

The visit of Empress Maria Alexandrovna to Rome (1873 (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1106)) will be surrounded by legends. In 1904, American newspapers retold an anecdotal story that happened during the Empress’s visit:
"The King [of Italy] loved his comfort and ease... One evening Victor Emmanuel went to the theater, absolutely alone, in a neglige jacket. In the middle of the first act what was his horror to see the Empress and her daughter enter an adjacent box. He could not slip away because they had seen him, and it seemed equally impossible to go to them in that costume. Suddenly the King had an inspiration and, calling the prefect of Rome ordered him to take off his dress coat and give it to him… Victor Emmanuel's shoulders were extraordinarily broad and no sooner had he forced himself into the coat than the seam gave way... The King was obliged to join the Empress and her daughter in his jacket..."
According to legend, the King gracefully made such good excuses that the Empress enjoyed the incident thoroughly..
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1159

I came across an interesting version of the origin of the Vladimir Tiara. It turns out that this the Diamond and Pearl Tiara may be older than previously thought: it is believed that the tiara was a gift from Tsarevich Alexander to his wife Maria Alexandrovna on the occasion of the birth of their first son, Nicholas (1843-1865). Allegedly, production began already in 1842. And after the death of her son, Maria Alexandrovna could no longer wear the tiara and it was inherited by Grand Duke Vladimir. Honestly, I think that the author was misled by the court’s economic documents (for 1841-1842) about the allocation of precious stones for Alexandra Fedorovna’s diamond diadem (a gift from Nicholas I on the occasion of the silver wedding).
The version is beautiful, but most likely, the Tiara (as is commonly believed) appeared as a gift on the occasion of the wedding of the son of Empress Maria - Grand Duke Vladimir in 1874
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/331

Empress Maria Alexandrovna traveled a lot, but never left the European continent, perhaps with only one exception... In the fall of 1874, the Empress will go to the shores of «Foggy Albion», which London newspapers will not fail to write about:
«The arrival of this illustrious lady, upon an errand of maternal love and care, at the childbirth bedside of her beloved daughter, the young wife of our Queen’s second son, is an occasion of great interest to the English people. Her Imperial Majesty, as reported otherwise, reached London from the Continent at eight o’clock in the morning on Thursday week, accompanied by her eldest son, the Imperial Grand Duke Cesarewitch. She was met at Charing-cross station by his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. She has since remained with the Duchess of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. The babe was born five or six hours before the arrival of its august grandmamma.»
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1067

Vladivostok - the first of the Romanovs to sow the eastern border of the Russian Empire will be the son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich.
In May 1873, the frigate “Svetlana” with a representative of the Imperial Family will drop anchor in the Zolotoy Rog ("Golden Horn") Bay.
It is symbolic that the "American Street" will be renamed "Svetlanskaya" in memory of the fateful visit.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/405

As it turns out, not only the son of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, showed herself in the field of archeology...
During her stay in Sorrento in the spring of 1873, the Empress would be joined by her beloved brother Alexander of Hesse. The history of the ancient city of Pompeii fascinated both of them so much that they received permission to excavate... with their own hands. Two “archaeologists” begin excavating one of the rooms of an ancient Roman house, where under a layer of ash they discover a beautiful bed decorated with ivory sculptures. But the joy of the “archaeologists” will be short-lived - the historical object instantly crumbles to dust under the influence of air...
However, the upset Empress will still be allowed by the Italian authorities to “steal” a piece of purple from the mosaic floor.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/810

The place of power for Empress Maria Alexandrovna will forever remain Jugenheim. She will come here regularly to places of children's freedom. One of these visits was captured in the text of a newspaper from 1875.
“The day of arrival has finally arrived. Brothers are waiting for their crowned sister at the secluded Bickenbach-Jugenheim station of the Main-Neckar railway. The imperial train arrives around one o'clock, and the noble lady warmly greets her waiting relatives. The Empress enters the court carriage with Prince Alexander... The Grand Duke rides ahead to be the first to welcome his dear sister back to Heiligenberg Castle. As soon as the Empress's carriage crosses the border of Jugenheim, the bells ring... The burgomaster and the clergyman greet the monarch on behalf of the inhabitants. The villag youth lined up at the gate loudly sing the Russian anthem, and the Hessian flag is lowered and the imperial Russian one rises, proudly flying in the wind.”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1058

Continuing the theme of the often difficult relationships of crowned ladies (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/156?single), I will recall the son-in-law of Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880), who “celebrated” his birthday yesterday.
Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844-1900), the second son of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) will be forced to find himself between two fires.
However, although the relationship between mother-in-law and his own mother was “high (https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/146?single)”, Alfred still tried to unite the two ladies with common responsibilities towards their grandchildren:
“… The christening will probably take place in Windsor on the 27th, but this has not yet been finally decided. Can my Mother represent you at this event? ..." he will write in the autumn of 1875 to Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/158

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich will leave Cuba for mysterious Brazil, where he will be received by Emperor Pedro II (1825-1891).
The Brazilian monarch was an extraordinary person; it is worth mentioning only the fact that he spoke Russian. An ascetic and intellectual, he patronized the sciences and the arts.
Literally a few years after meeting the “delegate” of the Imperial House of Romanov, Pedro II will visit Russia: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Crimea will become the main stops of the Brazilian guest. The meeting with Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna will take place on September 27, 1876 in Livadia. The traveler will also meet other children of the Imperial couple: Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/693

Meeting of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich with Emperor Pedro II of Brazil in Petropolis.
In 1876, the Emperor will arrive in Russia and, of course, will devote a significant part of his visit to getting to know the "pearls" of the Russian capital.
The “imprint” of the intellectual is clearly visible from the visit program: the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg University (including the office of Dmitry Mendeleev), the Imperial Library... In Livadia, where the guest will be received by Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna, there will be no such “scientific and educational freedom”, which is probably why the Brazilian guest will get bored.
Weekend report from St. Petersburg. P.S. By the way, the polyglot monarch stayed at the Grande Hotel Europa
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/741

The history of the city Rozhdestvenski hospital in St. Petersburg begins in connection with the cholera outbreak in 1866. Medical practice itself will show the importance of training qualified paramedics.
In just six years, a pioneering initiative will be launched here - the first specialized educational institution: a school for medical assistants and paramedics (Rozhdestvenski courses”)!
Empress Maria Alexandrovna will not remain aloof from this good cause. In 1876, she donated church vessels, vestments and the “Nativity of the Virgin Mary” icon from her collection.
It is noteworthy that on December 21, 1875, the temple will be consecrated in honor of the heavenly patroness of the Empress - St. Mary Magdalene.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/727

On May 22, 1864, the Sychevsky Kazan Monastery opened its doors. The history of this “chamber” monastery (up to 30 people lived in the monastery) is connected with the name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
The idea of creating a monastery in Sychevka (Smolensk region) came to the tradesman Andrei Boushev (novice Anthony) and the merchant son Dmitry Surov (novice Mikhail) after six months of living on Athos. The elder monks there blessed the undertaking with the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which would give the monastery its name.
In 1876, the monastic three-altar stone Church will be consecrated. Empress Maria Alexandrovna will donate a highly artistic oak iconostasis made in the capital with all the icons.
The monastery would fall victim to the retreating German army in 1943.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1051

On the eve of the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878), Empress Maria Alexandrovna was busy thinking about the potentials and plans of the interested parties. Examples of her geostrategic reasoning are contained in correspondence from that time with her brother Alexander of Hesse:
“Turkey is heading towards its complete disorganization, the Sultan is not mad enough to be removed, but he is more than mad enough to rule, the troops are poorly paid and even worse provisioned... Austria now wants to annex part of Bosnia, and the rest part should be organized in such a way that it is as unviable as possible in the interests of the Slavs, because in Vienna they are so afraid of this and hate it even more..."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/834

Not only the husband and sons, but also the Hessian nephew of Empress Maria Alexandrovna (a son of Prince Alexander) will fight on the fronts of the Russian-Turkish War.
“So they set off! May the Lord protect them and return them unharmed,”
she writes to her brother.
The struggle of the Slavic peoples of the Balkans against the Ottoman yoke will find a response in the heart of the Empress, who became the consolidating symbol of such sentiments in the Empire. As it turns out, support and sympathy for the Empress were also expressed by her European “colleagues,” in particular, King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
“Your warm words of admiration for our glorious army delighted and touched the Emperor and me. We have so many enemies and so few friends that any evidence of belonging is doubly valuable for us,”
Empress Maria Alexandrovna will write in response.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1063

Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine (1809-1877), the elder brother of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was separated by an age distance of 15 years! It is Charles (Karl) who will become Princess Marie's closest friend and her moral tuning fork. Almost every childhood letter from Princess Marie to her mother will end with requests to convey greetings to her older brother:
“Be so kind, dear mother, tell our dear Charles many kind words from me...”.
Karl will support his younger sister through the twists and turns of her fate. For example, he will be the one who will take care of her dowry for the wedding.
The death of Charles will be a strong blow for the Empress...
She sincerely speaks of “pain over her beloved brother and friend,” noting that “after all, this is exactly what he was for me, in the fullest sense of the word. We lost in him a warm, loving heart, a noble and pure soul, a deeply religious mind, life cannot return this to us ... "
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1087

Today, the names of the greats are often imprinted on the boards of aircraft and ships. An entire train received the name of Empress Maria Alexandrovna during her lifetime!
On May 20, 1877, Sanitary train No. 1 named after the Empress will depart from the Nikolaevsky station on its first journey. The first sanitary train in Russia will spend 16 months on the front line of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The train will include 13 passenger and 4 freight cars. After the first trip to the front, the train will deliver 350 people to hospitals in Moscow, Kyiv and St. Petersburg. This will be followed by a significant modernization, on which 500 workers will work for 4 weeks. A year later, the “Regulations on Military Medical Railway Trains” would be approved: each train had to transport at least 250 wounded.
In total, during the war years of 1877-1878 trains of the Russian Red Cross, created under the patronage of the Empress, will transport more than 200 thousand patients.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1075

There is information that Empress Maria Alexandrovna had a friendship with the legendary Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, Prince Alexander Gorchakov (1798-1883). The Chancellor, in turn, appreciated the subtle mind and wisdom of the Empress.
Throughout her life in Russia, the Empress actively interacted with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - both in a utilitarian context (after all, her visits outside the Empire required diplomatic accompaniment) and in a content context (especially in the first decades of her reign, the Empress would actively participate in shaping the country’s foreign policy).
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/744

One of the favorite architects and artists of Empress Maria Alexandrovna was Ippolito Monighetti (1819-1878). He will not only create architectural designs for the buildings of the Imperial estates in Livadia, but will also prove himself outside the Russian Empire.
One of his masterpieces is the Church of St. Barbara in Vevey, Switzerland. The news of the consecration of the temple will also be sent to the Empress in St. Petersburg.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/385

In November 1878, the Grand Ducal Court was struck by a diphtheria epidemic. Events develop dramatically - both children and adult members of the family fall ill. Among them is Grand Duchess Alice, mother of the future Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Their grandmother, a close friend of Empress Maria Alexandrovna - Elizabeth of Prussia (wife of Maria Alexandrovna's brother) immediately telegraphed to St. Petersburg.
Telegrams dated November 26, 1878 have been preserved, when she writes about Alice’s illness (the disease will become fatal for her), and in a message dated November 30, 1878, she conveys gratitude to the Grand Ducal couple Alice and Ludwig for the letter and telegram to Maria Alexandrovna.
Do you think maybe the Empress’s future daughter-in-law, Ella, who is to become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, also read the messages from Russia?
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/492

During her lifetime, Empress Maria Alexandrovna will be recognized as a “trendsetter” in organizing care for the wounded. In March 1878, the Neueste Nachrichten publishes Dr. Ludwig Mayer's report on the care of the sick. Putting the Russian Empress on a par with Florence Nightingale, he noted the Empress’s approaches of the Crimean War:
“... Empress Maria Alexandrovna sent 200 sisters from the Order of Merciful Widows to Crimea, who were accompanied by their own delegates.”
The expert stattet:
“Members of the Russian Imperial Family are generally distinguished by their generosity in establishing all kinds of charitable institutions; In particular, ... the hospitals and infirmaries they built in St. Petersburg allegedly surpass the hospitals of all other cities in their magnificence of construction and equipment ... "
Dr. Mayer himself worked as the head of the hospital for the wounded during the Franco-Prussian War. On July 24, 1878, he died of meningitis.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1030

The lace of matrimonial ties of the British Royal House and the Battenberg/Mountbatten family complements the family ties of Empress Maria Alexandrovna with Foggy Albion. The London and China Express newspaper for 1879 tells about events in Bulgaria:
“Prince Battenberg was unanimously chosen, with the title of Alexander I. The Czar has addressed a proclamation to the Bulgarians..."
In presenting the Empress’s nephew, the publication will go “too far”:
"Alexander I, Prince of Bulgaria, known as Prince Battenberg is a member of the junior branch of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse… The Prince is connected with the reigning houses both of Russia and of England… the Empress of Russia is his aunt, her maiden name having been Princess Marie Alexandrovna of Battenberg."
It is quite possible that Princess Marie was once in Battenberg on Hessian soil, but she was never one of the Battenbergs...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1114

Empress Maria Alexandrovna had a special, warm relationship with her younger sons. One of the evidence of the reverent attitude of sons towards their mother is dated November 2, 1879. This is a touching letter from Paul:
“My dear darling Ma! I was terribly touched by your dear letter, especially since I did not dare to hope for an answer so soon, knowing how much you write now. How boring it is that these unbearable headaches have returned again, God grant that they pass quickly and forever...”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/422

A special «friendly triangle» will develop between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her younger sons Sergei and Pavel. The older children would already have their own families and large-scale government responsibilities, while the younger sons, not yet bound by such “external” obligations, idolized their mother and spared no time for her.
This is what Pitz (Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich) wrote to his mother on November 16, 1879:
Dear darling Ma!
Sergei wrote to me in his last letter that You instructed him to tell me so that I would not be discouraged by the fact that You did not write to me, but I did not even think about it, having already received one letter from You and learned how difficult it must be for You to write...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/455

A special «friendly triangle» will develop between Empress Maria Alexandrovna and her younger sons Sergei and Pavel. The older children would already have their own families and large-scale government responsibilities, while the younger sons, not yet bound by such “external” obligations, idolized their mother and spared no time for her.
This is what Pitz (Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich) wrote to his mother on November 16, 1879:
Dear darling Ma!
Sergei wrote to me in his last letter that You instructed him to tell me so that I would not be discouraged by the fact that You did not write to me, but I did not even think about it, having already received one letter from You and learned how difficult it must be for You to write...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/455

Empress Maria Alexandrovna had a special, warm relationship with her younger sons. One of the evidence of the reverent attitude of sons towards their mother is dated November 2, 1879. This is a touching letter from Paul:
“My dear darling Ma! I was terribly touched by your dear letter, especially since I did not dare to hope for an answer so soon, knowing how much you write now. How boring it is that these unbearable headaches have returned again, God grant that they pass quickly and forever...”
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/422

The lace of matrimonial ties of the British Royal House and the Battenberg/Mountbatten family complements the family ties of Empress Maria Alexandrovna with Foggy Albion. The London and China Express newspaper for 1879 tells about events in Bulgaria:
“Prince Battenberg was unanimously chosen, with the title of Alexander I. The Czar has addressed a proclamation to the Bulgarians..."
In presenting the Empress’s nephew, the publication will go “too far”:
"Alexander I, Prince of Bulgaria, known as Prince Battenberg is a member of the junior branch of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse… The Prince is connected with the reigning houses both of Russia and of England… the Empress of Russia is his aunt, her maiden name having been Princess Marie Alexandrovna of Battenberg."
It is quite possible that Princess Marie was once in Battenberg on Hessian soil, but she was never one of the Battenbergs...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1114

On June 3, 1880, the heart of Empress Maria Alexandrovna would stop forever. Of course, this irreparable loss was reflected in piercing pain in the souls of the Empress’s children.
Obviously, empathizing with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853-1920), Duke Alfred of Edinburgh will give her a unique portrait pendant for her birthday in memory of her deceased mother. The central element of the decoration is the image of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, located under the portrait diamond. The text on the reverse side of the jewel reads:
"Marie in remembrance of her dear mother from her affectionate husband, Alfred. 5/17 October 1880."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1130

In a surprising way, the beginning and the end of the life of Empress Maria Alexandrovna in Russia will be connected with the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Judge for yourself - in the city of Kalisz (Poland), which became the first point on the territory of the Russian Empire along the route of the Hessian bride of the Russian Tsarevich in 1840 from Darmstadt to St. Petersburg, the Kalisz Peter and Paul Cathedral will be erected. The temple will be consecrated on the birthday of Empress Maria Alexandrovna in 1877. Three years later, the Empress will rest in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, but in St. Petersburg.
The fate of the Kalisz five-domed cathedral-hero reflects the spirit of those times - in 1920 the building was dismantled, and already in 1929 a small cemetery church was built from bricks.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/391

It is surprising that one of the last jewels given to Empress Maria Alexandrovna by her husband will be the same enchanting combination of sapphire and diamonds that marked the beginning of this almost 40-year-long union.
On February 21, 1880, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his reign, Emperor Alexander II will give his wife a brooch with a gigantic sapphire bordered with three rows of diamonds.
This stone, one of the largest at that time, would be purchased by the Emperor at the London World Exhibition of 1862 and would amaze not only members of the Imperial Family, but the Bolsheviks who did not dare to sell this unique property.
Today, the brooch of Empress Maria Alexandrovna is in the Diamond Fund of Russia.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/689

The death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna will have a media echo throughout the world. The June 9, 1880 edition of the Memphis Daily Appeal from Tennessee will inform readers:
“Maria Alexandrovna, empress consort of Russia, died Friday, in her fifty-sixth year. She was a daughter of the Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse, and was originally called Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria. On marrying the heir apparent of Russia, she joined the Greek church, and, in accordance with usage, changed her names”.
From the article, readers will learn about the Empress’s date of birth, as well as (albeit with errors in the dates) about her children.
“The deceased empress had long been in wretched health, her disease latterly taking a consumptive turn. It is reported that the knowledge of her husband’s unfaithfulness aggravated if it did not occasion her malady. She spent a part of the last winter in Switzerland and Italy, and was taken home to die a few months ago. In view of her protracted feebleness, it is surprising that her death has been so long delayed.”
The subject of special attention of journalists will be the sincere religiosity of the Empress:
"Although her accession to the Greek church was the result of political necessities rather than of conscience, she is said to have become a really bigoted adherent of her adopted faith."
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/1167

I’ll tell you about a touching discovery in the archives of the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross in Geneva. As you know, Empress Maria Alexandrovna supported the construction of this temple.
Years later, when the Empress was no longer alive, in 1905 Archpriest Sergius Orlov, who by the way had once served at the Ryazan Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium, would become the rector of the church.
Surviving receipts and letters indicate that Father Sergius actively supported the creations of the Empress, which outlived her: the Russian Red Cross Society, the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, as well as the Trusteeship of Empress Maria Alexandrovna for the Blind, which bears the name of the Empress.
Truly, goodness, once sown, will pass through time.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/302

Today I will continue the story about the visit of the grandson of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich to Vladivostok. The Nicholas Triumphal Gate, or Tsarevich's Arch, was erected in 1891, demolished in 1930 and restored in 2003. The sine wave of Russian history continues to move...
Weekend report from Vladivostok.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/424

An outstanding explorer of the Far East, Admiral Nevelskoy (1813-1876) would serve under two Emperors - Nicholas I and his son, Alexander II. The monument at the site of his exploits will be laid by the grandson of Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna - Tsarevich Nicholas.
The monument to Gennady Nevelsky will be the first monument in Vladivostok.
On May 17, 1891, the Tsarevich with his own hands placed a silver plate into the base of the monument and preserved it with cement mortar for posterity.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/443

In the sad days of mourning for the victims of the terrible terrorist attack, let us remember the grief the terrorists brought to the family of Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
A real terrorist hunt will be declared against her husband, Alexander II: according to various estimates, from 7 to 11 assassination attempts will take place, the last of which on March 13, 1881, using homemade projectiles, will become fatal. Exactly on the same day, six years later, an attempt was planned on the life of the Empress’s eldest son, Alexander III.
One of Maria Alexandrovna’s younger sons, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, will also become a victim of terrorists: on February 17, 1905, at the Nikolsky Gate in the Kremlin, he will be killed by an “infernal machine” from the hands of the terrorist Kalyaev...
Bless and save...
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/842

I continue the series of weekend reports from Vladivostok.
This time we will talk about the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway, which was founded in 1891 in Vladivostok by the grandson of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, on behalf of the Empress’s son, then Emperor Alexander III.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/440

Vladivostok is also closely connected with the name of the grandson of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, Emperor Nicholas II. While still a Tsarevich, he visited Vladivostok for a 10-day visit. There he launched powerful infrastructure projects that became the foundation for the economic development of the Russian Empire already during his reign - of course, the Trans-Siberian Railway is one of these.
https://t.me/MariaAlexandrowna/408