The last love of the last Romanovs. Extreme king. The fatal men and women of Nicholas II Real name of Alexandra Fedorovna

The marriage of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna is called holy. The last emperor and empress in Russian history carried their feelings through all the trials and tribulations.

5 years wait

Love for Alexandra Feodorovna, then Princess Alice of Hesse, was the first love of Nicholas II. This feeling was born in him even before he came of age - at the age of 16, and the future king saw his wife in Alice, who was even younger - 12! The princesses' relatives still called their baby Sunny, that is, "Sun", and Nikolai was already thinking about the wedding. “I dream of someday marrying Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but especially deeply and strongly since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg. All this time I did not believe my feeling, I did not believe that my cherished dream could come true,” Nikolai wrote in his diary. For five years he waited for God's will for this marriage, for five years he humbly prayed, asked for "adults" and wrote a diary, on the first page of which there was a photograph of his Alice. Later he would write to her: “The Savior told us: “Whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” These words are endlessly dear to me, because for five years I prayed with them, repeating them every night, begging Him to make Alix’s transition easier. into the Orthodox faith and give her to me as a wife."
Water wears away the stone and breaks through the dam of the parental “no”. Five years later, the lovers get married to be together until their death.

Simplicity of habits

Despite the height of their position, which could not be higher, the emperor and empress led a completely simple life, trying not to indulge in excesses and raising their children in strictness. They were convinced that everything superfluous only corrupts, that it is “from the evil one.” It is known that Nikolai preferred cabbage soup and porridge to exquisite French dishes, and instead of expensive wine he could drink ordinary Russian vodka. The emperor easily swam in the lake with other men, without making anything secret about his person and his body.
And Alexandra Fedorovna’s behavior during the war is known to many - she completed courses for nurses and, together with her daughters, worked as a nurse in a hospital. Evil tongues discussed this every now and then: they said that such simplicity would reduce the authority of the royal family, or that the Empress hated Russians and helped German soldiers. Not a single queen in Rus' has ever been a nurse. And the activities of Alexandra and her daughters in the hospital did not stop from early morning until late at night.
There is a lot of evidence that the tsar and queen were unusually simple in dealing with soldiers, peasants, orphans - in a word, with any person. The queen instilled in her children that everyone is equal before God, and they should not be proud of their position.

Kayak trips

The royal family is usually presented in a solemn atmosphere, while performing the duties of the country's leaders. But you can’t live like this, and it’s even more difficult to preserve and strengthen your family in such conditions. The Emperor, Empress and their children can also be imagined... on a kayaking trip. Nicholas II had a passion for kayaks since childhood; his parents gave his first kayak to the Tsarevich at the age of 13. Many relatives of the future monarch knew about their love of water, and Nicholas II often received a boat or kayak as a gift for his birthdays.
Alexandra, with her bad legs (which forced her to sit in a wheelchair for a while from an early age), seeing her husband’s passion, joyfully shared it. And although staying in cold water for a long time was contraindicated for her, she periodically kept her beloved husband company. Memoirists, for example, mention her four-kilometer kayak trip through the Finnish skerries.

Charity

Workshops, schools, hospitals, prisons - Empress Alexandra was involved in all this from the very first years of her marriage. Her net worth was small, and she had to cut back on personal expenses to carry out charitable activities. During the famine of 1898, Alexandra gave 50 thousand rubles from her personal funds to fight it - this is an eighth of the family’s annual income.
Living in Crimea, the empress took an active part in the fate of tuberculosis patients who came to Crimea for treatment. She rebuilt the sanatoriums, providing them with all the improvements - with her personal money.
They say that Empress Alexandra was a born sister of mercy, and the wounded were happy when she visited them. Soldiers and officers often asked her to be with them during difficult dressings and operations, saying that “it’s not so scary” when the empress is nearby.

Houses of charity for fallen girls, houses of hard work, a school of folk art...
“The August Family did not limit itself to monetary assistance, but also sacrificed Their personal labors,” testifies the monk Seraphim (Kuznetsov) in his book. - How many church airs, coverings and other things were embroidered by the hands of the Queen and Daughters, sent to military, monastic and poor churches. I personally had the opportunity to see these royal gifts and even have them in my distant desert monastery.”

Laws of Family Understanding

The diaries and letters of the royal family are becoming increasingly popular in Russia and abroad. Young couples look to them for recipes for maintaining a strong and happy family. And, I must say, they find it. Here are some quotes:
"The meaning of marriage is to bring joy. Marriage is a Divine rite. This is the closest and most sacred connection on earth. After marriage, the main responsibilities of a husband and wife are to live for each other, to give their lives for each other. Marriage is a union two halves into a single whole. Each until the end of his life is responsible for the happiness and highest good of the other."
"The crown of love is silence."
“Great art is to live together, loving each other tenderly. This should begin with the parents themselves. Every house is like its creators. A refined nature makes a house refined, a rude person will make a house rude.”

Gifts to each other

Small and large gifts to each other were an important part of the Romanov family life. In one of her diaries, Empress Alexandra writes: “A husband and wife must constantly show each other signs of the most tender attention and love. The happiness of life is made up of individual minutes, of small, quickly forgotten pleasures: from a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment and "countless small but kind thoughts and sincere feelings. Love also needs its daily bread."
The empress's notes are not a theory, but her daily life. She loved to surprise Nikolai and the children on a variety of occasions, and Nikolai appreciated and shared this tradition. Perhaps the most famous and traditional gift in their home was Faberge eggs for Easter.
One of the most touching and beautiful eggs is the clover egg. On its openwork rim there is an image of the Imperial crown, the date “1902” and the monogram of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna framed by clover flowers. And inside is a precious quatrefoil with 4 portraits of the royal daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. This egg is a symbol of the happy marriage of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, because the four-leaf clover, which is so rarely found in nature, is a promise of happiness. And the egg itself is symbolic: it is Easter, and eternal birth, and family, and the Universe, and faith in the appearance of an heir.

23 year honeymoon

All families remember their wedding day, but Alix and Nikolai even celebrated their engagement day every year. They always spent this day, April 8th, together, and separated for the first time when they were already over forty. In April 1915, the emperor was at the front, but even there he received a warm letter from his beloved: “For the first time in 21 years we are not spending this day together, but how vividly I remember everything! My dear boy, what happiness and what love you gave me for all these years... You know, I kept that “princess dress” that I was in that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...” After so many years of marriage, the Empress admitted in letters that she kisses Nicholas’s pillow when he was not around, and Nikolai still became shy, like a young man, if they met after a long separation.
It’s not for nothing that some contemporaries said with some envy: “Their honeymoon lasted 23 years...”
On the day of the wedding, Alix wrote in Nikolai’s diary: “When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and will remain together forever.”

Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas II and the last Russian empress, is one of the most mysterious figures of this era. Historians are still arguing about various aspects of her biography: about her connection with Rasputin, about her influence on her husband, about her “contribution” to the revolution, about her personality in general. Today we will try to unravel the most famous mysteries associated with Alexandra Feodorovna.

Costs of education

When Alix arrived in Russia, she was terribly embarrassed by the new society, in which she had no acquaintances, and by the fact that she knew nothing about this distant country and was forced to quickly study the language and religion of the Russians. Her shyness and the costs of her English upbringing seemed to everyone like arrogance and arrogance. Because of her shyness, she was never able to establish relationships with either her mother-in-law or the ladies of the court. The only friends in her life were the Montenegrin princesses Milica and Stana - the wives of the grand dukes, and also her maid of honor Anna Vyrubova.

A question of power

Alix's domineering character was legendary. There is still a widespread belief that she kept the All-Russian Emperor “under the thumb.” However, this is not entirely true. It is an indisputable fact that she inherited her strong and commanding character from her grandmother, Queen Victoria. However, she was unable to take advantage of Nikolai’s gentle character, because she simply did not want it and loved her husband, trying to support him in everything. Their correspondence often contains advice from the empress to her husband, but, as is known, the tsar did not implement all of them. It is this support that is often perceived as Alexandra’s “power” over Nikolai.

However, it is true that she participated in the discussion of laws and decision-making. This began during the days of the First Russian Revolution, when Nicholas needed advice and support. Did the emperor and his wife discuss decrees and orders? Of course, this is undeniable. And during the First World War, the tsar actually gave control of the country into the hands of his wife. Why? Because he loved Alexandra and trusted her endlessly. And who else, if not the most trusted person in life, should be given the administrative affairs that the emperor could not tolerate and from which he fled to Headquarters? The two of them tried to make key decisions in the life of the country because it was difficult for autocrat Nicholas to do this due to a lack of character, and Alexandra wanted to lighten the emperor’s heavy burden as much as possible.

Connections with “seers”

Alexandra Feodorovna is also accused of her contacts with “God’s people” and seers, primarily with Grigory Rasputin. It is interesting that before the Siberian elder, the empress already had a whole collection of different healers and fortunetellers. For example, she welcomed the holy fool Mitka and a certain Daria Osipovna, and the most famous “healer” before Grigory Rasputin is Dr. Philip from France. Moreover, all this lasted from the beginning of the century until 1917. Why did these incidents happen?

Firstly, because it was a feature of her character. Alexandra Fedorovna was a believer and accepted Orthodoxy very deeply, but her faith had exalted features, which were expressed in her love for mysticism, which, by the way, was popular at that time. Secondly, this keen interest in her was fueled by her friends Milica and Stana. After all, it was they who brought “miracle workers” to the court, including Gregory. But, perhaps, the most important reason for such interest was her obsession with two problems: the first was the birth of an heir, which still could not take place. That is why she believed the charlatan Philip, who promised the empress to “conjure” the imminent birth of an heir. Because of his fortune telling and predictions, she suffered a false pregnancy, which greatly affected the attitude of the court towards Alexandra. And the second is the tragic illness of Alexei’s heir: hemophilia. She couldn't help but feel guilty that her beloved son had contracted this disease. And the empress, like any loving mother, tried by all means to alleviate the fate of her child. True, for this she did not use the help of doctors, who could not do anything about Alexei’s condition, but the services of Rasputin, who managed to treat the heir.

All this subsequently influenced the fact that she began to immensely trust the “elder” Gregory and taught her children and husband to do so. She could not help but believe the one who treated not only her son, but also herself for the headaches that tormented her. And Rasputin, who was a smart Russian peasant, could not help but take advantage of this. And they, in turn, were already used by cunning officials, ministers and generals, who asked to appoint them higher or closer to the court.

Why didn't they love her?

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was disliked by many, including Nikolai's mother Maria Feodorovna. Everyone had their own reasons for this, but by the end of the emperor’s reign, all the hatred of the court and society had only one reason: it was leading Niki and the empire to destruction. Rumors were spread about her connections with Rasputin, which never happened, about her espionage for Germany, which was also a lie, about her influence on the Tsar, which was not what it was “inflated.” But all these rumors and gossip greatly affected the prestige of the authorities. And the empress and emperor themselves contributed to this by isolating themselves from society and the Romanov family.

This is what her relatives and associates said and wrote about Alexandra Fedorovna:

• “All of Russia knows that the late Rasputin and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna are one and the same. The first one was killed, now the other one must disappear too” (Grand Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich).
• “The alienation of the queen from St. Petersburg society was significantly facilitated by the external coldness of her treatment and her lack of outward friendliness. This coldness arose, apparently, mainly from the extraordinary shyness inherent in Alexandra Fedorovna and the embarrassment she experienced when communicating with strangers. This embarrassment prevented her from establishing simple, relaxed relationships with people who introduced themselves to her, including the so-called city ladies, and they spread jokes around the city about her coldness and unapproachability.” (Senator V.I. Gurko).
• “...Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (sister of Empress Alexandra), also almost never visiting Tsarskoye, came to talk with her sister. After that we waited for her at home. We sat on pins and needles, wondering how it would end. She came to us trembling and in tears. “My sister kicked me out like a dog! - she exclaimed. “Poor Niki, poor Russia!” (Prince F.F. Yusupov).
• “Opinions may differ about the role played by the Empress during her reign, but I must say that in her the Heir found a wife who fully accepted the Russian faith, principles and foundations of royal power, a woman of great spiritual qualities and duty” (ballerina M.F. Kshesinskaya ).

Alexandra Fedorovna (wife of Nicholas II)

Alexandra Feodorovna, née Princess Victoria Alice Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Victoria Alix Helena Louise Beatrice von Hessen und bei Rhein). Born on June 6, 1872 in Darmstadt - shot on July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg. Russian Empress, wife of Nicholas II. The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.

Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice was born in Darmstadt (German Empire) on June 6, 1872.

The name given to her consisted of her mother's name (Alice) and four names of her aunts.

The godparents were: Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Emperor) with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter Princess Beatrice, Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, Duchess of Cambridge and Maria Anna, Princess of Prussia .

Alice inherited the hemophilia gene from Queen Victoria.

In 1878, a diphtheria epidemic spread in Hesse. Alice's mother and her younger sister May died from it, after which Alice lived most of the time in the UK at Balmoral Castle and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Alice was considered the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny.

In June 1884, at the age of twelve, Alice visited Russia for the first time when her older sister Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna) married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.

The second time she arrived in Russia in January 1889 at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. After staying in the Sergius Palace (St. Petersburg) for six weeks, the princess met and attracted the special attention of the heir to the Tsarevich.

In the early 1890s, the latter’s parents, who hoped for his marriage to Helen Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Count of Paris, were against the marriage of Alice and Tsarevich Nicholas. A key role in the arrangement of Alice’s marriage with Nikolai Alexandrovich was played by the efforts of her sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, and the latter’s husband, through whom correspondence between the lovers was carried out.

The position of Emperor Alexander and his wife changed due to the persistence of the crown prince and the deteriorating health of the emperor. On April 6, 1894, a manifesto announced the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

In the following months, Alice studied the basics of Orthodoxy under the guidance of the court protopresbyter John Yanyshev and the Russian language with teacher E. A. Schneider.

On October 10 (22), 1894, she arrived in Crimea, in Livadia, where she stayed with the imperial family until the death of Emperor Alexander III - October 20.

On October 21 (November 2), 1894, she accepted Orthodoxy through confirmation there with the name Alexandra and patronymic Fedorovna (Feodorovna). Nicholas and Alexandra were distant relatives of each other, being descendants of German dynasties. For example, on the side of her father, Alexandra Fedorovna was both a fourth cousin (common ancestor - Prussian king Frederick William II) and second cousin of Nicholas (common ancestor - Wilhelmina of Baden).

Alexandra Fedorovna's height: 167 centimeters.

Personal life of Alexandra Fedorovna:

On November 14 (26), 1894, on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, which allowed for a retreat from mourning, the wedding of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. After the wedding, members of the Holy Synod, led by Metropolitan Palladius of St. Petersburg, served a thanksgiving prayer service. While singing “We praise you, God,” a 301-shot cannon salute was fired.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his emigrant memoirs about the first days of their marriage: “The wedding of the young tsar took place less than a week after the funeral of Alexander III. Their honeymoon passed in an atmosphere of funeral services and mourning visits. The most deliberate dramatization could not have invented a more suitable prologue for the historical tragedy of the last Russian Tsar.”.

The family lived most of the time in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

In 1896, shortly after the coronation, Alexandra and Nikolai went to Nizhny Novgorod to the All-Russian Exhibition. In August 1896 they traveled to Vienna, and in September - October - to Germany, Denmark, England and France.

In subsequent years, the empress gave birth to four daughters in a row:

Olga(3 (15) November 1895;
Tatiana(29 May (10 June) 1897);
Maria(14 (26) June 1899);
Anastasia(5 (18) June 1901).

In the imperial family, the question of a son - the heir to the throne - became very acute. Finally, on July 30 (August 12), 1904, the fifth child and only son, the Tsarevich, appeared in Peterhof Alexey Nikolaevich, born with a hereditary disease - hemophilia.

In 1905, the imperial family met. He managed to help Alexei fight attacks of illness, against which medicine was powerless, as a result of which he acquired great influence on Alexandra Fedorovna, and through her on Nikolai.

In 1897 and 1899, the family traveled to Alexandra Feodorovna’s homeland in Darmstadt. During these years, on the instructions of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II, the Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene was built in Darmstadt, which is still in operation today.

On July 17-20, 1903, the Empress took part in the celebrations of the glorification and discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Sarov Hermitage.

For entertainment, Alexandra Fedorovna played the piano with Rudolf Kündinger, a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The Empress also took singing lessons from conservatory professor Natalia Iretskaya. Sometimes she sang a duet with one of the court ladies: Anna Vyrubova, Emma Fredericks (daughter of Vladimir Fredericks) or Maria Stackelberg.

Of the ladies-in-waiting, they were close to the empress: at the beginning of the reign - Princess M.V. Baryatinskaya, then Countess Anastasia Gendrikova (Nastenka) and Baroness Sofia Buxhoeveden (Iza). For a long time, the closest person to her was Anna Vyrubova. Vyrubova had a huge influence on the empress. The empress's communication with Grigory Rasputin mainly took place through Vyrubova.

In 1915, at the height of the First World War, the Tsarskoye Selo hospital was converted to receive wounded soldiers. Alexandra Feodorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatyana, were trained in nursing by Princess Vera Gedroits, and then assisted her during operations as surgical nurses. The Empress personally financed several ambulance trains.

Empress Alexandra was the chief of the regiments: the Life Guards of Her Majesty's Uhlan, the 5th Hussars of Alexandria, the 21st East Siberian Rifle and Crimean Cavalry, and among the foreign ones - the Prussian 2nd Guards Dragoon Regiment.

The empress was also involved in charitable activities. By the beginning of 1909, under her patronage there were 33 charitable societies, communities of sisters of mercy, shelters, orphanages and similar institutions, among which: the Committee for finding places for military ranks who suffered in the war with Japan, the House of Charity for crippled soldiers, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society , Trusteeship for labor assistance, Her Majesty's school of nannies in Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Society for Welfare of the Poor, Society for Assistance with Clothes to the Poor of St. Petersburg, Brotherhood in the Name of the Queen of Heaven for the charity of idiotic and epileptic children, Alexandria Shelter for Women and others.

On March 8 (21), 1917, after the February Revolution, in accordance with the decree of the Provisional Government, Alexandra Feodorovna, together with her daughters, was placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace by General Lavr Kornilov. Julia Den remained with her, who helped her look after the Grand Duchesses and Anna Vyrubova. At the beginning of August 1917, the royal family was exiled to Tobolsk by decision of the Provisional Government, and in April 1918, by decision of the Bolsheviks, they were transported to Yekaterinburg.

Alexandra Fedorovna was killed along with her entire family and associates on the night of July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg. She was buried along with others executed on July 17, 1998 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The remains of Alexandra Fedorovna and her husband were exhumed for investigative actions as part of establishing the identities of the remains of their children - Alexei and Maria.

In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in August 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church.

During canonization, Alexandra Feodorovna became Queen Alexandra the New, since Queen Alexandra was already among the saints.

The future wife of Sovereign Nicholas II, Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, was born in Darmstadt on June 6, 1872 in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV and the daughter of the reigning Queen Victoria of England, Grand Duchess Alice.

The girl was named Alice in honor of her mother, but soon changed this name to “Alix.” She had two older brothers, three older sisters and one younger one.

Through the efforts of the English Duchess, Darmstadt palace life developed according to the model of the English Court, starting with a long line of family portraits of the royal English dynasty in the halls and ending with porridge for breakfast, boiled meat and potatoes for lunch and “an endless row of rice puddings and baked apples.”

The religious Grand Duchess Alice was the inspirer and founder of hospitals, charitable organizations, Red Cross branches, and women's unions in the country. From an early age, she took her children to help the sick in Darmstadt hospitals and shelters.

Alix, who never tired of carrying flowers to hospitals, resembled her sister Elizabeth in her beauty: gray-eyed with black eyelashes and reddish hair. This “sweet, cheerful little girl, always laughing, with a dimple on her cheek” was also called “sunshine” in the family, as she would later sign her letters to her husband, Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich. The trouble is that her 35-year-old mother died when Alix was only six years old.

At the age of 15, due to her perseverance and good memory, Alix had an excellent knowledge of history, literature, geography, art history, natural sciences and mathematics. The main language for this German princess was English and, of course, she spoke excellent German; She spoke French with an accent. Alix became a brilliant pianist, taught by the director of the Darmstadt Opera, and loved Wagner's music most of all. She embroidered beautifully, choosing designs and colors for this with delicate taste. Friends of the Ducal House shook their heads sympathetically: such a smart and beautiful woman should get rid of her shyness...

The fourth ducal daughter Alix began to look like her former “sunshine” a few months later, when, together with her brother Ernest and her father, she came to stay with her sister Elizabeth in St. Petersburg. They stayed on Nevsky Prospect in the house of Princess Elizabeth, nicknamed Ella in Darmstadt, and now the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Tsarevich Nikolai often came here to “Aunt Ella”, “auntie” without ceremony. Elizaveta Feodorovna was a cheerful, witty mistress of the house, where receptions and balls reigned.

It was the sprawling Russian winter of 1889, Alix, as best she could, overcame her shyness and kept up with the entertainment of the St. Petersburg high society youth: she went to the skating rink, sledding down the hill. The Tsarevich became very interested in her, and the princess fell in love with him, although she would never have admitted it to herself then. But only with Nikolai Romanov she was natural, could talk and laugh freely. Returning home, Alix realized that she would only marry the Russian Tsarevich. They began to write tender letters to each other.

They admitted their deep mutual feelings and dreamed of the day when they would unite forever. However, Queen Victoria also dreamed of making this granddaughter the Queen of England. She began to marry Alix to her grandson, Prince Albert of Clarence. The Darmstadt princess could not stand him for his godlessness and unprepossessing appearance. Albert could not compare with the smartest, graceful, spiritual, sensitive Russian Tsarevich! When Queen Victoria proposed marriage to the prince, Alix categorically rejected it. She blurted out to the distressed grandmother that their marriage would not bring happiness to either her or Albert. And the Queen had to retreat.

All these years he dreamed of marrying Alix and Nikolai Romanov, but his parents, like Alix of Hesse’s grandmother, wanted to marry their son to another person. Sovereign Alexander the Third and his wife Maria Fedorovna opposed the union of the Heir with the princess from Darmstadt, because they knew about the incurable aristocratic disease, the incoagulability of “blue” blood - hemophilia, which was plaguing her family of the House of Coburg.

This “curse of the Coburgs” existed since the 18th century, the disease passed into the English royal family through the mother of Queen Victoria, Princess of Saxe-Coburg. Moreover, boys fell ill with hemophilia, and it passed through the female line. Queen Victoria’s son Leopold died from this, and the royal daughters Beatrice, Victoria and Alix's mother Alice were supposed to pass the disease on to their children. That is, the possible bride of Tsarevich Nicholas Alix was doomed to the fact that the boys born from her were “sentenced” to hemophilia, from which they did not recover. This is what will happen to their future son, the next Heir to the Russian Throne, Alexei. But it will also happen that only in Russia will the young Tsarevich be given a person capable of calming down the “intractable” attacks of hemophilia - Grigory Rasputin...

That is why Emperor Alexander III and the Empress continually looked for another bride for Nika’s son. They tried to marry the daughter of the Bourbon pretender to the French Throne, Elena, in order to consolidate the alliance with France. But fortunately for the Tsarevich, who imagined only Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt for all occasions in his life, Elena refused to change Catholicism and convert to Orthodoxy. Then the Russian Tsar tried to get the hand of Princess Margaret of Prussia for his son.

The Tsarevich flatly refused to marry her, telling his parents that he would rather go to a monastery. And here he was lucky again: Margarita, like Elena before, did not want to change her heterodox, Protestant faith.

The Princess of Hesse remained, but Tsar Alexander began to insist that Alix, like the other princesses, would not agree to change her faith. Nikolai asked to be allowed to go to Darmstadt to negotiate with her, his father did not agree to this until 1894, until he fell ill.

The opportunity to ask for Alix's hand presented itself to Nikolai Alexandrovich during the marriage of her brother, Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig, to Princess Victoria Melita. The wedding took place in Coburg, where Alix met the Russian Tsarevich for the first time since 1889. He made her an offer. But what happened was what my father had expected, and what Nikolai Alexandrovich had been praying to overcome for the last five years of their separation: Alix did not want to convert to Orthodoxy.

In response to the fiery entreaties of Nikolai Romanov, the princess cried and repeated that she was not able to renounce her religion. Queen Victoria, seeing that her granddaughter might remain completely out of work, also unsuccessfully began to convince her to accept the Russian faith. Only Ella, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, began to succeed. She, eight years older than Alix, after the death of their mother, together with her sister Victoria, tried to replace the younger one who died. Elizaveta Fedorovna really wanted to be with Alix in Russia. The Grand Duchess knew Tsarevich Niki well, loved him and was sure that this marriage would be happy.

After the proposal was made, the heir wrote in his diary: “They talked until 12 o’clock, but to no avail, she still resists the change of religion. She, poor thing, cried a lot."

But the princess’s complete conversion was helped by the sincere, passionate words of the heir, poured out from his loving heart: “Alix, I understand your religious feelings and am in awe of them. But we believe in Christ alone; there is no other Christ. God, who created the world, gave us a soul and a heart. He filled both my heart and yours with love, so that we could merge soul with soul, so that we would become united and walk the same path in life. Without His will there is nothing. Let your conscience not disturb you that my faith will become your faith. When you learn later how beautiful, gracious and humble our Orthodox religion is, how majestic and magnificent our churches and monasteries are and how solemn and majestic our services are, you will love them, Alyx, and nothing will separate us.”

The princess listened with bated breath to the inspired words of the crown prince, and then suddenly she noticed that tears were flowing from his blue eyes. Her heart, already filled with love and sadness, could not stand it, and a quiet voice was heard from her lips: “I agree.”

In October 1894, Alix was urgently summoned to Russia: Tsar Alexander the Third was seriously ill. In Livadia, where the Tsar was being treated, the entire Romanov Family gathered and prepared for the worst. Despite his poor health, Alexander Alexandrovich got out of bed and put on his uniform to meet his son’s bride.

Sovereign Emperor Alexander III died on October 20, 1894. On the same day, Nikolai Alexandrovich accepted the Throne, and the next day, October 21, his bride, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, joined Orthodoxy and began to be called Alexandra Feodorovna. On November 14, 1894, the marriage of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II to Alexandra Fedorovna took place, after which she wrote in her diary to her husband:

“I would never have believed that there could be such complete happiness in this world - such a feeling of unity between two mortal beings. We will not be separated again. Finally, we are together, and our lives are connected to the end, and when this life ends, then in another world we will meet again, and we will never be separated forever.”

The sacred coronation and holy confirmation, the crowning of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna took place in Moscow in May 1896. In Rus', according to a tradition dating back to the Byzantine Empire, there is a special ritual of crowning a king. Only after him does the King become the Anointed of God, although the ruler is immediately after the death of the previous monarch. The ability to rule the kingdom is given by the sacrament of anointing at the coronation.

The first 20 years of the royal couple's marriage were the happiest of their personal family life. None of those who knew them closely had ever met a happier family. The holy martyrs themselves were aware of this, so the empress wrote in one of her letters to the sovereign: “In modern times you rarely see such marriages... You are my life, my light... When my heart is heavy with worries and anxieties, every manifestation of tenderness gives strength and endless happiness. Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life.” And others, observing from the side their quiet happiness and exemplary family life, were surprised at this idyll of two crowned spouses.

Pierre Gilliard, the teacher of the heir to Tsarevich Alexy, wrote: “What an example, if only they knew about it, this so worthy family life, full of such tenderness, provided. But how few people suspected it. It is true that this family was too indifferent to public opinion and hid from prying eyes.” Another person close to the royal family, the aide-de-camp of Mordvinov, recalled; “I will forever be impressed by this amazing family that I had never seen before, wonderful in every way.” “I’ll tell you simply about them,” said valet Volkov, “they were the most holy and pure family.”

In the fall of 1895, the first daughter was born - a nice, large child, who caused new worries and gave new joys. “When we prayed, we named the daughter sent to us by God Olga,” the sovereign noted in his diary.

St. Princess Olga loved Russia very much and, just like her father, she loved the simple Russian people. When it came to the fact that she could marry one of the foreign princes, she did not want to hear about it, saying: “I don’t want to leave Russia. I am Russian and I want to remain Russian.”

Two years later, a second girl was born, named Tatyana in Holy Baptism, two years later - Maria, and two years later - Anastasia.

With the advent of the children of St. the queen gave them all her attention: she fed them, bathed them every day, was constantly in the nursery, not trusting her children to anyone. It happened that, holding a child in her arms, she discussed serious issues of her new institution, or, rocking the cradle with one hand, she signed business papers with the other. The Empress did not like to remain idle for a minute, and she taught her children to work. Wonderful embroideries came out from under their quick hands. The two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatyana, worked with their mother in the infirmary during the war, performing the duties of surgical nurses.

“The higher a person is,” said the martyr king, “the sooner he should help everyone and never remind of his position in his treatment. This is how my children should be.” Being himself a good example of simplicity, meekness and attentiveness to everyone, the sovereign raised his children to be the same.

Dr. Botkin, in a letter to his daughter, describes how he asked the woman who was sitting with him to lead. Princess Anastasia go out into the corridor and call the footman. “Why do you need it?” - “I want to wash my hands.” - “So I’ll give it to you.” To the doctor’s protests, she said: “If your children can do this, then why can’t I?” - and, instantly taking possession of the cup, she helped him wash his hands.

During the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the royal martyrs fervently prayed in Sarov before the relics of the newly-minted saint of God, for the granting of a son - an heir. The next year they had a boy, who in Holy Baptism was named Alexy in honor of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow. The heir was naturally endowed with exceptional beauty.

The joy of the happy parents seemed to know no bounds, but already in the second month after his birth it was discovered that the child had been transmitted a hereditary disease of the Hessian house - hemophilia, which put his life under the constant threat of sudden death. Even with minor bruises, internal hemorrhages occurred, from which the heir suffered greatly.

When the boy grew up, the empress taught him to pray. Exactly at 9 o'clock in the evening, he went up to his room with her, read prayers loudly and went to bed, overshadowed by her sign of the cross. The Empress herself taught him the Law of God. In one letter from Tobolsk exile, she wrote: “I am going through an explanation of the Liturgy with Alexey. God grant me the ability to teach, so that it remains in his memory for the rest of his life... The soil is good - I try as best I can...”

The Empress wrote about the children to the Emperor: “They shared all our emotional worries... The little one feels so much with her little sensitive soul - I will never be able to thank God enough for the wonderful mercy that He gave me in you and in them. We are one."

When a rioting revolutionary crowd overran Petrograd, and the Tsar's train was stopped at Dno station for the abdication to be drafted, Alix was left alone. The children had measles and lay with a high fever. The courtiers fled, leaving only a handful of loyal people. The electricity was turned off, there was no water - we had to go to the pond, break off the ice and heat it on the stove. The palace with defenseless children remained under the protection of the Empress.

She alone did not lose heart and did not believe in renunciation until the last. Alix supported the handful of loyal soldiers who remained to stand guard around the palace - now this was her entire Army. On the day when the ex-Sovereign, who had abdicated the Throne, returned to the palace, her friend, Anna Vyrubova, wrote in her diary: “Like a fifteen-year-old girl, she ran along the endless stairs and corridors of the palace towards him. Having met, they hugged, and when left alone they burst into tears..."

While in exile, anticipating an imminent execution, in a letter to Anna Vyrubova, the Empress summed up her life: “My dear, my dear... Yes, the past is over. I thank God for everything that happened, that I received - and I will live with memories that no one will take away from me...

How old I have become, but I feel like the mother of the country, and I suffer as if for my child and I love my Motherland, despite all the horrors now... You know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to tear LOVE FROM MY HEART, and Russia too... Despite the black ingratitude to the Emperor, which tears my heart...Lord, have mercy and save Russia.”

The royal family lived by the ideals of Holy Rus' and were its brightest representatives. They loved to visit monasteries and meet with the ascetics who labored in them. The Empress visited Blessed Pasha of Sarov at the Diveyevo monastery. In 1916, having visited Novgorod with its ancient monuments and shrines, she visited the holy fool, a hundred-seven-year-old old recluse Maria Mikhailovna, who lived in the Tithe Monastery. “Here comes the martyr-queen Alexandra,” blessed Marya greeted her with these words. Then she blessed her, kissed her and said: “And you, beauty, are a heavy cross - do not be afraid...” Secular society ridiculed the best religious feelings of the empress, called her a fanatic and a hypocrite behind her back, and dreamed of forcibly tonsuring her into a nun.

Three days before the murder of the royal martyrs, a priest was invited to them for the last time to perform the service. The priest served as a liturgist, according to the order of the service it was necessary to read the kontakion “Rest with the saints...” in a certain place. For some reason, this time the deacon, instead of reading this kontakion, sang it, and the priest sang it too. The royal martyrs, moved by some unknown feeling, knelt down. So they said goodbye to this world, sensitively responding to the calls of the heavenly world - the Eternal Kingdom.

Alexandra Fedorovna was forty-six years old when she was killed.