The visit of the future Tsar Nicholas II
to Queen Victoria in the summer of 1894 has a fabled quality; it
took place a mere two months after his engagement to Princess Alix
of Hesse in Coburg. This visit has a special poignancy when viewed
through later eyes; we know of course, that far from enjoying a
period as Tsarevich and Tsarevna of Russia, Nicholas and Alix
would, in fact, marry in November…
‘What sorrows this last year brought us,
what endless anxieties, what worries and losses – God grant the new
year may be a calmer and happier one for the whole of dear Russia.
Sleep well and peacefully…’ With these words, Tsarina Alexandra
Feodorovna (1872-1918)…
Princess Alix of Hesse visited Malta in
1890. Little would appear to have been recorded about it, although
it is possible to piece together some details of the trip from
surviving accounts, biographies by those that personally knew her
and from extracts of letters she wrote…
Princess Alix of Hesse – as the Tsarina
Alexandra Feodorovna was known before her marriage to the young
Tsar Nicholas II in 1894 – visited Cumberland Lodge in Windsor
Great Park on several occasions, as the residence of her maternal
aunt, Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein and her cousins.
Cumberland Lodge made a circle for Princess Alix around this part
of her English family. She was…
The artworks by the fashionable German
portrait painter and historical artist Friedrich August von
Kaulbach (1860-1920) of Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina
Alexandra Feodorovna and her elder sister, Elisabeth Feodorovna,
‘Ella’ Grand Duchess Sergei of Russia…
A portrait of the toddler Princess Alix
of Hesse by the Austrian painter George Koberwein caught my
attention back in 2004. Examining how it came to be painted was a
source of great interest to me, not least because the picture that
he produced of the baby princess, not…
Comparison between historical
personalities should, as a rule, always be treated with caution
even if given life circumstances are similar; an example of this
might be ‘comparisons’ made between the legendary Empress Elisabeth
of Austria and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Where an interest
or association is deliberately fostered by one of the individuals,
this can, of course, be better…
A study of the books owned by someone can
open a window into their interests, and a royal personage no less
so. In so doing, the reading material of the last Empress of
Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) charts important events in
her life and tells us a lot about what…
A set of silver gilt andcloisonné
enamelwhich stirred interest in the antique world since it was
recently consigned as going to auction, sold today for £20,000.
This champlevé cutlery set told a story that links the future
Tsarina of Russia’s visit to…
