#pre1894
Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia (1842-1849) by Vladimir Ivanovich Hau.
“A pretty golden-haired child she was…” - Margaretta Eagar
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“Farewell, Princess Dagmar!
Grandeur and splendour await Thee;
Thy wedding wreath conceals an imperial crown.
Let God shine His sun on Thee and Thy new country; then, from the tears now evoked by parting,
a pearl will emerge!”–Hans Christian Anderson on the departure of Princess Dagmar of Denmark for Russia, where she would marry the future Emperor Alexander III.
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Tsar Alexei I Mikhailovich
When boyars missed his dawn church services he registered their names and had them collected with hands bound behind their back and, wearing their robes, tossed into the river where they might easily have drowned or died of cold. “This is your reward”, he laughed, “for preferring to sleep with your wives instead of celebrating the lustre of this blessed day.” He relished this despotic bullying, writing to his friends, “I have made it my custom to duck courtiers every morning in a pond. The baptism in the Jordan is well done. I duck four or five, sometimes dozen, whoever fails to report on time for my inspection.”
But these games were deadly serious. He put the old boyars in their place. When he had to promote a military bungler like Prince Ivan Khovansky, nicknamed the “Windbag”, the tsar did so “even though everyone called you a fool”. He indulgently remprimanded the Whispering Favourite Khitrovo for keeping a harem of Polish sex slaves and he was infuriated by the whoremongering of his own father-in-law Miloslavsky: Alexei told him either to give up sex or to marry fast.
Simon Sebag Montefiore: The Romanovs
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Princess Dagmar of Denmark, who became Tsesarevna of Russia upon her marriage
…with her enormous charm, Princess Dagmar, known as Minnie, and now Maria Fedorovna, acquired great popularity as soon as she moved to Russia. “People saw guarantee of well-being in her, and people placed all their hopes in her, and her radiant eyes lit up hearts, and her simplicity and charm promised happiness and peace […] Every heart flew to the young tsesarevna.”
She loved to swim, ride horseback, roll a hoop, and dance till four in the morning. Maria Fedorovna seemed to personify eternal youth. Knowing how important it was for her to look good in public, she paid close attention to her wardrobe. Lady-in-waiting von Flotow sent detailed description in letter to the young tsesarevna´s mother. At one Imperial ball Maria Fedorovna “stayed until 3 am and came home as fresh as a morning rose. She was brilliantly dressed again […] this time the tsesarevna was literally a rose of roses!”
Y.V. Plotnikova in Russian Splendor: Sumptuous Fashions of the Russian Court
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Alix (1873) and Olga (1896) at the same age. I guess roly-poly baby arms ran in the family!
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The newly crowned Emperor Alexander II of Russia embraces his mother, Dowager Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, by Zichy.
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