On November 26, 1847, Maria Feodorovna was born, the mother of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the wife of Alexander III. As a girl, she bore the name Dagmara and came from a Danish family.
By the way, many Russian rulers - princes and tsars, emperors and regents, starting with the Varangian Rurik and ending with the one hundred percent German Nicholas II, were “Russians” at a stretch, and chose noble foreigners as their wives.
The first Russian prince Rurik took a Norwegian wife Efandu, Prince Svyatoslav - Scandinavian Malfred, each of the six wives of Vladimir the Red Sun was a foreigner; his son Yaroslav the Wise married the daughter of the Swedish king Ingigerde. Of course, such marriages were made for a reason. You might think that there were no worthy brides in Rus'. Yaroslav, like his predecessors, pursued the goal of developing ties with Europe by marrying a Swede.
There is no doubt that by the 11th century there was not a drop of Russian blood left in the veins of the Russian princes. However, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky, stopped the tradition of marrying foreigners. As his wife, he chose a Russian girl, Ulita, the daughter of the first Moscow mayor, boyar Kuchka.
Until the reign of Vasily I (1389-1425), princes preferred to marry boyars and princesses, and during the Mongol-Tatar yoke they were sometimes forced to marry the daughters of khans.
In the Romanov family, the first tsar to order a bride from abroad was Peter I. His second wife Martha(Catherine I), who later became empress, was either of Lithuanian or Jewish origin. This person left a noticeable mark on the history of the Russian Empire, like other foreign wives of Russian tsars. We will tell you about them today.
Catherine I
Marta Skavronskaya
The origin of this royal person has not been established for certain. Allegedly, the wife of Peter the Great was born on the territory of modern Latvia or Estonia in a family of ordinary peasants.
It is believed that Catherine I was the daughter of the Jew Samuil Skavronsky. When marrying the ruler of Russia, in accordance with the requirements of the Orthodox Church, she had to accept the Orthodox faith and change her name. So Martha became Catherine, and received her patronymic from her godfather, Tsarevich Alexei.
After the death of Peter, having received the support of the guard and nobles, Catherine ascended the throne. Her reign was remembered for a series of carefree balls and revelries. Thus began the era of palace coups, which placed several women in power.
Catherine II
Sophia Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst
The future empress, named Catherine the Great, was born in the German city of Stettin. Her father was a duke, and her mother came from a line of Danish kings. Elizaveta Petrovna, the mother of the future emperor, chose her as the bride of Peter III. Arriving in Russia and becoming Peter’s wife, Catherine eagerly began to study the Russian language and culture. But the relationship between the spouses did not work out - both had lovers without hesitation. Very soon she replaced her husband on the throne, depriving her own son of power.
During her reign, Catherine headed for cultural enlightenment, increasing privileges for the nobility and expanding the borders of the empire.
Natalya Alekseevna
Augusta Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
Wilhelmina was born into the large family of the German Landgrave Ludwig IX of Hesse-Darmstadt. The heir to the Russian throne, Paul, chose his wife under the strict guidance of his mother Catherine II. The Empress looked for three Landgrave sisters for her son, and the most suitable, that is, both smart and beautiful (by royal standards), turned out to be 17-year-old Wilhelmina.
In Russia, the princess received the title of Grand Duchess Natalia Alekseevna and married Pavel Petrovich. However, the daughter-in-law did not live up to the expectations of Catherine the Great - she was free-thinking and dared to speak out in favor of the disenfranchised peasants. In addition, I could not get pregnant for a long time. When this finally happened two years later, Wilhelmina could not stand the birth and left for another world after the stillborn child.
There is an opinion that it was Catherine who ordered the doctors not to provide assistance to the unfortunate woman in labor.
Maria Feodorovna
Sophia-Dorothea-Augusta-Louise of Württemberg
The next wife of Paul I, Maria Fedorovna, like his mother Catherine, was from Stettin. In the slightly overweight, but always on parade, German Princess Sophia, the Empress saw an ideal for her son. She turned out to be the complete opposite of Natalya Alekseevna - she adored her husband, did not contradict his mother in anything and did not poke her nose beyond the permitted boundaries. Even the upbringing of the children of Mary and Paul was carried out by strangers under the leadership of mother-in-law Catherine.
When her husband ascended the throne, Maria Feodorovna received the title of Empress of the Russian Empire. Under her leadership, several women's educational institutions and philanthropic societies were opened.
Elizaveta Alekseevna
Louise Maria Augusta of Baden
Another German princess, who became the chosen one of the Russian heir to the throne, Alexander I, was the daughter of Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt, one of the sisters who once claimed to be the wife of Paul the First.
Elizabeth, whose maiden name was Louise Augusta, became the young wife of the no less young Alexei; at court they were called angels and surrounded by incredible luxury. The daughter of a poor margrave was not at all accustomed to such treatment. Elizaveta Alekseevna fell in love with her husband, but sadly accepted the status of a courtier of the imperial court. His characteristic gossip and love affairs unsettled the German woman. Alexander quickly lost interest in his wife - he was interested in all the ladies of the court. And Elizabeth, in need of love, started a relationship on the side. The further fate of the empress was unhappy - all her life at court she kept herself to herself and died after her husband under unclear circumstances.
Alexandra Fedorovna
Frederica Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia
The future wife of Nicholas I came from a family of Prussian kings. Charlotte and Nikolai fell in love at first sight, and their marriage was very useful for strengthening the alliance between Russia and Germany. She happily came to Russia and became the Grand Duchess, named Alexandra Feodorovna.
When Emperor Alexander I died of typhus, Nicholas I took his place. He and his wife ascended the throne at a difficult time for Russia - the Decembrist uprising began on the day of their coronation.
Despite the difficulties, the wife of Nicholas I coped well with her duties. She was sweet and graceful, gave birth to nine children and maintained a cheerful disposition until the end of her days, hiding serious health problems.
Maria Alexandrovna
Maximilian Wilhelmina Maria of Hesse
The future wife of Emperor Alexander II was of dubious origin, which was well known at the court in St. Petersburg. Princess Mary's father was not Duke Ludwig II of Hesse, but a certain baron, the duchess's secret lover. This important biographical fact did not bother Alexander at all - he was in love with 14-year-old Maria, although she was not particularly beautiful.
They lived in marriage for 39 years, during these years Maria Alexandrovna came to terms with the constant presence of her competitor - Princess Dolgorukova, who was in fact the second wife of the emperor. And immediately after the death of his wife, Emperor Alexander still married his favorite.
The empress's main merit was the organization of the Red Cross Society; in total, her department included about 250 charitable and educational institutions.
Maria Feodorovna
Maria-Sophia-Frederica-Dagmara of Denmark
The Danish princess Dagmara, daughter of King Christian IX, was going to marry the Russian Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. But at the age of 21, the heir suddenly contracted tuberculosis and died. The right of succession (and the bride) passed to the emperor's second son, Alexander III. Despite the tragic circumstances of their marriage, the marriage of Dagmara, in Orthodoxy, Maria Feodorovna, and the Tsar turned out to be very successful. They lived together for almost thirty years, maintaining warm feelings for each other.
After the death of her husband, Maria Fedorovna managed several charitable societies and shelters, was interested in and patronized art, took an active part in the fate of her son Nicholas II, but did not like his wife, the German Alice, named Alexandra.
Alexandra Fedorovna
Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt
The last empress of the Russian Empire and wife of Nicholas II was also German, the daughter of a German duke. She was also the granddaughter of the Queen of Great Britain. Their marriage was not planned - a more profitable match was predicted for Nicholas as his wife in the person of the daughter of the Count of Paris. But circumstances forced the parents to agree to this marriage. Nicholas fell in love with Alice and did not consider other candidates, and his father, Alexander III, was very sick and close to death. The lovers were married immediately after the death of the emperor, and the young couple embarked on the difficult path that fate had prepared for the last Russian tsars.
The empress had to endure many trials. She was a carrier of the hemophilia gene and passed the disease on to her only son, heir Alexei. The constant guardianship of the boy and the fear of any injury made Alexandra overly emotional and religious. This became especially acute in recent years, when she came under the influence of Grigory Rasputin. The turbulent situation of the First World War and the impending coup, revolution, house arrest, and then the execution of the entire family - this is how the life of the German duchess, the wife of the Russian emperor, ended.
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Anna Yaroslavna: fate with sharp turns 10 centuries ago lived the daughter of the great Yaroslav the Wise. That is why, naturally, information about her is so scarce. But the image of the queen is so attractive that many masters of words turned to him. Books by Ukrainian writers (P. Zagrebelny and I. Kocherga), and, for example, the bestseller of the French woman R. Deforge are dedicated to her. Anna Yaroslavna was amazingly beautiful. ...
The reign of the Romanov dynasty began with the demonstrative execution of a three-year-old child and ended with the execution of an entire family.
Between these atrocities lay centuries full of wild and unbridled scenes. Conspiracies, torture, murder, betrayal, lust and orgies - remember the known facts and be surprised at what you didn’t know.
Mikhail Fedorovich (from 1613 to 1645)
The first of the Romanovs was crowned king at the age of 16, and at that time he could barely read. The next year, by his decree, the three-year-old son of Marina Mnishek, allegedly the grandson and heir of Ivan the Terrible, to whom several cities had managed to swear allegiance, was hanged in Moscow. This was after the severe Troubles, and fear of new possible impostors forced the elimination of the competitor publicly.
Alexey Mikhailovich (1645-1676)
The father of the future Emperor Peter the Great was a religious maniac, sometimes he prayed for six hours in a row and dealt with those who missed church services: without asking the reasons, he ordered them to be thrown into an icy river.
Peter I (1682-1725)
Lifetime portrait of 44-year-old Peter, artist Antoine Pen
History describes many terrible scenes when Peter showed himself to be violent, inhumanly cruel and inadequate to the point of madness. Here are just some facts.
Streltsy executions. 26-year-old Peter personally chopped off heads in front of a huge crowd and forced each of his retinue to take up the ax (unless the foreigners refused, justifying themselves by saying that they were afraid of incurring the hatred of the Russians). The mass executions actually turned into a grandiose show: the crowd was poured free vodka and they roared with delight, expressing devotion and love to the dashing sovereign. In a drunken stupor, the king immediately invited everyone to be an executioner, and many agreed.
“The Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, Vasily Surikov
Death of Tsarevich Alexei. In acute conflict with his eldest son, Peter forced him to abdicate the throne and began to zealously investigate his misdeeds, for which he specially created the Secret Chancellery. 28-year-old Alexei was sentenced to death for treason and, after the verdict, was tortured in prison: in the presence of his father, he received 25 lashes. According to some reports, this is why he died. And Peter the next day noisily feasted, with an orchestra and fireworks, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.
“Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof”, Nikolai Ge
Execution of a mistress. The next year, Peter sent his former mistress, one of the most beautiful ladies-in-waiting at court, Maria Hamilton (Gamontova), to the chopping block, having learned that she had twice caused miscarriages and strangled the third baby. Although at that time she was already living with someone else, the king, apparently, suspected that the children could be from him, and was furious at such “murder.” At the execution, he behaved strangely: he picked up Mary’s severed head, kissed it and calmly began to lecture the people on anatomy, showing the organs affected by the ax, after which he kissed the dead lips again, threw the head in the mud and left.
Maria Hamilton before execution”, Pavel Svedomsky
Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740)
The niece of Peter I, like himself, was a great hunter of entertainment with the participation of dwarfs and “fools” - court jesters. If many of them were indeed distinguished by their wit, then the inventions of the empress herself, which brought her into wild merriment, were rather obscene.
Once, for example, one of her favorites, the Italian violinist Pietro Miro, nicknamed Pedrillo (Petrillo, Parsley), laughed off an attempt to make fun of his ugly wife, saying that his “goat” was pregnant and would soon bear “kids.” Anna Ioannovna immediately came up with the idea of putting him into bed with a real goat, dressed for laughs in a peignoir, and forcing the whole courtyard to bring them gifts. Pedrillo, who pleased his mistress, became richer by several thousand rubles on that day alone.
“Jesters at the Court of Empress Anna Ioannovna”, Valery Jacobi (Pedrillo on the left, depicted with a violin; in the center of the picture in a yellow caftan the famous jester Balakirev jumps above everyone else)
The Empress generally adored all kinds of obscenity, especially gossip and stories of a pornographic nature. Knowing this, specially selected girls were sent to the court who were capable of conducting such conversations and inventing more and more new stories with juicy details.
Elizaveta Petrovna (1741-1762)
The daughter of Peter I was known as a beauty from childhood and did nothing but have fun and take care of her own appearance, remaining almost uneducated. She had never read and even as an adult did not know that Great Britain was an island.
Most of all, Elizabeth was interested in masquerades and especially the so-called “metamorphoses,” where all the ladies had to appear in men's attire, and the men in women's attire. Moreover, the empress was convinced that her court rivals had ugly legs and that in men's leggings everyone except her was making a mockery of themselves.
One of the successful rivals, state lady Natalya Lopukhina, who was considered a beauty, was “mercifully” spared by Elizabeth from the death penalty, instead ordering her to be flogged, her tongue torn out and exiled to Siberia. Officially, Lopukhina was arrested and tortured in the case of a political conspiracy, but unofficially it was the empress’s revenge for the repulsed gentlemen and ridicule in her youth.
Natalya Fedorovna Lopukhina, engraving by Lavrenty Seryakov
Finally, Elizabeth doomed the legitimate heir to the throne, appointed before her death by Anna Ioannovna, to a terrible existence. Emperor Ivan VI was only a year and a half old when Peter's daughter staged a coup and secretly ordered him to be thrown into prison, forever separating him from his parents and protecting him from human contact. The “famous prisoner,” as he was called after the strictest ban on mentioning his name, was stabbed to death by guards at the age of 23, already under Catherine II.
Catherine II (1762-1796)
33-year-old Catherine overthrew and arrested her own husband and second cousin Peter III, a relationship with whom had not worked out from the very beginning. They got married when she was 16 and he was 17 years old. According to one version, he was infantile almost to the point of dementia and avoided marital duty for 9 years, allegedly not knowing what to do in bed with a woman. According to another version (and Catherine admitted this in her biographical notes), he did not love her and made no attempts to get closer. At the same time, he openly took mistresses and even planned to marry one, but died under unclear circumstances 10 days after his deposition.
Coronation portrait of Emperor Peter III, Lukas Conrad Pfanzelt
Meanwhile, the unhappy marriage made Catherine herself the greatest mistress on the Russian throne. She gave birth to her first child, the future Emperor Paul I, only 10 years after the wedding, which gave rise to rumors that he was not from Peter, although he looked like him. The empress had two more children from different lovers, and she gave birth to one in complete secrecy from her husband - in order to distract the emperor and take him away from the palace, her faithful valet started a fire in her own house.
Contemporary painting “The Triumph of Catherine”, Vasily Nesterenko (at the empress’s right hand is her famous favorite, Prince Grigory Potemkin)
The “depraved empress” took her last favorite at the age of 60: he became the 21-year-old nobleman Platon Zubov, whom she enriched unspeakably and who, five years after her death, participated in the murder of her son Paul I.
Platon Aleksandrovich Zubov, artist Ivan Eggink
Alexander I (1801-1825)
Catherine's 23-year-old grandson came to power as a result of a conspiracy against his own father: he was convinced that if Paul was not overthrown, he would destroy the empire. At the same time, Alexander did not allow murder, but the perpetrators - officers inflamed with champagne - decided otherwise: in the middle of the night they struck the emperor with a powerful blow to the temple with a golden snuffbox and strangled him with a scarf. Alexander, having learned about the death of his father, burst into tears, and then one of the main conspirators said in French: “Stop being childish, go reign!”
Alexander II (1855-1881)
Having ascended the throne, Alexander, who had previously lived in a happy marriage with many children, began to have favorites, with whom, according to rumors, he had illegitimate children. And at the age of 48, he began secretly dating 18-year-old Princess Katya Dolgorukova, who years later became his second wife.
Their extensive erotic correspondence has been preserved - perhaps the most frank on behalf of the head of state: “In anticipation of our meeting, I am trembling all over again. I imagine your pearl in the shell"; “We had each other the way you wanted. But I must confess to you: I will not rest until I see your charms again...”
Drawing of the Emperor: nude Ekaterina Dolgorukova
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
The most terrible secret was and remains the death of the family of the last Russian emperor.
For many years after the execution in the basement without trial or investigation, the Soviet authorities lied to the whole world that only Nikolai was killed, and his wife, four daughters and son were alive and well and “transported to a safe place where nothing threatens them.” This gave rise to popular rumors about the allegedly escaped princesses and Tsarevich Alexei and contributed to the emergence of a huge army of impostor adventurers.
In 2015, at the insistence of the Church, the investigation into the death of the royal family began “from scratch.” A new genetic examination has confirmed the authenticity of the remains of Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and three Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia, found near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Faces of Nicholas II and Princess Anastasia reconstructed from the remains
Then they began to compare them with the genetic materials of Alexei and Maria, found in 2007. The timing of their burial depends on the Church’s willingness to recognize the remains.
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