Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse)

Maria Alexandrovna
Empress consort of All the Russias
Maria Alexandrovna Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhelter Hermitage Museum, 1857
Tenure	2 March 1855 – 8 June 1880
Spouse	Alexander II
Issue
Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Alexander III Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich
Father	Louis II of Hesse
Mother	Wilhelmine of Baden
Born	8 August 1824(1824-08-08) Darmstadt
Died	8 June 1880(1880-06-08) (aged 55) Saint Petersburg
Burial	Peter and Paul Cathedral

Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 – 8 June 1880) was a princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and, as Maria Alexandrovna (in Russian Мария Александровна), Empress consort of Alexander II of Russia. She was born at Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy, and died at Saint Petersburg. The Mariinsky Theatre and the city Mariehamn in Åland are named after her.

Early life

Marie was the youngest of seven children born to the Grand Duchess Wihelmine of Hesse (1788–1836), the youngest sister of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Alexeievna. The younger four were likely the biological children of Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy, but to avoid a scandal, Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse acknowledged Alexander and Marie as his own children; the other two had died young.

Maria Alexandrovna. by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky.(1855) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

Marriage

When in 1838, the Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich toured Europe to find a wife, he fell in love with the 14-year-old Marie. He married her on 16 April 1841, even though he was well aware of the "irregularity" of her birth. His mother Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna objected, but Alexander insisted.

As she was very shy, she was regarded as stiff, austere, and with no taste in dress, no conversation, no charm. The damp climate of Saint Petersburg did not agree with the delicate chest Marie had inherited from her mother, so that she had a racking cough and recurring fever. Nevertheless, she became the mother of eight children. These pregnancies together with ill health kept her away from many Court festivities, which brought temptations to her husband.

Although he always treated her well, Marie knew Alexander was unfaithful and had many lovers. He already had three children with his favorite mistress, Princess Catherine Dolgoruki, when he moved her and their children into the Imperial Palace. They entered into a morganatic marriage on 6 July 1880, less than a month after Marie's death.

Russian Empress

In 1855 Alexander became Emperor, which forced her to attend more State functions whether she was ill or not. Although Alexander II always treated her well, she knew from 1858 onwards that his feelings were for someone else. In 1865, the death of her eldest and favourite son, the Tsarevich Nicholas, was a great blow.

Every now and again she was able to go to her brother Alexander who lived with his morganatic wife in Heiligenberg. There she met Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, wife of her nephew Prince Louis. She resented Alice's suggestion of the marriage between her brother Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and her own daughter, but the marriage ultimately went through. When Alice died in 1878, Marie often invited the motherless children for visits to Heiligenberg. It was during these visits that Marie's son, Grand Duke Serge, first got to know his future wife, Alice's daughter Elisabeth as well as Marie's first encounter with Princess Alix of Hesse, (who was the younger sister of Elisabeth) and would one day marry Marie's eldest grandson Nicholas II.

Coronation portraits, by Mihály Zichy, 1856

Empress Maria Alexandrovna with her husband Tsar Alexander II, and son, the future Tsar Alexander III

Children

Titles and styles

• Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (1824 – 1841)
• Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1841 – 1855)
• Her Imperial Majesty The Empress of all the Russias (1855 – 1880)

Ancestry

External links

• www.Mariagessen.narod.ru