The life of Princess Alix of Hesse, Later Alexandra Feodorovna

On 6th June 1872, Princess Alix of Hesse and By Rhine, daughter of Princess Alice and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was born at Neues Palais, Darmtadt.

Christened a month later on 1st July, she was given the names Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice after her mother and her four maternal aunts. In a letter to Queen Victoria, Alice wrote explained that “‘Alix’ we gave for ‘Alice’ as they murder my name here ‘Ali-ice’ they pronounce it, so we thought ‘Alix’ could not so easily be spoilt”. However, the name ‘Alix’ was already the nickname for Princess Alexandra, wife of Prince Albert Edward. In order to prevent confusion, the baby became known as ‘Alicky’ amongst close family. Growing up, she also became known as ‘Sunny’ due to her smiley and bubbly personality. Her godparents included: Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; Alexandra, Princess of Wales; Tsesarevich Alexander and Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna, who later became her parents-in-law; Princess Beatrice of Battenberg; Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge; and Anna of Prussia, Landgravine of Hesse.

As the sixth child, Alix was doted in by all and shared a close relationship with her eldest brother, Prince Ernst Louis, and younger sister, Princess Marie. With just two years between them, the two sisters were particularly close and were almost inseparable. Soon before Alix’s first birthday, her brother, Prince Friedrich, died after falling out of an open windows in their family home. Alice never truly recovered from her sons death but continued to live and care for each of her children.

In November 1878, Alix’s life changed forever when diphtheria swept through the palace. Alix was the second member of the family to fall ill, after her eldest sister, Princess Victoria. Before long, six year old Alix fell seriously ill. Doctors were called to bring a steamer to try and clear her airways. Thankfully it helped and the princess soon began making a recovery. However, Marie wasn’t so lucky and soon after, on 16th November. Wanting to spare them the pain, Princess Alice and Prince Louis decided to wait a couple of weeks before telling their other children the news. Less than a month later, on 14th December, Princess Alice also died having caught the infection from Prince Ernst Louis. In later years, Alix described her life as “unclouded sunshine, then of a great cloud”.

Queen Victoria immediately took the Hessian children under her wing. They would often travel to Britain, particularly in the summer to spend time with their British relatives. In later years, Alix described her grandmother as the “Dearest and kindest woman alive” and often signed cards and letters from “Your loving and grateful grandchild”. During her time in England, she became close to her uncle, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

As Alix got older, Queen Victoria felt it was her place to help find her a suitable match. In a letter to Princess Victoria of Hesse, she wrote that “My heart and mind are bent on securing dear Alicky for either Eddie [Prince Albert Victor of Wales] of Georgie [Prince George of Wales].” Although hesitant at first, Queen Victoria finally convinced Alix to accept a proposal from Prince Albert Victor. In 1889, she invited them both to Balmoral Castle with the hope of them falling in love. Her plan worked in part as the Prince became infatuated with Alix and proposed later on in the trip. But like her sister Princess Elizabeth, Alix found him to be “too stupid” for her liking and in May 1890 wrote to him, rejecting his offer. Queen Victoria wasn’t impressed with with her decision and wrote to Princess Victoria that she “Should be made to reflect seriously on the folly of throwing away the chance of a very good husband, kind, affectionate and steady, and of entering a united happy family and a very good position which is second to none in the world”. Knowing that the Queen believed in marrying for love, Alix made it clear that she would marry Prince Albert Victor if forced but ensured that neither of them would be happy. Listening to her granddaughter’s feelings, Queen Victoria gave up on the prospect and turned her attention to Prince Maximilian of Baden. In 1891, the Queen wrote to Alix’s father asking him to invite the prince to Darmstadt as soon as possible. Upon his arrival, the Prince told Alix that he intended to propose during his stay. Unconvinced by the match, Alix turned to Princess Victoria for advice on how to gently reject his proposal.

Tragedy struck again in 1892, when the Princess’s father died of a heart attack, aged just 54. Having always been close, Alix was devastated by his sudden death and is believed to have spent years crying just at the thought of him. Along with the support of her siblings, Alix also turned to Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia, son of Emperor Alexander III. The two first met in 1884 at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in St Petersburg. With just four years between them, the two immediately got along even scratched their names into a windowpane! In his diary, sixteen year old Nicholas wrote of how he and “Sweet little Alix” loved each other and upon her departure, he gave her a brooch as a token of his affection. Despite getting along so well, the two didn’t meet again until Alix visited her sister six years later, in January 1890. During her stay, the two spent much of their time playing badminton, ice skating, attending tea parties and dinners. As with her first visit, Nicholas turned to his diary to share his thoughts: “It is my dream to one day marry Alix H. I have loved her for a long time”.

Although both Alix and her sister Elizabeth favoured the match, Queen Victoria didn’t approve. She liked Nicholas as a person but disliked his father and Russia as a country. The feelings were mutual and Nicholas’ parents detested Germany, and feared Alix might be a carrier of haemophilia. His mother, Maria Feodorovna was particularly against the match, believing Alix to be too unlikable and unworthy as a low ranking German royal. Along with the Tsars disapproval, Alix was devoted to her Lutheran faith and didn’t want to have to give it up in order to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. As a result, she turned down Nicholas’ first proposal. However, Elizabeth was determined to make the match work and explained to her sister that she wouldn’t have to give up her religion. After she finally agreed to convert, Nicholas proposed to Alix at the wedding of Prince Ernst Louis and Princess Victoria Melita in Coburg. This time, Alix agreed and the engagement was announced.

Originally, the wedding was planned for spring 1895 but Tsar Alexander fell ill during September 1894 and requested it be brought forward so that he could attend. Alix was sent for and travelled from Germany to Lavadia Palace by ordinary passenger train. Upon her arrival on 22nd October, the dying Tsar insisted on greeting her in full uniform so he could formally give her his blessing. Sadly Alexander died just 10 days later, on 1st November, before the wedding had taken place. The next day, Alix was received into the Russian Orthodox Church. Although she wanted to take the name Yekaterina, Nicholas requested that she become known as Alexandra Feodorovna so they could share the names of his grandparents.

Despite having just lost his father, Nicholas was adamant that he still wanted to marry Alexandra in a small, private ceremony as planned. However, he was soon advised against the idea as his new position as Tsar required a much larger scale wedding in St Petersburg to reflect his status. The date was set for 26th November 1894 to coincide with his mothers birthday so that official mourning could be temporarily relaxed. Crowds gathered in the streets to see the procession, which included members of various royal families. Unfortunately Queen Victoria was unable to attend due to her failing health. In her journal she wrote that she “felt so sad” not to be there but held a celebratory dinner in the evening.

Only fluent in English and German, Alexandra found it difficult to make friends in the French speaking Russian Court. This was made more difficult by her shyness, which was easily mistaken for arrogance. As Tsarina, Alix was at the height of society and it was her place to host balls and teas for other high-ranking women. Despite being criticised by her mother-in-law, Alix preferred to limit her social events and instead complained about the lengths of women’s dresses and that “The heads of the young ladies of St Petersburg are filled with nothing but thoughts of officers”.

On 26th May 1896, the couple were crowned in the Dormition Cathedral, Moscow. The coronation service itself went well but the public celebration led to the Khodynka Tragedy. On 30th May, a public event was held in Khodynka field, where around 150 buffet stands were set up to serve food, drink and gifts (a commemorative cup) to guests. By 6am, about half a million people had gathered for the celebrations. Rumours soon began spreading that there wasn’t enough food for everyone and that the cups also contained a gold coin. As a result, everyone panicked and rushed towards the tables, causing a large crush. Police tried to control the crowd but it wasn’t possible and over 1,300 were killed and another thousand injured.

The couple were horrified at what had happened and decided not to attend a ball that evening out for respect. However, advisors informed them that the French ambassador, who was hosting the ball, would be offended if they cancelled last minute. In a letter to Queen Victoria, the British ambassador wrote that “the Empress [Alexandra] appeared in great distress, her eyes reddened by tears”. Members of the public weren’t made aware of their and saw their attendance as a cold-hearted move. The next day, Nicholas and Alexandra visited the wounded in hospital and paid for the coffins of the deceased. Many people saw the tragedy as a bad omen of their reign, while others blamed Alexandra’s German routs for being bad luck.

Given her unpopularity and need to prove her worth, Alexandra seemed unwilling to win the love of her subjects. During a trip to Crimea, hundreds of well wishers waited out all night to see the couple. Wanting to please his people, Nicholas looked out of the window and waved, while Alexandra refused, believing that the imperial family were “above that sort of thing”. Queen Victoria soon became concerned over Alix’s popularity and felt the need to step in. “I’ve ruled for more than 50 years […] and nevertheless everyday I think about what I need to do to retain and strengthen the love of my subjects […] it is your first duty to win their love and respect”. But, Alexandra wasn’t prepared to listen and responded by saying “You are mistaken […] Russia is not England. Here we do not need to earn the love of the people. The Russian people revere their Tsars as divine beings”.

As the years passed, even Alexandra’s capabilities were being questioned by society. In November 1885, she gave birth to the couples first child, Olga. The baby’s gender caused much controversy as the Pauline laws prohibited females from inheriting the throne as long as there was a male Romanov living, there for making Nicholas’ brothers and uncle heirs until he had a son. A few months later, Alix became pregnant again but unfortunately suffered a miscarriage as a result of the coronation stress. The miscarriage wasn’t announced as the pregnancy hadn’t been public knowledge. Sadly for Alix, this heartbreaking event became the brunt of gossip, and rumours began spreading that the baby was the product of an affair and that she had deliberately aborted it to prevent scandal. This, however, cannot be proven.

By the birth of her fourth child and daughter, Anastasia in 1901, Alexandra was near enough hated for her lack of sons. The couple became desperate to provide an heir and despite being warned against the idea, turned to a mystic called Philippe Nizier-Vachot, who claimed to use magnetic powers to change the sex of the baby while inside of the womb. Once again Alexandra became pregnant but on 19th August 1992, she passed a “large fleshy mass”, which turned out to be a fertilised egg that had died in the fourth week of gestation. Although known today as a molar pregnancy, it was formally announced as a miscarriage. Having proved useless, Philippe was sent back to France. As he left, he recommended that the couple turn to Seraphim of Sarov, who had preformed local miracles before his death seventy years earlier. The couple helped create Seraphim a saint before going to bathe in the Sarov Spring, where he had once bathed. We cannot say if it was the water of a coincidence, but Alix soon became pregnant with her final child, who was born on 12th August 1904. To everyone’s relief, she had given birth to a son, named Alexei. However, the celebrations were cut short when his umbilical cord was cut and he suffered excessive bleeding. As feared, he had inherited the royal disease, haemophilia. The disease was nothing new to Alexandra, who’s brother and uncle had both died of its complications. This time it was different, their only heir constantly on the brink of death and what was left of Alexandra’s popularity had been completely shattered.

By the time Alexei was born, Alexandra’s body was exhausted from so many pregnancies and the worry caused by her son’s condition only made her declining health worse. Often complaining of extreme fatigue but an inability to sleep, she also suffered from swollen feet, which sometimes made her bed bound and limited how much she could do. Her other symptoms included lack of appetite but inability to loose weight, suggesting she suffered from Graves’ disease, caused by an overactive thyroid. Thankfully for Alix, this enabled her to avoid the social events that she had spent years hating.

As Alexei grew up, Russian doctors failed to find him a cure for his haemophilia. Giving up on medics, the Tsrina turned to her faith for guidance and spent hours each day praying in her Private Chapel. Eventually she stumbled upon Siberian born peasant, Grigio Rasputin, who claimed that “neither the Emperor or you can do without me. If I am not there to protect you, you will lose your son”. However, despite his life saving claims, Rasputins treatments mostly including praying for Alexei, advising he rest and forbidding the use of aspirin, which only worsened his symptoms. Along with this, Rasputin almost immediately gained a negative persona at Russian Court, particularly for his nymphomania and drunkenness. Even Nicholas disliked him and felt powerless in his presence. Despite this, Alexandra was dependent on Rasputin and claimed that “he is only hated because we love him”, but in reality he was just abusing her venerability for his own gain.

In 1912, Alexei suffered a life-threatening haemorrhage in his thigh. The bleed was so bad that doctors feared he would die and even preformed his last rights! Desperate to save her only son and heir, Alix sent a telegram to Rasputin, telling him of the news. In a telegram back, he responded “God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The little one will not die”. Much to the amazement of doctors, Alexei soon began to recover. Although it could have been down to coincidence, this turn of events secured Rasputin a permanent and controversial place at court, which later led to the family’s downfall.

The start of World War One caused problems not only politically in Russia, but also between Nicholas and Alexandra. Upon hearing that Russia was at war, Alix stormed into Nicholas’ office, claiming that it would be the “end of everything” and she was right. Not only was Alexandra German, but her brother was the Grand Duke of Hesse and her cousins, Wilhelm and George, were the German Kaiser and King of Great Britain. Many of her other cousins were also on thrones all across Europe. Her family relations soon caused problems for the Tsrina and rumours began spreading that she was secretly hiding her brother in the palace; as well as having nightly discussions with Wilhelm to feed information back to Germany and help them win the war. However, this is highly unlikely as Alix disliked the Kaiser, describing him as “nothing but a clown”. Instead, she and her four daughters spent much of their time nursing and assisting wounded soldiers, although this was never truly recognised by the Russian people.

In 1915, Nicholas went to help on the frontline. While he was away, Alexandra was created regent and ran everything on his behalf. During this time, she began to rely on Rasputin more than ever. Likely abusing his power, he advised her on many issues, including the appointment of new ministers. In the space of sixteen months, Alix had appointed four Prime Ministers, five Ministers of Interior and three Ministers of War! Before long, officials asked her sister Elizabeth and ex-sister-in-law, Victoria Melita, to step in. Despite their attempts to save the monarchy, Alix refused to banish Rasputin from Russia. They also tried talking to Nicholas, but he too refused.

By March 1917, Nicholas’ attempts on the frontline had failed and revolutions in Russia had reached a point of no return. Despite Alix urging him not to, Nicholas abdicated his rights to the throne, and later also Alexei’s rights, while travelling back to St Petersburg. Alix immediately realised that her new position as ex-Tsarina put both her life and that of her children in danger. As a precaution, she requested that guards be placed in and around the Alexander Palace. Soon, she noticed that guards were wearing a handkerchief around their wrists in support of the Duma. From that moment, Alexandra knew that her, her five children and household were now under unofficial house arrest. By 21st March, this was certified and members of staff were allowed to leave, although many chose to stay and support the imperial family. The next day, Nicholas returned to his family.

The new government saw that the family’s presence in Russia was igniting the riots and that their lives were in danger. Originally, the government and the royal couple had hoped to fine refuge in Britain but the idea was quickly shut down by the Tsars closest cousin, King George V, who refused out of fear for his own position. George also warned that the y wouldn’t be welcome in France due to their anti-German feelings and particular dislike of Alexandra. The couple requested that the seven of them move to Livadia Palace in Crimea but the journey was too high risk. Instead, they were moved to Toblosk in Serbia, where they remained until the Bolshevik Revolution.

On 30th April 1918, Alexandra, Nicholas and their third daughter, Maria, were transferred to Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg under the control of the Bolsheviks. The rest of the family and remaining household travelled separately, having had to wait a few days due to Alexei’s ill health. Upon their arrival, their new home and new guards were completely different to their last residences. The guards no longer remained polite and instead took a much more forceful and threatening approach. Having a bad feel for what would be their final home, Alexander graffitied a swastika (her favourite good luck symbol) on the window frame and dated it the day she arrived. Their freedom at Ipatiev House was limited to just one hour a day of exercise outside. During that time, Alexei was usually carried around due to his health, while Alexandra decided to remain in her wheelchair inside to read her bible and the works of St Seraphim. As time went on, the family lost the majority of their possessions, including valuable jewellery. The only pieces that Alix was allowed to keep was two bracelets that her Uncle Leopold had given her as a child and she was unable to remove.

⚠️⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️

In the early hours of 17th July 1918, the family and their staff were woken up and taken down to the houses basement. Not knowing how long they would be in there and feeling weak, Alexandra complained that there were no chairs. On Nicholas’ request, three were brought down for the imperial couple and their sickly son. At 2:15am, a group of guards entered the basement with twelve revolvers. They told the family to stand before taking several shots at Nicholas, hitting and shattering his ribs. After witnessing her husbands murder, Alix turned her back to make a sign of a cross. Before she could finish, a single show was fired, hitting just above her right ear and coming directly out of the other side, killing her instantly. After all members of the family and prisoners had been killed, guards stabbed Alexandra and her husband multiple times, chipping her vertebrae. All of the bodies were then stripped. It was at this time that guards discovered personal jewels, such as rubies, diamonds, emeralds and pearls, hidden in the corsets of Alix and her four daughters. The clothing was then burnt while the naked bodies were thrown into a disused mineshaft at Gania Yama.

A week later, the area was investigated by the White Army but no bodies were discovered besides charred bones in a pile of ash. Knowing the location was a place of interest, the Bolsheviks decided to retrieve the bodies. They then smashed each of their faces before dismembering and disfiguring them with sulphuric acid. Nicholas, Alix and three of their children were then buried under railway sleepers, where they remained until the 1990s. When they were discovered, Prince Phillip, husband of the late Queen Elizabeth II and descendant of Alix’s sister Victoria, donated blood to help identify the Tsrina and her children. The remains of Alexei and either Maria or Anastasia weren’t found until 2007. All five were later reunited in St Catherine Chapel of the St Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg. In 2000, the family were recognised as martyrs and Alix was created a Saint and Passion bearer under the Russian Orthodox Church along with her husband and five children, as well as her sister Elizabeth and nun, Varvara, who were brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks on 18th July 1918.

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