"A being in close contact with the ineffable and divine..."

Grand Duchess Elizabeth in her nun's habit
Photo courtesy of Klimblim

"Although she is approaching fifty, she has kept her slim figure and her old grace. Under her loose white woolen hood, she was as elegant and attractive as in the old days before her widowhood when she still inspired profane passions… Her face in the frame of her long white woolen veil was alive with spirituality. Her delicate features and white skin, the deep, far-away look in her eyes, the low, soft tone of her voice and the luminous glow round her brow all betrayed a being in close contact with the ineffable and divine."

- From the memoirs of Maurice Paleologue about the Grand Duchess Elizabeth as a nun.

In Remembrance of the Martyrdom of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth

Grand Duchess Elizabeth from a black-and-white photo,

colorized by Klimbim

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia. She, along with other members of the extended Imperial Family, were murdered by Bolsheviks on July 18, 1918, in the Siberian town of Alapayevsk. Their death, even with those of the Tsar and his family, a day before, were one of the bloodiest chapters on the history of Russia. 

As a commemoration to this beautiful and selfless woman, who has been an inspiration to me for so many years already, here are quotes from her cousin and admirer, Queen Marie of Romania:

"Aunt Ella, on these occasions was so fairy-like an apparition that I would like to dip my pen in colour, so as to be able to make her live again, if only for a moment, because eyes that have never beheld her will never be able to conceive what she was. With that divine smile curving her perfect lips, with a blush on her cheeks, only comparable to almond-blossoms, and an almost bashful look in her long-shaped, sky-blue eyes... Her gown, heavily embroidered in silver, is a colour which is neither blue nor green, the colour of glaciers or of aquamarine; her kokoshnik of emeralds and diamonds is truly a halo for her angelic face, and the gorgeous jewels, covering arms and throat, have, when she wears them, the aspect of gifts, piously offered to some beloved saint."

----------------------------------

"Aunt Ella, beautiful, beautiful Aunt Ella, may something of my love for you reach you in that faraway country where you rest in a martyr's grave. Now you are in the Holy Land, the victim of this world, too dark for your light."

The Austrian Empress and the Russian Grand Duchess

 

"The Grand Duchess was always terribly interested in everything that concerned the Austrian Empress. Perhaps, some envy played a part in this, since the Empress was famous for her beauty. So, for example, the Grand Duchess often asked: "Is my hair as beautiful as the Empress? Do you not find that I am like her?" I remember how she once interrogated someone who has newly returned from Vienna, where he was traveling with an order to Emperor Franz Joseph, Adjutant-General von Stühler: "Who is more beautiful, the Austrian empress or I?" General Stühler, slightly embarrassed, replied: "If the Austrian empress is the most beautiful woman on Earth, your Highness is undoubtedly the most beautiful princess! "The Grand Duchess was satisfied with this answer."

--From the "Memories of a Shipwrecked World" by Countess Kleinmichel.

The idol of Moscow

"As for Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, she was the idol of Moscow, the soul of every charitable enterprise and the ornament of every meeting. She was not shy, like her sister, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, she knew how to talk to anyone about anything. She was everywhere, she knew everyone, and if her help was needed, she would render it with both hands. She had a rare gift of sympathy and understanding, which enabled her to enter into the position of each person."

-From the memoirs of Princess Lydia Leonidovna Vasilchikova, 1886-1919

Royal Portrait: The Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia

“I always get a pleasant feeling every time I see something that reminds me of her. Strangely, I love her immensely, although I have never known her, and not only because she was dear to you, but also because of all the things I heard about her; it was said that she was really a great woman: she was able to keep people’s deep affection for her.”

–Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexeievna about her aunt, the Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna (nee Princess Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt), the first wife of Emperor Paul I of Russia, in a letter to her mother on July 1, 1797.

"A charming effect that is impossible to describe"

"Those who were given the good fortune to see up close the Empress Elizabeth had the opportunity to judge the extreme sociability of her nature and her extraordinary judgment. Gifted with great tact and exquisite taste, having a mass of diverse and deep knowledge, she always tried to hide her talents, as opposed to that zeal and skill with which she showed to ordinary people. Her nature had the property of contemplation which allowed her to see the serious side of her surrounding; but at the same time her passion and imagination gave her a charm and grace of simplicity; combining all these qualities engendered a charming effect that is impossible to describe."

- From an essay about the spouse of Alexander I "Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna" by Sergei Semenovich Uvarov. Published in the journal "Russian Antiquity" in 1884.

"Same beautiful soul"

Portrait of the Grand Duchess Ella 

by Friedrich August von Kaulbach.

Colorized by me. :-)

German portraitist Friedrich August von Kaulbach painted several portraits of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth throughout the late 19th century when she was apparently at the height of her beauty. Her brother Ernst-Ludwig particularly likes Ella's portraits by Kaulbach for they capture some of that elusive charm that most artists failed to convey on her other portraits. In this portrait, Ella's elegant, supple and graceful figure were apparent, as well as her beautiful Greek profile and that faraway look in her eyes. At the same time, she projects an aura of exquisite delicacy, simplicity and nobility. The Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who was in awe of the newly-married Ella, describe her in his diary: "She is so feminine; I am struck by her beauty. Her eyes wonderfully delineate calm and gentleness. In her, despite her gentleness and shyness, there is a certain feeling of self-confidence, a sense of power. Under such a beautiful appearance must be the same beautiful soul." 

Royal Portrait: The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

(Portrait from the Royal Collection)

The newly-married Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna wrote to her grandmother, Queen Victoria on June 13, 1884, about her portrait by Russian painter Alexander Sokolov.

"He began to do my portrait, and I think he will be very successful. Sergei and I hope that you will enjoy it, and we'll send it to you as a present for Christmas and birthday. You may be interested to know what I wear - a dress of pale pink gauze, a lot of lace, a little open - so you can see the neck and the sleeves are not very long. I hold an open umbrella on one hand and on the other - a large white straw hat with flowers, tied with a pink ribbon. It looks as if I was walking in the garden... " 

First Anniversary of the Death of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaievna

Grand Duchesses Olga and Alexandra Nikolaievna by Christina Robertson (Hermitage Museum)

In the excerpt below, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, Queen of Wurttemberg, remembers the first death anniversary of her beloved sister, Alexandra. The 19-year-old Grand Duchess Alexandra, who was suffering from consumption, died after prematurely giving birth to her son. The baby died as well soon afterwards, and this tragedy profoundly affected the imperial family.

"By the day of the death of Adini, Fritz of Hesse came. We went with him to Tsarskoye Selo, where in a small chapel at the pond was placed a statue of Adini. In the pavilion, which was built for her, waiting to be fed, are black swans. But at the top of the palace there was no longer a balcony in front of her bathroom and the lilac under her windows with their flowering branches reach the window. In the palace chapel a requiem was held. All these memories of last year came bursting in my heart: she was lying with her baby in a sea of colors and it seemed to me that with my beloved sister, I also buried my youth. Then we went to the Fortress [of Peter and Paul] and on that same night we went back to Yelagin [Palace]. When I think about my last summer in my homeland, I am seized with an inexpressible longing for all those who have gone before me to another life.

"Poor Aunt Julia"

Portrait of the Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia,
from the Royal Collection.

The Grand Duchess Anna was born as Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was an aunt of Queen Victoria. She married Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, second son of Tsar Paul I, when she was only 15 years old. The marriage was unhappy and ended in divorce. Anna later settled in Switzerland and died there in 1860.

In 1841, her niece, Princess Feodora went to Geneva, and later reported to her half-sister, Queen Victoria about her meeting with their Aunt Julia: "I went to see Mama and Aunt Julia, who I find very much changed, she looks now an old woman, such a pity, for she was so lovely once. ...Her life full of trials of all kind, her youth thrown away at that court, and now alone, amongst strangers here is indeed a bitter cup to the last... poor aunt, life must be a burthen to her; and her feelings are so young still." 

(Quotes from the Royal Collection.)

Royal Portrait: The Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia

The future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, consort
of Nicholas I, portrayed here when she was still a grand duchess.
By Henri Benner, 1821 (From the Hermitage Museum)

"On St. Peter's day the imperial family met at the chateau. It was there that I saw the Grand Duchess Nicholas for the first time, and I was struck by the elegance of her form and the beauty of her tall figure. Surrounded by her ladies in waiting, whom she surpassed by a head, you would have said it was Calypso in the midst of her nymphs."

 --From the memoirs of Madame la Comtesse de Choiseul-Gouffier

An Ambassador's Recollection

The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

"I remember dining with her in Paris…in about 1891. I can still see her as she was then: tall, stern, with shining blue, naive eyes, her tender mouth, the soft features of her face and her straight slender nose…the charming rhythm of her carriage and movements. In her conversation one intuited a marvelous feminine mind-natural, serious, and full of hidden goodness." - Maurice Paleologue, French ambassador at the Russian court

The Grand Duchess and Her Palace

The Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna, eldest daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, was a gifted artist. Her artistic and aesthetic inclinations led her to do numerous paintings in watercolor and she delightfully engaged in interior decoration; she decorated her own rooms and when she received a palace of her own, the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg, as a wedding present, she transformed it into one of the most imposing in the city. As a lover of the arts, Grand Duchess Maria built a beautiful collection of paintings from Russia and from different parts of  Europe. A lady-in-waiting recalled the time when she went to the Mariinsky palace for the first time and she was struck by the splendid interiors and the grand duchess's taste for beauty and the arts.

"... I went to the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna... I found her in her luxurious winter garden, surrounded by exotic plants, fountains, waterfalls and birds; a mirage of spring in a January frost. The palace of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaeivna was truly a magical castle, thanks to the generosity of the Emperor Nicholas to his beloved daughter, and the taste of the grand duchess, who managed to subdue the wealth and luxury which she was surrounded, shows the diversity of her artistic imagination. She was generously endowed by nature, which is coupled by a striking beauty of her subtle mind, friendly nature and excellent heart, but she lacked the lofty ideals of spiritual and intellectual interests... "

-From the recollection of Anna Feodorovna Tyutchev, 

lady-in-waiting at the Russian court

"A world of our own..."

Louis IV and Princess Alice, Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse

"If I say I love my dear husband, that is scarcely enough - it is a love and esteem which increase daily, hourly; which he also shows to me by such consideration, such tender loving ways. What was life before to what it has become now? There is such blessed peace being at his side, being his wife, there is such a feeling of security; and we two have a world of our own when we are together, which nothing can touch or intrude upon. My lot is indeed a blessed one; and yet what I have done to deserve that warm and ardent love which my darling Louis ever shows me? I admire his good and noble heart more than I can say."

-Princess Alice's letter to her mother Queen Victoria, 1862.

"Dagmar"

"The bride conquered everyone. Dagmar regarded life with radiant eyes, and her simplicity and charm boded will for family life, although Sheremetyev wrote the truth: Not everyone in court accepted this hasty switch from the dead brother to the live one. They did not understand that her small and graceful body belonged not to Niks or Sasha but had been intended from birth for the heir of the throne. That is why her mother bore her... From the day their engagement was announced, petite Dagmar was in charge of enormous Sasha. Once they were married, he never left her side. When she went to visit Denmark, he sat lost in her rooms, like a big hound that had lost its master." 

(Edvard Radzinsky, Alexander II: The last Great Tsar)

A Rare Vision

Portrait of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaievna of Russia (1825-1844) From the Hermitage Museum

"Her lineaments seemed suddenly to recall forcibly her mother and also her grandmother, Queen Louisa [of Prussia]. Among the retinue of the Empress were still persons who retained a lively recollection of Queen Louise, and who were struck by the likeness. [She] showed indescribable grace in all her movements, especially in dancing, so that her parents liked to look at her; even in her mode of walking in the street, where she appeared in all her simplicity and quite unknown, she struck every passer-by as a rare vision. From her features beamed even more than the wonted courtesy of a princess, or the easy cheerfulness of a girl; beyond all others, she was distinguished by elevation of thought, and goodness. Her slightest smile lighted up her whole face, her glance was full of intellect and heart, and on her lofty brow was written true dignity. Many beauties cause astonishment, but permit the spectator no nearer approach; the youthful Alexandra delighted by her first few words, for they came from the warmest depths of her heart. Neither pride nor cold reserve, but intellectual life and spirit, animated her whole being."

- Theodore Grimm, Alexandra Feodorowna, Empress of Russia 

"The True Goddess Was Revealed With Her Step..."

Portrait of the then Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexeievna of
Russia, c.1800. From The Royal Collection.

This was how the Comte de La Garde de Chambonas described the Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna of Russia during her stay in the Austrian capital for the Congress of Vienna in 1814. He described her as an "angel on earth", and went on to say that:

"She was endowed with a charming face, her eyes reflecting the purity of her soul. She had magnificent auburn hair, which, as a rule, was allowed to fall loose on her shoulders. Her figure was elegant, lithe, and supple, and even when she wore mask, her walk revealed her identity in a moment. No woman realised more thoroughly the line of Virgil: 'Incessu patuit Dea...' To a most delightful disposition there were added a cultivated and quick intellect, a passionate love of art, and a boundless liberality in money matters. The graceful elegance of her person, her noble bearing, and her inexhaustible kindness won her all hearts. Neglected almost from the first hour of her union by a husband whom she worshiped, her solitude and grief had bred a kind of melancholy. Stamped on every feature, that feeling lent to the accents of her voice and to her slightest movements an irresistible charm."

From:
Anecdotal Recollections  of the Congress of Vienna
by the Comte de La Garde de Chambonas

A Greater Happiness

 

"Ever more and more, stronger and deeper, grow my love and devotion, and my longing for you. Never can I thank God enough for the treasure He had given me for my very own--and be called yours, darling, what happiness can be greater? ... No more separations. At last united, bound for life, and when this life ended we meet again in the other world to remain together for all eternity. Yours, yours."

- Letter of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia to her husband, Nicholas II, shortly after their marriage.

Image is from:
http://kraljaleksandar.deviantart.com/

Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna

A miniature portrait of Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna nee Princess Juliane Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld from the Royal Collection. She was the first wife of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, and an aunt of Queen Victoria.

Anna was around 15 to 16 years old when this portrait was painted. This was how her sister-in-law and close friend, the future Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna of Russia, described Anna:

"Julie is such a wonderful child: kind, polite, trustworthy, and she is the best friend I could ever dream of. She is cheerful and amusing... She has brown hair, brown dazzling eyes, and a pretty mouth..."

Alexander and Elizabeth

The marriage of the future Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexeievna in September 1793 was one of the highlights of Catherine the Great's life and reign. Dubbed by contemporaries as the marriage of "Cupid and Psyche", the couple won universal acclaim throughout Europe because of their angelic appearance and their charming nature. It was an arranged marriage, but Alexander and Elizabeth started their married life genuinely fond of and happy with each other. Sadly, marriage bliss for the couple was short-lived. The unfathomable Alexander drifted away from Elizabeth, got a mistress, and fathered several illegitimate children, while Elizabeth - with her placid nature and retiring ways - became a solitary and melancholy figure, neglected by her husband and treated with indifference by his family. It was only towards the end of their lives that the couple had a reconciliation - they were finally reunited and promised to devote themselves to each other. But this new-found happiness was cut short by Alexander's sudden death at the age of 47. Elizabeth, now a tired and broken woman, followed Alexander to the grave 5 months later.

The relationship between Alexander and Elizabeth was best summed up by the Countess of Choisseul-Gouffier in her memoirs:

"What a difference would it have made in the happiness of both, if they had been able to understand each other! They seemed to have been made the one for the other; the same goodness, the same gentleness and intellectual power. Yet there seemed to have been one point on which their hearts could not meet. Why is it that death alone has reunited such perfect souls?"