Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Royal Lady

Every once in a while I break away from the standard fare of gymnasts, cats, cross-stitch and knitting and delve into my favorite little space of history. That of the great Royal Ladies. My all time favorite and my childhood inspiration to study this subject came from this lady, Her Royal Highness Princess Alix of Hesse, The Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. Daughter of Princess Alice of Great Britain and Grand Duke Louis of Hesse, she was born in 1872. She was the youngest surviving child and a great beauty of her time, as were her sisters Victoria, Ella and Irene. Like her elder sister Ella, Alix married into the Russian Imperial Family in 1894. She and her husband, Tsar Nicholas II were the last ruling couple of the dynasty. Unlike many royal marriages, Alix and Nicholas were very much in love. They had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and a son, Alexei. Tragically Alix, her 5 children and her husband were executed during the Russian Revolution in July of 1918. Alix converted to the Russian Orthodox faith when she married and her devout beliefs sustained her until the end of her life. Her her life as a loving wife and mother and woman of God has made her an inspiration to many.

4 comments:

  1. What beautiful pictures! It will probably come as no surprise to you that my favourite is the last one.

    I hope you are doing OK, dear Jennifer.

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  2. Hi Jenn like your photos and I see you have interest in the hesse princess's and the russian inperial family. would you know any history of them going to Demark to have photos taken? Its sad what happened to the whole family. I have some photos myself that I've been reserching on and off for 3 years. They are personal formal photograghs and one was taken by S. Juncker Jensen. Thanks William

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  3. Hello William, and welcome to my blog. I have many, many photos of all Victorian Era royalty. Many I have found on the Internet and I have many photo-books too. I have four CDs filled with photos I have found. Many trips were made to Denmark from the 1860s until early 20th Century and many group photos exist from these visits. Some are formal poses and others were taken by various family members. Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia and her sister Queen Alexandra of England visited their family in Denmark at least once a year and took many photos. Most all of the Royals of Europe are related through Queen Victoria's children and the children of King Christian Queen Louise of Denmark.....Greece, Russia, England, Hanover(Germany), etc.

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  4. Thanks so much for writing back so soon, for my past time im primarily a print collecter but over the years have had some accumulatation of photographs. Sometimes I pick though ones I think are meaingful or significant to research and full interpreetation takes alot of time.I have been trying to learn about royalty and would like to ask you now and then some things to help me. At some point I have to sell them because of hard times. The one im working on now is of Anastasia when she was 5 or 6 years old. The only others I have are of Victoria and Ella together as teenagers than one of their mom Alice. Thanks Again William

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