Empress Maria Aleksandrovna: wife of Tsar Alexander II
Magnificent pearls and infinite sadness for this splendid portrait of the German princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (1824-1880), who became Empress of Russia with the name of Maria Alexandrovna, marrying Emperor Alexander II in 1841.
In addition to the portrait of Franz Xaver Winterhalter dated 1857, in which the magnificence of the dress and jewels is only partially faded by the melancholy of the empress’s hazel eyes, in the photo gallery you will find other portraits and photographs of the tsarina and also the photo of a young woman who ended up definitively separating the two spouses, princess Ekaterina Michajlovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), lover and finally morganatic wife of Tsar Alexander II.
Why so much sadness in Empress Maria Alexandrovna’s eyes? Let’s find out about her story.
Maria was born princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, officially the daughter of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife, Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. Numerous questions arose, however, regarding her birth. Her parents had in fact developed a mutual indifference over the years and had lived apart for long periods of time, while continuing to pretend to form an intact family outside the inner circle.
The birth of Alexander and Maria, the youngest children of the grand ducal couple, brought them together again, even if the paternity of the Grand Duke over the last Wilhelmine’s children was questioned. Presumably the biological father of these children was August Ludwig von Senarclens de Grancy, with whom the Grand Duchess lived in some periods, and who was her longtime lover.
Doubts about her paternity led the Darmstadt court to ignore the young Maria, so much so that her name never appeared on the lists of German princesses of married age.
In 1838 she met Tsarevitch Alexander, who was traveling around Europe in search of a wife. Alexander fell in love with 14-year-old Maria and they got engaged. They married on April 16, 1841, despite the objections of Alexander’s mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She was in fact aware, like her husband, of the social stigma deriving from Maria’s illegitimate birth.
The environment of the Russian court proved immediately unsuitable for the young Maria. As she was very shy, she was indeed considered a rigid, austere woman, devoid of any taste in clothing, unable to entertain in conversations, and not charming at all.
Furthermore, the humid climate of St. Petersburg greatly damaged her delicate chest, which she had inherited from her mother, so that she ended up suffering from agonizing coughs and recurrent fevers. Nonetheless, Maria was the mother of eight children.
Her constant pregnancies, together with her weak health, kept her away from court parties, that were a reason for her husband’s constant temptations. Although Alexander always behaved correctly towards her, Maria knew that her husband was indeed constantly cheating on her and had several lovers.
The Tsar had already had three children with princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova when he moved his second family to the Imperial Palace while Maria was still alive! (Alexander and Ekaterina joined in a morganatic marriage, after Maria’s death in 1880).
Her husband’s infidelity and the premature death of her firstborn caused deep pain to Maria Alexandrovna.
The much weakened Tsarina died on May 27, 1880 and she was buried in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul with full honors.
A curiosity: the panoramic promenade of Sanremo in Italy, named Corso Imperatrice, is dedicated to empress Maria Aleksandrovna, in thanks for the palms she donated to the city and that are still displayed along the homonymous street.
