Marie of Hessen-Darmstadt

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Franz Xaver Winterhalter : Marie of Hessen-Darmstadt as Tsarina, 1857

Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie of Hesse and the Rhine (* August 8, 1824 in Darmstadt ; † May 22, July / June 3,  1880 greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a princess of Hesse and the Rhine and under the name Marija Alexandrowna ( Russian Мария Александровна ) Tsarina of Russia .

Life

Tsar Alexander II and Tsarina Marija Alexandrovna, lithograph by Eduard Kaiser

Origin, family and youth

Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna

Marie was officially the youngest of the five children of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and the Rhine (1777-1848) from his marriage to Princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788-1836), daughter of Hereditary Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden .

The parents had become estranged from each other over the years and sometimes lived separately for months while maintaining an outwardly intact family. The birth of the two youngest children, Alexander and Marie, brought them closer together again, although the paternity of the Grand Duke with Wilhelmine's last two children was in doubt. The biological father of these children of Wilhelmines was probably August Ludwig von Senarclens-Grancy , with whom she lived at times.

The Grand Duchess did not leave the upbringing of the young princess in the hands of governesses, but put together the upbringing and education plans herself. Particular emphasis was placed on imparting knowledge of literature and history. The mother's fondness for French culture and literature shaped little Marie's lessons. Wilhelmine died when Marie was eleven years old. The further upbringing took over the lady-in-waiting Marianne de Grancy, who followed the upbringing plan of her mother.

Tsarina

Tsarina Marija Alexandrovna of Russia with her children Marija and Sergei, 1861

In 1838 the future Tsar of Russia Alexander II met the young princess of Hesse and decided to marry her, although he was well aware of the flaws in her birth. The marriage was on April 16 . / April 28, 1841 greg. closed in St. Petersburg. Marie converted to the Russian Orthodox faith before the wedding and was henceforth called Marija Alexandrovna. After the death of Tsar Nicholas I , her husband succeeded him to the throne and Marija Alexandrovna became Tsarina of Russia.

Although Alexander always treated his wife with respect, he had numerous lovers and illegitimate children. Marie reacted with frequent illnesses. At her instigation and in collaboration with Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse , she arranged, against the resistance of Queen Victoria, the marriage of her only daughter Maria to Duke Alfred of Edinburgh .

Marie always had a particularly close relationship with her brother Alexander , with whom she also exchanged extensive letters, some of which were of a political nature. Due to her frequent stays in the Hessian Schloss Heiligenberg with her brother, the later marriages of Grand Duke Sergei with Princess Elisabeth and also the connection between Marie's grandson Nikolaus and Princess Alix result .

Sickness and death

In 1863 the Tsarina fell ill with tuberculosis and hoped to get relief with the help of a spa stay. In the summer of 1864 she went to Bad Kissingen , where the first personal encounter with Ludwig II of Bavaria took place. Ludwig visited again in Bad Schwalbach, where the tsarina stayed for a follow-up treatment. This resulted in an exchange of letters between the two monarchs that lasted for a year. Due to the worsening of her illness and possible suspicions on the part of the imperial court, the contact broke off again.

Her husband's marital infidelity and the early death of her eldest son pained her very much. The very weakened tsarina succumbed to her suffering on June 3, 1880 and was buried with full honors in the family vault of the Peter and Paul Cathedral .

progeny

  • Alexandra (1842–1849)
  • Nikolaj (1843-1865), Tsarevich
(1862 engagement to Princess Dagmar of Denmark)
⚭ 1866 Princess Dagmar of Denmark (1847–1928)
⚭ 1874 Princess Marie of Mecklenburg (1854–1920)
⚭ (?) ( Morning ) 1869/1870 Alexandra Wassiljewna Schukowskaja (1842–1899)
⚭ 1874 Prince Alfred of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Edinburgh (1844–1900)
⚭ 1884 Princess Elisabeth of Hessen-Darmstadt (1864–1918)
⚭ 1. 1889 Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (1870–1891)
⚭ 2. 1902 Olga Valerianovna Karnovitch (1865–1929), “Countess von Hohenfelsen” 1904, “Princess of Paley” 1915

reception

The central Siberian city ​​of Mariinsk was named after Empress Marija Alexandrovna in 1857 , and it still bears this name today. The city of Anadyr in the Far East was called Novo-Mariinsk from its foundation in 1889 to 1923 .

The Marienplatz in Darmstadt, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Marienpalast in Kiev and the Finnish city of Mariehamn , founded in 1861 and where a monument was erected in 2011 for the 150th anniversary of the city , are also named after Marie .

ancestry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Louis IX. (Hessen-Darmstadt)
* December 15, 1719; † April 6, 1790
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. Ludwig I (Hessen-Darmstadt)
* June 14, 1753; † April 6, 1830
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9. Henriette Karoline von Pfalz-Zweibrücken
* March 9, 1721; † March 30, 1774
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Ludwig II (Hessen-Darmstadt)
* December 26, 1777; † June 16, 1848
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. Georg Wilhelm of Hessen-Darmstadt
* July 11, 1722; † June 21, 1782
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5. Luise Henriette Karoline von Hessen-Darmstadt
* February 15, 1761; † October 24, 1829
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Maria Luise Albertine zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg
* March 16, 1729; † March 11, 1818
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Marie of Hessen-Darmstadt
* August 8, 1824; † June 3, 1880
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12. Karl Friedrich (Baden)
* November 22, 1728; † June 10, 1811
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6. Karl Ludwig von Baden
* February 14, 1755; † December 16, 1801
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Karoline Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt
* July 11, 1723; † April 8, 1783
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Wilhelmine Luise von Baden
* September 10, 1788; † January 27, 1836
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14. Louis IX. (Hessen-Darmstadt)
* December 15, 1719; † April 6, 1790
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7. Amalie von Hessen-Darmstadt
* June 20, 1754; † July 21, 1832
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15. Henriette Karoline von Pfalz-Zweibrücken
* March 9, 1721; † March 30, 1774
 
 
 
 
 
 

literature

  • Olga Barkowez, Fedor Fedorow, Alexander Krylow: "Peterhof is a dream ..." German princesses in Russia. Edition q, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-86124-532-9 .
  • Egon Caesar Conte Corti : Among Tsars and Crowned Women. The fate and tragedy of European empires on the basis of letters, diaries and secret documents from Tsarina Marie of Russia and Prince Alexander of Hesse. 14th edition, 50th - 53rd thousand. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1953.
  • Eckhart G. Franz :  Maria Alexandrowna. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 197 ( digitized version ).
  • Alexa-Beatrice Christ: "The choice has been made ..." Darmstadt princesses in St. Petersburg. Justus von Liebig Verlag, Darmstadt 2015.
  • Marianna Butenschön; The Hessin on the Tsar's throne. Maria, Empress of Russia, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt, 2017, ISBN 978-3-8062-3436-7

Web links

Commons : Marie von Hessen-Darmstadt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marianna Butenschön: The Hessin on the Tsar's throne. Maria, Empress of Russia . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2017, p. 29 f .
predecessor Office Successor
Alexandra Feodorovna Empress of Russia
1855–1880 		Maria Feodorovna
personal data
SURNAME Hessen-Darmstadt, Marie von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexandrovna, Marija; Hessen and near the Rhine, Marie von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Empress of Russia
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1880
Place of death St. Petersburg