Nicholas and alexandra
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/0/8/26089270/7000328.jpg?272)
What is so appealing to me about the Romanov family is the love story between Nicholas and Alexandra.
Alexandra Feodorovna is the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her family members called her "Sunny" when she was a little girl because she was always smiling. When she was six years old her mother died of dipthyeria, which cast a sad shadow of seriousness and religious devotion that remained with her for the rest of her life. In 1918, she wrote a letter while imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in Siberia:
"Life here is nothing. Eternity is everything, and what we are doing is preparing our souls for the Kingdom of Heaven. It requires good food to make plants grow, and the gardener, walking through His garden wants to be pleased with His flowers. If they do not grow properly, He takes his pruning knife, and cuts,"(26, Kurth).
Oddly enough, Alexandra and Nicholas were second cousins. They met at Alexandra's older sister's wedding in 1884. Alex was 12 and Nicky was 16. Nicky fell in love with Alex's shyness and elegant beauty. Alex fell in love with Nicky's good looks and sensitivity towards her. They didn't begin courting until 1889 when Nicky was 21 and Alex was 17 when she visited her older sister, Ella, in St Petersburg. They went ice skating on the frozen river, Neva, and enjoyed lavish dinners, dates to the opera or ballet (34, Kurth). When Alex returned home, Nicky kept a picture of her in his diary.
Nicky's parents, the Emperor Alexander III and Empress Marie, did not like the idea of Nicky marrying a non-Russian. In an attempt to make Nicky forget the lovely Alex, Nicky's father persuaded his son to meet the Russian dancer Mathilde Kschessinka at a party. Even though Nicky did not love Mathilde, he had affairs with her and eventually bought her a palace in St. Petersburg. Mathilde was considered Nicky's mistress. Still unhappy, Nicky finally mustered up the courage to meet with Alexandra in secret and proposed. In tears, Alex denied his first proposal. She was reluctant to leave her Lutheran faith to convert to Nicky's Russian Orthodox faith. Her sister, Ella, was the strongest influence to change Alex's mind who married into the Russian family. So on her second meeting with Nicky, she answered him with a yes.
Before the wedding, Nicky's father fell ill with nephritis. On November 1, 1888 Tsar Alexander III died sitting upright in his chair with all the family surrounding him, including young Alexandra. She swore on his deathbed that she would convert to Russian Orthodox, which she did. Nicholas and Alexandra wed on November 26, 1894 in the Winter Palace.
Nicky and Alex could have chosen to live in the larger, more glamorous Catherine Palace or Winter Palace. Ultimately, the couple decided to make the Alexander Palace their home, which is where they first met as teenagers in 1889. Nicholas had also been born there, (55, Kurth).
Nicholas was left with a huge burden of responsibility when his father died. As the oldest son of late Alexander III, he became Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire. Nicholas called being tsar "the awful job I have feared all my life," (Brown). Despite his charming good looks and kind demeanor, he lacked expertise in politics having no interest in it as a child. Russia was changing and the people were starving. Instead of listening to the Russian people's demand for constitutional reform, Tsar Nicholas II maintained autocracy, an old plan laid out from his father. This choice eventually wreaked havoc in the tsar's life. Alexandra also cared little about politics in spite of her elite educated background and centered her life more around her family. As Court Chancellery Head A. A. Mossolov wrote, "Alexandra Feodorovna could never understand how the affairs of her family could interest the whole country. 'Its my personal business,' she would say again and again...I wish people would not meddle in my affairs,'" (159, Beeche).
Alexandra Feodorovna is the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her family members called her "Sunny" when she was a little girl because she was always smiling. When she was six years old her mother died of dipthyeria, which cast a sad shadow of seriousness and religious devotion that remained with her for the rest of her life. In 1918, she wrote a letter while imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in Siberia:
"Life here is nothing. Eternity is everything, and what we are doing is preparing our souls for the Kingdom of Heaven. It requires good food to make plants grow, and the gardener, walking through His garden wants to be pleased with His flowers. If they do not grow properly, He takes his pruning knife, and cuts,"(26, Kurth).
Oddly enough, Alexandra and Nicholas were second cousins. They met at Alexandra's older sister's wedding in 1884. Alex was 12 and Nicky was 16. Nicky fell in love with Alex's shyness and elegant beauty. Alex fell in love with Nicky's good looks and sensitivity towards her. They didn't begin courting until 1889 when Nicky was 21 and Alex was 17 when she visited her older sister, Ella, in St Petersburg. They went ice skating on the frozen river, Neva, and enjoyed lavish dinners, dates to the opera or ballet (34, Kurth). When Alex returned home, Nicky kept a picture of her in his diary.
Nicky's parents, the Emperor Alexander III and Empress Marie, did not like the idea of Nicky marrying a non-Russian. In an attempt to make Nicky forget the lovely Alex, Nicky's father persuaded his son to meet the Russian dancer Mathilde Kschessinka at a party. Even though Nicky did not love Mathilde, he had affairs with her and eventually bought her a palace in St. Petersburg. Mathilde was considered Nicky's mistress. Still unhappy, Nicky finally mustered up the courage to meet with Alexandra in secret and proposed. In tears, Alex denied his first proposal. She was reluctant to leave her Lutheran faith to convert to Nicky's Russian Orthodox faith. Her sister, Ella, was the strongest influence to change Alex's mind who married into the Russian family. So on her second meeting with Nicky, she answered him with a yes.
Before the wedding, Nicky's father fell ill with nephritis. On November 1, 1888 Tsar Alexander III died sitting upright in his chair with all the family surrounding him, including young Alexandra. She swore on his deathbed that she would convert to Russian Orthodox, which she did. Nicholas and Alexandra wed on November 26, 1894 in the Winter Palace.
Nicky and Alex could have chosen to live in the larger, more glamorous Catherine Palace or Winter Palace. Ultimately, the couple decided to make the Alexander Palace their home, which is where they first met as teenagers in 1889. Nicholas had also been born there, (55, Kurth).
Nicholas was left with a huge burden of responsibility when his father died. As the oldest son of late Alexander III, he became Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire. Nicholas called being tsar "the awful job I have feared all my life," (Brown). Despite his charming good looks and kind demeanor, he lacked expertise in politics having no interest in it as a child. Russia was changing and the people were starving. Instead of listening to the Russian people's demand for constitutional reform, Tsar Nicholas II maintained autocracy, an old plan laid out from his father. This choice eventually wreaked havoc in the tsar's life. Alexandra also cared little about politics in spite of her elite educated background and centered her life more around her family. As Court Chancellery Head A. A. Mossolov wrote, "Alexandra Feodorovna could never understand how the affairs of her family could interest the whole country. 'Its my personal business,' she would say again and again...I wish people would not meddle in my affairs,'" (159, Beeche).