Darmstadt, the birthplace of the Landgraves, Electors, and then the Grand Dukes of Hesse and the Rhine, has long-standing dynastic ties to Russia. Four Hesse-Darmstadt princesses became part of Russian and German history - Natalya Alekseevna, the first wife of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II and mother of Alexander III, Elizaveta Fedorovna, wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and finally , Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II.
Two of them were crowned, and Elizabeth Feodorovna, whose 150th anniversary was celebrated last year, was canonized by the Church as a martyr.

Why Darmstadt? Is this an accident or was there some pattern in the choice of this small city at the German “bride fair”? It seems that both are true, if, of course, we classify love at first sight, which underlay (at least) three of the four Hesse-Darmstadt marriages of the heirs of the Russian throne, as accidents. But there were also more fundamental considerations. Since the time of Peter I, who put an end to the “blood isolation” of the Romanovs, motives of political expediency prevailed in the choice of a bride for the heir to the throne. If Peter married his son Alexei to Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the sister of the future German Emperor Charles VI, then he looked for suitors for his daughters and nieces in the North German principalities, continuing the policy of mastering the Baltic coast, begun by the Northern War.
Catherine II departed from Peter's tradition of using dynastic marriages as a means of increasing Russian influence along the Baltic coast. The vector of her policy was aimed south - towards the Black Sea, Crimea, the Balkans, and Constantinople. Perhaps that is why both wives of her son Pavel Petrovich, as well as the wives of her grandchildren - Alexander and Konstantin, were chosen by Catherine in the principalities of Central and Southern Germany - Darmstadt, Württemberg, Baden and Saxe-Coburg. The relationship between the empress and the royal houses of Prussia, Denmark and Sweden also played a role.

Natalya Alekseevna: hostage of political struggle

Catherine entrusted the choice of a bride for Pavel Petrovich, who turned 19 years old in 1773 (“Russian coming of age”) to the Danish diplomat in the Russian service, Baron Asseburg. The task is not easy. And not only because the empress’s relationship with her son, who believed that his mother had usurped the throne that rightfully belonged to him, was never distinguished by mutual trust. The point is different: 1773 was perhaps the most difficult year in the 34-year reign of the Great Empress. First partition of Poland Pugachev uprising, the war with Turkey lasted for the fifth year, the conclusion of peace with which depended on relations with Prussia and Austria, who jealously followed Russia’s military successes. Of the German princesses suitable in age for the Grand Duke, Catherine's attention focused on Louise of Saxe-Coburg, but she refused to change her religion from Lutheran to Orthodox. Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg, who later became Paul's second wife, was still a child - she was barely 13 years old. So the turn came to the daughters of Landgrave Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. The Landgrave, who served in the Austrian army, was a zealous Protestant, but his wife, Caroline Louise, nicknamed the Great Landgrave for her outstanding qualities, perfectly understood the benefits of a Russian marriage. The Prussian king Frederick II, whose nephew, Crown Prince of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm, was married to the Landgrave's eldest daughter, Frederica, also desired a marriage union between Hesse-Darmstadt and St. Petersburg.
In mid-June 1773, Caroline and her three daughters - Amalia, Wilhelmina and Louise - arrived in St. Petersburg. The wedding of the heir to the throne with his second daughter, named Natalya Alekseevna upon conversion to Orthodoxy, took place in September of the same year. The wedding was attended by Denis Diderot and Friedrich-Melchior Grimm, who had been in long-term correspondence with Semiramis of the North.

Catherine also associated far-reaching dynastic plans with the Darmstadt marriage. It was about creating a family pact between the sovereigns of Northern Europe - Russia, Prussia, Denmark and Sweden through the marriage of the daughters of the Landgrave of Hesse with the Danish king Christian VII and the brother of the Swedish king, Duke Karl of Südermandland. Under Catherine, the plan for a family pact, however, failed to be implemented.
The fate of Natalia Alekseevna was tragic. Taking to heart the humiliating position of her husband, who was not allowed by Catherine to participate in state affairs, she found herself closely involved in the struggle of political factions that unfolded at the foot of the Russian throne. Her reputation was ruined by Andrei Razumovsky, the son of the last hetman of Ukraine, who became so close to the grand ducal couple that he lived in their half in the Winter Palace. On April 15, 1776, Natalya Alekseevna died in childbirth. After her death, Catherine showed her son the intercepted intimate correspondence between Razumovsky and the Grand Duchess...

Maria Alexandrovna: wife of the liberator

Maria Alexandrovna was both in character and in relation to politics the complete opposite of the first wife of Paul I. Alexander II, while still heir to the throne, fell passionately in love with her when in 1838 he visited Darmstadt during a European trip. The Hesse-Darmstadt princess was not even on the list of brides approved by his father, Nicholas I. Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas I, took the ambiguous circumstances of her birth so close to her heart (since 1820, Maria Alexandrovna’s mother, Princess Wilhelmina of Baden, lived separately from her husband Ludwig II, her father was considered the Alsatian Baron Augustus de Grancy) that she herself went to Darmstadt to meet the bride. The wedding took place on April 16, 1841. Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to 8 children, 6 of them sons, solving the problem of succession to the throne for a long time.
Being the wife of a reforming king is not an easy cross. Having lived for 15 years in Nicholas Russia before her coronation, Maria Alexandrovna deeply felt the need for change and sympathized with the liberation of the peasants that followed on February 19, 1861. Having a wide circle of friends not only in court circles, but also among the intellectual elite of Russia (K. Ushinsky, A. Tyutcheva , P. Kropotkin), she knew how not to advertise her undoubted influence on her husband. Her maid of honor, Anna Tyutcheva, the daughter of the great poet, close to the Slavophiles, sought in vain from her in the tragic days of the end Crimean War at least an indirect condemnation of the Nicholas order, which led Russia to a military disaster. “She is either holy or wooden,” Tyutcheva wrote in despair in her diary. In fact, Maria Alexandrovna, like Elizaveta Feodorovna later, had the irreplaceable quality of being invisible, completely dissolving in her husband, and doing good in silence.

The name of Maria Alexandrovna in Russia is closely connected with the history of noble charity, the roots of which are directly related to the traditions of Darmstadt. In the formation of the spiritual appearance of Maria Alexandrovna, like other Darmstadt princesses, a special role was played by two remarkable women who lived in Hesse in the 12th–13th centuries - Hildegard of Bingen, abbess of the monastery in Rupertsberg, who saw in the Christian church a place where “the people are healed”, and St. Elisabeth of Thuringia, who founded the first hospital in Marburg. Maria Alexandrovna’s charitable activities combined the social service of Protestantism and the deep spirituality of Orthodoxy. First Chairwoman Russian Society The Red Cross, founded by Alexander II after the Crimean War, she personally established in Russia 5 hospitals, 8 almshouses, 36 shelters, 38 gymnasiums, 156 vocational schools.
Maria Alexandrovna behaved with exceptional dignity in difficult, sometimes critical circumstances. recent years reign of Alexander II. After the birth of his eighth child, the emperor started a second family. Ekaterina Dolgorukova, who bore him four children, lived in the Winter Palace on the floor above Maria Alexandrovna. Three months after the death of the empress in 1880, she obtained from the emperor the official registration of the marriage. Only the death of Alexander II from a terrorist bomb on March 1, 1881 prevented the implementation of the plan for the coronation of His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya.
After the death of Maria Alexandrovna, her sons, including Emperor Alexander III, built the Church of St. in memory of her. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane in Jerusalem. Now there is a Russian convent there, preserving the memory of two Darmstadt princesses - Maria Alexandrovna and Elizaveta Feodorovna, whose remains rest near the right choir. Maria Alexandrovna, who embraced Orthodoxy with all her heart, is not canonized, but the sisters pray to her along with Elizaveta Fedorovna. They believe that Maria Alexandrovna begged her husband from six attempts on his life, the seventh, which occurred after her death, became fatal for him.

Alexandra and Elizabeth: on the eve of disaster

The marriages of the last two Darmstadt princesses, Ella and Alice (the future Elizaveta Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna), with the son and grandson of Maria Alexandrovna, were overshadowed by the inner nobility of this extraordinary woman. The wedding of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich took place in April 1884, 10 years before the marriage of her younger sister to Tsarevich Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas II. But the acquaintances of both grand dukes with the Darmstadt princesses were, as it were, written off from the first meeting of their father and grandfather with Maria Alexandrovna in Darmstadt. Nikolai met Alexandra Fedorovna at the wedding of her older sister Ella. Alexandra Feodorovna gave her consent to the marriage at the wedding of her older brother Ernst-Ludwig and Victoria-Melita in April 1884 in Coburg. Maria Alexandrovna became the guardian angel of their marriages, each of which was happy in its own way.

Elizaveta Feodorovna and Alexandra Fedorovna, deeply attached to each other, lived very similar, but at the same time very different lives. Both tried to the best of their ability to support and strengthen their Husbands. But if Sergei Alexandrovich was a convinced anti-liberal conservative, then Nicholas II was more a victim of historical circumstances than a monarch capable of directing the course of history in an era of deep crisis.
Elizabeth Feodorovna’s ideal in the critical circumstances in which Russia found herself in the period between the two revolutions was Joan of Arc, who combined deep spirituality with a willingness to sacrifice herself in the name of duty. In a letter to Nicholas II dated October 29, 1916, written after the assassination of Rasputin, the Great Mother, as she was called in Russia, compared herself to the Maid of Orleans, who spoke to her king Charles VII in the name of God. For Alexandra Feodorovna, Marie Antoinette was a sad role model, especially in the period from August 1915, when she sometimes had to take responsibility for making decisions in the family. The tragic situation with the illness of Tsarevich Alexei, which introduced an understandable, but no less irrational emphasis on her behavior, changed little on the merits of the matter.
In 1902, Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna opposed the rapprochement of the imperial couple with the occultist Master Philippe from Lyon. Elizaveta Fedorovna's subsequent rejection of Rasputin finally separated the sisters. They were reconciled only on the last Easter of their lives, when the imperial couple was already in Yekaterinburg, and Elizaveta Feodorovna was on her way to Alapaevsk.
It seems that among the deep reasons that determined their fate was the completeness of Elizaveta Fedorovna and Alexandra Fedorovna’s perception of the spirit of Orthodoxy. It is known that Alexandra Feodorovna agreed to move to Orthodox faith after ten years of painful experiences, literally on the eve of the engagement, accelerated by the approaching death of Alexander III. Elizaveta Fedorovna accepted the Orthodox faith deeply consciously, of her own free will, seven years after her marriage. Back in 1888, during a trip to the Holy Land for the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, in which she was to rest, Elizaveta Fedorovna felt awkward, being deprived of the opportunity to receive communion from the same Chalice with her husband (at first she made a curtsy before Orthodox icons). It is hardly an exaggeration to say that along with her deeply religious husband, Maria Alexandrovna was Elizabeth Feodorovna’s guide to Orthodoxy. A great shrine was kept in the grand ducal palace - the mantle St. Seraphim Sarovsky, transferred to Sergei Alexandrovich after the death of his mother.
Elizaveta Fedorovna continued the tradition of charity, which Maria Alexandrovna was so actively involved in. She opened the Elizabethan community of mercy after the Khodynka disaster in December 1896. Her charitable activities covered the whole of Russia - from the residence of the Grand Dukes near Moscow in Ilyinsky and Usov to Yekaterinburg and Perm. The Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy became a great monument to Elizabeth Feodorovna, which united the ideals of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia and Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, in whose name she was named upon accepting Orthodoxy.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was no less active in charity work. Under her patronage were maternity shelters and “homes of industriousness”, many of which she, not hoping for a public response, established with her own efforts and at her own expense. Thus, in Tsarskoe Selo, a “School of Nannies” appeared, and with it a shelter for orphans with 50 beds, an invalid home for 200 people, intended for disabled soldiers. A school was established in St. Petersburg folk art. During the First World War, Alexandra Feodorovna and the four Grand Duchesses became sisters of mercy, and the Winter Palace turned into a hospital.

There is something providential in the fact that the life paths of the royal martyrs were tragically cut short almost on the same day - July 17 and 18, 1918 - and very close to each other - in Yekaterinburg and Alapaevsk. But their posthumous fates turned out to be different. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna stepped into immortality on February 4, 1905, when she herself collected parts of her husband’s body torn by a terrorist bomb, and then visited him in prison and forgave his killer with the words of the Gospel - “for they do not know what they are doing.” In 1992, she and the nun Varvara (Yakovleva), who did not leave her, were glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in the host of the New Martyrs of Russia.
And the final touch. In the tomb of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem, where the relics of Elizabeth Feodorovna rested for more than 60 years (before being transferred to the basement of the temple), since August 1988 the ashes of another Darmstadt princess have been located - Alice of Greece, daughter of Victoria of Battenberg. Having converted to Orthodoxy in Greece in 1920, Alice, the wife of the heir to the Greek throne, Prince Andrea, who spent her entire life imitating her aunt Elizaveta Feodorovna, tried to establish a community of deaconesses in Greece on the model of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery. But I couldn't. It turned out that Elizaveta Feodorovna’s spiritual feat was possible only in Russia.

Help "Foma"

During the reign of Alexander II, Catherine II’s idea of ​​​​establishing family ties of the Romanovs with the sovereigns of Northern Europe was realized, and through the same Hesse-Darmstadt house. The eldest daughter of Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse, Princess Victoria, was the wife of the Prince of Battenberg, Marquis of Milford Haven. Another daughter of the Duke, Elizaveta Feodorovna, became the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the third - Princess Irena - the wife of Henry Albert William of Prussia, brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. And the youngest, Alice, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna in Orthodoxy, married Nicholas II.

The Darmstadt marriages strengthened the Romanovs' ties with the English royal house, since Ludwig IV, the father of Alexandra Feodorovna and Elizabeth Feodorovna, was married to Alice, the daughter of Queen Victoria. His eldest son, Duke Ernst-Ludwig, was first married to Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. After the divorce, Victoria-Melita married the eldest son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich Kirill. After the revolution, he emigrated to France, where in 1924 he was proclaimed Emperor in Exile, and Victoria Melita - accordingly, Empress of All Russia.

How much do Christians need for the so-called. spiritual achievement - other people's suffering, humiliation, pain; a neighbor must be a cripple, a beggar, a nonentity, so that a noble riffraff can earn eternal bliss for themselves from him

The city of Yekaterinburg has a special history of relationship with the Russian imperial family, starting with the fact that the city was named Yekaterinburg in honor of the wife of Emperor Peter the Great (Romanov), and the Romanov royal dynasty sadly ended its path in the tragically famous house of engineer Ipatiev in our city.
Therefore, I would like to tell you a little about the fate of the Hesse-Darmstadt princesses. This story has worried me for a long time; Darmstadt is one of my favorite German cities. I know this city well, because the EnviroChemie company office is located near Darmstadt, where I have been working for almost 20 years.
On my very first walk around the city, I saw the “Russian Church”, a small, elegant, and now like a brand new Orthodox church. German colleagues said that this church was a gift from Russian Emperor Nicholas II to the city of Darmstadt, where his beloved wife was born and raised. But, most likely, the decision to build a church in Darmstadt was caused by the desire of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) to visit Orthodox services in the temple during your stay hometown empress, because the journeys were long then.
The foundation stone for the permanent church was carried out by Protopresbyter John Yanyshev on October 4 (16), 1897 in the presence of the imperial and ducal families. The church was built on land that was brought from several provinces Russian Empire. The temple was built with personal funds from the imperial family. The author of the project is the architect L.N. Benois.
It is clear that this beautiful story awakened my curiosity and I began to become interested in the history of Darmstadt and its princesses.
The city of Darmstadt, home of the Landgraves, Electors and then the Grand Dukes of Hesse and the Rhine since the 18th century, has very close relations with Russia.

Four Hesse-Darmstadt princesses linked Russian and German history together - Natalya Alekseevna, the first wife of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II and mother of Alexander III, Elizaveta Feodorovna, wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and finally , Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II.
Dynastic marriages expanded and strengthened Russia’s cultural and political ties with the West; these marriages began with Peter the Great. In fact, choosing a bride for the heir to the throne in Europe was not easy, because the family of the future bride had to not only belong ruling houses Europe, but also to profess Lutheranism, only in this case could future wives convert to the Orthodox Faith.
“The choice has been made – it’s Mimi”
Wilhelmina (Natalia Alekseevna at baptism) became the first princess from Darmstadt to marry a member ruling house Romanovs. The marriage union with Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, later the All-Russian Emperor Paul the First, was the merit of her ambitious mother, Landgrave Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, nicknamed the Great Landgrave for her outstanding qualities.

The Countess set herself a very difficult task, and, despite the deplorable financial situation of the Landgraviate, she managed to solve it - she found spouses from the best noble houses of Europe for all her five beautiful daughters. The Countess dreamed of marrying one of her daughters to Russia and the dream came true, because Tsarina Catherine the Second began to look for a wife for the heir to the Russian throne, Grand Duke Paul.

The daughter of Countess Wilhelmina was in a narrow circle of contenders from the very beginning. After Catherine II saw a life-size portrait of the princess, in 1763 she invited Landgrave Caroline Louise and her three unmarried daughters - Amalia, Wilhelmina and Louise - to St. Petersburg to get to know each other better. It must be said that at that time such a trip was an extraordinary event: ladies could travel only in exceptional cases. Permission for this trip had to be given not only by the countess’s husband, but also by the Prussian king. The Prussian king Frederick II, whose nephew, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, was married to the Landgrave's eldest daughter, Frederica, desired a marriage alliance between Hesse-Darmstadt and St. Petersburg and granted permission to travel.

Unfortunately, such a carefully planned marriage, in which the newlyweds had complete mutual understanding, did not have a happy ending: in 1776, Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna died giving birth to her first child. There were rumors that Catherine the Second doubted the paternity of her son and therefore the princess was not helped during childbirth.
The basis of all marriages between representatives of the House of Romanov and the Hesse-Darmstadt princesses was love, and even, according to eyewitnesses, love at first sight.
Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse and the Rhine - Maria Alexandrovna: wife of the Tsar-Liberator
Alexander II, while still heir to the throne, fell passionately in love with his future wife from Darmstadt when he visited Darmstadt on a European trip in 1838. The 14-year-old Hessian princess was not even on the list of brides approved by his father, Nicholas I.

Since 1820, Mary's mother, Princess Wilhelmina of Baden, lived separately from her husband Ludwig II, and there were rumors that the father of the younger children was the Alsatian Baron Augustus de Grancy, although Ludwig II officially recognized his wife's younger children. Alexandra Fedorovna, the wife of Nicholas I, was so concerned about the origins of the future bride that she herself went to Darmstadt to meet the girl and her family, which was an exception to the rule in those years.
But the imperial family had no choice, because the heir to the throne wrote: “Dear Mother, what do I care about the secrets of Princess Mary! I love her, and I would rather give up the throne than give up her. I will only marry her, that’s my decision!”

The wedding took place on April 16, 1841. At first the marriage was very happy, Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to 8 children, 5 of them sons. Alexander Nikolaevich loved his wife and called her by the name of the city.
Maria Alexandrovna loved her husband until the end of her life and supported him in everything. She practiced widely charitable activities, was the first chairwoman of the Russian Red Cross Society, founded by Alexander II after the Crimean War, and personally founded 5 hospitals, 8 almshouses, 36 shelters, 38 gymnasiums, and 156 vocational schools in Russia. The death of the first son Nicholas, heir to the throne, undermined the already fragile health of the empress; she was very upset by the assassination attempts on her husband and, of course, his infatuation with Ekaterina Dolgorukova, who bore him four children, who lived for some time in the Winter Palace on the floor above Maria Alexandrovna. The husband briefly outlived his forgotten wife, who died of tuberculosis; a year later he died at the hands of terrorists.

The last princesses from Darmstadt to marry representatives of the House of Romanov were two sisters - Ella and Alice. The lives of both sisters were cut tragically short in Time of Troubles Civil War when the mighty Russian empire collapsed.

Prince Sergei, the son of Maria Alexandrovna, met Princess Ella for the first time in Darmstadt when he was seven years old. The Russian crowned family was returning to Russia from their trip to Europe, and they stopped by relatives in Darmstadt: the little Grand Duke was allowed to be present at the bathing of the newborn Ella.
Second daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV and his wife Alice, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland (she was the daughter Queen of England Victoria), was considered one of the most beautiful brides in Europe. Among her admirers were the Prussian Prince Wilhelm, Danish prince Waldemar, Prince Frederick of Baden (grandmother Victoria's favorite)... But Princess Ella believed that she had found her happiness in Grand Duke Sergei.

There were many rumors surrounding this couple. Despite the great love for the children of both spouses, there were no children in the marriage. Perhaps the reason was Sergei Alexandrovich’s serious illness, which he suffered all his life. The appointment of the Grand Duke as governor-general of Moscow also did not add to his popularity. In troubled times, to maintain order in Moscow, he was a tough and sometimes cruel official.
Elizabeth Fedorovna's life changed tragically after a terrible event - the explosion of the carriage in which her beloved husband was riding... The explosion was so strong that the prince's heart was found only on the third day on the roof of the house. And the Grand Duchess collected the remains of Sergei with my own hands at the scene of a terrorist attack. After a year of mourning, Grand Duchess Elizabeth sold most of her jewelry and created the monastery of sisters of mercy, the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy - from that day on, she devoted her entire life to charity.

On July 5, 1918, Elizaveta Fedorovna, her cell attendant Varvara (Yakovleva), nephew Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, the sons of Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich - Igor, John and Konstantin, and the manager of the affairs of Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Fyodor Mikhailovich Remez were thrown alive into a mine near Alapaevsk.

Princess Alix of Hesse and the Rhine fell in love with Grand Duke Nicholas at the age of 16. Both families were not happy about the outbreak of mutual sympathy; grandmother Victoria really did not like Russia, writing in letters “... This cannot continue. The Pope must insist on his own and Aliki should no longer visit Russia. ... Russian state so bad and rotten that something terrible could happen there at any moment.”

This couple, from their engagement to the day of their death, faced the most severe trials. Sudden death of Emperor Alexander 111, Khodynka tragedy, revolution of 1905, First World War. However, more than enough has been written about these events.

The death of all royal family the history of dynastic ties between Darmstadt and St. Petersburg has ceased. “Our Ural”, support us financially. Any help from you will be valuable, and from raindrops, streams are first formed, and then powerful rivers that flow into the seas. Thank you!

Story >> German-Russian connections

“Partner” No. 3 (246) 2018

Hessian princesses – members of the royal family of Russia

“Liebe, Glanz und Untergang” - under this name an exhibition about the Hessian princesses who left their mark on Russian history was held in Frankfurt. In Russian, the exhibition was called “Love, Tragedy and Duty”

The exhibition featured rare exhibits relating to the lives of the four princesses of the Hesse-Darmstadt Ducal House. Paintings by outstanding masters of Russian and European painting, sculptural images of members of the royal family, brought from fifteen museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the National Museum of Arts of Azerbaijan, Makhachkala and private collections showed all the brilliance and beauty of these extraordinary women whom history elevated to the royal throne or brought her closer to him.

Archival documents, evidence, letters were provided by Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Heinrich Donatus, Darmstadt Museum, Holy Trinity Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church in Jordanville, USA.

Dynastic marriages in European history are a tradition stretching back to the Middle Ages. In Russia, until the 18th century, reigning persons married exclusively the daughters of noble boyar families, which subsequently led to court intrigues and internal political conflicts. In 1721, Peter I signed a decree allowing marriage with Christians of other faiths, subject to their conversion to Orthodoxy. Peter considered attracting foreigners to Russia with their capital and knowledge, at least in this way, the most important thing. But back in 1711, Peter I restored the institution of dynastic marriages, marrying his son Alexei to Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Grand Duchess Natalia Alekseevna

The first marriage of Paul I to Princess Augusta Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (baptized Natalia Alekseevna) pursued primarily political goals. The marriage was beneficial to both the Russian court of Catherine II and the Prussian Kaiser Frederick II the Great. Catherine II, having married her 17-year-old son Paul, received Prussia as an ally. Frederick also counted on significant benefits. It was up to the choice of the bride. Catherine II did not skimp. A squadron of ships was sent for the intended bride, as well as her mother Ladcountine Henrietta-Christina-Carolina and her sisters, and Catherine allocated 80 thousand guilders for travel expenses.

In June 1773, the Landgraves of Hesse family arrived in Tsarskoe Selo. Paul was given three days to choose. But back in 1772, a portrait of Wilhelmina was delivered to the court to get acquainted with the prospective bride, so Pavel did not doubt for long. The portrait presented at the exhibition played a significant role in this. In addition, the 19-year-old boy was fascinated by young Wilhelmina. Catherine approved of her son’s choice, characterizing her: “She ... has everything we need: her face is charming, her features are correct, she is friendly, smart, I am very pleased with her.” It seems that they were of little interest in the bride’s opinion.

On August 15, 1773, Wilhelmina's baptism ceremony took place. And then the wedding of Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich with now Natalya Alekseevna took place.

The marriage lasted only three years and ended very sadly. Young Pavel doted on his wife. But Ekaterina, apparently sensing a strong opponent in Natalya Alekseevna, abruptly changed her opinion about her. The distance between the young spouses and the empress grew. As we know, Pavel was very ugly, but his friend Prince Andrei Razumovsky was the opposite. The young couple spent a lot of time in the company of Prince Razumovsky. And although the company was quite large, rumors spread at court about the connection between Natalia Alekseevna and Andrei Razumovsky. But soon the family hostility was softened by the news of the Grand Duchess's pregnancy.

Childbirth began on April 10, 1776; on April 15, Natalia Alekseevna passed away. A 21-year-old girl died in agony for five days. Judging by the Empress's written report, the cause was a curvature of the spine. Natalia Alekseevna simply could not have children. The level of medicine at that time allowed for a caesarean section, but, as a rule, this meant the death of the woman in labor. No one dared to take on such responsibility. So, because of political ambitions, a young girl died.

Empress Maria Alexandrovna

The fate of another Hessian princess, Maximiliana Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse and the Rhine, in the baptism of Maria Alexandrovna, turned out to be much happier. It was also called the story of the Hessian Cinderella. The princess was born in 1824 to Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and Maria Wilhelmina of Baden. And although three of Maria Wilhelmina’s children were from Baron Augustus Senarchlin de Grancy, Ludwig II, in order to avoid a European scandal, recognized the children as his own.

Living in a secluded castle in the town of Heiligenberg near Darmstadt and being illegitimate, Maria had nothing to hope for. But... In 1838-1839, while traveling around Europe, the Russian Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, who was 21 years old at that time, accidentally stopped in Darmstadt and visited the opera house, where he noticed the charming 14-year-old Maria. He fell in love at first sight, which he notified his parents about. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the mother of the Tsarevich, was embarrassed by the origin of the bride. But Alexander insisted: “Dear Mother, what do I care about the secrets of Princess Mary! I love her, and I would rather give up the throne than give up her. I will marry only her, that’s my decision! This was a serious statement, and in 1840 an engagement to 16-year-old Maria took place. That same year, the princess converted to Orthodoxy and became Maria Alexandrovna. And in 1841 the wedding took place.

Eight children were born into the family. Alexander was lucky with his wife. She was involved in children, fine arts, education and charity. And all her life she turned a blind eye to her husband’s romantic hobbies. She was truly an associate of Emperor Alexander II. With her participation, the Red Cross Society was created in Russia. She gave huge sums to charity; they say that Maria Fedorovna spent only a quarter of the amount allocated for her maintenance on herself. The rest goes to charity. Under her patronage there were 5 hospitals, 12 almshouses, 36 shelters, 38 gymnasiums, 2 institutes, 156 primary schools and 5 private charitable societies. It was with her participation that women's gymnasiums were established in Russia.

The unexpected death of Nikolai's eldest son from tuberculous meningitis in 1864 becomes a terrible tragedy from which Maria Fedorovna did not recover until the end of her days. In 1865, the first attempt by Narodnaya Volya took place on Emperor Alexander II. Anxiety for her husband and depression undermine the already weak health of the empress. She spends more and more time in Crimea, only occasionally visiting St. Petersburg. Moreover, the sovereign emperor now has new passion- Princess Dolgorukova. And in 1880, Maria Alexandrovna died, having written a letter to Alexander II before her death, where she thanked him for the happiness of 39 years of marriage.

It is unlikely that such serious political changes as the abolition of serfdom would have occurred in the country if Alexander II had not had such a devoted and faithful wife.

Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna

As you know, misfortune brings people together. Having lost her mother at the age of 14, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse and the Rhine could only rely on the love of her loved ones. Her younger sister Alix (later Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) was then 6 years old. Until her death, Empress Maria Alexandrovna strongly supported her great-nieces Elizabeth and Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt and would like to see them as closer members of the imperial family.

In 1884, the fifth son of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna, Sergei, having known both princesses since childhood, goes to Darmstadt and proposes to Elizabeth. In the same year, the wedding of Grand Duke Sergei and the Hessian princess took place. By the way, it is here that the first meeting of the future Emperor Nicholas II with his future wife Alexandra Fedorovna takes place.

Arriving in Russia, Elizabeth, brought up in the traditions of sacrifice and self-denial, devotes all her strength to charity. Moreover, the sexual orientation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich did not imply having children. In 1891, Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed to the post of Moscow Governor-General. Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna establishes a charitable society designed to “look after the legitimate babies of the poorest mothers, who were hitherto placed, although without any right, in the Moscow Orphanage under the guise of being illegal.” With the beginning Russo-Japanese War Grand Duchess Elizabeth organizes a Special Committee for Assistance to Soldiers. In the Grand Kremlin Palace, parcels are collected for soldiers, bandages are prepared, and clothes are sewn.

In 1905, at the beginning of the first Russian revolution, Sergei Alexandrovich died from a bomb by terrorist revolutionaries.

After the death of her husband, Elizabeth withdraws from the world and uses her own money to buy an estate in Moscow, where she establishes the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, with a canteen and a hospital for the poor. With the beginning of the revolution of 1917, Elizabeth refuses to leave Russia and remains close to her sister, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, until the end, and dies in the Alapaevsk mine.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

The fate of the last Hessian princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice (after baptism - Alexandra Feodorovna), who ascended the Russian throne, is known. Dozens of books have been written about her, letters have been published, and research has been conducted. The only thing left unexplored is that which cannot be studied - love. Love Nicky and Alix. “My dear, priceless, dear Sun, it is difficult to endure separation, but it is even worse not to know when a meeting is possible. It seems cruel to me not to receive any letter from you, my beloved child...” - this is what Tsarevich Nicholas wrote to his bride Alix. Could such words be written by a person who did not experience any feelings?

“They lived happily ever after and died on the same day.” It's about them. About the last Hessian princess and the Russian emperor.

One can talk endlessly about the Hessian princesses. Fortunately, the materials presented at the exhibition allow. Talk about their contribution to social life Russia, their relationships with their husbands, their character and moods. This is already part of history, the history of Russia and Germany.

Marina Bast (Frankfurt am Main)

Tsarevich Pavel and Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt

On September 29, 1773, the coming of age of Pavel Petrovich was solemnly celebrated in St. Petersburg - he had turned nineteen the day before - and at the same time his wedding with the eighteen-year-old Hesse-Darmstadt Princess Wilhelmina, who became Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna in Russia, was celebrated. The bride was not Pavel's first love, although it should be admitted that he did not yet have serious hobbies.

The young Tsarevich became infatuated with one lady-in-waiting and then another, which he confidently told his tutor Poroshin about. Paul even composes poems in honor of one charming woman:

I prefer meaning and poignancy to everything,

There are no more charms in the world for me,

That’s why I adore you, my dear,

That you shine, combining sharpness with beauty.

Despite the early awakening of sensuality in him, Pavel long retained some modesty and chastity.

Over the years, not without the influence of his mother's favorites who looked after him, Pavel's hobbies became less platonic.

And when he turned from a teenager into a young man, his courtship of ladies-in-waiting and pretty palace maids began to bother Catherine and made her think about marrying her matured son.

Catherine began looking for a bride for her son back in 1771. After a long search, it was decided to settle on Wilhelmina, and not only because she was pretty, smart and courteous, but also because her sister Frederica was the wife of the heir to the Prussian throne, Frederick William. However, Wilhelmina’s pleasant appearance and courtesy were combined with coldness, ambition and perseverance in achieving her goals.

In April 1773, Catherine invited the Duchess of Darmstadt Henrietta Caroline - Wilhelmina's mother - to come to St. Petersburg with her three daughters to meet future relatives. Both mother and daughters were poor, and therefore Catherine sent 80 thousand guilders for the upcoming journey and, in addition, sent three ships to Lubeck.

On one of them - the corvette "Bystroy" - the captain was one of the Tsarevich's closest friends, nineteen-year-old captain-lieutenant Count Andrei Kirillovich Razumovsky, the beloved son of Hetman Razumovsky.

N. Delanver. "Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich in an admiral's uniform." 1769

Despite his young age, Andrei was experienced in life and had already managed to do and experience a lot. Possessing brilliant abilities, he graduated from the University of Strasbourg at the age of seventeen, immediately entered the navy and soon went on the Archipelago expedition with the squadron of Admiral Sviridov. He took part in the Battle of Chesme, after which he was appointed commander of the frigate "Ekaterina". Returning to St. Petersburg, Razumovsky became a chamber cadet and found himself in Pavel’s inner circle. Meeting the Tsarevich's bride was one of the first serious assignments of the young courtier - handsome, stately and self-confident, who easily turned the heads of many secular young ladies.

Even before the start of the sea crossing, Andrei Razumovsky managed to conquer the bride of his friend the Tsarevich, who had unlimited faith in him and considered him his most faithful comrade. However, it seems that he sincerely fell in love with Wilhelmina.

However, the princess, her mother and sisters were invited not to the Fast, but to one of the other ships, and, of course, this was not done by chance.

On the way from Lubeck to Revel, where it ended cruise and from where the Hesse-Darmstadt family was supposed to continue to St. Petersburg by land, they were met by the chamberlain Baron Cherkasov. Unfortunately for Andrei Razumovsky, his ship did not live up to its name and was several days behind the other two ships. Cherkasov, having learned about the courtiers’ suspicions regarding Wilhelmina and Razumovsky, hastened to leave, without waiting for “Bystry” to come to Revel.

On June 15, not far from Gatchina, Grigory Orlov met the ducal train and invited his dear guests to his estate to rest from the road and have lunch, saying that several ladies were waiting for them at his house.

They were really expected in Gatchina: it was Catherine herself and the sister of Field Marshal Rumyantsev, Countess Praskovya Alexandrovna Bruce. From Gatchina they all went to Tsarskoe Selo, meeting the crown prince and his tutor Nikita Panin along the way. Having transferred to an eight-seater phaeton, the company finally arrived at the apartments reserved for guests.

Paul fell in love with Wilhelmina at first sight, and three days later Catherine officially asked Duchess Henrietta for her hand in marriage for her son.

On August 15, the anointing of Princess Wilhelmina took place, who took the Orthodox name of Natalya Alekseevna, and the next day her engagement to Pavel Petrovich took place. And a month and a half later the wedding took place, which lasted with extraordinary pomp for two weeks.

Despite the splendor of the great celebration, on the very first day of the wedding, September 29, 1773, many began to predict new family misfortune, for it was on this day that a rumor first spread in St. Petersburg about the appearance in the Orenburg steppes of the rebellious gangs of Pugachev, who called himself Peter III. What was it like for Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich to hear all this!

Tsarevich Pavel and Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt On September 29, 1773, the coming of age of Pavel Petrovich was solemnly celebrated in St. Petersburg - he had turned nineteen years old the day before - and at the same time his wedding with an eighteen-year-old woman was celebrated