Alexandra Fedorovna "Alix" von Hessen 1 2
- Born: 6 Jun 1872, Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
- Marriage: Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov on 26 Nov 1894 in Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Died: 17 Jul 1918, Yekaterinburg, Russia aged 46
Cause of her death was assassinated.
Other names for Alexandra were Aleksandra Fyodorovna and Alix, Princess (Prinzessin) von Hesse-Darmstadt.
General Notes:
Alexandra was consort of the Russian emperor Nicholas II. Her misrule while the emperor was commanding the Russian forces during World War I precipitated the collapse of the imperial government in March 1917.
A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Alexandra (German name Alix) married Nicholas in 1894 and came to dominate him. She proved to be unpopular at court and turned to mysticism for solace. Through her near-fanatical acceptance of Orthodoxy and her belief in autocratic rule, she felt it her sacred duty to help reassert Nicholas' absolute power, which had been limited by reforms in 1905. In 1904 the tsarevich Alexis was born; she had previously given birth to four daughters. The tsarevich suffered from hemophilia, and Alexandra's overwhelming concern for his life led her to seek the aid of a debauched "holy man" who possessed hypnotic powers, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. She came to venerate Rasputin as a saint sent by God to save the throne and as a voice of the common people, who, she believed, remained loyal to the emperor. Rasputin's influence was a public scandal, but Alexandra silenced all criticism. After Nicholas left for the front in August 1915, she arbitrarily dismissed capable ministers and replaced them with nonentities or dishonest careerists favoured by Rasputin. As a result, the administration became paralyzed and the regime discredited, and Alexandra came to be widely but erroneously believed to be a German agent. Yet she disregarded all warnings of coming changes, even the murder of Rasputin. After the October Revolution (1917), she, Nicholas, and their children were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and were later shot to death.
Noted events in her life were:
• She was a Tsarina.
Alexandra married Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov, son of Alexander III Alexandrovich Romanov and Dagmar "Marie" of Denmark Oldenburg, on 26 Nov 1894 in Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia. (Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov was born on 18 May 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo, [now Pushkin], Russia. and died on 17 Jul 1918 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.) The cause of his death was assassinated.
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