Marie Alexandrovna Romanov ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, later Duchess of Edinburgh and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (17 October 1853 - 24 October 1920) was the daughter of the Russian tsar who became the wife of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. From 1893 until her death, she had the distinction of being a Russian grand duchess (by birth), a British royal duchess (by marriage), and the consort (and later widow) of a German sovereign duke (by marriage).

Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna was born at Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, the only daughter of Alexander II, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias (who was assassinated in 1881) and his wife, the Empress Marie Alexandrovna, the daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine. She was the aunt of Tsar Nicholas II, who was murdered in 1918. Her brother, the Grand Duke Serge, was assassinated in Moscow in 1905, and another brother, the Grand Duke Paul, was shot in Petrograd in 1919.

On 23 March 1874 at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, the Grand Duchess Marie married His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, a career naval officer. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on 12 March. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and the bride was thought haughty by London society. Furthermore, Tsar Alexander II's insistence that his daughter be styled "Her Imperial Highness" and have precedence over the then Princess of Wales infuriated Queen Victoria. The Queen insisted that style "Her Royal Highness," Marie Alexandrovna acquired upon marriage, should always precede the style "Her Imperial Highness," which was hers by birth. For her part, the new Duchess of Edinburgh apparently resented the fact that the Princess of Wales, who was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, took precedence over her, the daughter of the Russian tsar.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh had six children:
Prince Alfred ("Young Alfie") (15 October 1874-6 February 1899), Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893.
Princess Marie (29 October 1875-18 July 1938; married 10 January 1893 King Ferdinand I of Romania (1865-1927); and had issue.
Princess Victoria Melita ("Ducky") (25 November 1876-2 March 1936; married (1) 19 April 1894 (divorced 21 December 1901) her paternal first cousin Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1868-1937), and had issue; (2) 8 October 1905 her maternal first cousin the Grand Duke Kyrill Vladimirovitch of Russia (1876-1938), and had issue.
Princess Alexandra (1 September 1878-16 April 1942; married 20 April 1896 Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1863-1950), and had issue.
An unnamed daughter (13 October 1879, stillborn).
Princess Beatrice (20 April 1884-13 July 1966; married 15 July 1909, Don Alfonso, Infante of Spain, 3rd Duke of Galliera (1886-1975), and had issue.

On the death of his uncle, Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on 22 August 1893, the vacant duchy fell to the Duke of Edinburgh, since his elder brother the Prince of Wales had renounced his right to the succession. He surrendered his British allowance of £15,000 a year and his seats in the House of Lords and the Privy Council, but retained the £10,000 granted on his marriage in order to maintain Clarence House as his London residence. Upon her husband's ascension to the ducal throne, the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna became Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in addition to the Duchess of Edinburgh. As the consort of a sovereign German duke, she technically outranked her sisters-in-law at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The couple's only son, Prince Alfred, became involved in a scandal involving his mistress and shot himself in January 1899, in the midst of his parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations. He survived, but his embarrassed parents sent him off to Meran to recover, where he died two weeks later, on 6 February. The Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha died of throat cancer on 30 July 1900 at Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. The ducal throne passed to his nephew, Prince Carl Edward, Duke of Albany. Now the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Duchess of Edinburgh continued to reside in Coburg.

She died in October 1920 in Zürich, Switzerland and was buried in the ducal family's cemetery outside Coburg.

  Noted events in her life were:

• She was a Grand Duchess of Russia.

Marie married Alfred Ernest Albert Wettin, son of Albert Augustus Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Victoria Hanover, on 23 Jan 1874 in Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia. (Alfred Ernest Albert Wettin was born on 6 Aug 1844 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England and died on 30 Jul 1900 in Schloss Rosenau, Near Coburg, Germany.) The cause of his death was throat cancer.