Empress Maria Feodorovna

Maria Feodorovna (1847–1928), Russian empress, wife of Alexander III.
Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmara - Danish princess, daughter of Christian, Prince of Glucksburg, later Christian IX, king of Denmark; in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna (Feodorovna), Russian empress.

Her own sister is Alexandra of Denmark, wife of the British King Edward VII, whose son George V had a striking portrait resemblance to Nicholas II. They were so similar that people who knew them well often confused them.

Initially, she was the bride of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Alexander II, who died in 1865. After his death, an affection arose between Dagmara and the Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich. They together looked after the dying Tsarevich. On June 17, 1866, their engagement took place in Copenhagen; three months later, the betrothed bride arrived in Russia. On October 13, she converted to Orthodoxy, receiving a new name and title - Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna.

The marriage ceremony took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace on October 28, 1866; after which the couple lived in the Anichkov Palace. The marriage turned out to be successful, despite the fact that Alexander had to defeat a strong heartfelt affection for the maid of honor Maria Meshcherskaya. The family had 6 children: imp. Nicholas II, Alexander (1869-70), Georgy (1871-99), Mikhail (1878-1918), Xenia (1875-1960) and Olga (1882-1960). On May 15, 1883 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin took place “ the sacred crowning of Their Imperial Majesties the Sovereign Emperor Alexander III and the Sovereign Empress Maria Feodorovna of All Russia. ”As historians testify, Maria Feodorovna was a very lively, active woman who kept her youth for a long time and was distinguished by impeccable taste. She was actively involved in educational and charitable activities. Thanks to her initiative, lower female schools with a 4-year course were opened. Under her direct patronage was the Department of Institutions of the Im. Maria Feodorovna (wife of Paul I) - IV department of His Imperial Majesty's own Chancellery (educational institutions, orphanages, shelters for disadvantaged and defenseless children, almshouses). She also patronized women's institutes, the Alexandrovsky Lyceum, the St. Petersburg and Moscow Commercial Schools, the Gatchina Orphan Institute, many hospitals and charitable societies. In addition, she patronized the Women's Patriotic Society, the Society for Rescue on Waters, and headed the Russian Red Cross Society (RRCS). Thanks to her initiative, the ROKK budget received duties for registration of passports, railway dues for first-class passengers, and during the First World War - a “cheap tax” of 10 kopecks from each telegram, which significantly influenced the increase in the budget of the Russian Red Cross. Maria Feodorovna was the opponent of the marriage of his eldest son Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future emperor, with a German princess. Her father Christian IX lost the Danish-Prussian War in 1864, as a result of which Denmark lost the hereditary lands of Schleswig and Holstein. The august Danish family could not stand the Germans. But Maria Fedorovna had to give in to the demands of her son and agree to the marriage. During the First World War, from the beginning of 1915, Maria Fedorovna spent two years in Kiev, in the Mariinsky Palace, organizing hospitals, sanitary trains and sanatoriums, where they corrected their the health of a thousand wounded. Soon after the abdication of Nicholas II, in March 1917, Maria Feodorovna with her daughter Ksenia and Olga and their husbands - led. book Alexander Mikhailovich and Colonel N. A. Kulikovsky - moved to the Crimea. In 1919, Maria Feodorovna, along with her relatives and close entourage, was taken on a British ship to Great Britain, from where she moved to her native Denmark. Since 1920, Maria Feodorovna moved to Hvidøre Castle near Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen. The castle was bought by her and her sister Alexandra, by then the Queen Dowager of England, whose royal sons were so alike. The sisters lived here together until Alexandra's death in 1925.

Until the end of her life, the elderly mother refused to believe in the death of her sons Nikolai and Mikhail, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, killed by the Bolsheviks.

Maria Feodorovna died on October 13, 1928 in her castle Videore at the age of 80 lei. The rite of burial was performed on October 19, 1928 in the church of Alexander Nevsky, followed by a burial in the royal tomb. On September 28, 2006, the remains of the Empress were brought to St. Petersburg and reburied next to her husband's grave in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.