ALEXANDRA FEDOROVNA

(1872–1918), wife of Tsar Nicholas II and last empress of Russia.

Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova was at the center of the political drama that led to the downfall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. A princess of the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany and granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria, she lost her mother and younger sister to diphtheria when she was still a child, and she responded to this loss by turning inward. This tendency toward isolation intensified after her 1894 marriage to Nicholas, when her principles came into conflict with the reality of Russian court life. Scandalized by the seeming decadence of the aristocracy, she withdrew from society, eliciting the scorn of the Russian social elite.

Alexandra dedicated most of her time to her four daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia) and her son, Alexei, who was born in 1904. Soon after the birth of this long-awaited male heir to the throne, it was discovered that Alexei had hemophilia. His illness became Alexandra's primary concern. Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, a self-styled holy man, managed to stop Alexei's bleeding and thus became important to the royal family. Rasputin's closeness to the ruling family led to speculation about his influence over political decisions and to disdain for the royal family among the educated layers of society. With the start of World War I, which pitted Russia against Germany, Alexandra's German background further contributed to her unpopularity. Many accused her of heading a German faction in the government. Although these charges were groundless, they served to undermine the authority of the monarchy, thus helping pave the way for the February Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks brutally murdered the entire royal family in July 1918.

The negative image of Alexandra shaped by her detractors has given way to more objective, though not always dispassionate, accounts of her life. She is most often portrayed as a tragic figure and as a dedicated wife and mother. In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad canonized Alexandra, along with her family, for accepting death with faith in God and humility, and the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church followed suit in 2000.

See also: alexei nikolayevich; nicholas ii; rasputin, grigory yefimovich; romanov dynasty

bibliography

Kozlov, Vladimir A., and Khrustalev, Vladimir M., eds. (1997). The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Massie, Robert K. (2000). Nicholas and Alexandra. New York: Ballantine Books.

Nicholas Ganson