Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaievna of Russia

 

 On this day ~ 24th June 1825 
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 Birth of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia 

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 Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna entered the world in the Winter Palace, on 24th June 1825.

Alexandra was the youngest daughter and fourth child of Tsar Nicholas I, and his wife Princess Charlotte of Prussia.

 Alexandra was descibed as very beautiful, and had inherited her mother's "Prussian look".

In the family she was affectionately known as 'Adini'
She was also the musician in the family, and a great singer.

Her father spoke of Adini as

"A little moppet, but very sweet".

 At the age of sixteen, Adini made her official entrance into Saint Petersburg high society, as a debutante.

Adini quickly became famous for her wit, charm and her lively personality.

 When she was seventeen years old, Adini fell deeply in love with twenty-three year-old German prince, Frederich-Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel.

Frederich-Wilhelm was equally as smitten with his delicate little butterfly.
He fell in love with Adini, on the first evening he spent with her.

On 28th January 1844, Adini married her Prince, in St. Petersburg.

 Before the wedding, Adini had been feeling a little unwell.
In the excitement of planning her wedding and getting married, Adini had kept her illness to herself.

Now it was apparent that Adini was seriously unwell, with tuberculosis.

To make matters worse, Adini was also pregnant.

 The pregnancy combined with tuberculosis, took every last ounce of energy from Adini.

She was too weak to make the journey to Hesse, to take up her new position with her husband.

They stayed in St. Petersburg, instead - where her health rapidly declined.

 On 10th August 1844, Adini went into labour, three months early.
She gave birth to a son Wilhelm, who died shortly after birth.

Adini's weakened body then just gave up.
She died later the same day - she was just 19 years old.

Adini was buried with her baby in her arms, in the Romanovs' Grand Ducal Mausoleum, in Saint Petersburg.

 Adini's devastated parents had her rooms in the Peterhof Palace, preserved exactly as they had been, on the day she died.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)

 Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaievna of Russia
By Christina Robertson c.1840.
Hermitage Museum