biarritzbasquegirl: Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: Beauty, Princess, Martyr, Saint (1864
biarritzbasquegirl: Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: Beauty, Princess, Martyr, Saint (1864 - 1918) Part 1 of 3This grandchild of Queen Victoria, a princess of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt by birth, was the second child of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The family had an exalted position, but modest means by royal standards. Elizabeth’s mother, Alice, was a very bright and charitable woman, who had a serious interest in nursing in general and in the work of Florence Nightingale in particular; she sewed her daughters’ dresses and schooled them in “English domestic habits.” From a very early age, Alice took her children to visit the poor and sick with her and taught them that those who were given much in life had the duty to, in turn, give much to others. The children spoke English to their mother and German to their father. One of Ella’s younger sisters was Alexandra, the future empress of Russia; Ella would play no small part in facilitating the romance between Tsarevich Nicholas and Alexandra, since they were destined to meet at her wedding to Grand Duke Sergei of Russia. Ella’s childhood was marked by loss and tragedy. Her younger brother, “Frittie,” had hemophilia and died as a result of a head injury sustained at the time of a fall. Her mother and youngest sister, May, died of diphtheria when Ella was 14 years old. Queen Victoria supervised her upbringing and that of her siblings; after the death of their mother; they spent extended periods of time with their grandmother in England. Although Princess Elizabeth was German by birth, her manner, habits and way of thinking would turn out to be very British (not surprisingly.)Elizabeth’s beauty “shone” from the time she was quite young. The future German Keiser, Wilhelm II, was her maternal cousin as well as an early suitor (he fell in love with her when she was 11). He called her the most beautiful girl he ever saw and wrote poems to her (years later, a much better poet, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, penname KR, would also dedicate poems to Ella.) Eventually, Wilhelm would propose, only to be rejected. She was courted by the second son of an English Duke as well as by a distinguished soldier and rebuffed them both. Princess Elizabeth displeased her grandmother by also turning down a proposal of marriage from Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden. Eventually she surprised all by giving her hand in marriage to a distant cousin, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, whom she had known since childhood. They were both artistic, serious and extremely religious and Ella’s quiet, elegant, charming ways reminded Sergei of his mother’s personality. His parents, Tsar Alexander II and Empress Marie Alexandrovna, died within a relatively short time of each other; Ella, who knew what it was like to lose a parent, empathized deeply with Sergei and comforted him. Grief brought them together. Her choice of groom was not to Queen Victoria’s taste, not because of personal reasons but because she though that Russia was an unstable, unsafe country. The old monarch would prove to be right about that as in much else. (Given the “unproven information” about Sergei that circulates up to this day, it is worth noting here that Queen Victoria did not allow her granddaughter to marry the Grand Duke until he had been thoroughly investigated by British intelligence). Photographs: 1(a): Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (Ella’s mother). 1(b) Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. 1© Baby Princess Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine. 1(d) Louis and Alice with babies Victoria and Ella; 2. Beautiful portrait of young Princess Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine; 3. Beautiful photographs of a pre-teen Elizabeth; 4. From left to right: Princess Victoria, Grand Duke Louis IV holding his youngest daughter May, Little Princess Alix (Sunny), her mother Princess Alice, Ella with her head resting on Alice’s shoulder, Princess Irene, and Ernest Louis; 5. Mourning pictures: (a) Irene, Victoria, Ella and Alix surround their grandmother Queen Victoria; (b) Again, Irene, Victoria, Ella and Alix around their mother’s portrait; © The children, including Ernest Louis, with their father; (d) Louis IV of Hesse and by Rhine posing with his daughters Victoria, Ella and Irene. 6. Two pictures of Ella and the future Empress Alexandra; 7 and 8: Ella; 9. Grand Duke Sergei of Russia; 10. Ella and Sergei. -- source link