Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

For other uses, see Grand Duchess Maria of Russia.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna
Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Duchess of Edinburgh
Born	(1853-10-17)17 October 1853 Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
Died	24 October 1920(1920-10-24) (aged 67) Zürich, Switzerland
Spouse	Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Issue	Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Marie, Queen of Romania Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess of Russia Alexandra, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Princess Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera
House	House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (by marriage) House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov (by birth)
Father	Alexander II of Russia
Mother	Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (later Duchess of Edinburgh and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; 17 October 1853 – 24 October 1920) was the fifth child and only daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. She was a sister of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the aunt of Nicholas II, Russia's last Tsar.

In 1874, Maria Alexandrovna became the wife of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was the first and only Romanov to marry into the British royal family. The couple had five children; a son, Alfred, and four daughters: Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra and Beatrice. For the first years of her marriage, Maria Alexandrovna lived in England. She neither adapted to the British Court nor overcame her dislike for her adopted country. She accompanied her husband on his postings as Admiral in the Royal Navy in Malta (1886 -1889) and in Devonport (1890-1893). The Duchess of Edinburgh travelled extensively through Europe. She visited her family in Russia frequently and stayed for long periods in England and Germany attending social and family events.

In August 1893, Maria Alexandrovna became Duchess of Saxe Coburg and Gotha when her husband inherited the duchy on the death of his childless uncle, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She enjoyed life in Germany where she was active in cultural endeavors and charitable work. To her daughters, she gave all her support, but she was critical of her wayward son who died young in 1898. Her husband died the following year.

In her widowhood, Maria Alexandrovna continued to live in Coburg. The outbreak of World War I divided her sympathies. She sided with Germany against her native Russia. Her only surviving brother, Grand Duke Paul, her nephew Tsar Nicholas II and many other relatives were killed during the Russian revolution and she lost her considerable fortune. From 1893 until her death, she had the distinction of being a Russian grand duchess (by birth), a British princess and royal duchess (by marriage), and the consort (and later widow) of a German sovereign duke. After World War I Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the grand duchy her husband and nephew had ruled, ceased to exist in November 1918. Maria Alexandrovna died two years later while living under reduced circumstances in exile in Switzerland.

Early life

From left to right: Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, Tsar Alexander II with Grand Duke Sergei in his lap, Grand Duke Vladimir, Grand Duke Alexander on the table with his arms crossed, Grand Duke Alexei and Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna was born 17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1853 in Tsarskoye Selo. She was the sixth child and only surviving daughter among the eight children of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and his wife Maria Alexandrovna, née Duchess Maximilienne Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. At the time of her birth, her grandfather, Tsar Nicholas I, was on the throne and her father was Tsarevich. In 1855, when Maria Alexandrovna was seventeen moths old, Nicholas I died and her father became the new Russian Emperor. The grand duchess grew up as the only girl with four older brothers and two younger ones. She did not know her only sister, Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna who had died before she was born. Maria Alexandrovna herself almost died from a throat disease at the age of seven.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia in her youth.

Her childhood was spent in luxury and splendor in the large palaces and country estates owned by the Romanovs. The family's main residence was the sixteen-hundred-room Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, followed by Gatchina, located forty miles south. In the summer, the family stayed in Peterhof, a large complex with farms, cottages and various pavilions on the Gulf of Finland. From the end of the summer until winter, the Imperial family moved to Tsarskoye Selo, the royal village, where the Romanovs had the Catherine Palace and the Alexander Palace. In the children's island, located in a pond in the park of the Alexander Palace, Maria Alexandrovna had her own private little house, off limit to adults. She used it with her brothers as a play house. Her father added a farm, built for her enjoyment. There, Maria Alexandrovna had a cow and play farming. Both parents doted on her. For Tsar Alexander II, she was her favorite child and he enjoyed spending time with her. The Empress was a loving mother, but physically cold towards her children. The tsarina suffered from weak lungs and had to travel constantly to Germany and southern Europe to escape the harsh Russian winters. In her trips, the Tsarina often took her three younger children with her. As a consequence, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna became closer to her two younger brothers, Grand Dukes Sergei and Paul Alexandrovich, than to her older siblings. Surrounded only by brothers, Grand Duchess Maria grew up as a tomboy, with an independent character and and a strong will.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna wearing the traditional dress of ladies of the Russian Imperial court.

The grand duchess was educated at the Russian court under the strict regime of of her governess Countess Alexandrine Tolstoy. Maria Alexandrovna was the first Russian grand duchess to be raised by English nannies and to speak fluent English. Besides her native Russian, she also became totally proficient in German, French and English. In August 1867, while the Imperial family was at Livadia Palace, in Crimea, Mark Twain met Maria Alexandrovna and her parents. The famous American writer described her as " blue-eyed, unassuming, and pretty". As many contemporaries did, Twain noticed the influence that the young princess had over her father. "She is absolutely genuine and never changes in front of strangers" observed her maiden of honor Annna Tyutcheva (1829-1889), a daughter of the celebrated poet Fyodor Tyutchev, adding that: " She is accustomed to be the center of the world and that everyone yields to her". Tyutcheva described her pupil as "stubborn and uncompromising" commenting that "one cannot treat her roughly or reason with her a lot".

Engagement

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna and Prince Aldred. Engagement photograph, 1873.

During a visit to her maternal relatives at Jugenheim in the summer of 1868, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, then fifteen years old, met Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, was a shy and handsome young man, with a career in the British navy. He was visiting his sister, Princess Alice who was married to Maria Alexandrovna's first cousin. Alfred's voyage around the world with the navy kept him away, traveling for the next two years. The grand duchess and Prince Alfred saw each other again in the summer 1871, when Alexander II and his wife paid a visit to relatives at Schloss Heiligenberg. The Emperor and his wife were accompanied by seventeen-year-old Maria and her two elder brothers. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, also happened to be there, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales. During that summer, Grand Duchess Maria and the British prince felt attracted to each other spending their days walking and talking. They had a common love of music; Alfred was an enthusiastic amateur violinist, while Maria played the piano. Although they wished to marry no engagement was announced, and the Duke of Edinburgh returned to England. Their parents were against the match. Alexander II did not want to lose his daughter, to whom he was deeply attached. The Tsar also objected to a British son-in-law, due to the general anti-English feeling in Russia following the Crimean War. The Tsarina regarded the British customs as peculiar and the English people as cold and unfriendly. She was convinced that her daughter would not be happy there. However, marriage negotiation began in July 1871, only to be stalled in 1872.

Queen Victoria was also against the match. No English prince had ever married a Romanov, and she foresaw problems with the Orthodox religion and the Russian upbringing. The Queen considered that Russia was generally “unfriendly” towards Britain. Victoria was also suspicious about Russian moves in the direction of India. The Queen was dismayed, therefore, when she heard that official negotiations had restarted in January 1873. There were rumors going about St Petersburg that Maria Alexandrovna had compromised herself with Prince Golitsyn, the Tsar's aided-de-camp, and her family were anxious to see her settled. Alfred refused to believe those rumors and he was prepared to fight to marry the person he loved. Queen Victoria therefore swallowed her pride and said nothing. Both mothers continued to look for other partners for their children, but Alfred and Maria would not have anyone else. As the Tsarina failed to find a German prince acceptable for her daughter, a meeting among Alfred, the Tsarina and her daughter took place in Sorrento, Italy in mid April 1873. That year, there was an Anglo-Russian dispute over the Afghan border. The Queen’s ministers thought that a marriage might help to ease the tension between the two countries, if only by putting the monarchs into closer contact with one another.

In July 1873, Alfred went to Jugenheim to meet the Russian Emperor. On July 11, he asked for Maria Aleandorvna's hand and she accepted him. He was nearly twenty-nine; she was nineteen. He sent a telegram from Germany back to his mother: “Maria and I were engaged this morning. Cannot say how happy I am. Hope your blessing rests on us.” The Queen sent her congratulations, but confined her misgivings to her diary on 11 July 1873: “Not knowing Marie, and realizing that there may still be many difficulties, my thoughts and feelings are rather mixed.” When breaking the news to her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Queen Victoria simply said: “The murder is out.”

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna was granted by her father the then staggering sum of £100,000 as a dowry, plus an annual allowance of £32,000. Alexander II bested on his only daughter, some of the best jewels owned by the Romanovs including the sapphires he had inherited from his mother Empress Alexandra Feodorvna, as well as a parure that had belonged to Catherine the great. As a wedding present, Tsar Alexander II commissioned a spectacular complete parure of Burmese rubies and diamonds from the court jeweler Bolin. Other pieces of jewelry included a tiara russe made of diamonds which could also be worn as a necklace. On his part, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh was made honorary chief of a Russian guards regiment and even had a Russian battleship named after him – the Herzog Edinburgsky.

A week after the engagement, the proposed Russian-British alliance experienced its first crisis. Queen Victoria asked the Tsar to bring Maria to Scotland, so that she could meet her future daughter-in-law. Alexander II refused. The Tsarina suggested that they all meet in Cologne, instead. The Queen called it “simply impertinent” that “I ... who have been nearly twenty years longer on the throne than the Emperor of Russia ... and who am a Reigning Sovereign ... should be ready to run to the slightest call of the mighty Russians ... like any little Princess.” Victoria also made herself unpopular by refusing the Tsar’s offer to make the Prince of Wales colonel of a Russian regiment and by demanding that an Anglican marriage service be held in St Petersburg alongside the Orthodox ceremony. Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna looked happily to her marriage: "How happy I am to belong to him. I feel that my love for him is growing daily. I have a feeling of peace and inexpressible happiness and a boundless impatience to be altogether his own. "

Marriage

On 4 January 1874, Alfred arrived in St Petersburg for the wedding and stayed in the Winter Palace. The other British guests arrived on 18 January. The wedding was celebrated in great splendor, at the Winter Palace on 23 January [O.S. 11 January] 1874. Queen Victoria was represented by Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra, sister of Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna. The Queen eldest daughter, Victoria, and her husband, the Crowned Prince of Prussia were present as well.

The marriage ceremony consisted of two parts. The Orthodox service took place first and was performed by the Metropolitans of St Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev in the Imperial Chapel. Grand Dukes Valdimir, Alexis and Serge and the groom's brother Prince Arthur, relived each other taking turns holding the golden crowns over the head of the bride and groom. Maria wore a glittering coronet and a mantle of crimson velvet trimmed with ermine and a sprig of myrtle, specially sent by Queen Victoria. Alfred wore the uniform of the British Navy. The Tsar looked pale throughout the entire ceremony and said afterwards: "It is for her happiness, but the light of my life has gone out". After this, they bride and groom each drank thrice from a goblet of wine. The service concluded with the couple joining hands under the priest’s stole. Then, they all proceeded to the Blue Drawing Room, where Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster, made Prince Alfred and Maria Alexandrovna man and wife according to the rites of the Anglican Church.

Back in London that night, Queen Victoria wore the Order of St Catherine on her dress and drank a toast to the young couple. Those members of her court who had traveled to St Petersburg were overwhelmed by the scale of the celebrations, receptions and entertainments marking the Anglo-Russian marriage. Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone noted that, in one room, supper was served to five hundred people at fifty different tables, with “palms and exotics ... used to so large an extent that it gives the place the appearance of a conservatory ... the heat of the rooms was almost unbearable, and several ladies left the ballroom in a fainting state.” Lady Augusta Stanley summed up the wedding in three words: “What a day.”

Alfred and Maria spent their wedding night at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Alexander II had ordered a lavish honeymoon suite on the ground floor, hoping that it would persuade the young couple to remain in Russia. After a short honeymoon in Tsarskoe Selo, however, Alfred and Maria left Russia to live in England. Alexander II never lost hope that they would return, and the honeymoon suite was kept preserved for the couple for two decades. It later became the bedroom of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his wife Alexandra, in 1894.

Duchess of Edinburgh

Grand Duke Alexei, Tsar Alexander II, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovnsa and Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, May 1874

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh arrived in England on 7 March 1874. The town of Windsor was decorated in their honor, with Union Jacks and Russian flags, and Maria, Duchess of Edinburgh was given a great welcome by the waiting crowds. Queen Victoria met them at the South-Western Station and recorded their arrival in her journal: “I took dear Marie in my arms and kissed her warmly several times. I was quite nervous and trembling, so long had I been in expectation ... Dear Marie has a very friendly manner, a pleasant face, beautiful skin and fine bright eyes ... She speaks English wonderfully well.” Later on, Queen Victoria called her new daughter in-in-law " most pleasing natural, unaffected and civil" even if "she was not pretty or graceful and held herself badly". " I have formed a high opinion of her" Queen Victoria reported impressed with " her wonderfully even, cheerful satisfied temper-her kind and indulgent disposition, free from bigotry and intolerance, and her serious, intelligent mind- so entirely free from everything fast- and so full of occupation and interest in everything makes her a most agreeable companion. Everyone must like her. " The queen also noted that Marie was" not a bit afraid of Affie and I hope will have the very best influence upon him"

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on 12 March. Alfred and Maria moved into Clarence House in London which was their main residence while in England. In addition, they have a country residence: Eastwell Park, a large estate of 2,500 acres near Ashford in Kent, where the Duke enjoyed shooting parties. To alleviate her daughter's homesickness, the Tsar and his son Alexei paid a family visit to England in May 1874.

The Duchess of Edinburg arrived in England with the intention of making a success of her life in her adopted country, but she found difficult to settle at the British Court. For her, the climate was detestable, and the food bland. She found Clarence house, her London's home,"gloomy". For her London was " an impossible place, where people are mad of pleasure" and a let down compared to the broad streets, golden domes and magnificent palaces of St Petersburg. In her eyes, Buckingham palace and Windsor Castle could never compete with the splendors of the Winter Palace. Constant visits to her mother-in-law at Windsor Castle and and Osborne in the Isle of Wight were tedious. The Queen's company was oppressive, the late nights were tiring, her husband was a philanderer. Of her sisters and brothers-in-law, she only really care for the two youngest: Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice. Proud of her strong intellect, she considered Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, a light-minded and foolish woman. Although she loved music, the duchess did not like the Royal Albert Hall, describing it as “all ecclesiastical and ... quite boring ... Every concert goes on for several hours”. When she visited Scotland, Maria Alexandrovana was frozen in her unheated bedroom in Balmoral Castle and ordered a fire to be lit. When she was out, Queen Victoria entered the room and ordered a maid to throw water on the fire and open all the windows. The Duchess said that she might as well live on an iceberg as in a British house in winter. She was soon writing letters home to her father describing Queen Victoria as a “silly obstinate old fool.”Disenchanted with Britain and life with her difficult mother-in-law, the Duchess of Edinburgh became increasingly homesick for Russia and was happy for any excuse to return there. British people thought her rough and masculine in her manners. Her imperious attitude towards her servants, and her defiance of English convention by smoking in public made her unpopular. She made it equally plain that she did not care what people thought .

Queen Victoria, The Duchess of Edinburg and Princess Beatrice.

The Duchess squabble with her mother-in-law on how she should be address at court. As the Tsar’s only daughter, Maria Alexandrovna had precedence over all the Grand Duchesses in Russia. She therefore deeply resented having to give precedence in England to the Princess of Wales. From her birth, Maria Alexandrovna was an Imperial Highness as the daughter of an Emperor. However, once she married her husband she was only entitled to the style Her Royal Highness. Tsar Alexander II alleged that his daughter should be continued to be styled as an Imperial Highness, not royal, “as in all civilized countries.” Queen Victoria replied that she did not care whether imperial was used or not, as long as royal came first. There was also the added problem that Maria was both Duchess of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess of Russia. Which title should be written first? In retaliation for the quarrel over precedence, The Duchess of Edinburgh took great pleasure in showing off her magnificent jewellery. The English princesses were clearly jealous of her diamonds, and so was Queen Victoria. Meriel Buchanan, daughter of the last British ambassador to Imperial Russia, describes Maria’s first Drawing Room: “The Queen compared the Duchess’s tiara with those of her own daughters, shrugging her shoulders like a bird whose plumage has been ruffled, her mouth drawn down at the corners, in an expression which those who knew her had learned to dread.”

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh quickly started a family. On the first year of their marriage life, the Duchess gave birth to a son, known as young Alfred born in Buckingham Palace on 15 October 1874. The Tsarina came to London to visit her daughter during her confinement and to meet her grandson.

In the following years the family kept growing. A daughter was born on 29 October 1875 in Eastwell Park. She was named Marie, after her mother and grandmother. The Duchess of Edinburgh shocked English society by nursing the children herself. The family main residence in England was Clarence House, in London. Autumns, Christmas and new year were spent at Eastwell Park, a country estate they leased in Kent. On summer holidays, the family went to Osborne Cottage on the Isle of Wight. While the Duchess was in Malta accompanied her husband, who was stationed on the island as an officer in the Royal navy, Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to a second daughter, Victoria Melita, on 25 November 1876. After their return to their sojourn in Malta, in 1877, Russia went to war with Turkey in an attempt to gain control of the Balkans. Queen Victoria sent Tsar Alexander II a series of aggressive telegrams that almost led to a state of war between the two countries. The Duchess was deeply shocked at her mother-in-law’s hostility towards her country and her own father in particular. The relationship between the Duchess of Edinburgh and her mother-in law deteriorated. Maria Alexandrovna became an Anglophobe.

The Duchess of Edinburgh.

The Duke Edinburgh was the heir of his childless uncle Ernest II Duke of Saxe Coburg, the eldest brother of Prince Albert. After the Russo- Turkish War of 1877-1878, for a long while, Maria Alexandrovna resided in Coburg, as her husband was expected to succeed his aging uncle. While in Germany, a third daughter, Alexandra, was born on 1 September 1878 at Rosenau Castle, in Coburg. On October 13, 1879 the Duchess gave birth prematurely to a stillborn son at Eastwell Park. On 17 February 1880, the Duchess of Edinburgh was back in Russia, during the 25th anniversary celebration of her father's ascension to the Russian throne, when there was an attempt on the Tsar's life and the entire Imperial family. A terrorist bomb demolished the dinning room and the guards-room at the Winter palace. Maria Alexandrovna returned to Russia again in June 1880, to be with her dying mother. She was back in England at Clarence house when her father was killed by a terrorist bomb. Maria Alexandrovna had to rush back to Russia to attended her father's funeral in St Petersburg in March 1881. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were present at the coronation of her brother, Tsar Alexander III, in Moscow in May 1883. The Edinburgh's family was completed with the birth of a fourt daughter daughter, Princess Beatrice, born at Eastwell on 20 April 1884. Years later the Duchess lamented her failure to have more children. " The only real heavenly moment is the birth of the child. This cannot be compared to anything else. I think if I had even a dozen children I would have kept the same feeling". In July 1884, they traveled to Ilinskoe, outside Moscow, to visit Maria’s younger brother Sergei, who had married Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Elisabeth of Hesse.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburghwith their five children, Prince George of Wales, Prince Maximilian of Baden and Ernest Louis, hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. Coburg, 1890.

Expecting to be Duchess of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, Maria Alexandrovna had a palace built for her family in Coburg. The building, known as the Endinburg Palais, was built across the central square facing the Ehrenburg Palace, the reigning duke's official residence, and next to the town's Opera hall. The royal couple' room were on the second floor, while the bedrooms of the four princesses, their daughters, were located on the third. Both the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were avid collectors. Inside the Edinburg Palais there were many objects that reminded Maria Alexandrovna of her homeland. As a reminder of Russia, Maria Alexandrovna organized entertainment in the Russian fashion.

In January 1886, the Duke of Edinburgh was appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean naval squadron, based on Malta. In October 1886, the family settled there. For the next three years, the family spent every winter at the San Anton Palace in Malta. Life in the island was unexciting for the Duchess of Edinburgh, but it was a welcome respite from living England. While on Malta, the Duchess proved to be an excellent hostess entertaining the naval officers and their wives. In 1887, the couple returned briefly to London to take part in Queen Victoria's Golden jubilee. Her husband's career in the British navy and their many relations in the European courts allowed Maria Alexnadrovan to travel extensively, something that she truly enjoyed. She visited most European countries, among other: Spain, Italy, Holland, Greece and even Montenegro, making annual trips to Germany, England and Russia.

Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In March 1887, the Duke relinquished his command of the Mediterranean squadron and the family moved to Coburg. Their main residence was the the Palais Edinburg at Coburg where the Duchess held court. Her husband, occupied with his naval affairs, was away most of the time. It felt upon the Duchess the responsibility for the education of the couple's five children. She was a strict, but devoted mother who made sure to be the most important person in her children lives. Between August 1890 and June 1893, the Duke of Edinburg was stationed in Devonport. Maria Alexandrovna did not care for the Admiralty house, her husband official residence, and only made rare visits to Devonport with her children.

With the passing of the years Alfred and Maria grew up apart. They had little in common other than a shared interest in music and their children. He was reserved, taciturn, moody, ill tempered and a heavy drinker. By the mid 1880s he was an alcoholic. The Duke was described as " Rude, touchy, willful, unscrupulous, improvident and unfaithful". The Duchess resented her husband's attitude, but kept her marriage going, hiding her troubled married life from her children, providing a happy environment for them. She later confessed to one of her daughters that she felt she was never anything more than her husband's legitimate mistress. Arguments over their children added to the couple's marital problems. The Duke hoped that their eldest daughter, Maria, would marry his nephew George, who later became King George V of England. The Duchess, however, was determined that her daughter should avoid her mistake, and married her instead to Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania on 10 January 1893.

On the death of his uncle, Ernst II, Duke 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. Upon her husband's ascension to the Ducal throne, Maria Alexandrovna became Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in addition to being Duchess of Edinburgh. Unlike her husband, disgruntled to leave his career in the navy, Maria Alexandrovna thoroughly enjoyed her new role. She found the country "charming" and the prospect of "a new fine position, with plenty to do" a "real God-send". Known for his hunting forest and picturesque castles, the country was small compromising separate lands in Coburg, Gotha, Upper Austria and Tyrol, but there she could live according to her desires in a country of her own. The family moved to Schloss Ehrenburg, the Duke's official residence, but they all preferred their summer house, Schloss Rosenau, a gingerbread-yellow villa located in a hill with views of the surrounding country side. They also had two residences in Gotha where they had to live part of the year: Schloss Friedestein and Schloss Reinhardsbrunn, which the Duke enjoyed for his hunting grounds. The Duchesses took on adquating the badly furnished scloos and to charity opening an establishment, for the emnatlly disabledy, that bore her name. Herpassions were the Opera and the theather and She suported the thather both in Coburg and Gotha, was an avid reader and enjoyed musroom seeking

Alfred and Maria’s second daughter, Victoria Melita, married Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse on 19 April 1894. The Duchess was initially against this match as Ernest was close to his British grandmother, Queen Victoria, who arrived at Coburg with many other royals for the wedding. In November 1894, Marie's eldest brother, Tsar Alexander III, died of nephritis, aged forty-nine, leaving his twenty-six year-old son as Tsar Nicholas II. Alfred and Maria once again traveled to Russia arriving just before Alexander III's death. They also stayed on in St. Petersburg for the wedding of Nicholas to his fiancee, Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, the youngest surviving daughter of the Prince of Wales' and Alfred's deceased sister, Alice.

Over her husband's objections, the Duchess arranged the marraige of her third daughter, Alexandra, in September 1895, to Prince Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a grandson of Queen Victoria's half-sister Feodora. He was an attache at the German Embassy in London and belonged to a metiazed and not a reigning royal family. The Duchess' main concern was her wayward only son, Young Alfred, who had a checkered career in the Prussian army. On 15 October 1895, he reached his majority, but he was already suffering from bad health. Alexandra's wedding took place in Coburg in April 1896 and, the following month, Maria Alexandrovna traveled back to Russia with her husband and their other four children to be present at Tsar Nicholas II's coronation in Moscow. In June 1897, the Duchesses and her husband went back to London to take part in Queen Victoria's Diamond jubilee. By then, the couple's relation had deteriorated further. Maria Alexandrovna despaired in finding a topic of conversation with her difficult husband as he hated her interest in literature and the theater, while she found his fond for politics and hunting "dull". The Duchess was relived when her husband was away. She wrote to her eldest daughter " if only you knew how easy and comfortable life is without him". By 1898, the Duke's health deteriorated exacerbated by his heavy drinking.

On 23 January 1899 Maria Alexandrovna and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at Schloss Friedestein, the Duke's official residence in Gotha. Absent from the festivities was their only son, who was gravely ill. Young Alfred was a junior officer in Coburg, where his chief hobbies were drinking and womanizing. He contracted syphilis and his health deteriorated rapidly. He died at the age of twenty-five on 6 February 1899 in Meran. The Duke of Edinburgh was heartbroken at young Alfred’s death. This tragedy drove the parents farther apart as Alfred blamed his wife, who had been responsible for Young Alfred's education. In her grief, the Duchess sank to her knees sobbing uncontrollably during her son's funeral. Without a male heir, the Duchy of Saxe Coburg was to be inherited by Alfred's nephew, the Duke of Albany who came to Germany to be educated there. The succession of the Duchies of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was complicated with the news that Alfred himself had cancer of the throat, too advance for any treatment. By May 1900, he was unable to swallow and could only be fed by a tube. The Duchess and their youngest daughter, Beatrice returned from England after visiting Queeen Victoria on 17 July unaware of the seriousness of th Duke's condition. On 30 July 1900, he died in his sleep at Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. Maria Alexandrovna was at his bedside with their daughters Victoria Melita, Alexandra and Beatrice. Maria became Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the ducal throne went to Alfred's sixteen year old nephew, Charles Edward. During his minority the regency fell on Maria's son-in law, Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, for nearly five years.

Later life

World War I broke out in August 1914. In February of 1917, Marie's Romanov relatives in her Russian homeland were overthrown. At the end of the war, Charles Edward was forced into abdication and the twin duchies of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha were abolished.

Marie died in October 1920 in Zürich, Switzerland, to where she had withdrawn to avoid post-war German hostility to Russians. Her demise reportedly occurred after receiving a telegram addressed to her as "Frau Coburg"; she was buried in the Ducal Family's cemetery outside Coburg. Of her four daughters, Marie, Queen of Romania was forbidden to travel to Germany to attend her funeral in light of Germany and Romania having fought on opposite sides in the recently concluded war.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Royal styles of Maria Alexandrovna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Reference style	Her Imperial and Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Imperial and Royal Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

• 17 October 1853 – 23 January 1874: Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
• 23 January 1874 – 22 August 1893: Her Imperial and Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh
• 22 August 1893 – 11 October 1905: Her Imperial and Royal Highness The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Edinburgh
• 11 October 1905 – 24 October 1920: Her Imperial and Royal Highness The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Dowager Duchess of Edinburgh

Honours

• Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (first class) (British)
• Imperial Order of the Crown of India (British)
• Order of St. Catherine (Russian)
• Order of Queen Maria Luisa (Spanish)

Issue

Further information: Grandchildren of Victoria and Albert

Image	Name	Birth	Death	Notes
	Prince Alfred ("Young Affie")	15 October 1874	6 February 1899	Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893
	Princess Marie ("Missy")	29 October 1875	18 July 1938	married, 10 January 1893, King Ferdinand I of Romania (1865–1927); had issue
	Princess Victoria Melita ("Ducky")	25 November 1876	2 March 1936	married (1), 19 April 1894, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; had issue; divorced 21 December 1901 (2) 8 October 1905, the Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia; had issue
File:Alexandrabritain1878.jpeg	Princess Alexandra ("Sandra")	1 September 1878	16 April 1942	married, 20 April 1896, Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg; had issue
	Princess Beatrice	20 April 1884	13 July 1966	married, 15 July 1909, Infante Alfonso of Spain, 3rd Duke of Galliera; had issue

Ancestry

Family of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

16. Peter III of Russia 8. Paul I of Russia 17. Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst Catherine II of Russia 4. Nicholas I of Russia 18. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg 9. Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemburg 19. Margravine Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt 2. Alexander II of Russia 20. Frederick William II of Prussia 10. Frederick William III of Prussia 21. Landgravine Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt 5. Princess Charlotte of Prussia 22. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 11. Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 23. Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt 1. Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia 24. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt 12. Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine 25. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken 6. Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine 26. Landgrave George William of Hesse-Darmstadt 13. Landgravine Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt 27. Princess Louise of Leiningen-Heidesheim 3. Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine 28. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden 14. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden 29. Landgravine Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt 7. Princess Wilhelmine of Baden 30. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (= 24) 15. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 31. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken (= 25)

See also

• Marie biscuit

References

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• Mandache, Diana. Dearest Missy. Rosvall Royal Books, 2011, ISBN 978-91-975671-7-6
• Nelipa, Margarita. Alexander III His Life and Reign". Gilbert's Books, 2014. ISBN 978-1-927604-03-8
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• Sullivan, Michael John. A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia, Random House, 1997, ISBN 0-679-42400-8
• Van der Kiste, John. Alfred: Queeen Victoria's second son. Fonthill Media, 2015. ISBN 978-1781553190.
• Van der Kiste, John. The Romanovs 1818–1959. Sutton Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-7509-2275-3.
• Wimbles, John. The Daughter of Tsar Alexander II". Published in The Grand Duchesses. Eurohistory.com, 2014.
• Zeepvat, Charlotte. The Camera and the Tsars, Sutton Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7509-3049-7.
• Zeepvat, Charlotte. Romanov Autumn, Sutton Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-7509-2739-9