Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia
Encyclopedia
Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia (Russian: Александра Петровна; 2 June 1838 – 25 April 1900) was a daughter of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and a great granddaughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia
. She married Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891), the elder, and was the mother of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929), the younger. After the breakup of her marriage, she retired from court life and eventually became a nun.
. She was the eldest of the eight children of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg
, half-sister of Sofia of Nassau
, queen consort
of Oscar II of Sweden
. Alexandra belonged to a German family but grew up in Russia, where her family was closely related to the Romanov
dynasty.
Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg, Alexandra’s father, was the only surviving son of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia
. Peter of Oldenburg followed a military career in the Imperial Russian Army
and was also a scholar and philanthropist. Alexandra Petrovna grew up in the happy Oldenburg family. Peter Georgievich and his wife led an exemplary family life, and looked carefully after the education of their children. The family spent the winter months in Peterhof
and moved for the summer to their other residence Kamenoi-Ostroff. Alexandra’s education awoke in her an interest in medicine and in solving social problems of the poor.
and her first cousin once removed. Alexandra, who had been raised in the Lutheran church, converted to the Orthodox faith on 7 January 1856, and was styled as: HIH Alexandra Petrovna Grand Duchess of Russia. The wedding took place on 6 February 1856, in Peterhof
. Her first son was born nine months later in their ground floor apartment of the Winter Palace
. In December 1861, the couple moved to their newly built Nicholas Palace
on Annunciation Square where, in 1864, Alexandra gave birth to a second son and last child. By then her marriage had started to fall apart.
Alexandra was plain and unsophisticated. She liked simplicity and preferred to dress modestly, avoiding public life. She dedicated her time to religion and to her consuming interest in medicine. She was also a gifted painter. Alexandra was not beautiful, but her sincerity and pleasant manners made her win many sympathies. She was well liked by her two sisters-in-law Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Iosifovna. At first, her husband took her ideas seriously and financed a hospital in the city where Alexandra’s theories could be developed and put into practice and poor patients received care without charge. Sometimes she nursed them herself. Eventually, she founded a training institute for nurses in St Petersburg.
By the late 1860s, their marriage was in trouble. The couple had found out that they had little in common. Lacking in looks and social graces, she preferred to stay away from Court functions. This annoyed her husband, who also complained of her plainness and the modesty of her dress. Converted to the Russian Orthodox church when she married, she became extremely pious. Alexandra was a serious woman whose passions were religion and medicine.
The couple’s palace in St. Petersburg was so large that they did not have to see each other. They appeared together only in official ceremonies. Eventually Nicholas Nikolaevich developed a permanent relationship with Catherine Chislova
, a dancer from the Krasnoye Selo Theater. The Grand Duke did not attempt to hide his affair. In 1868, Catherine Chislova gave birth to the first of the couple’s five illegitimate children.
By 1870, nothing was left of her marriage except the bitterness. Resentment was the only response she could offer to her husband's unfaithfulness. Alexandra spent longer and longer periods in Kiev
while her husband divided his time between his children with Alexandra and his second family. When the Grand Duke arranged a change of class into the gentry for his mistress and the couple’s illegitimate children, Alexandra Petrovna appealed to Alexander II
to intervene, but she found her brother-in-law less than sympathetic. "You see," he bluntly told her, "your husband is in the prime of his life, and he needs a woman with whom he can be in love. And look at yourself! See even how you dress! No man would be attracted". After this encounter, however, Alexander did advise the Grand Duke to be more discreet and exiled Catherine Chislova to Wenden
, near Riga
.
According to some sources, Alexandra Petrovna retaliated against her husband's infidelity by taking a lover and, in 1868, gave birth to an illegitimate son. However, no sound information has surfaced to corroborate these claims. The story of the illegitimate child seems unlikely.
In 1880, Alexandra left St Petersburg for good to start a new life in Kiev
. Initially, she lived at the Mariyinsky Palace
, the Emperor's residence in Kiev, but retired later to a convent. However, she refused to grant her husband the divorce he would have wanted. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich hoped to survive his wife, as had been the case of his brother Alexander II who once a widower married his mistress. Alexandra, although not in good health, outlived both her husband and her husband’s mistress. Catherine Chislova
died in 1889, and Grand Duke Nicholas survived his lover for only two years. When he died in the Crimea in 1891, Alexandra Petrovna refused to attend the funeral. Even then, she did not forgive him. She also refused to pay homage to her death husband when the funeral catafalque, taking his body for burial in the St Peter and St Paul Cathedral
in St Petersburg, came by train via Kiev on its route from the south.
Alexandra became a nun as 'Sister Anastasia' taking Holy Orders on 3 November 1889 in Kiev, while her husband was still alive. She founded a convent of nursing nuns with its own hospitals, asylums and dispensary to provide free treatment for the poor. She dedicated her life to the work, which had always been her priority. She remained close to her sons, who had taken her side in the family break up. She was in the Crimea
in 1898 when her daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Militsa, gave birth to twin daughters, one of which died shortly after birth.
Alexandra took her granddaughter’s remains with her and buried the coffin in the convent cemetery in Kiev. Afflicted with stomach cancer
, Alexandra Petrovna died at
Kievo Pechersky Monastery in Kiev
on 25 April 1900 , when she was 61. Today her grave in the convent garden is again tended by nuns and her works continues.
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
. She married Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891), the elder, and was the mother of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929), the younger. After the breakup of her marriage, she retired from court life and eventually became a nun.
Early life
Alexandra Petrovna was born on 2 June 1838, in St. Petersburg as Duchess Alexandra Frederika Wilhelmina of OldenburgOldenburg
Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
. She was the eldest of the eight children of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg
Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg
Princess Therese Wilhelmine Friederike Isabelle Charlotte of Nassau-Weilburg, full German name: Therese Wilhelmine Friederike Isabelle Charlotte, Prinzessin von Nassau-Weilburg was a member of the House of Nassau-Weilburg and a Princess of...
, half-sister of Sofia of Nassau
Sofia of Nassau
Sophia of Nassau was Queen consort of Sweden and Norway...
, queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of Oscar II of Sweden
Oscar II of Sweden
Oscar II , baptised Oscar Fredrik was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death and King of Norway from 1872 until 1905. The third son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.-Early life:At his birth in Stockholm, Oscar...
. Alexandra belonged to a German family but grew up in Russia, where her family was closely related to the Romanov
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
dynasty.
Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg, Alexandra’s father, was the only surviving son of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
. Peter of Oldenburg followed a military career in the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
and was also a scholar and philanthropist. Alexandra Petrovna grew up in the happy Oldenburg family. Peter Georgievich and his wife led an exemplary family life, and looked carefully after the education of their children. The family spent the winter months in Peterhof
Peterhof Palace
The Peterhof Palace in Russian, so German is transliterated as "Петергoф" Petergof into Russian) for "Peter's Court") is actually a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the...
and moved for the summer to their other residence Kamenoi-Ostroff. Alexandra’s education awoke in her an interest in medicine and in solving social problems of the poor.
Marriage
Alexandra’s parents arranged a high-status marriage for her. On 25 October 1855, she was engaged to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, the third son of Tsar Nicholas INicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
and her first cousin once removed. Alexandra, who had been raised in the Lutheran church, converted to the Orthodox faith on 7 January 1856, and was styled as: HIH Alexandra Petrovna Grand Duchess of Russia. The wedding took place on 6 February 1856, in Peterhof
Peterhof Palace
The Peterhof Palace in Russian, so German is transliterated as "Петергoф" Petergof into Russian) for "Peter's Court") is actually a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These Palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the...
. Her first son was born nine months later in their ground floor apartment of the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...
. In December 1861, the couple moved to their newly built Nicholas Palace
Nicholas Palace
Nicholas Palace was one of several St Petersburg palaces designed by Andreas Stackensneider for the children of Nicholas I of Russia...
on Annunciation Square where, in 1864, Alexandra gave birth to a second son and last child. By then her marriage had started to fall apart.
Alexandra was plain and unsophisticated. She liked simplicity and preferred to dress modestly, avoiding public life. She dedicated her time to religion and to her consuming interest in medicine. She was also a gifted painter. Alexandra was not beautiful, but her sincerity and pleasant manners made her win many sympathies. She was well liked by her two sisters-in-law Maria Alexandrovna and Alexandra Iosifovna. At first, her husband took her ideas seriously and financed a hospital in the city where Alexandra’s theories could be developed and put into practice and poor patients received care without charge. Sometimes she nursed them herself. Eventually, she founded a training institute for nurses in St Petersburg.
By the late 1860s, their marriage was in trouble. The couple had found out that they had little in common. Lacking in looks and social graces, she preferred to stay away from Court functions. This annoyed her husband, who also complained of her plainness and the modesty of her dress. Converted to the Russian Orthodox church when she married, she became extremely pious. Alexandra was a serious woman whose passions were religion and medicine.
The couple’s palace in St. Petersburg was so large that they did not have to see each other. They appeared together only in official ceremonies. Eventually Nicholas Nikolaevich developed a permanent relationship with Catherine Chislova
Catherine Chislova
Catherine Gavrilovna Chislova was a Russian ballerina. She was the mistress of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich; they had five children.- Life :...
, a dancer from the Krasnoye Selo Theater. The Grand Duke did not attempt to hide his affair. In 1868, Catherine Chislova gave birth to the first of the couple’s five illegitimate children.
By 1870, nothing was left of her marriage except the bitterness. Resentment was the only response she could offer to her husband's unfaithfulness. Alexandra spent longer and longer periods in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
while her husband divided his time between his children with Alexandra and his second family. When the Grand Duke arranged a change of class into the gentry for his mistress and the couple’s illegitimate children, Alexandra Petrovna appealed to Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
to intervene, but she found her brother-in-law less than sympathetic. "You see," he bluntly told her, "your husband is in the prime of his life, and he needs a woman with whom he can be in love. And look at yourself! See even how you dress! No man would be attracted". After this encounter, however, Alexander did advise the Grand Duke to be more discreet and exiled Catherine Chislova to Wenden
Wenden
Wenden is a community in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It belongs to the Olpe district in the Sauerland. It lies 10 km south of Olpe and approx. 20 km northwest of Siegen.- Location :...
, near Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
.
According to some sources, Alexandra Petrovna retaliated against her husband's infidelity by taking a lover and, in 1868, gave birth to an illegitimate son. However, no sound information has surfaced to corroborate these claims. The story of the illegitimate child seems unlikely.
Last years
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. Initially, she lived at the Mariyinsky Palace
Mariyinsky Palace
Mariyinsky Palace is an official ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine in Kiev and adjoins the neo-classical building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine...
, the Emperor's residence in Kiev, but retired later to a convent. However, she refused to grant her husband the divorce he would have wanted. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich hoped to survive his wife, as had been the case of his brother Alexander II who once a widower married his mistress. Alexandra, although not in good health, outlived both her husband and her husband’s mistress. Catherine Chislova
Catherine Chislova
Catherine Gavrilovna Chislova was a Russian ballerina. She was the mistress of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich; they had five children.- Life :...
died in 1889, and Grand Duke Nicholas survived his lover for only two years. When he died in the Crimea in 1891, Alexandra Petrovna refused to attend the funeral. Even then, she did not forgive him. She also refused to pay homage to her death husband when the funeral catafalque, taking his body for burial in the St Peter and St Paul Cathedral
Peter and Paul Cathedral
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733 on Zayachy Island along the Neva River. Both the cathedral and the fortress were...
in St Petersburg, came by train via Kiev on its route from the south.
Alexandra became a nun as 'Sister Anastasia' taking Holy Orders on 3 November 1889 in Kiev, while her husband was still alive. She founded a convent of nursing nuns with its own hospitals, asylums and dispensary to provide free treatment for the poor. She dedicated her life to the work, which had always been her priority. She remained close to her sons, who had taken her side in the family break up. She was in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
in 1898 when her daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Militsa, gave birth to twin daughters, one of which died shortly after birth.
Alexandra took her granddaughter’s remains with her and buried the coffin in the convent cemetery in Kiev. Afflicted with stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
, Alexandra Petrovna died at
Kievo Pechersky Monastery in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
on 25 April 1900 , when she was 61. Today her grave in the convent garden is again tended by nuns and her works continues.
Children
Alexandra Petrovna was survived by her two sons:- Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia the Younger (1856–1929)
- Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (1864–1931)
Titles and styles
- 2 June 1838 - 7 January 1856 Her Imperial Highness Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (Princess Alexandra Petrovna Oldenburgskaya)
- 7 January 1856 - 25 April 1900: Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia