Former monarchies historic discussion: France, Germany, Russia etc..

[LouisFerdinand]

How well did Empress Alexandra of Russia get along with her mother-in-law Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna?   
Did Marie Feodorovna cling to her status as Empress? 
Did Marie have an obligation to Alexandra to assist her in her transition?

[Curryong]

How well did Empress Alexandra of Russia get along with her mother-in-law Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna? 
Did Marie Feodorovna cling to her status as Empress? 
Did Marie have an obligation to Alexandra to assist her in her transition?

The two women were cordial whenever they met but there was no real closeness. They were both very different personality types.

Yes she did cling to her former status, but in that Marie was aided by Court etiquette and custom, which, a bit like the Court of Austria-Hungary, seemed to formally place the dowager Empress before the reigning one. Marie also kept most of the jewellery normally worn at court functions by the Empress.

It didn't help that Alexandra was young, inexperienced, really introverted, rather stiff in social situations, deeply religious and, coming from a small German provincial Court, distinctly prudish. By contrast Marie was very gay and sociable, loved balls expecially and continued to reign over St Petersburg society and society as a whole.

I think Marie did try to help Alexandra adjust but it was a very difficult situation from the time Alexandra joined the family. Marie's beloved husband Sasha (Tsar Alexander III) was dying when the couple were engaged and Alexandra was called to Russia in the latter stages, so the whole family was soon in mourning.

The Tsar's funeral was followed pretty well immediately by Nicky and Alexandra's wedding then the Coronation. Both Nicky and Alexandra struggled to cope with their new roles. Marie advised Nicky as much as she was able to, but Alexandra became pregnant with her first baby Olga very soon after the wedding and her stiff personality didn't take kindly to any advice.

She was soon to retreat into the bosom of her family, Nicky and their children, a stance that remained entrenched until practically the end. She soon decided that St Petersburg Society and Russian aristocracy as a whole were 'fast' and immoral, with few exceptions. Marie returned to ruling over the balls, receptions and parties in the capital and mother in law and daughter in law increasingly met less and less.

It was a sad situation that there was no meeting of hearts and minds there but it made no difference to the revolution that was to come. The only time that such things might  have had an impact if there had been an understanding and warmth between the two women was Rasputin's influence over Alexandra and her daughters.

Both Marie and Ella, Alexandra's older sister, were appalled by this man and the optics of his influence at Court on the population at large, and both tried to warn Alexandra, but she coldly repudiated their advice, and Ella, then a secular nun, left their last meeting ever in this life in despair.

Alexandra was in many ways a blindly stupid woman and her advice to her equally stupid husband Nicky was almost invariably harmful.

[LouisFerdinand]

Did not Princess Victoria of Hesse, who became Princess Louis of Battenberg, also try to give advice to her sister Empress Alexandra?

[Curryong]

Did not Princess Victoria of Hesse, who became Princess Louis of Battenberg, also try to give advice to her sister Empress Alexandra?

Victoria was the eldest of Louis and Alice of Hesse's children, and after Alice's death. when she was in her mid-teens, strove to be a substitute mother to her younger siblings. So Alix grew up with Victoria's advice ringing in her ears on many occasions, as well as Ella's and Irene's! Victoria was a very sensible and pragmatic person. She made many private visits to Russia, to several relations not just Nicky and Alexandra and their family, including the occasion when she and her daughter Louise had to flee Russia, leaving behind most of their jewellery because WW1 was about to be declared!

As far as advice about Rasputin, Alix grew up as I said, being the recipient of her older sisters' advice. She learned to ignore it, especially after years as the Russian Empress. With the exception of Ella however, they lived outside Russia and were not of the Russian Orthodox faith. So Alix probably felt they knew nothing.

 Virtually all of Nicky's relatives were also against Rasputin, but Nicky stated once to a relative who was arguing for Rasputin's dismissal, (and I'm paraphrasing here because I can barely remember the quote) it was something like he muttered that he put up with it because it was better than hours of hysteria and weeping if Rasputin was to go. His reaction was probably the same in discussions about Rasputin with his mother. Marie knew Nicky was weak, felt that Russia was unstable after her Sasha's early death and dreaded that she herself would be replaced inevitably by Alix as an adviser, which of course occurred.

 Nicky and Alix were a dual disaster for their dynasty and their country. Not that I think they were the sole cause of the revolution. I have stated my belief many times that the dynasty was doomed after the failed Decembrists revolt in the 1820s. Alexander II was the last hope. Nicholas and Alexandra were just the final nails in the coffin of Imperial Russia.

[LouisFerdinand]

December 25, 1046 ~ Pope Clement VI crowned Henry III as Holy Roman Emperor     
 
December 25, 1130 ~ Antipope Anacletus II crowned Roger II the Norman king of Sicily

[LouisFerdinand]

Mstislav I of Kiev was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1125 until 1132. He built numerous churches in Novgorod.

[LouisFerdinand]

In 1486 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III prevailed upon the electors to crown his son Maximilian as king of the Romans. This was the first time in almost three centuries that the electors had agreed to appoint a son as king during his father's lifetime.

[LouisFerdinand]

Frederick Francis II was Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1842 until 1883.   
He served on the general staff of Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Graf von Wrangel during the Second Schleswig War.

[LouisFerdinand]

Holy Roman Emperor Francis I's interests in the natural sciences induced him to finance expeditions to bring back rare species of plants to his botanical garden.

[LouisFerdinand]

Facts and Dates of King Frederick of Wurttemberg   

[LouisFerdinand]

In 1697/1698 Tsar Peter I of Russia became a shipwright. 
http://www.maryevans.com/history/10449442

[LouisFerdinand]

King Charles IX of France was declared an adult on August 17, 1563.

[LouisFerdinand]

The oriflamme of St. Denis was taken by King Philip VI of France.
  http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-king-philip-vi-taking-the-oriflamme-142077603.html

[LouisFerdinand]

Have any Romanovs become consorts of monarchs?   
 
Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, daughter of Tsar Paul I, married King Willem II of The Netherlands.     
   
Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna married King George I of Greece.

[LouisFerdinand]

This illustration refers to The King of of the Two Sicilies as Joachim Napoleon. Did his brother-in-law Emperor Napoleon require him to include the name of Napoleon?   
http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YP0746661

[LouisFerdinand]

In 1929 former Queen Elizabeth of Greece attended the "great Rumania" event.   
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-great-rumania-49921054.html

[LouisFerdinand]

President Poincare of France visited Tsar Nicholas II in 1914.   
  http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M588590

[LouisFerdinand]

Count Bobrinsky was the son of Empress Catherine II of Russia and Gregory Orlov. He was named Alexis Gregorovich.   

[LouisFerdinand]

King Philip IV of France convened the States General, Louvre Palace in Paris in 1302.   
http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M177829

[LouisFerdinand]

King Philip IV of France sent Count Guy de Dampierre to prison. 
 http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/A147849

[LouisFerdinand]

Upon her fourteenth birthday, Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil took an oath at the ends of the Senate president as required by article 116 of the Constitution to maintain the Apostolic Roman Catholic Religion, to observe the political constitution of the Brazilian nation, and to be obedient to the laws and the emperor.

[LouisFerdinand]

King Alexander I of Greece and his wife resided in Paris, France during their exile from Greece.   
http://www.maryevans.com/history/10406113

[LouisFerdinand]

King Joseph I of Portugal had a large collection of operatic scores. What became of these operatic scores?

[LouisFerdinand]

Tsar Ferdinand I at the Proclamation of Bulgarian independence   
 http://www.alamy.com/ferdinand-i-at-the-proclamation-of-bulgarian-independence-image382896652.html

[LouisFerdinand]

In 1894 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Archduke Karl visited Cannes, France.           
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/56460478