Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov of Russia

queens of the world zarina alexandra fiodrovna of russia [Music] alexandra was the granddaughter of queen victoria and married tsar nikolai ii becoming zarina of russia her guilt over passing hemophilia onto her son made her dependent on crude mystic rasputin and contributed to the downfall of the romanov dynasty and the murder of her family alex was born on june 6 1872 to princess alice the second daughter of queen victoria of the united kingdom and louis iv grand duke of hesse and by rhine in the german empire named alex victoria helen louise beatrice after her mother and her mother's four sisters she was noted to be an especially pretty and happy baby and was nicknamed sunny by her family she was the sixth of seven children her mother princess alice was exceptionally loving and devoted she infuriated her own mother by choosing to breastfeed her children and educate them herself rather than handing them over to a governess alice was a deeply caring person outside of her own family and volunteered as a nurse in local hospitals frequently bringing her children along with her when alex was one her family was struck by tragedy when her brother friddy who suffered from hemophilia fell from a window and died at the age of two alex was inseparable from her sister marie who was two years her junior when alex was six most of the family came down with diphtheria her sister marie died of the disease the heartbroken family seemed to be recovering when their mother exhausted from caring for her husband and children became ill and declined quickly she died at the age of 35. the once perpetually cheery alex became withdrawn and quiet she and her siblings spent many holidays in the uk with their grandmother queen victoria and became close to their british cousins alex was her grandmother's favorite and the queen encouraged a romance between her and her cousin albert victor eldest son of prince edward of wales who was expected to be king someday victoria thought that alex would make an excellent queen consort of the uk albert victor was very fond of alex and even proposed but she did not return his feelings and turned him down queen victoria was disappointed but accepted alex's decision as indication of her strength of character alex already had a future husband in mind at 12 she had traveled to russia to attend the wedding of her older sister elizabeth to grand duke sergey alexandrovich while celebrating at the winter palace she met grand duke nikolai the 16 year old heir apparent to the throne of russia and the two formed a connection at 17 alex returned to russia for an extended visit and her friendship with nikolai blossomed into love the pair carved their names into a window pane in the petrov palace using a diamond nikolai wrote of the etching in his journal and added we love each other the tsarovich's family objected to the match for several reasons the pair were related via several branches of their family tree including being second cousins twice over through princess wilhemina of baden and king frederick william ii of prussia khan sanguinity was strictly forbidden by the russian orthodox church and two other matches between romanov men and queen victoria's granddaughters had been rejected for this reason one resulted in elopement and exile alex's german family was also considered politically insignificant and nikolai's parents hoped to make a much better match for him but that zarovich was adamant that alex was the woman for him and said he would rather become a monk than consider any other lady queen victoria too had misgivings about the political climate in russia and her favorite granddaughter's safety there but eventually both families relented while visiting hess for another family wedding nikolai proposed to the woman he had loved for 10 years he underlined the date in his diary three times writing a marvelous unforgettable day in my life the day of my engagement to my precious beloved alex walked around the entire day in a haze not fully conscious actually of what had happened to me though alex returned nikolai's affections she had misgivings about converting to russian orthodoxy but her cousin wilhelm convinced her to accept back in russia tsar alexander's health began to decline and he gave his son permission to call his fiancee to his side the tsar gave his future daughter-in-law his blessing before dying at the age of 49. nikolai was confirmed as the new emperor on november 1st 1894. the following day alex officially converted to russian orthodoxy she changed her name from the german alex to the russian alexandra she was also required to take a russian patronamic middle name for women ovna or evna is added to their father's given name she could not make a patronimic of her own father's foreign name louis so instead was offered the traditional patronum of foreign royal brides theodrovna for theodore meaning gift of god tsar alexander's funeral was held on november 19th and nikolai and alexandra were married on the 26th alexandra wrote to her sister our wedding seemed to me a mere continuation of the funeral lithu for the dead tsar with one difference i wore a white dress instead of a black one many russians saw the arrival of their new tsarina so soon after the death of the previous tsar as a bad almond she has come to us behind a coffin she will bring misfortune with her despite the bad portents the tsar and zarina had a blissful and contented marriage they were exceptionally close and enjoyed each other's company immensely nikolai complained about the endless tedium of royal duties when he would rather be spending time with his wife on the outside their marriage was serene and proper but privately they enjoyed an intensely passionate love one year after the wedding alexandra gave birth to their first child a daughter olga she could not be named heir as russian law forbade women from inheriting the throne this law had been instated by tsar paul as an act of spite against his mother catherine the great the court was disappointed with the birth of a daughter but alexandra and nikolai doted on their eldest child eighteen months after his ascension nikolai and alexandra were crowned in the assumption cathedral in the kremlin in moscow alexandra wrote that she was elated by her mystic marriage to russia but a black cloud soon darkened the joyous occasion as part of the coronation festivities commemorative mugs food and drink was given to the public a massive crowd gathered in a field in moscow to collect the gifts from the new tzar rumors spread through the throngs that there was not enough for everyone and a stampede ensued over a thousand people were crushed to death and many more were injured nikolai wanted to cancel the coronation ball that the french ambassador was throwing that evening but his advisors said that he should not offend their allies alexandra was deeply distressed and attended the party with her eyes reddened by tears the couple visited the wounded the following day and personally paid for the coffins of all the dead nevertheless they were blamed for the tragedy and labeled as cold and out of touch alexandra possessed a shy nature and she had trouble learning the russian language she and her husband communicated in english their best common tongue she wasn't queen victoria's favorite grandchild for nothing and was seen as far too prim and proper by the sophisticated russian courtiers she tried to set up knitting circles for the ladies in waiting but they scoffed at the idea alexandra and nikolai welcomed three more daughters tatiana maria and anastasia alexandra further shocked the court by breastfeeding and caring for her children herself much as her own mother had done but not producing a male heir made the tsarina even more disliked by her people the entire romanov family was losing their popularity with the people who resented their decadent lifestyle of glittering balls and massive palaces in 1904 the tsar was pulled into a disastrous war with japan it took the russian navy six months to sail from the baltic to the pacific only to be sunk in a single day in the battle of tsushima the nation was horrified it was said that nikolai was unmoved when he heard the news and continued playing tennis but in fact he wept bitterly and the royal family went into mourning in the end u.s president theodore roosevelt negotiated peace between the nations but the war was a stain on the tsar's reputation after 10 years of marriage alexandra gave birth to a male heir to the romanov throne alexi she adored her only son calling him her sunbeam in his first months his parents observed that minor bruises did not heal and alexi bled from the navel he was diagnosed with hemophilia an incurable genetic disease that prevents the blood from clotting even minor bumps and bruises can cause serious injury excruciating pain and even death alexandra knew the seriousness of this diagnosis well as her own brother friddy as well as an uncle and many other members of her family had died of the disease she blamed herself for passing the condition onto her son and further isolated herself from court she spent nearly all her time with little alexi coddling him and protecting him from harm alexandra and nikolai loved their four daughters very much but their son often overshadowed them the girls were referred to collectively as ottma for the initials of their first names and were often dressed alike in 1905 a group of disgruntled but peaceful workers marched to the winter palace to hand a petition to the tsar this kind of demonstration was unprecedented in russia palace guards shot above the heads of the crowd to scare them off but they hit several boys who were climbing in trees to get a better look in the panic and confusion the guards fired directly into the crowd killing hundreds the day became known as bloody sunday the press took the opportunity to blacken the tsar's name they even claimed falsely that he held a ball the day after the massacre a few weeks later nikolai's uncle grand duke sergey who was the governor of moscow and married to alexandra's sister elizabeth was blown up in a carriage at the gates of the kremlin nikolai was forced to sign a manifesto making russia a constitutional monarchy he saw this as signing away his birthright at the opening of the first duma the new legislature of russia he said with reluctance may my fervent hopes be fulfilled to see my people happy and to bequeath to my son a stronger better and more enlightened state the tsar did not get on well with the duma he dissolved and reformed it with more obedient ministers and he appointed a new prime minister piotr stalin who went on a mission to wipe out political radicals he hanged hundreds of so-called terrorists with what became known as stayopen's necktie in response styopin was fatally shot by an assassin at the opera in front of nikolai alexandra and their eldest daughters olga and tatiana were traumatized and wept bitterly in the midst of the chaos alexandra's children were growing up olga was the closest to her father but shy and reserved like her mother tatiana was the most elegant and closest to her mother maria was affectionate and fond of children anastasia was the charming family clown and alexi was everyone starling and just a little spoiled in 1911 the family hosted a ball at their summer palace in crimea for olga's 16th birthday all the grand families of russia were invited and the nightmares were forgotten for an evening the family had been trying to keep the tsarovich's life-threatening health problems a secret they feared that if the infirmity of the air was widely known it would crumble their already precarious standing with the people but as alexi grew older his condition worsened and it became harder to hide he wanted to be a normal rambunctious child but his parents restricted him fearing for his very life a sailor was employed to carry the tsaravich who was often unable to walk during public appearances alexandra was overwhelmed by her son's agony she called on doctors to cure him but their failures caused the bereaved mother to turn increasingly to religion and mystic healers inter gregory rasputin a siberian holy man who rarely bathed spoke crudely and slept with dozens of his followers rasputin seemed to help alexi and alexandra became increasingly dependent on him allowing him into the inner circle of the family when the tsarina was informed that rasputin had exposed himself at a popular restaurant in moscow and bragged that the tsar allowed him regular sexual access to the tsarina she brushed it off as malicious gossip nikolai was more skeptical of the mystic the head of the duma presented sexually compromising photographs of rasputin to the tsar and begged him to banish the mad monk but nikolai feared sending him away for if he did and alexi died alexandra would blame him while the family was vacationing seven-year-old alexi tripped and fell while boarding a boat he suffered bruising and hemorrhaging on his legs and groin his doctors could do nothing for him he was on the edge of death and a public notice began to circulate about the dangerous condition of the tsarovich's health terrified alexandra sent a telegram to rasputin who was far away in siberia with his wife and children he replied back god has seen your tears and heard your prayers do not grieve the little one will not die do not allow the doctors to bother him too much within a day of receiving rasputin's telegram alexis hemorrhaging stopped and he began to recover for his relieved mother this was nothing short of a miracle and rasputin's influence over the tsarina grew immensely in 1913 the romanov family celebrated the 300th anniversary of their dynasty with the pilgrimage through the empire culminating in a grand procession through moscow newsreels were beginning to become popular and in them the public could see that zarovich clearly ill and being carried everywhere this made the mighty romanov dynasty appear weak in 1914 archduke franz ferdinand was shot and killed in sarajevo the assassination was the spark that led to alexandra's cousin willy kaiser wilhelm ii of germany to declare war on russia in a little conflict that became known as world war one nikolai was incredulous that a member of their own family who had celebrated their engagement with them would declare war on them when alexandra heard the news she raced to nikolai and weeping proclaimed war and i knew nothing of it this is the end of everything rasputin wrote to the family warning against going to war and predicting that it would spell the end of the dynasty nikolai tore up the letter and mobilized his army for battle as the nation marched into formation their tsarina a german by birth was seen as an enemy and a spy but she was firmly on the side of the russians stating it is the country of my husband and my son i love this country with all my heart in the spirit of slavic unity saint petersburg was renamed petrograd but many russians were against the war members of the duma staged a walkout and were arrested others who spoke out against the conflict were exiled to siberia to support the war effort nikolai traveled to the front with the army the russian military was the largest in the world but the german army was more modern better equipped and better trained and the war the russians thought they could win easily dragged on while nicolaite was away he and alexandra wrote hundreds of letters to each other sometimes several a day back home that sarina followed in her mother's footsteps working as a nurse with her eldest daughters olga and tatiana by her side they opened 85 hospitals in saint petersburg alone even the ground floor of the winter palace was given over to hospital beds alexandra also took over many of the duties of the tsar but she had no experience with or talent for governing and leaned heavily on rasputin's advice he always maintained a demeanor of upright piety with the tsarina and she was wrapped around his finger brushing off any rumors of his debauchery rasputin tried to push his influence beyond the tsarina into policy and requesting government appointments for his friends and followers though government ministers typically ignored his orders his meddling severely tarnished the royal family's reputation rasputin set himself against nikolai's uncle nicolasha who was head of the army and alexandra pled with her husband to remove him and he did making himself commander-in-chief but this was a disastrous move as the tsar had no military expertise and made a poor commander many of his decisions both martial and political resulted in calamity so the tsar stopped making any decisions altogether and became resigned to failure and misery rasputin wrote an ominous note to the tsar saying that he felt the specter of death drawing near he told nikolai if my murder is carried out by one of your kinsmen then not one member of your family will survive more than two years prince felix the tsar's nephew-in-law invited rasputin to his house late one night he fed the monk tea and cakes laced with cyanide rasputin ate heartily but showed no signs of illness he was then plied with wine also poisoned rasputin drank three glasses but still showed no signs of distress fed up one of the conspirators pointed to the crucifix on the wall and told rasputin to say his prayers then shot him in the chest at point-blank range rasputin collapsed for a time but then leapt up and attacked the men they chased the crazed monk into the garden and shot him twice more then dumped his body in the river when alexandra heard of her friend's death she was inconsolable world war one was going badly for russia the conflict dragged on for over four years and three million russian soldiers were killed the nation was bled of its men and resources the lives of the people became even more dire and they were going hungry strikes and protests were occurring on a daily basis and people began looting food nikolai ordered the protests and looting to cease but was completely ignored by the people and the police revolution had begun rebels flooded the streets and destroyed double-headed eagles the symbol of the tsar nikolai still at the front tried to return to his family but revolutionaries blocked his train he turned to his generals for support and they begged him to abdicate he had no choice he signed the abdication papers on the 15th of march 1917. to protect his son he named his brother mikhail as his successor but he wanted no part of the doomed tsarship and rejected the throne effectively abolishing the monarchy now all nikolai wanted to do was get his family away from the capital and to safety he said we will go to the crimea and grow flowers when he finally reached them he sank into his wife's arms and wept the family were held under house arrest in the winter palace the children came down with the measles and the daughters had their heads forcibly shaved despite their confinement and harsh treatment the family kept up their spirits and good humor the new revolutionary government wanted the former tsar and his family out of the country so they appealed to nikolai and alexandra's cousin king george v of the united kingdom to take the family in initially he agreed but public outcry in britain against the former tsar now labelled a tyrant frightened george into retracting the invitation germany still at war with russia sent exiled revolutionary vladimir lenin back home to stir up trouble lennon's older brother had been hanged by the tsar years earlier and he wanted revenge the family and their attendants were sent to siberia where they were kept under guard in the governor's house meanwhile linen and his bolshevik party took over the government in a coup immediately linen signed a peace treaty with germany handing over large portions of russia's western land while many russians were relieved at the war's end others were outraged at the loss of territory and civil war brewed when nikolai learned what had happened he was outraged and yet again regretted his abdication stricter guards were placed in charge of the family and fearing that they may have to flee at any moment alexandra and her daughters sewed their jewelry into the bodices of their dresses alexi's illness took a turn for the worse and he never walked again the family were again moved to a former merchant's house referred to by the bolsheviks as the house of special purpose then the orders came from the kremlin at 1 30 am on july 17th the family and their attendants 11 prisoners in all were woken up and told to prepare to leave immediately they were led into a small room in the basement there they were confronted by 11 armed men the prisoners were all shot diamonds in the women's clothes deflected many of the bullets and they were finally finished off by bayonets their bodies were destroyed by sulfuric acid and fire and the remains were thrown down a mine shaft alexandra was 46 her beloved husband nikolai 50 and their cherished children olga 22 tatiana 21 maria 19 anastasia 17 and alexi just 13. many other members of the romanov family around the country were similarly executed the remains of the tsar and his family were not found for decades and rumors circled with perhaps a bit of hope that some of the family had survived often these rumors circulated around the youngest daughter anastasia a woman named anna anderson emerged in germany in 1922 claiming to be the long-lost grand duchess but alexandra's family did not believe her in the late 1970s researchers were able to locate the remains of the family but they had to keep them a secret until 1991 after the fall of communism in russia prince philip the husband of queen elizabeth ii of the united kingdom is one of the closest living relatives to the romanov family and he provided the crucial dna sample that was able to confirm that five of the seven family members had indeed been found the bodies of alexi and one of the daughters were missing however fueling rumors that perhaps they had escaped but in 2007 two more bodies confirmed to be alexi and anastasia were found in a separate burial site the russian orthodox church canonized the entire family as saints in 2000 the bodies have all been laid to rest with the long line of the romanov tsars in saint catherine's chapel of the peter and paul cathedral in st petersburg if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 760,031

Keywords: history, documentary, royal family, royalty, bbc, the crown, royal wedding, feminist, victorian era, Queen victoria, hemophilia, europe, 1800s, princess, royal marriage, assasination, wwi, asmr, russian history, romanov dynasty, tsar nicholas ii, Tsar nikolai, anastasia, otma, tsarevich alexei, rasputin, mystery, grand duchess olga, moscow, russian revolution, romanov family, romanov execution, women in history, anastasia romanov, royal execution, alexandra romanov, alexandra Feodorovna

Id: -KHlajTb4OE

Length: 27min 19sec (1639 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 12 2021