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| Elizabeth and Sergei, c1884. Image: Wikimedia Commons |
It is said that in the 19th century, there were two
Elizabeths who were considered as Europe’s fairest princesses: Empress
Elizabeth of Austria and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia. Both
also endured a tragic death. Elisabeth became famous in Russian society for her
beauty and charitable works among the poor. She was also praised for her kind
heartedness, forgiving Ivan Kalyayev, her husband’s murderer. She abandoned the
gaiety of the Imperial Court to become a nun, founding the Marfo-Mariinsky
Convent, which was dedicated to helping the poor and miserable of Moscow. Despite
this, she was not spared from execution by the Bolsheviks at the height of
Russian Revolution. Get to know more about Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia
with these 15 facts.
1. Before becoming a Russian grand duchess, she was born a German princess
She was born Elisabeth Alexandra Luise Alix on November 1,
1864, the second amongst six children of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
and by Rhine, and his wife Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria.
2. She and her family lived a modest life
She was fondly referred to as “Ella” by her family. By royal standards, Elisabeth’s family lived a modest life
despite coming from one of the oldest and noblest houses in all of Germany. She
and her siblings were taught to clean their own rooms, and would wear clothes
personally sewn by their mother.
3. She lost her mother at a young age
The onslaught of diphtheria in the Hesse household in 1878
cost the lives of Ella’s mother, Grand Duchess Alice, and her youngest sister, May, who was only four
years old. The then 14-year-old princess was sent to her paternal grandmother’s
house at the start of the outbreak and was the only member of her family who
did not contract the said infection.
4. She and her siblings were particularly close to Queen Victoria
Years following the tragedy that struck the family, Ella
and her sisters went under the supervision of Queen Victoria, who took care of
almost every aspect of the lives of her late daughter Alice’s surviving
children.
5. Almost every eligible prince in Europe fell for her beauty
A lot of historians regarded Elisabeth as the most
beautiful woman in Europe during her time, so it was not a surprise that she
had numerous suitors swooning over her. One of them was her cousin, the future
Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would often send love poems to the princess. When he
proposed to her in 1878, however, Ella rejected him. Another admirer was her
first cousin, the future Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, who suffered the
same fate as Wilhelm despite receiving the support of Queen Victoria who
described the gentleman as “good and steady”, with a “safe and happy position”.
Also included in her long list of suitors were Henry Wilson, who would later
become a celebrated soldier, and Lord Charles Montagu, son of the 7th Duke of
Manchester.
6. She married a Russian grand duke
In the end, Elisabeth chose Grand Duke Sergei
Alexandrovich of Russia, son of her great aunt, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of
Russia, and who she knew since she was a child. Ella initially thought Sergei
and his brother Paul were haughty, however she felt a connection with him and saw
the man in a different light after the death of both of grand duke’s parents in
just a year. Sergei, on the one hand, fell in love the first time she saw the
princess as a grown lady, and was deeply attached to her as Ella’s character
reminded him of his own mother. After accepting his second proposal, they
married on June 15, 1884 at St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace, with a barrage of
European royals in attendance. Queen Victoria, who did not approve of the
couple, did not grace the event and was instead represented by her two sons.
7. Theirs was a childless marriage
The union never resulted to the birth of a child. The
grand duke and grand duchess, however, started looking after Grand Duke Paul's children when their mother died. They eventually became guardians of Grand Duke Paul Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna when their
father was banished from Russia after his morganatic marriage and was
prohibited from taking the children.
8. She was widowed after her husband's assassination
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was assassinated by
Socialist-Revolutionary Iyan Kalyayev in Kremlin on February 18, 1905, much to
Grand Duchess Elisabeth’s shock and despair. He had just entered one of the
gate towers of the governor-general’s mansion in his carriage when a
nitroglycerin bomb was thrown into his vehicle, exploding right onto his lap,
tearing him into pieces. Elisabeth hurried to the scene as soon as she heard of
the news and gathered what was left of his husband’s remains.
9. Her life changed after she was widowed
Following her husband’s death, Elisabeth became a
vegetarian and only wore mourning clothes. She also sold her massive collection
of jewels and other luxurious possessions including her wedding ring. Through
the proceeds, she put up the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and served as
its abbess. She also opened an orphanage, hospital, chapel, and pharmacy on the
convent grounds, and she and her nuns helped the most impoverished people of
Moscow
10. She was arrested at the height of the Russian Revolution
It was in 1918 when Vladimir Lenin ordered the
All-Russian Extraordinary Commission or Cheka to arrest Elizabeth, who was
exiled to Perm then to Yekaterinburg, where she joined other prisoners namely
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov; Princes Ioann Konstantinovich,
Konstantin Konstantinovich, Igor Konstantinovich and Vladimir Pavlovich Paley;
Fyodor Remez (secretary of Grand Duke Sergei); and Varvara Yakovleva (one of
the sisters from Convent of Saints Martha and Mary).
11. She was murdered by the Bolsheviks
She was one of the members of the imperial family who were
murdered by the Bolsheviks. Evening of July 17, 1918, the prisoners were driven in
carts going to Siniachikha village. Eleven miles from Alapayevsk, they halted.
Elisabeth and the others were ruthlessly beaten before they were thrown into a
66-feet deep pit at an abandoned iron mine. The grand duchess was the first one
to be hurled into the grave. When men from Cheka were still hearing voices from
the pit—one of the killers, Vasily Ryabov, recounted hearing Elisabeth and the
others singing an Orthodox hymn—they threw in two grenades before filling the
pit with a mountain of brushwood, setting it alight before fleeing the scene.
12. She remained selfless despite facing death
White Army soldiers discovered the remains of Elisabeth
and other prisoners three months later (October 8, 1918). Most of them
reportedly died, and slowly at that, of starvation and injuries. The grand
duchess died of wounds she sustained from falling into the pit. Though she was
in utmost pain, she still managed to bandage Prince Ioann’s head using her
wimple.
13. She was finally interred in Jerusalem
Elisabeth’s body was buried in a cemetery at the Russian
Orthodox Mission in Peking (currently Beijing) before it was transferred to
Jerusalem and finally laid to rest at the Church of Maria Magdalene in
Gethsemane.
14. She was made a saint of the Orthodox Church
In 1981, Elisabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox
Church Abroad. She was later canonized in 1992 as Holy Martyr Elizabeth
Feodorovna by the Moscow Patriarchate.
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