From Russia With Love

From the Crown Princess to Queen Victoria

Berlin, January 17, 1874

It is not rather a risk that Bertie, Alix, and Arthur go so far and to such a climate without a doctor!  I was so glad to see Lord Sydney and Sir John Cowell as so many English faces are a delight which I have not had for a very long time. 

I will write to you as often as I can but you know how the time is to be filled up!  How I shall stand all those late parties I do not know!  Toilettes one has to take are also a great business.  Uncle Ernest arrived late last night and we leave tomorrow in the middle of the day. 

We are very busy packing and getting everything in order.

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(Alfred and Maria at the time of their engagement.  Too bad the happiness would barely outlast the honeymoon.  Photo credit: gogmsite.com)

Excitement was in the air at the beginning of 1874 with the upcoming wedding between Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Tsar Alexander II and his wife Marie.  It was to be a wedding that was impressive even by Russian imperial standards.  It was also, oddly enough, the only wedding of one of her children in which Victoria did not personally attend. 

Alfred and Maria had become engaged the previous July.  The couple had originally met in 1871 in Denmark, where both were visiting relatives.  The two spent time together, where they found that they had a love of music in common.  After a visit of a few weeks, Alfred and Maria shared a tearful goodbye, for they had become rather attached to one another. 

Alexander II and Victoria went way, way back.  The two had met the year before she was married, when she was a brand-new queen and he a prince on a state visit to Britain.  The two found that they liked one another as dance partners, and enjoyed some easy conversation, but nothing could come of it due to their respective positions.  Now, more than 30 years later, Alexander’s and Victoria’s children had taken a liking to one another too.

But in the meantime, the Crimean War had taken place between Britain and Russia.  An uneasy peace between the two countries had settled in after the war, but neither country fully trusted the other.  While Alfred was of prime age for a prince to marry, Alexander and Marie were very close to 17-year-old Maria and not yet ready to let her go.

Two years passed.  Maria, in the meantime, had acquired a reputation as something of a flirt.  She may have had a (likely innocent) liaison with a minor Russian prince.  Maria’s family realized that they couldn’t keep her a little girl much longer without something really unsuitable happening (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read up on Thyra of Denmark, Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, or George III’s daughter Sophia!), so they quickly decided on a Danish vacation.  The pot was sweetened when Bertie and Alexandra were able to coax Alfred to come with them – and see if the sparks still flew with Maria.  They did.

Victoria would have probably chosen a different princess for Alfred, and did try to set him up with several before he met Maria.  But as none of them had caught his eye quite like her, Victoria vowed to, “…receive Marie [sic] with all love and affection and if she can alter his hard, selfish, uncertain character she will be a blessing to us all, and I shall be the first to acknowledge it…” 

But Victoria had another worry: Maria’s Orthodoxy.  Victoria nearly fainted at the thought of Alfred’s home being overrun by Orthodox priests.  She also gasped at the rather scandalous reputations of Maria’s brothers, despite the fact that her own sons (most young European princes, really) were no better behaved.  Maria won Victoria over when she wrote her future mother-in-law a very kind letter – in English, of which Maria was fluent.  Meanwhile, Alfred was given an honorary position in the Russian Guard. 

But the engagement period was still uneasy between the two sets of parents.  Alexander refused a request to give Bertie an honorary position in the Russian military as well.  Alexander also claimed there was not sufficient time to send Maria to Britain before the marriage to get better acquainted with Victoria, proposing instead they meet in Cologne.  Victoria grumpily refused to travel (she was due to go to Balmoral and nothing stood in the way of that!), but did send Vicky as her go between to get her opinion of Maria.  Alexander and Marie also insisted on a large Orthodox ceremony in St. Petersburg.  Victoria balked at this, but relented due to Maria’s position as the only daughter.  Victoria also insisted on a second, Anglican service, which was granted. 

The wedding was held on January 23, 1874 (Why January?  In Russia?  Who knows.)  Victoria was of course not attending; she may have used Beatrice’s recent confirmation as an excuse to get out of the trip.   And as Vicky explained above, the preparation was substantial.  Bertie and Alexandra were representing Victoria; Alexandra’s sister Dagmar was also the wife of the Tsarevich, which gave them an added reason to go.  Arthur was also tagging along as a groomsman for his brother, but also to meet Helene of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a rich German princess he was thinking of marrying (it didn’t happen).  Vicky and Fritz were representing the Prussian side of the family, of course, and Uncle Ernest also made the trip.

When Alfred left for his wedding just after Christmas 1873, Victoria reminded her son that what he was about to go through was a serious step.  He needed to break his old habits (womanizing, in particular) and concentrate on making Maria comfortable and happy.  He promised her he would, and Victoria prayed that he meant it.  Vicky urged her mother to have faith in Alfred, and felt that Maria’s influence would be a good one. 

Vicky and Fritz, Bertie and Alexandra, and Arthur arrived in St. Petersburg on January 18.  Vicky spent some time with Maria viewing her trousseau, which she found not much better or worse than her own.  Vicky also spent some time riding through St. Petersburg with Fritz in a sledge and doing some sketch work. 

The Orthodox ceremony was held first in the Winter Palace Chapel.  Following the crowning, an Anglican service was carried out by the Dean of Westminster.  Maria carried a white myrtle bouquet sent by her new mother-in-law; the myrtle had been taken from a bush at Osborne.  The balls, dinners, and festivities continued on for another two weeks.

Vicky and her entourage left St. Petersburg on February 2, making a detour in Moscow that she enjoyed a great deal.  She was impressed by her time in Russia, and praised Alexander and Marie for their hospitality.  Alfred and Maria spent the next month in Russia and finally made their way to Britain in early March.  Maria was already pregnant with their first child by the time they reached London.

Despite the romantic courtship and glorious wedding celebrations, Maria did not integrate well into London society.  Although she got along with some members of the family (Leopold was one of Maria’s closest friends), Maria was thought to be haughty and arrogant of her position in Russia.  Alfred and Maria did have six children (one of whom was stillborn), but Alfred did not abandon his womanizing ways after his marriage.   Alfred died in 1900, and Maria in Switzerland in 1920.  The present-day Romanian royal family and the current pretender to the Prussian throne are descended from Alfred and Maria.

Maybe Victoria’s unconditional blessing and a wedding in Britain were worth it?