Nicholas II and Alexandra: the story of true love until the last breath

We know that the last Russian emperor Nicholas II was madly in love with his wife Alexandra, which was not often the case among the royal families of Europe. As you know, marriages of persons of this level are not concluded for love and the fact that their hearts are united can be considered a miracle. What do we know about the story of this love, which lasted 23 years, until the tragic death of the Romanov family?

What feelings the Emperor Nicholas II felt for his wife can be judged by the letters that the monarch sent to his Alix during the separation. Such messages, for sure, every woman dreams of receiving from a loved one.

The granddaughter of Queen Victoria Alexandra Feodorovna, who was called Alice before her marriage, also loved her husband very much. Despite the upheavals that accompanied their lives, Nicholas and Alexandra lived happily, except that they "died in one day" they died a terrible death, which became a real curse for Russia.

Alice grew up a beautiful, well-mannered and intelligent girl. She loved to study, was fond of European classical and modern literature, and knew history and geography well. But what is especially strange, already in her teens, the future Russian tsarina was interested in politics and was well versed in it. Even more unusual was the fact that a very young girl was able to defend her doctoral dissertation in philosophy.

Like most excellent students and book lovers, Alice was a shy girl, but she always treated others kindly. Alice saw her future husband Nikolai Romanov for the first time when she was only 12 years old. She was present at the wedding of her older sister, who was marrying Uncle Nicholas. The heir to the throne at that time was already 16.

The little princess of Darmstadt was not impressed by the acquaintance with Nicholas, but the young prince remembered the modest girl. Their acquaintance continued a few years later, when Alice came to visit her sister in Russia. The young people talked for six weeks, and the future tsar wrote in his diary: "I dream of marrying Alix G. one day."

It was love, but it meant nothing compared to the geopolitical interests that were taken into account in the marriages of members of the monarchs ' families. Nicholas ' father, Emperor Alexander III, has already found a bride for his son, taking into account the political and economic benefits. She was the daughter of Count Louis Philippe of Paris, Helene Louise Henriette.

Nicholas would not hear of a French countess, and openly declared his love for Alice. The king was angry and sent his son on a trip around the world, hoping that he would relax and come to his senses. But after returning from the trip, Nicholas continued to insist that he wanted to see only the German princess as his wife.

Many historians believe that it was Alexander III who introduced his son to the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. My father brought Nikolai to the performance of a dancer, which at the same time was the final exam in the theater school. The Tsarevich and the artist were introduced and arranged so that their seats were next to each other at dinner.

Judging by the entries in the diary, with which Nikolai was always extremely frank, the meeting with Kshesinskaya did not become an event for him. The young man described this day simply: we went to the ballet and the play, had dinner at the school. Not a word about meeting the ballerina.

But Matilda immediately fell in love with the prince – she later told Nicholas II that these were feelings "from the first time we met." After that, there were several more "random" meetings, cleverly organized at the will of the emperor, after which Nicholas wrote in his notebook: "I positively like Kshesinskaya very much." And then they began a romantic relationship.

None of them had the slightest illusions – Nikolai knew that he would never be together with a dancer, and Matilda had no doubt that her beloved would sooner or later settle down and marry an equal person. This relationship was arranged in order for the young Romanov to forget Alice, but nothing happened. Despite the fact that with Matilda, Nicholas experienced the best moments of his youth, he did not forget about the princess and sincerely believed that they would one day unite their destinies.

Alexander III accepted the choice of his son only when he became seriously ill and felt that his days were numbered. Elated, Nikolai went to his beloved to make an offer. But Alice was in no hurry to answer – she knew about the opinion of the groom's father about this union and was even aware of the relationship between Nicholas and Matilda.

After three days of waiting for the Russian prince in love, the princess still agreed to become his wife. After that, they met in the Crimea, where Nikolai was at the bedside of his sick father-Alice came to visit him, invited by telegram. The trip surprised the girl, who was not used to pomposity and attention to her person. When her train passed through the towns and villages of the Russian Empire, she was greeted on the platforms with bands and bread and salt.

Alexander III, before his death, managed to bless his son and his bride. The young couple were married only three weeks after the death of the tsar, which many considered an unheard-of rush. During the ceremony, the girl looked confused – she was not used to crowds of people, luxury furnishings and a huge amount of jewelry. So Alice disappeared and Alexandra Fyodorovna Romanova appeared.

Even in adulthood, the emperor and his wife wrote each other about and without short notes, in which they did not skimp on affectionate nicknames. such as "honey" and "sunny". With the advent of children, their feelings did not cool down, but, on the contrary, gained even more strength. The couple preferred the company of each other and their five children to any other company.

Alexandra has always been a reliable support for her husband and supported him in all matters. When the tsar was ill, his wife worked with the documents, emphasizing the main points in them, so that Nicholas did not waste his time and energy. Knowing about her husband's gentle nature, Alexandra constantly tried to protect him from mistakes and from the outside looked like a typical "saw wife". During the First World War, she mentored the tsar:

It is quite clear that she would like to see her husband different-confident and determined, but at the same time selflessly loved him for what he is. Alexandra supported her husband when he abdicated. The woman wrote to him:

Nikolai didn't know what lay behind this confident support. Before writing these words, Alexandra Fyodorovna cried all night, and in the morning she burned all their correspondence so that it would not fall into the wrong hands. Even in the most difficult period of their lives, the lovers did not change themselves and celebrated the next anniversary of their engagement. They died in July 1918, next to each other, as well as lived 23 happy years.