Alexander III died in the early afternoon November 1, 1894, at the age of forty nine, leaving Tsarevich Nicholas the new tsar of Russia, who was confirmed that evening as Tsar Nicholas II. The following day, Alix was received into the Russian Orthodox as "the truly believing Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna," yet as a dispensation, she was not required to repudiate Lutheranism or her former faith. Alix apparently expressed a wish to take the name Catherine, but on Nicholas's suggestion, she took the name Alexandra.
Alexandra, along with her and Nicholas's mutual aunt and uncle, the Prince and Princess of Wales (the Princess of Wales being the favorite sister of Nicholas's mother), and some of Nicholas's relatives from Greece, accompanied the coffin of Alexander III first to Moscow, where it laid in state in the Kremlin, and then to St. Petersburg. The funeral of Alexander III occurred on November 19.
The marriage with Nicholas was not delayed. Alexandra and Nicholas were wed in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace of St Petersburg on 26 November 1894, the birthday of Nicholas's mother, now Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, when court mourning could be somewhat relaxed. The marriage that began that night remained exceptionally close until the pair was assassinated simultaneously in 1918. The marriage was outwardly serene and proper but based on intensely passionate physical love.
YOU ARE READING
The Romanovs
Non-FictionThis book is about the family and the life of the last Tsar of Russia. (I do not own any of these. I just wanted to share more about the Romanov's through wattpad.)
