Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) was born in 1872 in Darmstadt, the capital of a small German state, the Duchy of Hesse. Her mother died at thirty-five. Six-year-old Alix, the youngest in a large family, was taken in by her grandmother, the famous English Queen Victoria. For her bright character, the English court nicknamed the blonde girl Sunny (Sunny).

In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia: her sister Ella was marrying Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The heir to the Russian throne, sixteen-year-old Nicholas, fell in love with her at first sight. But only five years later, seventeen-year-old Alix, who came to her sister Ella, reappeared at the Russian court.

In 1889, when the heir to the Tsarevich turned twenty-one, he turned to his parents with a request to bless him for his marriage to Princess Alice. The answer of Emperor Alexander III was brief: “You are very young, there is still time for marriage, and, in addition, remember the following: you are the heir to the Russian throne, you are engaged to Russia, and we will still have time to find a wife.”. A year and a half after this conversation, Nikolai wrote in his diary: “Everything is in the will of God. Trusting in His mercy, I calmly and humbly look to the future.".

Alix’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, also opposed this marriage. However, when the wise Victoria later met Tsarevich Nicholas, he made a very good impression on her, and the English ruler’s opinion changed.

On the next visit https://bella-casino.uk/ of the blond German princess, a year later, Nicholas was not allowed to see her. And then the Tsarevich met the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. His relationship with her lasted almost four years..

In April 1894, Nikolai went to Coburg for the wedding of Alix’s brother Ernie. And soon the newspapers reported the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

On the day of the engagement, Nikolai Alexandrovich wrote in his diary: “A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life – the day of my engagement to dear Alix. I walk around all day as if outside of myself, not quite fully aware of what is happening to me.”. He’s happy! Life without love sooner or later turns into vegetation, since true love cannot be replaced by anything: neither money, nor work, nor fame, nor fake feelings.

Having learned about the engagement, Kshesinskaya sent anonymous letters to the bride, in which the ink of her former lover. Alix, having barely read the first line and seeing that the signature was missing, gave them to the groom.

November 14, 1894 – the day of the long-awaited wedding. On their wedding night, Alix wrote in Nikolai’s diary: “When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and stay together forever.”. »

After the wedding, the Tsarevich will write in his diary: “Incredibly happy with Alix. It’s a pity that classes take up so much time that I would really like to spend exclusively with her.”. According to the correspondence between Nikolai and Alexandra, we know that love and happiness filled them both. More than 600 letters have been preserved, conveying to us the beauty of this love.

The royal children in Europe and Russia were very well-educated people. Well-mannered and educated for life. And family life, especially for the empress, is the most important thing in her life. Alexandra’s diary entries reveal the depth of her understanding of the mysteries of love and marriage.

“The divine design is for marriage to bring happiness, to make the lives of husband and wife more complete, so that neither loses and both win. If, nevertheless, marriage does not become happiness and does not make life richer and fuller, then the fault is not in the marriage bond, but in the people who are united by it.”.

“The first lesson to be learned and practiced is patience. At the beginning of family life, both the advantages of character and disposition are revealed, as well as the disadvantages and features of habits, taste, temperament, which the other half did not even suspect. Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to get used to each other, that there will be eternal and hopeless conflicts, but patience and love overcome everything, and two lives merge into one, more noble, stronger, fuller, richer, and this life will continue in