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Marie of Hesse
Empress Consort of Russia
Maria Alexandrovna Portrait by Christina Robertson Hermitage Museum, 1850
Titles	HIM The Empress of Russia (1855-1880) HIH Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1841-1855) HGDH Princess Marie of Hesse (1824-1841)
Born	August 8, 1824(1824-08-08)
	Darmstadt
Died	June 8, 1880 (aged 55)
	Saint Petersburg
Buried	Peter and Paul Cathedral
Consort	March 2, 1855 - June 8, 1880
Consort to	Alexander II
Issue	Alexandra Alexandrovna, Nikolai Alexandrovich Alexander III, Vladimir Alexandrovich, Alexei Alexandrovich, Marie Alexandrovna, Sergei Alexandrovich, Paul Alexandrovich
Royal House	House of Hesse-Darmstadt
Father	Louis II of Hesse
Mother	Wilhelmine of Baden

Princess Maximilienne Wilhelmine Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 - 8 June 1880) was a princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and, as Maria Alexandrovna (in Russian Мария Александровна), Empress consort of Alexander II of Russia. She was born at Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy, and died at Saint Petersburg. The Mariinsky Theatre and the city Mariehamn in Åland is named after her.

Marie was the youngest of seven children born to the Grand Duchess Wihelmine of Hesse (1788 - 1836), the youngest sister of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Alexeievna, the younger four appearing to have been fathered by Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy. To avoid a scandal, Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse acknowledged Alexander and Marie as his own children; the other two had died young. Yet they still lived in a separate establishment in Heiligenberg while the Grand Duke lived in Darmstadt^{[citation needed]}.

When in 1838, the Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich toured Europe to find a wife, he fell in love with the 14-year-old Marie. He married her on April 16, 1841, even though he was well aware of the "irregularity" of her birth. His mother Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna objected, but Alexander insisted.

As she was very shy, she was regarded as stiff, austere, and with no taste in dress, no conversation, no charm. The damp climate of Saint Petersburg did not agree with the delicate chest Marie had inherited from her mother, so that she had a racking cough and recurring fever. Nevertheless, she became the mother of eight children. These pregnancies together with ill health kept her away from many Court festivities, which brought temptations to her husband.

Although he always treated her well, Marie knew Alexander was unfaithful and had many lovers. He already had three children with his favorite mistress, Princess Catherine Dolgoruki, when he moved her and their children into the Imperial Palace. They entered into a morganatic marriage less than a month after Marie's death on July 6, 1880.

In 1855 Alexander became Emperor, which forced her to attend more State functions whether she was ill or not. Although Alexander II always treated her well, she knew from 1858 onwards that his feelings were for someone else. In 1865, the death of her eldest and favourite son, the Tsarevich Nicholas, was a great blow.

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a biography of Maria Alexandrovna

Every now and again she was able to go to her brother Alexander who lived with his morganatic wife in Heiligenberg. There she met Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, wife of her nephew Prince Ludwig. She resented Alice's suggestion of the marriage between her brother Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and her own daughter, but the marriage ultimately went through. When Alice died in 1878, Marie often invited the motherless children for visits to Heiligenberg. It was during these visits that Marie's son, Grand Duke Serge, first got to know his future wife, Alice's daughter Elisabeth as well as Marie's first encounter with Alix of Hesse, (who was the younger sister of Elisabeth) and would one day marry Marie's eldest grandson Nicholas II.

Empress Maria Alexandrovna with her husband Tsar Alexander II, and son, the future Tsar Alexander III

Her children were:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia (30 August 1842 - 10 July 1849).
• Tsarevich Nikolai of Russia (20 September 1843 - 24 April 1865).
• Alexander III of Russia (10 March 1845 - 1 November 1894). He married Dagmar of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (22 April 1847 - 17 February 1909). He married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, daughter of Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. They were maternal grandparents of Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark.
• Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (14 January 1850 - 14 November 1908). He married Countess Alexandra Vasilievna, Countess Zhukavskaya.
• Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia (17 October 1853 - 24 October 1920). Married Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of British Queen Victoria.
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (10 May 1857 - 17 February 1905). Married Princess Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia (3 October 1860 - 30 January 1919). Married first Alexandra Yurievna of Greece, daughter of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, and secondly Olga Valerianovna Paley.

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