Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia) - Grand Duchess of Russia

Grand Duchess of Russia

At first, Alexandra Feodorovna had problems adapting to the Russian Court, the change of religion affected her and she was overwhelmed by her new surroundings. She gained the favor of her mother-in-law, Maria Feodorovna, but did not get along well with the Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna, wife of Tsar Alexander I.

Weeks after the wedding, Alexandra was pregnant. On 29 April 1818, she gave birth to her first son, the future Tsar Alexander II, and the next year she had a daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. In 1820 Alexandra produced a stillborn daughter, her third pregnancy in three years, which brought on a deep depression. Her doctors advised a holiday, and in the autumn of 1820 Nicholas took her to see her family in Berlin, where they remained until the summer of 1821, returning again in the summer of 1824. They did not come back to St. Petersburg until March 1825 when Tsar Alexander I required their presence in Russia.

Alexandra Feodorovna spent her first years in Russia trying to learn the language and customs of her adopted country under the tutelage of the poet Vasily Zhukovsky, whom she characterized as being "too much of a poet to be a good tutor." The Imperial family spoke German and wrote their letters in French, and as a consequence, Alexandra never completely mastered the Russian language.

Nicholas and Alexandra Feodorovna were private people who found great pleasure in each other’s company. She wrote in her memoirs of her first years in Russia, "We both were truly happy only when we found ourselves alone in our apartments, with me sitting on his knees while he was loving and tender". For eight years, during the reign of Tsar Alexander I, the couple lived quietly, never once looking forward to the possibility of occupying the Russian throne. Tsar Alexander I had no children and his heir, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, renounced his succession rights in 1822, making Nicholas the new Tsarevich.

In 1825, Alexandra received from her brother-in-law, Alexander I the Palace of Peterhof, where she and Nicholas lived happily at the start of her life in Russia. It would remain her favorite summer residence.