Early Life
Alexandra Petrovna was born on 2 June 1838, in St. Petersburg as Duchess Alexandra Frederika Wilhelmina of Oldenburg. She was the eldest of the eight children of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg, half-sister of Sofia of Nassau, queen consort of Oscar II of Sweden. Alexandra belonged to a German family but grew up in Russia, where her family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty.
Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg, Alexandra’s father, was the only surviving son of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia. Peter of Oldenburg followed a military career in the Imperial Russian Army and was also a scholar and philanthropist. Alexandra Petrovna grew up in the happy Oldenburg family. Peter Georgievich and his wife led an exemplary family life, and looked carefully after the education of their children. The family spent the winter months in Peterhof and moved for the summer to their other residence Kamenoi-Ostroff. Alexandra’s education awoke in her an interest in medicine and in solving social problems of the poor.
Read more about this topic: Duchess Alexandra Petrovna Of Oldenburg
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