Alexander I of Russia - Death

Death

Tsar Alexander I became increasingly suspicious of those around him, especially after an attempt was made to kidnap him when he was on his way to the conference in Aachen, Germany.

In the autumn of 1825 the Emperor undertook a voyage to the south of Russia due to the increasing illness of his wife. During his trip he himself caught a cold which developed into typhus from which he died in the southern city of Taganrog on 19 November (O.S.)/ 1 December 1825. His wife died a few months later as the emperor's body was transported to Saint Petersburg for the funeral. He was interred at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg on 13 March 1826.

Speculation has arisen since his reported death, that Emperor Alexander I actually faked his own death and that he fled to become a hermit. It is said that the Russian Orthodox Saint, St. Feodor Kuzmich is actually Emperor Alexander I. The Saint received a visit from the Emperor Alexander II a dozen years after the supposed death of Emperor Alexander I. The burial place of the Saint in Tomsk was later visited by Emperor Nicholas II in 1893. The Grand Duchess Olga, daughter of Emperor Alexander III also admitted that she was taught that Emperor Alexander I and Feodor Kuzmich were the same individual.

• Death of Alexander I in Taganrog (19th century lithograph.

• Alexander I Palace in Taganrog, where the Russian Emperor died in 1825.