Grand Duchess
In the fall of 1860 Olga Feodorovna and her husband visited England. Queen Victoria described their meeting in a letter to her daughter Victoria, crown Princess of Prussia Windsor, 24 October 1860:
| “ | They (Michael and Cecile) came to luncheon on Monday and stayed till yesterday. Dear Marie L (Leiningen, nee Baden, Cecile's sister) came with them. They were both most amiable and friendly. Cecile is as unlike her sister as possible--but Marie says her features are like their brother Karl. The features are fine but the figure is not good and she stoops and bends which spoils her very much; she is very good humored, merry and agreeable and clever, and the sisters were so happy together...The Grand Duke is really quite charming--so mild and gentle and gemutlich--always speaking German, and so unlike his brother Constantine and his sisters. We were charmed with him, and I hear wherever he goes--high and low, love him...he looks very delicate, and so I think does she...They say that the little boy of Cecile's (Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia ) is lovely. Unfortunately I could not see him. | ” |
In 1862 Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich's brother, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, appointed him as governor of Tsardom in the Caucasus and Olga moved wit her husband to Tiflis. The couple had already three children, four more were born there. For almost 20 years the family lived in the Caucasus. In addition to official duties as wife of the imperial governor, Olga Feodorovna provided support to her husband Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich, who supervised the implementation of the liberal reforms of Alexander II in the region.
Grand Duchess Olga took part in ceremonies as the viceroy’s wife and in supporting many charities, especially in the field of female education. Using in large part personal funds, in 1864, the grand duchess organized a women's school in Tiflis, later renamed Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna women's gymnasium. She also founded the first Ossetian school for girls, which was named Ossetian Olginsky. She also became the patroness of a hospital in Pyatigorsk which was named St. Olga. In 1884, in St. Petersburg, Olga Feodorovna became the patroness of the new Alexander's men's Hospital (now the City Psychiatric Hospital № 7). One of the streets of Tiflis - Olginskaya was named in her honor. The village of Olginskaya (now the Right Bank district of North Ossetia) was also named after her.
Read more about this topic: Olga Feodorovna Of Baden
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