Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia

{|align=right
Infobox Russian Royalty|grand duchess
name =Princess Alexandra
of Greece and Denmark
title =Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia


imgw = 180px
spouse = Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia
issue = Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich
full name =
titles ="HIH" Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia
"HRH" Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark
royal house =House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
father =George I of Greece
mother =Olga Constantinovna of Russia
date of birth =Birth date|1870|8|30|df=yes
place of birth = Corfu, Greece
date of death =Death date and age|1891|9|24|1870|8|30|df=yes
place of death = Ilyinskoye, Moscow, Russia
date of christening =
place of christening =

Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia ("Александра Георгиевна"), née Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (August 30, 1870–September 24, 1891) was born in Corfu, Greece. She was the third child and firstborn daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, herself the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia. She was a sister to Constantine I of Greece, and thus aunt of three kings and two queens, Constantine's three sons, who all became kings of Greece, and two of his daughters, who were queens, in name, of Romania and Croatia, respectively. She is also an aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Marriage and Children

Alexandra, whose nicknames were "Greek Alix" or "Aline", was well-loved by her family. "She had one of those sweet and lovable natures that endeared her to everybody who came in touch with her," recalled her brother Prince Nicholas of Greece. "She looked young and beautiful, and ever since she was a child, life looked as it had nothing but joy and happiness in store for her." [Mager (1998), p. 124] When she was nineteen years old, she was married to Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, the eighth child and sixth son of Emperor Alexander II and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. They had become close when Grand Duke Paul spent winters in Greece due to his frequent respiratory illnesses. The Greek royal family also frequently spent holidays with the Romanov family on visits to Russia or Denmark. [Zeepvat (2004), p. 49]

They had two children:

* Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
* Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Death

Seven months into her second pregnancy, Alexandra took a walk with her friends on the bank of the Moskva River and jumped directly into a boat that was permanently moored there, but fell as she got in. The next day, she collapsed in the middle of a ball from violent labor pains brought on by the previous day's activities. She gave birth to her son, Dmitri, lapsed into a fatal coma, and she died six days later. Her grieving husband had to be restrained from throwing himself into the grave with her. [Zeepvat (2004), p. 179]

Her husband later morganatically remarried Olga Karnovich.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

* "Her Royal Highness" Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark
* "Her Imperial Highness" Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia

Ancestry

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1= 1. Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark
2= 2. George I of Greece
3= 3. Olga Constantinovna of Russia
4= 4. Christian IX of Denmark
5= 5. Louise of Hesse-Kassel
6= 6. Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia
7= 7. Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg
8= 8. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
9= 9. Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel
10= 10. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel
11= 11. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark
12= 12. Nicholas I of Russia
13= 13. Charlotte of Prussia
14= 14. Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
15= 15. Duchess Amelia of Württemberg
16= 16. Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
17= 17. Countess Friederike of Schlieben
18= 18. Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel
19= 19. Princess Louise of Denmark and Norway
20= 20. Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel
21= 21. Princess Caroline Polyxene of Nassau-Usingen
22= 22. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway
23= 23. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
24= 24. Paul I of Russia
25= 25. Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg
26= 26. Frederick William III of Prussia
27= 27. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
28= 28. Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
29= 29. Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
30= 30. Duke Louis of Württemberg
31= 31. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg

Notes

References

*Mager, Hugo (1998). "Elizabeth: Grand Duchess of Russia". Carroll and Graf Publishers Inc. ISBN 0-7867-0678-3
*Zeepvat, Charlotte (2004). "The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album". Sutton Publishing Inc. ISBN 0-7509-3049-7