Elena Pavlovna of Württemberg

Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (Stuttgart, 9 January 1807–Stuttgart, 2 February1873) was the wife of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, the youngest son of Tsar Paul I of Russia and Sophie Dorothea of Wurttemberg.

She was born as Princess Friederike "Charlotte" Marie of Wurttemberg, eldest daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and Princess Catherine Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen. As a child, Charlotte lived in Paris with her father and her younger sister Pauline. Their home was quite modest compared to royal standards, and it was also in Paris that Charlotte studied under several intellectual people.

In 1822, she was engaged to Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia. It was said that Charlotte was an exceptional girl, highly intelligent and mature for her age of 15. Mikhail was obviously impressed by her beauty and her poise, and during a reception held in her honor, she charmed all the guests by her conversations. In 1823, she was received into the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Elena Pavlovna. In 20 February 1824, the couple was married in Saint Petersburg and they settled in the Mikhailovsky Palace. When the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna died in 1828, Pavlovsk passed on to Mikhail and he and Elena visited it often. Their marriage was not a happy one: Mikhail have only passion for the army and neglected Elena. Nevertheless, he and Elena had the following children:

* Grand Duchess Maria Mikhailovna of Russia (9 March 1825 Moscow - 19 November 1846 Vienna); died unmarried
* Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia (26 May 1826 Moscow - 28 January 1845 Wiesbaden); married Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and died in childbirth
* Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna of Russia (28 August 1827 Saint Petersburg - 12 May 1894 Saint Petersburg), married Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
* Grand Duchess Alexandra Mikhailovna of Russia (28 January 1831 Moscow - 27 March 1832 Moscow)
* Grand Duchess Anna Mikhailovna of Russia (27 October 1834 Moscow - 22 March 1836 Saint Petersburg)

Elena was a close friend of her brother-in-law, Alexander I of Russia and his wife the Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna and she was also quick to befriend the shy Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of the then Tsarevich Alexander. When her husband died in 1849, she became a patron of several charitable organizations and the arts. She founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire and a group of nursing sisters which will eventually become the forerunners of Red Cross in Russia.

Elena died at the age of 66.

Bibliography

*Lincoln, W. Bruce. "The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russians". 1983
*Zeepvat, Charlotte. "Romanov Autumn". 2001