Happy birthday to Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna born today in 1825. She was the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas I and Princess Charlotte of Prussia. She was nicknamed Adini and was believed to be Nicholas Is favorite child; he also called her a little moppet and very sweet. She was famous in Saint Petersburg for her beauty, lively personality and musical-vocal gifts and talents. She married Prince Frederick William of Hesse in St. Petersburg on January 28, 1844. He was known as Fritz and was the only son of Prince William of Hesse and Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark. He had originally come to St. Petersburg as a prospective husband for her older sister Olga but fell in love with Adini the very first night he spent with her family. She became very sick with tuberculosis shortly before her wedding and this complicated her pregnancy which followed soon after the wedding. She was never well enough to travel to Hesse and take up her new position and instead remained in St. Petersburg with Fritz. She sadly went into premature labor (6 months) and gave birth to a little boy they named Wilhelm. Baby Wilhelm died soon after he was born and Adini died later that very same day. :( Nicholas I and Charlotte were devastated and it is said their grief lasted their whole lives. Fritz re-married Adinis first cousin, Princess Anna of Prussia and became the head of the House of Hesse-Kassel; they were to have six children together but it is written that he too never overcame his grief for Adini. She is buried with baby Wilhelm in her arms in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. :( xoxoxo In the gardens of Peterhof there is a memorial bench with a small sculpture bust of Adini and her private rooms at the palace have been preserved just as they were at the time of her death. Adini was only 19 years old. What a gorgeous young woman. youtu.be/xM4aWlRl3C4
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:34:53 +0000
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