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| Princess Elisabeth | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna of Russia | |||||
 Princess Elizabeth of Saxe-Altenberg, later Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna of Russia, in the 1890s | |||||
| Born | (1865-01-25)25 January 1865 Meiningen,Saxe-Meiningen | ||||
| Died | 24 March 1927(1927-03-24) (aged 62) Leipzig,Saxony,Weimar Republic | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Prince John Konstantinovich Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna Prince Constantine Konstantinovich Prince Oleg Konstantinovich Prince Igor Konstantinovich Prince George Konstantinovich Princess Natalia Konstantinovna Princess Vera Konstantinovna | ||||
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| House | Wettin (by birth) Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg | ||||
| Mother | Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen | ||||
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna of Russia (Russian:Елизавета Маврикиевна,néePrincess Elisabeth Auguste Marie Agnes of Saxe-Altenburg; 25 January [O.S. 13 January] 1865 – 24 March 1927) was a RussianGrand Duchess by marriage. She was the wife ofGrand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia (1858–1915).
Princess Elisabeth, as she was usually known, was the second child ofPrince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg (1829–1907) and his wife,Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen (1843–1919). During her youth she made several trips around Europe visiting her relatives.
In 1882, when she was 16, she met her second cousinGrand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia in Altenburg. His mother and her father were first cousins; in addition to that, they sharedEmperor Pavel I as a common ancestor. There was immediately some talk of marriage. However, although she said she was ready to marry Konstantin, he hesitated, although he was 24 years old. When she left, he promised to write often, but he never did, as he was tremendously shy. Nevertheless, he did write several poems about her. In 1884, she visited Russia and the wedding was announced, although she manifested her wish to keep herLutheran faith, which was a serious blow for her future husband, since he believed firmly in theRussian Orthodox Church. Even worse was that she refused to kiss the cross held in Orthodox services.
On the wedding day, which took place on 27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1884 inSaint Petersburg, she wrote to him a reassuring letter, saying that "I promise you that I will never do anything to anger nor hurt you through our divided religions... I can only tell you again,how very much I love you".
The marriage was a success, although Grand Duke Konstantin secretly kept male lovers.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna, or "Mavra" as she was known within theRomanov family, was a popular figure, and got on quite well with her nephewTsar Nicholas II.
She outlived most of her children. In 1905, her daughter Natalia died at exactly two months old. WhenWorld War I broke out, Elizaveta found herself fighting on the opposite side of her native Germany. However, several of her sons, who were trained soldiers, joined the army and fought bravely. One of them, Oleg, was killed in 1914 inLithuania, where Elizaveta quickly went to see her dying son. Their son's untimely death led her husband to an early grave in 1915. That same year her son-in-law, Princess Tatiana's husband, was killed in action.
K.R.'s wife; two youngest children, Prince George and Princess Vera; and two grandchildren (Ioann's childrenVsevolod andCatherine), remained at Pavlovsk throughout the war, the chaotic rule of the Provisional Government, and after the October Revolution.
In the fall of 1918, they were permitted by the Bolsheviks to move by a boat called Ångermanland toSweden (viaTallinn toHelsinki and viaMariehamn toStockholm), at the invitation of theSwedish queen. InStockholm harbor they met princeGustaf Adolf who took them to theroyal palace. Later, Vsevolod and Catherine were able to reunite with their mother.
Three of her sons (Ioann, Konstantin, and Igor) were murdered in a mineshaft byBolsheviks in Alapaievsk,Siberia in July 1918, along with several other members of the family. Her brother-in-law,Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich was shot in Petrograd the following year.
Elizaveta Mavrikievna and Vera and Georgi lived inSweden for the next two years, first inStockholm then inSaltsjöbaden, butSweden was too expensive a place to live so they moved toBelgium by invitation ofAlbert I of Belgium. Later they moved toGermany, settling inAltenburg where they lived for 30 years except for a couple of years inEngland. Elizaveta died of cancer on 24 March 1927 inLeipzig. Prince Georgi died inNew York City in 1938. Princess Vera lived inGermany untilSoviet forces occupied the east part of the country, when she fled toHamburg, and in 1951 she moved to theUnited States and died there in 2001, inNew York City.
A scarab brooch given to the Princess by her husband in 1891 was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2012.[1]
Elizaveta Mavrikievna's personal papers (including correspondence and photographs) are preserved in the "Romanov Family Papers" collection in theHoover Institution Archives (Stanford, California, USA).[2]
Konstantin and Elizaveta had nine children:
| Ancestors of Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (1865–1927) |
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