Elizaveta Mavrikievna

Elizabeth Augusta Maria Agnes, Princess of Saxe-Altenburg, Duchess of Saxony was born January 13 (25), 1865 in Meiningen in the family of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg (1829-1907) and Princess Augusta-Louise of Saxe-Meiningen (1843-1919). Prince Moritz was the grandson of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna , the great-grandson of Emperor Paul I on the maternal side and the cousin of Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna on her paternal side. Also, Elizabeth had a common matrilineal ancestor with Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, Empresses Elizabeth Alekseevna and Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess Olga Fedorovna and Grand Duchess Victoria Fedorovna.

Elizabeth was a second cousin on the maternal side of Konstantin Konstantinovich, her future husband. The first acquaintance with him took place during the short visit of Grand Duke Constantine to Altenburg . Princess Elizabeth was then sixteen years old, and she captivated him with a special charm and elegance of manners. Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote:

The moon has risen ... Midnight has shone,
And in the midst of dumb, magical silence
The nightingale's song sounded so sweet
With azure spilling heights.
You fell in love - I love you
Maybe I, oh friend, love you!
And now I’ll fill it with a song
Which you could only inspire.

The princess received an official offer from Konstantin many months later. The engagement took place in Altenburg. She got married on April 15 (27), 1884 in St. Petersburg , adopted the name Elizaveta Mavrikievna, but did not accept Orthodoxy, remaining a Lutheran. With her husband settled in the Marble Palace . Her husband was a second cousin uncle (both were descendants of Emperor Paul I ) ^{[ specify ]} .

Elizaveta Mavrikievna studied the Russian language diligently. She loved her husband dearly and selflessly. Husband gently called her Lilenka, and at the court - rudely Moor (from her middle name).

Elizabeth was an ordinary woman who was interested in everyday affairs, was fond of secular news and gossip and did not become spiritually close to her husband, did not share his creative impulses and inspirations. “She rarely has real conversations with me. She usually tells me common places. It takes a lot of patience. She considers me much higher than herself and is surprised at my gullibility. It has a suspicion common to the Altenburg family, boundless timidity, emptiness and a commitment to news worthless. Will I ever remake it in my own way someday? Often, grief overtakes me, ”wrote the Grand Duke a few months after the wedding. The relationship of Konstantin Konstantinovich became colder every year, Elizabeth deeply experienced resentment, but her love for her chosen one remained the same. She saw her happiness in children, the upbringing of which she paid great attention to.

In a marriage with Konstantin Konstantinovich nine children were born:

• John ( 1886 - 1918 ), killed by the Bolsheviks, two children from marriage with Princess Elena Serbian (1884-1962).
• Gabriel ( 1887 - 1955 ), was arrested, saved from execution by Maxim Gorky , left for Finland , and then to Paris ; author of memories. Twice married, had no children.
• Tatyana ( 1890 - 1979 ), married Konstantin Bagration-Mukhransky, who died at the beginning of the First World War . In 1921, she married Alexander Korochentsev, who died a year later. Ended life in the monastery.
• Constantine ( 1891 - 1918 ), killed by the Bolsheviks.
• Oleg ( 1892 - 1914 ), died at the front during the First World War .
• Igor ( 1894 - 1918 ), killed by the Bolsheviks.
• George ( 1903 - 1938 ), died in New York at the age of 35 after an unsuccessful operation.
• Natalia ( 1905 ), died in infancy.
• Vera ( 1906 - 2001 ), never married. Died in New York.

On September 29, 1914, a son, Oleg Konstantinovich, the most talented and closest to his father, died from a severe wound at the front. Konstantin Konstantinovich was never able to recover from the shock and died on June 2 (15), 1915 . On May 19 ( June 1 ), 1915, Prince Konstantin Bagration-Mukhransky, husband of Tatyana's eldest daughter , was killed in battle.

Three years after these heavy losses, the mother lost her three sons. John, Konstantin and Igor were thrown alive into the mine near Alapaevsk . Miraculously, only Gabriel managed to escape, who was taken out on a sleigh on the ice of the Gulf of Finland.

After the revolution, being evicted from the palace, she lived in an apartment on Palace Embankment . Soon she left Russia with her youngest children and two grandchildren, went to Sweden , then to Switzerland , Belgium and, finally, to Germany , where she died on March 24, 1927 . Next to her mother in the years of exile was the youngest daughter Vera. In her biography, Vera Konstantinovna wrote that cancer was the cause of her mother's death.

• Grigoryan V. G. Romanovs: Biographical reference book. - M .: AST: Astrel: Guardian, 2007 .-- 207 p.
• Bees E.V. Romanovs. The history of the dynasty. - M .: OLMA-PRESS, 2004.
• Led. Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich . In the Marble Palace. - New York, 1955 (reprint: St. Petersburg , 1993).