Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna
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Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna |
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna of Russia (), née
Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Luise Alice of Hesse and by Rhine (
1 November 1864–
18 July 1918), was the wife of
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the fifth son of Emperor
Alexander II of Russia and
Maria Alexandrovna (née Princess Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt). She was the second child and daughter of
Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and
Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, a daughter of
Queen Victoria. She was also the elder sister of
Alexandra Fyodorovna, the last Empress of Russia. Elizabeth was affectionately called
Ella by her family.
She and her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, adopted and raised the
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch, and his sister
Grand Duchess Maria, after their mother died during Dmitri's birth.
After Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was assassinated, while on service in the Kremlin by Socialist-Revolutionary, Ivan Kalyayev, on
February 18 1905, Grand Duchess Elizabeth became a
nun, and gave away her jewelery and sold her most luxurious possessions. With the proceeds she opened the Martha and Mary home in Moscow, and for many years helped the poor and the orphans in
Moscow to foster the prayer and charity of devout women. Here there arose a new vision of a
diaconate for women, one that combined intercession and action in the heart of a disordered world. In April
1909 Elizabeth and seventeen women were dedicated as Sisters of Love and Mercy. Their work flourished: soon they opened a hospital and a variety of other
philanthropic ventures arose.
In 1918, the Communist government exiled her to
Yekaterinburg and then to
Alapaevsk, where she was killed by the local Bolsheviks on
July 18 1918, along with
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov; the Princes
Ioann Konstantinovich,
Konstantin Konstantinovich,
Igor Konstantinovich and
Vladimir Pavlovich Paley; Grand Duke Sergei's secretary, Fyodor Remez; and Varvara Yakovlevna, a sister from the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's convent. Her remains were buried in
Jerusalem, in the
Church of Maria Magdalene.
She was
canonised by the
Russian Orthodox Church in 2001. Her principal
shrine is the
Marfo-Mariinsky Convent she founded in
Moscow. She is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of
Westminster Abbey,
London.
Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864 - 1884)
Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna of Russia (1884 - 1918)
* http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/ The Alexander Palace Time Machine
* http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/annainterview.html American Reporter Interviews Elizabeth in 1917
* http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/GDElisabeth.html HIH Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna by Countess Alexandra Olsoufieff
* http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/ Elizabeth and Romanov Discussion Forum
* http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/murder.html Murder of the Romanovs at Alapayevsk
* http://www.an.mrezha.ru/st-elizabeth/
