On This Day In Royal History
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8 July 1830
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Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg was born.
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▪️ She was the fifth daughter of Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg & Amelie Theresa Luise, Duchess of Württemberg.
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▪️ In the summer of 1846, she met Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia when he visited Altenburg. He was the second son of Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, & Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, née Princess Charlotte of Prussia.
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▪️ In February 1848, Alexandra converted to Russian Orthodoxy, taking the name of Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, which reflected her father’s name Joseph. Alexandra & Konstantin were married in The Winter Palace in St Petersburg, on 11 September 1848.
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▪️ Konstantin received the Marble Palace in St Petersburg as a wedding gift from his parents. Strelna on the Gulf of Finland, which Konstantin inherited when aged four, was the wedded couple’s country retreat. Alexandra took a particular interest in the grounds at Strelna, establishing a free school of gardening, where she taught classes herself. There were also educational toys for the children: a wooden mast & trampoline for gymnastics, & the transplanted cabin of one of Konstantin’s frigates.
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▪️ Konstantin & Alexandra had 6 children:
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Nikolai Konstantinovich (1850-1918)
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Olga Konstantinovna, Queen of the Hellenes (1851-1926); married 1867, George I of Greece & is a grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
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Vera Konstantinovna (1854-1912)
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Constantin Konstantinovich (1858-1915)
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Dmitry Konstantinovich (1860-1919)
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Vyacheslav Konstantinovich (1862-1879)
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▪️ She is an ancestor of the British, Greek, Romanian, Yugoslavian and Spanish Royal Families through her elder daughter Olga.
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Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, c. 1850
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