“the most beautiful queen on any throne,” she was called when first she became empress of all the russias. she still is tall and stately, her hair is luxuriant and rich in colour. eyes that some call blue and some call grey look out through long, dark lashes, and in them lies a great sadness, an appealing wistfulness touched with regret, a silent melancholy betraying soul tragedy. yet as a child she was known as “sunny.”
the life story of “sunny” has never before been comprehensively told in english. this is curious, because there probably is not a person in the whole world who would not like to hear the wonderful romance of how a poor little german princess became a great sovereign, the co-ruler of one of the vastest empires on earth, the mistress of a fabulously rich and bewilderingly extravagant court, and with opportunity for becoming the most powerful woman in europe. “sunny” was the childhood nickname of{108} this little princess, and after the hardships and vicissitudes of a quiet girlhood, where there was a constant struggle to maintain appearances, she was courted by a wayward gallant who was heir to a mighty crown. “sunny” lost her heart to the royal wooer, and he, putting aside the less noble loves of his reckless, youthful days, pledged himself to her—persistently courted her against wide opposition—turned a deaf ear to the councils of emperors and queens who tried to discourage the match, and after years of battling with diplomatic intrigue and personal restraint he carried his purpose, married the german princess who was truly the bride of his heart, and in marrying her raised her from the obscurity and poverty of her own simple home to the exalted rank of empress. this is the true story of princess alix of hesse whom nicholas ii made tsaritsa of russia!
there is something tremendously dramatic about this little german princess stepping out of the quiet of her darmstadt home into the arena of world affairs, and taking her position as empress over one hundred and forty millions of people. yet, of her life, almost nothing is known by the world at large.
no woman of modern times has had such marvellous opportunities for the exercise of personal influence and power. yet who knows her? i had seen her in st. petersburg, i knew men and women of the court who had told me things about her from time to time. but i felt less acquainted with her life than that of any sovereign in europe. i turned{109} to the magazine and newspaper files of the last fifteen years and i was amazed at the meagreness of information concerning her. i made diligent inquiry among people who frequently are veritable mines of gossip and stories concerning royal personages, but scarcely a thing could i gather concerning the tsaritsa who in many ways occupies the most unique position of any woman in the world. when i set forth in all seriousness to learn of her from her childhood to the present time, to gather the details of her charming romance and the story how she became the wife of an emperor, i found i must go far afield—overseas, to germany, to russia; i must seek my information from her courtiers, her ladies-in-waiting, her friends, princes and princesses of the realm, tutors of her children, servants in her palaces, officials of the imperial household. so i went. i talked with all these people and many more besides, and the story i set down here is the story of her life, as i have heard it piecemeal from the lips of those who have been closest to her during the years that she has occupied a position of world eminence.
the tsaritsa is now thirty-nine years old. she was born at darmstadt, germany, june 6, 1872, and christened princess alix-victoria-helene-louise-beatrix. she was the youngest daughter of the grand duke and duchess of hesse and the rhine. her mother was princess alice of england, daughter of queen victoria.
her sister, princess victoria, became the wife{110} of louis of battenberg; her sister elizabeth became the wife of the grand duke sergius of russia, uncle of the present tsar; while a third sister became princess henry of prussia. prince henry is the brother of emperor william of germany, and he is the official head of the german navy. the only living brother of these remarkable sisters eventually came into the title of grand duke of hesse and the rhine, which he holds to-day. besides all these close connections with important royalties, she was a niece of king edward of england and cousin to innumerable lesser royalties. after her marriage she became connected with the courts of denmark and greece.
the dukes of hesse were made grand dukes during the time of the napoleonic wars and grand dukes they have remained to this day.
thus princess alix has always had grand connections, but the duchy of hesse and the rhine was poor and as the grand duke, her father, was not even ruler of the duchy, and possessed of only small financial resources, the family household was forced to accept a comparatively frugal régime. there are hundreds of girls in america to-day who have never felt the press of poverty as did princess alix through the early years of her life. the little princess was taught to sew and to assist in home duties, not only because this was all part of the proper training of a princess, but because of necessity.
the simplicity of this home was like the sim{111}plicity of an ordinary german or english middle class home of to-day. in her letters to queen victoria, the mother of princess alix was wont to speak very freely of the straitened circumstances of the family. some of the items and incidents mentioned in these letters can hardly be credited. for instance, in one letter the death of a cow is lamented—“because it will be so difficult to get another.” in another she sends thanks for some furniture. in another the summer holiday is discussed and frank acknowledgment made that they cannot afford to go to sheveningen, the charming and fashionable dutch watering resort a few miles from the hague, because it is too costly, but they must be content with blankenberghe which is treeless, dull and uninteresting, but more reasonable of price.
princess alix’s allowance of pocket money was twenty-five cents a week up to the time of her confirmation, when she received double that amount. alix was the youngest born of the grand duke and duchess and was called “alix” because queen victoria had always been annoyed at the way germans pronounced alice. and so at her suggestion alice was changed to alix to simplify it for the people of her own country. “alicky” she was frequently called by her mother, but the neighbours and friends of the family early came to call her the “little princess sonnenschein,” and from this came the name of endearment which she carried for so long—“sunny.{112}”
“baby is a sweet, merry little person, like ella (her sister), but her features are smaller,” her mother once wrote to queen victoria, “and her eyes are darker, and she has very long lashes and auburn hair. she is always laughing, and with a deep dimple in one cheek just like ernie.” (ernie was her brother who is now grand duke of hesse and the rhine.) on another occasion her mother wrote: “she is indeed the personification of her nickname ‘sunny.’” during all this time empress dreams were far off, and the big world with its infinite possibilities, its large joys and burden of days, but visions of twilight hours. when she was only six years old her mother died. this was the first deep shadow of her life, and from that time on she carried little responsibilities that tended to weigh upon her, to drive her more and more into herself, and perhaps to plant the seeds of moroseness which some say is now a quality of her character. at twelve the true romance of her life came to her.
princess elizabeth, the older sister of alix, had been courted by grand duke sergius, of russia, an uncle of the present tsar and brother of the then reigning emperor. in 1884 sergius came to darmstadt for his bride, and young nicholas was of the royal party. nicholas here met princess alix for the first time and in her saw his future bride—the future empress of his country. nicholas, though nearly four years older than she,{113} was only sixteen, but sometimes hearts can choose their own at sixteen as surely as in later years, and if love has since been the dominant element in the family life of this royal couple, it entered in, there in darmstadt at this early time.
