Despite the daughter-in-law: how the wife of Alexander III did the first plastic surgery in Russia

One of the happiest marriages in Romanov family history began with tragedy. The daughter of Danish King Christian IX and his wife Louise, Princess Maria Dagmar, was the wife of Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Alexander II. Everything went to the wedding, the young people sincerely loved each other, but in 1865 the young man fell ill with meningitis and died.

Maria took care of Nix, as he was called in the family, together with the Tsarevich’s brother Alexander, and sympathy arose between them during these days. Alexandre was afraid for a very long time to confess his feelings, because how can this dear Mini, so devoted to Nikolai, respond to them? But in the end he decided to talk, and the girl accepted his marriage proposal.

The engagement took place in June 1866, the marriage was arranged in October. Princess Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and received a new name, becoming Maria Feodorovna. The marriage was happy: the spouses tried never to separate and supported each other in misfortunes. Together they survived the death of their second son and mourned the death of Alexander II. Maria’s husband became emperor, and she herself became the first lady of the Russian Empire. The woman was actively involved in social activities: organizing hospitals and orphanages, fighting hunger, helping the elderly and front-line soldiers. Her influence also affected foreign policy: the Empress disliked the Germans and therefore opted for an alliance with France.

But if Maria had a great relationship with her husband, then with her eldest son Nikolai they began to deteriorate rapidly when he fell in love. The chosen one of the Tsarevich was the Princess of Hesse and the granddaughter of the Queen of Great Britain Alice. Maria Feodorovna categorically did not like him: the Empress saw a completely different woman next to Nikolai – Princess Elena of Orleans, “the embodiment of female health and beauty, an elegant athlete and a charming polyglot “, as the newspapers wrote about the young aristocrat. And everyone knew about Alice’s disease – hemophilia. What kind of bride is this, who is unlikely to be able to give birth to healthy grandchildren?

Maria Fedorovna forbade the young man to communicate with the girl, but he went against her mother’s wishes. Nicholas corresponded with the princess through her sister Ella, who married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The empress was angry: how dare her son disobey? But he continued to insist on his own: he would marry Alix and only Alix. Nicholas achieved his goal: the health of Alexander II was getting worse, and it was impossible to delay the marriage of the heir.

Mary continued to love her son deeply, and therefore Alice became the main lightning rod for his anger and hostility. Nikolai insisted on marriage immediately after his father’s death, but Maria was sure of this: it was the daughter-in-law who broke the rules of decency and performed a “marriage on a coffin”. Alice, who became Alexandra Fedorovna after her marriage, did not get along with courtiers because of her shyness, but Maria Fedorovna interpreted her behavior in her own way: the arrogant German hates everything Russian! Alix never got rid of this stigma: until the end of her life, thanks to the efforts of her stepmother, everyone considered her cold and arrogant.

Nikolai, being a weak man in everything not related to marriage, loved his mother and idolized her. After the wedding, he faced a difficult choice: there are two women important to him, and both want to influence him. Who to obey? The night and day cuckoo war has begun.

Alexandra won it with a crushing score, following a very simple course. The mother of Nicholas II, realizing the not too high abilities of her son as a ruler, constantly tried to lead him and advised him to listen to the advice of ministers. The wife who adored her husband sincerely believed in the infallibility and the spirit of her husband and said the opposite: “Be tougher, carry out your orders!” Is it surprising that Maria Fedorovna quickly lost all influence over her offspring? According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she often complained that “it is terrible for her to see that her son is spoiling everything, to understand this and not be able to do anything.”

The Empress Dowager fell for her daughter-in-law. She did not give her the Romanov jewelry, and Alexandra Feodorovna, in response, began to collect her own jewelry collection. Maria Feodorovna herself chose bridesmaids for Alix, and she, in defiance of her, surrounded herself with many grandmothers and holy fools. At all ceremonies, Nikolai walked arm in arm with his beautifully dressed mother, and Alexandra Feodorovna was led by one of the Grand Dukes. Alix deliberately chose different dresses from those of her mother-in-law: more modest and closed.

But what Mary had a hard time arguing against was her daughter-in-law’s youth and freshness. But even then, she found a way out.

And then rumors spread in St. Petersburg: the Empress Dowager suddenly became surprisingly younger. Everyone in the city wondered how Maria Fedorovna managed to create this miracle: she looked exactly like her daughter-in-law, and yet the age difference was 25 years! There were the most incredible rumors: townspeople even whispered about magic rituals, during which the wife of Alexander II exchanged eternal freshness for the lives of loved ones – her son and her husband.

However, the answer was simple: Maria was the first in Russia to undergo plastic surgery. They say she received advice to resort to her from her sister, Queen Alexandra of Great Britain and Ireland. They performed plastic surgery in Vienna, and the procedure was truly monstrous.As historian Edward Radzinsky says in his book, the epidermis was first removed from the woman’s face with special sharp instruments, transforming it in a continuous sore. After treating the skin, a special wax for porcelain was applied to it. It was necessary to watch the coating very carefully: the varnish was trying to crack, turning the face into a kind of antique plate. The next step was the extension of the rubber eyelashes: they were implanted by incising the eyelids.

But the secret to Mary’s slim waist was simple: the Empress wore a corset. Usually, the ladies took off this garment between two outings, but the widow tightened up in the morning and walked like this all day. She didn’t even think about changing to something more comfortable: she valued beauty much more.

However, Mary had other motives than the eternal rivalry with her stepdaughter. Shortly after the death of her husband, the widow had a favorite – the Prince of Tiflis Georgy Dmitrievich Shervashidze. Maria Feodorovna met him during the lifetime of Alexander III: during a visit to New Athos in 1888. Shervashidze was one of those who greeted the royal couple: he bowed to the emperor, handed over to Maria Feodorovna a bouquet of her favorite Argentine roses. The Romanov family loved the prince, and a year later he was appointed governor of the province of Tiflis.

Three years after the death of Alexander III, Maria Feodorovna offered George the post of head of her own office. The prince not only agreed: he immediately divorced his wife and, leaving her and his son in Tiflis, arrived in Petersburg, where he soon became the Empress Dowager’s new life partner. They began appearing in public together in 1903. Photographs of celebrations in honor of the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov show that the ceremony was led by two couples: Maria Feodorovna and George and Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra.

Almost every second entry in Maria’s diary is dedicated to Shervashidze: the prince has a cold, the prince visited after an illness, the prince still does not leave the house due to illness, “Sherv suddenly got his nose flowing, and it is gone.” Everyone knew: if you want help from Maria Feodorovna, turn to Georgy.

With the advent of a new love, Maria’s attitude towards her daughter-in-law did not change: she continued to consider Alix the cause of all troubles in Russia. Over time, in the letters, the Empress even stopped calling Alexandra by her name, limiting herself to a dry “she”. After Rasputin’s death, Maria Fedorovna did not even want to maintain the appearance of decorum: Alix received from her the unflattering epithet of “fury”. “It seems she has gone completely mad with rage and a thirst for revenge,” such an entry was left by the Empress Dowager about her son’s wife in her diary.

Alexandra’s arbitrariness angered Maria Feodorovna: she ordered the arrest of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov, who killed Rasputin, although she had no right to do so , demanded an investigation into the plot against the “old man” and ordered the body of Rasputin to pay completely inappropriate honors. The split within the royal family has become final and irrevocable: Alix and Mini have never reconciled. And then followed the revolution, the renunciation, the execution…

Maria Fedorovna had to suffer two strokes in a row: in March 1918, George died, and over the summer rumors reached her about the death of her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. She never believed it: until the end of her life, she spoke of loved ones in the present and forbade them to organize funerals.

In 1919 Maria emigrated to Denmark, taking her jewelry with her. And not just for sale. Once, the woman’s nephew, King Christian X, hinted that it would be fine for her aunt to live at her own expense or at least pay for the electricity herself. In response, the Empress angrily declared that she would not part with any of the decorations. When her nephew left, she ordered the servants to turn on the lights in all the rooms of the palace she occupied.

Maria Fedorovna died in 1928 at the age of 80. And the woman, whose enmity with her daughter-in-law played a significant role in the collapse of the Romanov dynasty, definitely won a contest: she lived much longer than Alexandra Feodorovna.