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Christian IX (pictured) and Queen Louise's second eldest daughter, Dagmar, was only 16 in 1864 when her dream prince, Nicholas (Nixa), arrived in Denmark form Russia.

Nixa had no doubts about the way he felt and Dagmar responded in kind. When they got engaged they scratched their names on a windowpane at Fredensborg Palace in Denmark, and Dagmar became attuned to a completely new life as the future Tsarina of Russia.

But Nixa was not to be the one to make her Russia's first lady. That job befell his clumsy little brother, Alexander (III). That very year Nixa died of meningitis and Dagmar, who had taught herself Russian partly by reading Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales in that language, was passed on to Alexander (III).

[b]Wedding[/b]

Their wedding took place in St. Petersburg in 1865. Dagmar's side of the family was only represented by her elder brother Frederik (VIII) and her British brother-in-law, Edward; Christian IX and Queen Louise were unable to match the financial requirements the Russian court made when it came to partaking of its hospitality.

Despite its disappointing start, Dagmar's marriage to Alexander was a loving one. They lived at the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg but when Dagmar's father-in-law, Alexander II, was the victim of an assassination they decided to move out of the city to the vast Gatchina Palace.

They took up residence in the low-ceilinged mezzanine, but while Alexander III preferred staying at home in the bosom of the family, Dagmar had acquired a taste for parties, to which she wore gorgeous jewelry and robes and was the absolute centre of attention - a status she later proved disinclined to lose.

The couple had five children, of whom the eldest, Nicholas (II), married the German Princess Alix of Hessen-Darmstadt, against his parents' will. She bore him four daughters and finally a son. The royal family realized in horror that the son was a haemophiliac and in despair at her son's ill health Alix sent for "the holy man", Rasputin.

When the long-haired, shabby man appeared in the elegant apartments he left behind him a life of drink and women, and when he repeatedly succeeded in stopping the boy's haemorrhaging, he completely won Alix's confidence.

[b]Weak[/b]

After the death of Alexander III Nicholas II turned out to be a weak leader. Revolution was smouldering and Nicholas II was taken to Siberia with his family, and he, Alexandra and their five children were shot in "the House of Special Purpose". Recently their remains were recovered and interred in St. Petersburg. Two of the children, Maria and Alexei, are still missing.

Dagmar spent two years under house arrest in the Crimea before being rescued by the HMS Marlborough, a British warship. After a brief sojourn at her sister Alexandra's in England she returned to Denmark in 1919. Until the day she died in 1928 she refused to believe that Nicholas II and his wife and children had been assassinated.

Xenia and Olga, Dagmar's two daughters, also escaped from Russia. They settled in England and Denmark respectively. Both have numerous descendants, including Princess Olga Romanoff, Xenia Kulikovsky, and Paul Kulikovsky.
A Royal Family - Love and Revolution biography




A Royal Family - Love and Revolution biography




A Royal Family - Love and Revolution biography