Marie had a distant relationship with her sister-in-law, Maria Feodorovna. Maria Feodorovna disliked Marie because of her German origins. Marie openly declared that her husband would make a better Emperor than Maria Feodorovna's husband, Alexander III of Russia. After the Borki train disaster in which Alexander III, Maria Feodorovna, and their children narrowly escaped death, Marie allegedly said, "We shall never have such a chance again."