Karina Pavlova (Viktoria of Hesse)

Photograph by Boasson and Eggler, 1908

**Karina Pavlovarovna** (6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1870 – 24 September 1970) was a Grand Duchess of Russia as the spouse of Dimitri II—one of the last surviving Grand Dukes of the Russian Empire—from their marriage on 30 April 1884 until her brother-in-law`s forced abdication on 15 March 1917. Originally **Princess Viktoria of Hesse and by Rhine** at birth, she was given the name and patronymic *Karina Pavlovarovna* when she converted and was received into the Russian Orthodox Church. She and her immediate family escaped the Bolsheviks and went to England with all of the family valuables they could salvage, she even gifted the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret with some of her jewelry; she was the only Russian royal to live to the age of 100. During World War I, she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten, which was simply a translation into English of the German "Battenberg".

She was a favored granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Karina was, unlike her grandmother and three younger siblings, not a carrier or a inheritor of hemophilia. The young Grand Duchess had lost her elder brother Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine and her uncle Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, to hemophilia, with her younger sister (Alexandra Feodorovna) bearing a hemophiliac heir, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsesarevich of Russia. Unlike her younger sister Alexandra, Karina was incredibly smart (politically and socially), her daughters inherited these traits in spades. Her reputation of caring for the poor, and incredible cunning to go behind the back of her sister and her sister`s husband to aid the common people earned her the respect of the Russian people; unfortunately she was believed to have died during the Soviet Union-era in Russia, despite evidence claiming that she was still alive and had escaped.

## Early Life

Karina was born on 6 June 1870 at the New Palace in Darmstadt as Princess *Viktoria Susanne Eigenn Brighton Beatrix* of Hesse and by Rhine, a Grand Duchy then part of the German Empire. She was the third child and third daughter among the seven children of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his first wife, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, Prince Consort. Even as an infant, she had a strict air drifting around her.

Viktoria was baptized on 1 July 1870 (her parents` seventh wedding anniversary) in the Protestant Lutheran Church and given the names of her cousins and each of her mother's four sisters, some of which were transliterated into German. Her godparents were the Prince and Princess of Wales (her maternal uncle and aunt), Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (her maternal aunt), the Duchess of Cambridge (her great-grandaunt), the Tsesarevich and Tsesarevna of Russia (her late sister`s future parents-in-law), and Princess Anna of Prussia. Her mother gave her the nickname of "Red", due to the intense red color of her hair, a name later adopted by her husband, her sister, her sister`s husband, and her sister`s children. Her British relatives nicknamed her as "Vicky", to distinguish her from her maternal grandmother Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, who was known within the family as Victoria. Viktoria`s older brother Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine ("Frittie") suffered from hemophilia and died in May 1873 after a fall, when Viktoria was about three-years-old. Of her siblings, Viktoria was closest to Princess Victoria, and Princess Elisabeth, who were several years older than her; they were noted as "The Three Hessian and Rhenish Sisters", a name that would stick for the rest of their earlier childhood.

In November 1878, diphtheria swept through the House of Hesse; Alix, Viktoria`s three sisters, her brother Ernst ("Ernie"), and their father fell ill. During this time Elisabeth ("Ella") had been visiting their paternal grandmother, while Viktoria ("Vicky") visited their maternal grandmother in London; both of them escaping the outbreak by sheer luck. Unexpectedly, Viktoria fell ill while visiting their maternal grandmother, being bedridden for several days while recovering and returned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse the next week after being cleared for travel by a court physician. Her youngest sister, Princess Alice, who she affectionally referred to as "Allie" died on 14 December 1878—Viktoria was only eight-years-old at the time and growing more mature by the day—out of Alix`s older siblings, Viktoria matured the fastest and started educating herself in politics and court matters. This was the 17th anniversary of Alice's own father's death. Princess Maria ("May") also died with the rest of her siblings surviving—this event would tear a hole in their fragile family relationship. The already withdrawn Viktoria became incredibly stoic, cold-natured, extremely blunt, manipulative, and cunning after the deaths of her mother and sister`s.

Queen Victoria educated the young Karina—her tendency to belittle others hide her deep-seated insecurities—she was reportably some insecure about her faults that Viktoria`s own Household members had to be careful about phrasing their words around her. These characteristics caught the eye of her future husband, Grand Duke Dimitri II, he was reportably so enamored with her that even Queen Victoria was willing to sanction their marriage—the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 caused the usually-snarky Viktoria to weep openly at her memorial service in St. Petersburg. This shocked the Russian courtiers who considered Viktoria to be cold and unfeeling.

Along with two of her sisters, Princess Irene, and Princess Alix, Viktoria was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her godmother and maternal aunt, Princess Beatrice, to Prince Henry of Battenberg. At the age of 17, she attended Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1887, being featured in some rare photographs that are now framed in Windsor Castle today.

In March 1892, when Alix was only nineteen years old, and Viktoria was only twenty-two years old her father Grand Duke Louis IV, died of a heart attack. Viktoria once again fell ill due to a case of food poisoning, causing Alix and the rest of her family to worry for her; when she was recovered, she was moved to a London Royal Hospital, overseen by Royal Staff of the British Empire. There she recovered fully and chose to take piano lessons after being dismissed from the hospital, she would remain in London for several years to continue her piano lessons; afterwards she would return to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and resume her piano lessons.

#### Engagement

When she was 13, Viktoria met and fell in love with Grand Duke Dimitri II, the oldest second cousin of the heir apparent of Russia (Nicholas II). At first Viktoria was not attracted to Dimitri and described him as "colder than an artic winter. Woe is I, if I choose to marry a man like that, without love and nary a penny of patience to his name." Her bluntness clashed horribly with Dimitri`s openness causing much problems when the two were left in the same room alone, she viewed him as a pest and a despicable man—he viewed her as a wonderful woman with enough spunk to belittle him—eventually the two of them reconciled in 1884 at the wedding of Dimitri`s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia and Alix/Viktoria`s sister Elisabeth in St. Petersburg. In his diary Dimitri called Viktoria "my dear Viktoria" and declared "though she may not express her love openly, she knows I love her and she loves me." He gave her a fencing sword as a sign of his affection, which earned Viktoria`s amusement, gratefulness, and love.

#### Marriage

In 15 June 1884, Viktoria married Dimitri, at the young age of fourteen and became a member of the Russian Imperial Family; her fluent French and soft but lilting, silky-smooth fluent Russian earned her the admiration of much of the Russian Imperial Family who considered her down-to-earth. Maria Feodorovna (her aunt-in-law) considered the newly christened Karina to be a wonderful niece-in-law, even if her activities were considered unusual for a lady of her status—she enjoyed speaking in Russian so much that it became her primary language, replacing her native German—nevertheless she spoke with a light German accent that was nearly undetectable except on certain words.

#### Rejoicing by the Russian people

In contrast to the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Viktoria was incredibly well-received among the Russian people and became an icon of humbleness, humility, faith, and devotion—due to possessing immense love for the people of Russia and willingly went with her husband to where he was deployed by the Russian Imperial Military. She spoke Russian extremely fluently often speaking faster when engaged in an interesting conversation, or when she got extremely excited about something, her English was also quite good, her German became her second language; while she struggled initially with French, soon she picked it up and she became fluent in it as all of the other languages she spoke. She became incredibly distant with her younger sister, Alix, suffering another illness, her death records which showcased her weak constitution were a cause for much concern; though she recovered more easily than she had, Viktoria would be forever be plagued by a reluctance to stay inside a stuffy room.

#### Alix`s Wedding

On 26 November 1894, Alexandra and Nicholas married in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace of St Petersburg. Viktoria attended the wedding with her husband, both of them now at the young age of twenty-four—they were unhappy at the wedding taking place on a day of mourning and expressed their disbelief to the now Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Karina herself wrote to her sister: "Our sister`s wedding took place on a sacred day of mourning, how conceited my sister must be. This is sacred to people, this is the day they have to mourn; why must a solemn day of mourning be ruined by a doomed marriage?"

#### Growing tensions with Alix and Nicholas II

Due to her popularity in court and among the Russian courtiers, Viktoria became an advocate for the Russian people and was heavily insulted when her own sister (Alix) insulted her, becoming an ally to her aunt-in-law (Marie Feodorovna); furthermore the praises heaped upon both Karina and Marie alienated her younger sister, Alix, even more from both of them. The couple hosted many foreign dignitaries and were often seen reading history books in a fascinating way to an awed mixed crowd of commoners and high-born children—they enjoyed this activity so much that they were not often present in court—after 1896 they rarely-if-ever appeared becoming extremely insulted when Alix insisted upon the "Divine Right of Kings." In 1896, the couple decided to go on an Europe tour. Wilhelm II was less eager to welcome Viktoria and her husband, due to Alexandra and her husband having been previously—Viktoria however eagerly seized the chance to meet Wilhelm II and wrote several letters to him before arriving in the German Empire—the German Emperor was pleasantly surprised when Viktoria and her husband spent the entire course of their visit to the German Empire involving him in their daily activities and speaking only German around him. The Dowager Empress Augusta declared that Alexandra was "frivolous" and vain. In contrast, the Dowager Empress sung the praises of Viktoria and her husband calling them "saints" and "humble to their very core." In Scotland, the press were shocked by her understanding and love for Scottish literature, as well as her husband wearing a kilt—as thanks to the Scottish people for hosting their visit, she donated some of her own money which she had brought with her to start a fund for helping homeless children to gain a home. On 14 October 1894, she gave birth to two children (Grand Duchess Caroline and Grand Duke Dimitri III). At the Russian court, courtiers sung the praises of the politically cunning Viktoria and demanded for the current reigning Empress/Emperor to step down in favor of Grand Duchess Karina and her husband, Grand Duke Dimitri II.

#### Kinship with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova

On 15 November 1895, Alexandra gave birth to her eldest child and daughter, Olga, at the Alexander Palace. The sex of the child excited Karina as her eldest child and first-born daughter, Caroline, would have somebody to look after—the birth of Grand Duke Dimitri III had invigorated the Russian Imperial Family who saw Karina and her family as having a more legitimate claim to the throne than Alexandra and her family—as Olga grew up she was surrounded by members of Karina and her immediate family including her two older first cousins, Grand Duchess Caroline and Grand Duke Dimitri III, who were wary of putting her in any danger in fears that she may have contracted hemophilia. On 10 June 1897, Alexandra gave birth to her second child and daughter, Tatiana. Though Tatiana enjoyed her kinship and close bond she had with her maternal aunt, she was fearful of her mother`s anger as there was tension between the two women. Olga had an extremely close relationship with Karina and often painted pictures underneath the supervision of her maternal aunt and older first cousins. On 26 June 1899, Karina gave birth to three more children (born only hours apart); Grand Duchesses Luise, Selene, and Eleanor.

#### Stillborn child

The year after the birth of her three daughters, in 26 June 1900, Karina gave birth to a stillborn son and a underweight Grand Duchess, who she named Viktoria (after her former German name). The birth of a stillborn son brought such anguish that she fell into a great depression from seeing the baby`s lifeless body—though she loved her youngest daughter, she had desperately awaited to give birth to another son—unfortunate as it was, she was denied the chance to even see his eyes open. The Russian Imperial Court went into mourning for several days, with Karina wearing black until all aspects of her former depression had left her.

#### Relationship with her children

Carolina physically resembled Karina`s husband, and she adored her paternal grandmother (Empress Dowager Marie)—she was often found speaking in rapid Russian to her or fulfilling official state duties—unlike her younger brother (Dimitri III), she was also often found teaching Olga (in her early childhood) how to read, write, in six different languages (an accomplishment even her younger brother struggled to achieve). Carolina had a close relationship with both of her parents—she possessed the same amount of cunning, patience, as her mother did—yet at the same time, she was extremely manipulative and an extremely good actor like her father was. Her relationship with her son (Dimitri III) in comparison was rather tense, as he wanted to have his uncle executed and her husband made Emperor of Russia—despite all of his scheming, he was extremely fond of his mother and enjoyed playing piano pieces for her. Luise was extremely talented in swordsmanship, an activity that the Grand Duchess enjoyed immensely—the two of them could spent hours sparring in the wilderness of Russia`s mountains—due to choosing to live away from court, they lived in a modest manor that they had constructed themselves. Both Selene, and Eleanor were often seen playing with peasant children, with the parents of the children working in the manor—their pay was not bad, they received food, and lodging—due to these factors, many people chose to work for them. Viktoria held a close relationship with her mother—as well as having a close working relationship with her mother, she was also rather close with the people who worked for her family—during wintertime, she took a group of peasant children to the highest mountain near their home to look at the night-sky.

#### Relationship with family workers/servants

Though she was technically a member of the House of Romanov through marriage—she was a modest person and preferred to live away from the court—she disliked living a pompous lifestyle and was employed as a translator for the British Royal court—her servants often accompanied her on business trips and she had Viktoria (though still a young teenager and training to be a professional doctor) check the people who worked for the family every day for any sort of diseases—Viktoria was so skilled at her job that she received the name "**Grand Duchess Viktoria, the Saint of Medicine**." Commoners that worked for the family described them as "absolute angels."

### WW1

The outbreak of WW1 made Karina extremely nervous—she worried about her husband who was being sent off to the front lines and she prayed every single day for his safe return—her only son (Dimitri III) blamed Alexandra Feodorovna and her husband Nicholas II for the possibility of his father not coming back alive from the front lines—Karina chose to side with the Russian Imperial Court and renounced all of her previous faith and subsequent German titles—due to the outbreak of the war, she feared for her children as well as her immediate family and moved them away from the capital into the modest manor her husband had bought to house them, their children, and any relatives they may bring.