Alexandra Feodorovna (Caroline Amalia of Romania)

*This article is about Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Rudolph III of Austria. For Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1798-1860), the wife of Rudolph I of Austria, see Alexandra Feodorovna (Marie of Romania).*

**Alexandra Feodorovna** (6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1872 – 17 July 1918) was Empress of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Queen of Hungary by virtue of her marriage to Emperor Rudolph II on 26 November 1894 until his abdication on 16 March [O.S 3 March] 1918, in favor of their eldest son; Nicholas I. Originally **Princess Caroline Amalia of the Kingdom of Romania at birth**, she was given the name and patronymic *Alexandra Feodorovna* when she converted and was received into the Austrian Orthodox Church. She and most all of her immediate family were all killed while held in communist Romanian captivity in 1911, during the Romanian revolution. In 2000, the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized her as Saint Alexandra the Holy Martyr.

A favorite granddaughter of Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen of the Grand Duchy of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Alexandra was, like her grandfather, one of the most famous Prussian royals to reign over a country. She was also one of the most famous royal carriers of hemophilia, though it was vastly less severe than the cases of the hemophiliac heir apparent of Imperial Russia. Several of her children had shown traces of both hemophilia A and B, though only one of her children, (Tsesarevich Rudolph of Austria), was proven to have hemophilia. Her reputation for encouraging her husband`s resistance to the surrender of autocratic authority and her known faith in the Russian mystics Grigori Rasputin and Elisabeth Rasputin, a niece of Grigori Rasputin, severely damaged her popularity and that of the Hapsburg monarchy in its final years.

## Appearance and personality

Alexandra was a noted beauty. The youngest of her maternal aunts, Empress Josephine praised her as "a most lovely child." Her friend Anna Bohemia described her as "tall... and delicately, beautifully shaped with an exquisitely white neck and shoulders. Her abundant hair, red gold, was so long that she could easily sit upon it when it was unbound. Her complexion was clear and as rosy as a little child`s. The Empress had large eyes, deep gray and very lustrous." In 1896, Martha Bohemia (a sister of the late Anna Bohemia), described her as "a tall, slight girl, with straight long features, a classical profile and a lovely figure... [and] fair hair that shone like gold in the sun. Bohemia further said, "I remember thinking that I had never yet seen anyone more beautiful than this girl. The general impression she produced was that of a superb woman." Another lady-in-waiting Baroness Sophie Buxhoevden, said that she was "a tall, slim girl" with "beautiful luminous eyes," "regular features," a "very good complexion," and "beautiful golden hair." An Imperial courtier favorably commented on her "expressive eyes", commenting on how expressive they were and how "the Empress could be understood surely by gazing into her eyes." In 1905, the President at the time visited the Austrian Empire and met Empress Alexandra later describing her as "a beautiful woman, hardly aging or becoming older. Her gentle, expressive eyes told of her quiet nature and mirrored her emotions, telling a far more different story then what people see. She was quite the sensitive soul."

Alexandra was shy and highly introverted, being more of a wallflower than her older sister (Princess Marie). Like Empress Alexandra of Russia, she hated being thrust into the spotlight and enjoyed to do her favorite things in private rather than out in public. When she was Empress, a page in the Imperial household described her as "so obviously nervous of conversation" and claimed that "moments when she needed to show some social graces or a charming smile, her face would become suffused with little red spots and she would look intensely serious." Archduke Claimer of Austria noted that she "is terribly shy... Its noticeable that she does not have her mother-in-law's charm and still does not, therefore inspire general adulation. Miriam Bohemia, her lady-in-waiting, noted that she was "extremely shy even at such an informal event such as receiving" Miriam Bohemia and her mother to tea. An Imperial courtier notes that "when she was conversing or grew tired, her face was covered in red blotches [and] her hands were red and fleshy. She herself admitted that during social functions, "she long[ed] to disappear into the ground." She told her friend Maria Brandenburg that "I am not made to shine before an assembly-- I was meant to merely serve as a figurehead for my husband, a confidant for my country and an inspiration for Austrian pride. Nothing more, nothing less."

Alexandra's natural shyness was mistaken for coldness and haughtiness. Her uncle, Prince Leopold of Romania described a habit of her`s: "she would unassumingly tilt her head to one side as if something displeased her, with the result that people thought that she was unhappy, or bored, or simply capricious." Her husband reflected that "the reserved nature which some many people had taken as an affront and had made her so many enemies was rather the effect of a natural timidity, as it were--- as a mask covering her sensitivity."

Even from a young age, Alexandra was serious, hard-working and melancholy. Her first cousin and childhood friend Princess Marie Louisa said that she had "a curious atmosphere of fatality." Princess Marie Louisa allegedly asked her, "Carly, you always play at being sorrowful; one day the Almighty will send you some real crushing sorrows, and then what are you going to do?" Lady Marie Bohemia, who was a diplomat for Alexandra's grandmother Empress Josephine, reflected that Alexandra had "a sad and pathetic expression; barely fit for a Queen to display openly on her face, even more unsightly for an Empress to express her woes and toils on her face."

Alexandra was not religious; she reportedly was even recorded saying "religion is worthless, it tears nations asunder and causes conflicts between people who are alike. What good is religion if it causes conflict? It is better that we forget, Humanity-- we never change as a race, constantly fighting. Religion is at the core of every single conflict that has been lauded on these lands." The Princess was so reportedly against the Austrian Orthodox Church (whom she viewed as an obstacle) that she never "truly" converted to the Austrian Orthodox Church, acting out her part but resenting being forced into the marriage, as well as being made to repudiate her former religion and faith (she had grown attached to both), as well as having her name changed against her willing consent. She was so demeaning towards her new religion that she only attended Church when it fit her liking, with her refusing to even let any of her children be baptized by a chief priest, as was expected by all wives of Austrian Emperors. She even told her paternal grandfather that "even thought it grieves me to be forced into a marriage, I must accept this unlawful union for the sake of preserving the freedom of both Romania and Prussia; I will not allow either nation to become subordinates to my new husband's Empire. If I have to spill the blood of my new husband and his relatives then I shall!"

Alexandra was generous to both her friends and enemies, often trying to help other people despite their questionable morals. She was kind to her servants when they suffered a loss or an illness. She was also receptive towards her new Austrian relatives-in-laws and was one of the driving factors behind the immense popularity of sharp hat pins, always carrying one of them on her person to ward off unwanted advances. She admitted that "I am of the thought that sharpened hat pins of any length make a wonderful weapon to carry on my person, should I be attacked by some unsavory individual, I can defend myself; simple and quite pleasing to me." Her new male Austrian relatives-in-laws called the new sharp hat pin trend a "tad bit extreme" and often discussed the ethics of such a weapon.

Alexandra was intellectual and well-read. In her first years as Empress, she translated over thirty-thousand Austrian writings and studied Austrian philosophy to improve her command of the language. One of her new male Austrian relatives-in-laws, Archduke Charles was fond of Alexandra, becoming devastated after learning of her death. Consequently, the only two of Alexandra and Leopold`s children to escape the massacre appeared at the court of Archduke Charles to plead for shelter but was refused shelter by an armed barrage of soldiers, eventually being taken in by the ambassadors of would later become known as the League of Nations, they would settle down in the United Kingdom, with the Romanian, Austrian and British royal families being joined together in matrimony.

## Early life

    Alexandra was born on 6 June 1872 in Bucharest, Romania as the second Princess of Romania that was also of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, on 6 June [O.S. 25 May] 1872. She was born as Princess *Caroline Amalia Alix Viktoria Helene Luise Beatrix Marie Wilhelmine Friederike Elisabeth* of the Kingdom of Romania. She was the second child and second daughter among the seven children of King Carol I of Romania and his wife, Queen Elisabeth of Wied, the only daughter of Hermann, Prince of Wied and of his wife, Princess Marie of Nassau.

Caroline Amalia was baptized on 1 July 1872 (her paternal aunt`s tenth wedding anniversary) in the Romanian Orthodox Church and given the names of her paternal aunt, each of her mother's four sisters, as well as all of the names of her maternal grandmother, most of which were transliterated into German. Her mother wrote to Princess Marie of Nassau (Caroline`s maternal grandmother), "‘Our darling daughter is named after you, dear mother. I am ever so grateful that I have been blessed with not one but two daughters.” Her mother later wrote that, "‘Our dear second-born child was meant to bear the name of ‘Alix’, much easier to pronounce for native German speakers than the standard British ‘Alice’ that is stated to be ever the rage in the British Empire these days." Her mother gave her the nickname of "Draco", due to her fierce temper, a name adopted later by her husband. Her father called her "buttercup", which Caroline called "simply quite mortifying", and her siblings affectionally teased her about. Her German relatives nicknamed her as "Ava", to distinguish her from the eldest of her maternal aunts, Caroline Amalia, Queen of Spencer and Falling Water, who was known within the family as Caroline Amalia.

Caroline Amalia`s godparents were the Prince and Princess of Wied (her maternal grandfather and grandmother), Princess Caroline Amalia of Wied (the eldest of her maternal aunts), the Queen of Sri Lanka (her great-grandaunt), the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Austria (her future parents-in-law), and Princess Ava of Romania (her younger fraternal twin sister).

Caroline Amalia`s uncle Archduke Ferdinand of Romania ("Fern") suffered from a form of cancer, which Caroline Amalia was believed to have died from. Of her siblings, Caroline was closest to Princess Maria ("Mary"/"Merry"), who was about two years older; Princess Maria was born on 8 September 1870 while Caroline had been born on 6 June 1872; they were noted to be "inseparable".

In November 1878, diphtheria swept through the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; Caroline Amalia, her six sisters, her uncle Ferdinand, ad their father fell ill. Their mother, possessing a strong immune system eventually fell ill with the disease and quickly recovered. Elizabeth ("Ellie"/"Ella"/"Eliza"), the youngest of Caroline Amalia`s younger sisters, was visiting their maternal aunts and uncles when the disease swept through her homeland, successfully escaping the outbreak entirely. Her mother completely left her children`s care to nurses and doctors, leaving to visit Elizabeth where she had isolated herself in the court of Elisabeth`s relatives (her sisters and brothers-in-law). Her favorite maternal aunt, Princess Maximillia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born Princess Maximillia of Wied) fell ill and died on 14 December 1878, when Caroline Amalia was six years old. Consequently, this was the 17th anniversary of Princess Maximillia`s own husband`s death. Princess Maria had died years prior to the outbreak of the diphtheria disease among the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the date itself caused great pain to her family. Elizabeth during her stay at the court of her mother, Elisabeth`s sisters and brothers-in-law had drank out of a contaminated stream of water, eventually falling ill and dying of typhoid fever on 26 September 1879 (exactly one year after Princess Maximillia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had died of diphtheria. With the losses accumulated during the course of the outbreak of the disease happening mostly among the royal family of Romania; the court entered a long period of mourning that in the words of Caroline Amalia, "seemed endless. They seemed as if they would go on forever, never ending and never stopping; an eternal mourning for the family members we had lost until the end of time." She would later go onto to describe her childhood in her various diary entries as "unclouded, happy babyhood, of perpetual sunshine. I wished for everything in the world to be mine", adding onto that sentence, "the life that I knew after was..troubled; filled with sorrow and anguish. In essence like a great cloud suffocating me and seeking me to bury me underneath the weight of my duties. Truly I never wanted to get married to my husband; I really and truly despised him. If I had the guts to kill him, I would have done so long ago. Alas, I don`t. This is simply a marriage of political alliances, nothing more, nothing less."

Princess Maximillia`s eldest daughter Princess Penelope of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha doted on her maternal first-cousin and became a surrogate mother to Caroline Amalia. She felt highly protective of Caroline and acted as a "barrier" alongside her husband Prince Victor Emmanuel of Prussia to wade off the advances of foreign princes for the hand of Caroline. Caroline in turn referred to Penelope as "mama" and Victor as "papa"; a fact which her own parents (whom Caroline held a distant relationship with) were appalled. Caroline`s own younger siblings followed Caroline`s example and began referring to Penelope as "mama" and Victor as "papa"; as they also (like Caroline) held a distant relationship with their parents. They handpicked Caroline`s tutors and instructed them to send detailed reports back to the couple`s court every month. They invited Caroline, her remaining siblings, their parents and their surviving relatives to their court for their holidays, and they grew close to their Saxe-Coburg and Gothan cousins. Every birthday and Christmas, they sent Caroline and her younger siblings gifts of dresses, jewelry, lace, and weapons. Unlike her other siblings, Caroline signed herself "your loving daughter," rather than first-cousin, in her letters. Caroline reflected that she saw Princess Penelope and Prince Victor as "the best and greatest of parents," "very august people," and "the dearest and kindest People alive." When she was betrothed to Rudolph, Caroline assured her surrogate parents that "my marrying will [not], will [never] change the immense love and gratefulness I feel towards you for raising me. Nobody can even compare to you, for you raised me to do right, say right, and speak for myself. It will never make a difference to my love for You." When her surrogate parents died in 1901, Caroline openly wept at her memorial service in Germany and shocked the Austrian courtiers who considered her cold and unfeeling. One of them would later remark that "she seemed so stoic, so cold, and so unfeeling, that she almost seemed as if she was carved out of literal stone. It shocked us when she started crying."

Along with her sister, Princess Irene, Caroline was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her godmother and maternal aunt, Princess Beatrix to Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom. At the age of 15, she attended Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1887, where she met the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (then only Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine). Caroline was escorted to Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations by her future husband, Rudolph. She described the experience as "nerve-ending" and "highly mentally disturbing."

In March 1892, when Caroline was just nineteen years old, she bent to the pressure of her new family-in-law and the Austrian Government to finalize her engagement proceedings for her future marriage to the heir apparent to the Austrian throne, Rudolph II. According to her biographer, Baroness Buxhoeveden, Caroline regarded the new familial pressure as "so stifling; I felt as if my lungs were contracting and I was unable to breath". Buxhoeveden recalled in her 1928 biography that "for years she would not speak of her husband and long after when she was in Austria, anything that reminded her of her husband drove her to the brick of greatly repressed anger". This rage was so noticeable that even Caroline`s husband refused to get to know Caroline and the two slept in different beds for the course of their entire marriage.

## Proposed matches

     Princess Penelope and Prince Victor greatly favored Caroline and they wanted Caroline to become the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, a position which Queen Victoria was considering for Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (one of the Queen`s remaining Hessian grandchildren). On 2 March 1888, Princess Penelope wrote to Caroline`s youngest sister Elizabeth that "My heart and mind are bent on securing dear Carly for either Prince Albert Victor or his younger brother Prince George, the dynastic ties that would be offered with such a marriage, think of it. The Great Kingdom of Romania united in matrimony with the British Empire!" Caroline was not amused and wrote to both of them, "My heart and mind is centered on another figure of interest; a Prince of the Kingdom of Spain, Infante Ferdinand Carla. May God bless **my** chosen union." The Prince additionally sent a letter in which he directly asked for the hand of the Romanian Princess, "I truly and dearly love HRH Princess Caroline Amalia, so I do ask permission to wed the woman who has entrapped my heart so. For if I cannot have her, I may very well die from despair!" Caroline Amalia was ecstatic upon hearing the news of Infante Ferdinand writing a letter to her surrogate parents asking for their permission to marry her, and wrote to him, "Oh! My heart is abound with joy! The emotions I feel; I feel such happiness! So long have I wanted to marry you, my darling. Now I may finally have the chance to marry you, like I have always wanted." Her surrogate parents eventually acquiesced to the two becoming engaged to marry, the couple were happy. Her fiancée's siblings were less happy and considered her to not be a worthy match for their younger brother; this caused tension between them all, her fiancée ultimately sided with Caroline. The announcement of their engagement was put off in order to resolve tensions between the two ruling houses. In May 1890, the two of them visited the lowlands of Austria for a picnic and quickly bonded over their shared love for hunting.

## Engagement

In 1884, Caroline attended the double-wedding of her and her fiancée's adoptive 19-year-old daughter Princess Clémentine of Romania to Prince Richard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and her 17-year-old adoptive son Prince Palatine of Romania to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovich in St. Petersburg. At this wedding, the 12-year-old met the 16-year-old Archduke Rudolph, nephew of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovich and heir-apparent to the imperial throne of Austria. Caroline was not attracted to Rudolph and made no attempts to get to know him, she would later write to her beloved Infante Ferdinand Carla, "he dares to court me?! The nerve of such a man; absolutely disgusting. I love no man but you, my dearest love are the only exception. For my love for you knows no bounds." Archduke Rudolph was instantly enamored with the Romanian princess and later wrote to his mother, "Oh! I have found my future love; a fair and most gracious Princess of the Kingdom of Romania. I desire to marry her, sweet dear Caroline Amalia." He gave her a brooch as a sign of his affection, though Caroline refused the gift, leaving the Archduke heartbroken and in absolute tears. Nevertheless, he endeavored to marry Caroline at any cost, refusing to acknowledge that she was promised to another man and stomping on her rights.

In January 1890, Archduke Rudolph`s mother; Empress Elisabeth of Austria visited Caroline in her family`s seaside palace in Romania. The Princess was infuriated by the insolence of the Archduke and refused to even as much as even speak with the Empress, with the situation threatening to escalate into a serious international diplomatic issue. The Austrian Empress was eventually allowed to enter the chambers of the Princess, with the Princess being openly hostile towards the very thought of marrying Archduke Rudolph. The Empress later wrote, "she is strong-willed; a fierce fighter. My dear Rudolph wants to marry her but it is quite clear to me, that Princess Caroline Amalia does not return his feelings. She holds love towards another man; somebody she believes is better than my Rudolph. I pity her, my son doesn`t know when to stop and when enough is enough. However, I do support a marriage between the two; she makes my son happy." Princess Mary (a first-cousin) declared, "If that disgusting Archduke does not leave dear sweet Carly alone, I might just poison him!"

Empress Elisabeth of Austria was extremely reluctantly in favor of the match between Rudolph and Caroline. The Empress` children were enthusiastically in favor of the match between the two as well, though they worried about the completability between the two. Rudolph and Caroline were not related; something which the relatives of Caroline enjoyed, as they favored other men to marry their relative that were not Rudolph himself. Princess Clémentine opposed the match to Rudolph. Though he was attractive, his personality let much to be desired, though the Hapsburgs were a prominent reigning dynasty, the House of Hohenzollern`s members collectively as a group disapproved of the Archduke and refused to allow him to court the Princess. After the betrothal was announced, she reflected: “The more I think about mother Caroline`s marriage the more unhappy I am. My father held a deep and true love for her, so for her to be coerced into a marriage of loveless proportions, I feel enraged on her behalf, for I truly wanted her to marry our dear, sweet Papa.”

King Carol and Queen Elisabeth were both vehemently anti-Austrian and did not want Nicholas as a son-in-law. Queen Elisabeth told her adoptive granddaughter Princess Clémentine that the Austrian Archduke was not a worthy match for Clementine's mother, and both of the women believed that Nicholas was too tactless and unlikeable to be a successful ruler. While Carol favored the suit of Prince Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, the tall, dark-haired son of Philippe, Comte de Paris, pretender to the throne of France, the Queen favored the suit of the Infante Ferdinand Carla; a Spanish Prince and second-born of the King and Queen of Spain. Neither Prince Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans or Caroline Amalia were attracted to each other. Philippe later wrote: "I am not attracted to HRH Caroline Amalia in any way, she doesn`t seem as if she would be interested in me either." Caroline Amalia wrote: "Though it pains me to pain you, I only see you as a mere childhood companion and the dearest of my friends, thus I cannot consciously marry you for it would not be a happy marriage I fear. And for you, my childhood friend, nothing is more valuable than having you advise me in manners of the heart. It is one of your talents after all." Carol sent emissaries to Yolande, Duke of Swann, brother of German Emperor Wilhelm II, and a grandson of Queen Victoria. Caroline declared that she would rather be disowned from the royal family than marry somebody in a loveless marriage; he in turn was unwilling to convert to the Romanian Orthodox Church from being Protestant.

Left without a lot of options; the King and Queen of Romania finally realized the daunting situation in which they were thrust with little preparation. Eventually Empress Elisabeth of Austria began reluctantly exerting pressure on the Romanian Government and the Romanian royal family to marry her son (Rudolph) to Caroline Amalia. The House of Hohenzollern fiercely resisted having one of their own relatives be married off to an Austrian Archduke; Prince Yolande of Prussia put for a suit for the Romanian Princess, so that she would not be forced to marry the Austrian Archduke, Rudolph. The Princess refused the suit but thanked him for the offer, telling him that she would consider him as a possible marriage prospect for one of her own maternal relatives. In 1894, the engagement she had with Infante Ferdinand Carla of Spain was broken off on the strict demands of the Austrian Government and she was then engaged to Archduke Rudolph of Austria.