Grand Duchess Lilith Georgina of Winia

## Lilith Georgina

**Grand Duchess Lilith Georgina of Winia** (**Lilith Georgina Romanova**; Russian: Великая Княжна Лилит Николаевна; 1 December 1859 – 17 July 1918) was the eldest child of George Victor (a Grand Duke of Russia), and Alexa Nikolaevna (a Grand Duchess of Winia), and the only one to reach adulthood (her siblings all dying before the age of 11). She was married to Victor Alexandrovich (a Grand Duke of Russia), who was the youngest brother of George Victor (her father); thus the bride and groom were also first cousins. After her marriage, she became a Grand Duchess of Russia, as well as the heir apparent to her own mother`s realms. Her two children, Grand Duchesses Katina (aged 17) and Yveline (aged 8) escaped from the rapidly destabilizing countryside of the Winian Empire, and retreated to the Vernonia Fortress in Ellensburg where they came underneath the protection of Lilith`s great-grandaunt (Grand Duchess Rivka Alexandrovich of Winia); the distant relative of Victor Alexandrovich (her husband) and George Victor (her father). During the First Serbophobia Revolution of 1917, Lilith, her husband, her parents, and Rusha (her distant great-grandaunt) were all captured and imprisoned in the destabilized countryside of the Empire. Her execution on 17 July 1918 caused public outrage, leaving her two children orphans and forcing them to marry for the sake of duty rather than love. She was later canonized in 2000 in the Winian and Dagmarian Orthodox Churches as **Saint Lilith the Passion Bearer**. Her execution is considered one of the greatest tragedies of the 19th-century.

## Early life

Lilith was born at Vernonia Fortress on 1 December 1859, the first child (after a few months of her parents` marriage), and eldest daughter of Grand Duchess Alexa Nikolaevna of Winia and Grand Duke George Victor Alexandrovich of Russia. As the daughter of a grand duchess of Winia, she was a grand duchess of Winia by birth, and as the eldest daughter of a grand duchess of Winia, she was styled *Tsarevna* by birth. Her birth, accompanied by the public turmoil that the Empire was experiencing caused a great amount of unease in the Imperial Household. Her grandmother and various aunts (distant or otherwise) were hesitant to let her anywhere accompanied. Lilith was baptized on the day of her birth. She was named after the Winian Goddess of Darkness and the Underworld (Lilith); in fact her appearance at birth and as she grew up resembled the Goddess Lilith perfectly. Marchioness Édith Claymore (the childhood governess of Lilith) headed Lilith`s childhood as she grew into her teenager years and to her majority. When she turned 18 years old, Édith, remained in her household and arranged a match for her in Grand Duke Victor Alexandrovich of Russia; one of her first-cousins. Édith would later die and leave several realms to her childhood friend and pupil (Lilith) to rule over once Lilith reached her majority at 18 or Édith died.

## Grand Duchess of Russia

### **Wedding**

On 1 December 1877, Édith passed in her sleep at the age of thirty-nine. Lilith was confirmed as Queen Lilith II but her coronation was set aside for a later date in lieu of the mourning periods. The next day, Victor, was received into the Winian Orthodox Church as "the truly believing Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich." Lilith and Victor married on 1 December 1879 in the Grand Church of the Xenia Palace of Ellensburg, with many nobles and common people attending the wedding of the Grand Duke and Duchess; Édith`s Irish husband was infuriated that Édith had chosen Lilith as the transferee to give her entire estate, inheritance money, title, and the thrones of the various realms that she ruled over while alive. Édith knowing that her husband from experience was an alcoholic and a generally abusive person, transferred the guardianship of her young children to Lilith. Her eldest child, Katina, was born on the last day of the month of December, and became a Grand Duchess of Russia and a Grand Duchess of Winia by birth, and was adored by her adopted children from the time that she was born.

#### **Coronation**

On 2 December 1880, Lilith and Victor were crowned at the Dragon Cathedral in the city of Magnolia. The spirit of her late governess, Édith appeared and congratulated her on her coronation, with the newly crowned Queen and Empress weeping into her sleeve once she spotted the ghost of her late governess. The coronation heavily taxed the mentality of both of the new rulers, with Victor breaking down underneath what he perceived as "pressure" to protect the interests of the people. Édith`s Irish husband despised Lilith and irritated the couple during their coronation party which incensed the local nobles in action, they tossed him out of the party. Approximately a billion Winians gathered to the capital to watch the entertainment, eat the court-sponsored food, and collect the gifts in honor of their new rulers. There were rumors that there wasn't enough food for everyone, so the crowd rushed towards the gift tables. The police failed to maintain order, and over a thousand Winians were trampled to death. The local nobles and the Imperial Family were incredibly horrified, becoming distressed when the death toll was revealed for the celebration; Lilith personally issued an order for a mourning of twelve months (practically the entire year), and personally laid the trampled people to rest by her own hands. Victoria Whitten commented, "A grand duchess of our own empire laid down the temptation of her fancy clothes to bury over a thousand bodies of common people, the audacity and the stubbornness of our own leader. Her humane nature and tendency to cry for tragedies beyond her control; these qualities have just made her more likeable as a leader." The British and Russians Ambassadors informed their respective rulers that "the new rulers appeared to be greatly distressed by the news of the tragedy, openly weeping in front of their nobles who were reportably stunned by the icy-cold exteriors of their new rulers fading away to reveal their sadness."

### **Rising tensions**

Even with her immense popularity among her local nobles, and in the Imperial Family of both the Dagmarian and Winian Empires, she faced rising tensions during her rule. She was noted as being "humble to a fault" and she possessed a level-headed nature that made it easier to endure arguing among her ministers. However she had a temper, that although slow to rouse was rather vicious when unleashed; in one case where she used it on her hapless quarreling ministers, she scared them into cooperating with each other