The first major biography in English of an often - overlooked figure
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In the last few years there have been seemingly endless biographies about Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra, Rasputin, and often combinations of the lot. Often overlooked is the woman condemned to watch the whole catastrophe as a helpless spectator, and survive it all - Empress Marie Feodorovna, Nicholas's mother, described affectionately at the time as the 'Little Mother of Russia'.
Born Princess Dagmar of Denmark in 1847, she was the second daughter of Prince Christian, a junior member of a Danish ruling house who by various strokes of good fortune became King in 1863. Of Dagmar's siblings, one brother was chosen as King of Greece, and her favourite sister Alexandra married the future King Edward VII of England.
In 1864 she was betrothed to Nicholas, Tsarevich of Russia, but he was a sickly young man and died a few months later. Dutifully she was engaged to and married the new heir to the throne, Alexander, who became Tsar Alexander III in 1881 after his father's assassination. The marriage turned out to be very successful, the tiny yet quick-witted Dagmar (who took the name Marie Feodorovna) proving a perfect foil for her huge bear-like husband. They had four sons and two daughters, the eldest son becoming Tsar Nicholas II in 1894 on Alexander's death; another died in infancy, and another of consumption as a young man.
Empress Marie Feodorovna was a woman of considerable character. Widowed in her late forties, she was exasperated at the way in which her son Nicholas was overruled by his strong-willed wife Alexandra and by the inept if not downright unscrupulous ministers who flattered them shamelessly for their own ends. Although she would never have thought of herself as a particularly clever woman, she had more comonsense than the rest of them put together.
Coryne Hall tells the colourful yet ultimately tragic story superbly - the Tsarina who often feared for her husband's life, stalked by terrorists, and who was condemned to watch the disintegration of the family and empire she loved, when Russia was severely weakened by the Great War, and St Petersburg witnessed the riots of 1917 which led to the Tsar's abdication and the bolshevik revolution. She paints a poignant portrait of the Tsarina's exile, when she and several other members of the family managed to make good their escape to Europe, steadfastly refusing to believe that her son and his family had been shot by their unforgiving captors, seeking sanctuary in England and then finally her beloved Denmark, where she died in 1928.
If you are fascinated by the story of the last days of imperial Russia, but have had your fill of 'Nicholas and Alexandra' books, this biography of one of the frequently-overlooked figures of the era will fascinate you. The text is over 350 pages long and filled with detail, yet the personality of the 'little mother' comes through strongly. There are 16 pages of black and white plates, and comprehensive genealogical tables on the endpapers.
Word has it that Coryne Hall is currently working on a biography of the Tsarina's elder daughter Grand Duchess Xenia (1875-1960), who left bolshevik Russia with her and spent the rest of her life in England. If this is the case, it should be well worth waiting for.
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