Maria nikolaevna biography

MARIA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS MARIA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

by Amanda Madru

June 14th, 1899 (O.S.).

A 101-gun salute is fired from the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, heralding the birth of yet another daughter to Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, and his German-born wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna. The baby’s arrival is met with near-universal disappointment: the Pauline Laws implemented by her ancestor, Emperor Pavel I’s stipulated that males come first in the succession, and a male heir was eagerly awaited.

Nicholas and Alexandra have, after nearly five years of marriage, only three little girls to show for themselves.

Maria nikolaevna biography

Russia is in need of an heir, and the Imperial couple has once again failed on this count. The infant is named in honor of her paternal grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She is christened Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.

Little Maria grew into