Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia; canonized as Holy Martyr Yelizaveta Fyodorovna; 1 November 1864 – 18 July 1918) was a German princess of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and the Rhine.

She was also a maternal great-aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Elizabeth II. Granddaughter of Queen Victoria and an older sister of Alexandra, the last Russian Empress, Elisabeth became famous in Russian society for her beauty and charitable works among the poor.

After the Socialist Revolutionary Party’s Combat Organization murdered her husband with a dynamite bomb in 1905, Elisabeth publicly forgave Sergei’s murderer, Ivan Kalyayev, and campaigned without success for him to be pardoned. She then departed the Imperial Court and became a nun, founding the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent dedicated to helping the downtrodden of Moscow. In 1918 she was arrested and ultimately executed by the Bolsheviks. In 1981 Elisabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and in 1992 by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Tsar Nicholas II reviewing Life Guards outside the Catherine Palace, Tsarskoe Selo, 1911

The daughters of the last Tsar Nicholas II. L-R Grand Duchess Maria, Grand Duchess Tatiana, Grand Duchess Anastasia and Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, 1914

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia in the role of Hamlet, 1899. He was a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and a poet and playwright of some renown. He wrote under the pen name “K.R.”, initials of his given name and family name, Konstantin Romanov.

Queen Victoria and family at Coburg on 21 April 1894, assembled for the wedding of Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1876-1936) and Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse (1868-1937), both grandchildren of Queen Victoria. The wedding took place on 19 April 1894.

Two standing rows at back: Prince Louis of Battenberg; Grand Duke Paul of Russia; Prince Henry of Battenberg; Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg Kohary; Count Mensdorff; Grand Duke Serge of Russia; Crown Princess Marie of Romania (Queen Marie); Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania (King Ferdinand I); Grand Duchess Serge of Russia (Elizabeth Feodorovna); Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught; Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh

Second standing row: The Prince of Wales (King Edward VII); Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom; Princess Philip of Saxe-Coburg Kohary; Charlotte, Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen; Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein; Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught.

First standing row L-R: Prince Alfred of Edinburgh; Tsarevitch Nicholas of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II); Princess Alix of Hesse (Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna); Princess Louis of Battenberg; Princess Henry of Prussia; Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia (Maria Pavlovna); Grand Duchess Marie, Duchess of Edinburgh.

Seated L-R: Kaiser Wilhelm II; Queen Victoria; Empress Frederick of Germany; with Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen in front.

Her Imperial & Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna was born an imperial Grand Duchess of Russia. She married Queen Victoria’s third son, Prince Alfred, becoming the royal Duchess of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and went on to become the sovereign Duchess of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha in the German Empire

Footmen of the Russian Imperial Court carrying thrones for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in the Kremlin, Moscow, 26 May 1896

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia wearing Russian court dress at the first State Duma of the Russian Empire

The League of the Three Emperors (Dreikaiserbund) meeting at Skierniewiece, 1884. The League consisted of Emperor Alexander III of Russia, German Emperor Wilhelm I and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

Queen Sophie of Greece, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom and Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia

Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Known as the Tsar Liberator for the emancipation of Russia’s serfs in 1861.

Empress Alexandra and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

Cousins, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia & King George V of the United Kingdom.

Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II