Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander II: From mutual affection to grievances

During her reign, Queen Victoria was a famous anti-Russian person. She was almost astonishingly hostile towards Tsarist Russia. However, in the early days of Queen Victoria’s succession, she was deeply infatuated with the Crown Prince of Tsarist Russia and later Alexander II.

Alexander was born in 1818, only one year older than Victoria. He is slender, handsome, with beautiful eyes and a charming smile. As the eldest son of Nicholas I, Alexander was considered a very unreliable heir before he succeeded. Of course, this wrong view was corrected after Alexander took the throne. He was an energetic emperor. After Peter the Great, the biggest reform in Tsarist Russia was the abolition of serfdom.

(Alexander and Victoria)

In 1838, the 20-year-old Alexander embarked on a journey to find the true princess. He traveled across Europe and wanted to find a qualified European princess. bride. In 1839, 21-year-old Alexander arrived in England and met the unmarried Victoria. At that time, Victoria had succeeded to the throne for 2 years and was being forced to find her husband. She enjoyed an independent life and was not in a hurry to get married.

Originally, Victoria was not interested in Alexander's arrival, but Alexander, who was good at flattering, quickly changed Victoria's mind. Alexander would whisper in French to Victoria's ear, making her giggle. The first-class dance skills of Alexander made Victoria, who was obsessed with dancing, admired, and the two worked tirelessly around the dance floor until three o'clock in the morning.

Whether it is Alexander's entourage or Victoria's courtier, everyone has discovered their unusual sparks. When the news came back to Nicholas I's ears, he was extremely worried that his unreliable son would propose to marry him enthusiastically, and sent a telegram to pour cold water on his son.

(Victoria’s favorite pastime, horse riding in Windsor Great Park)

Victoria is very clear, no matter from which aspect, she and Alexander are impossible, but she just enjoys this Romance, I want to be willful before getting married. So she rejected the crowd and invited Alexander to stay in her Windsor Castle for three days. During these three days, every morning, Victoria invited Alexander to Windsor Great Park to ride a horse on time; every night Victoria happily hung on Alexander’s arm and danced. After these three days as a young couple, Alexander was leaving. Victoria said in her diary that she had left bitter tears. After

, the two went their own way. Victoria married his cousin Albert in 1840; Alexander married Princess Mary of Hesse and the Rhine in 1841. However, the story of the two is far from over.

First, in 1862, Victoria's second daughter Alice married into Hesse and the Grand Duchy of the Rhine; then in 1866, Alexander's eldest son and Victoria's eldest son became brothers-in-law. These were all marginal attempts until Victoria's second son, Alfred, announced that he would marry Alexander's favorite daughter Maria, which caused a huge sensation between the two royal families.

(Alexander the second from left, Maria of Alexander third from the left, and Alfred son of Victoria on the right)

If it is a romantic love novel, Victoria should look back , Sighed with emotion and gratified to accept the next generation to continue the front line, but in reality, Victoria is not happy at all, and Alexander's mood is not much better. The marriage negotiation was very difficult, and finally got married in Tsarist Russia. Victoria did not even show her face. And the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is quite bad, and they cannot live in the same room.

When Alexander visited the United Kingdom again in 1874 as his father-in-law, the relationship between the two of them had long since disappeared, and was replaced by doubts, arrogance and resentment based on national interests.

What makes Victoria even more upset is that her granddaughter and granddaughter desperately fell in love with the prince of Tsarist Russia, In 1884, Victoria's granddaughter Elizabeth, married Alexander's fifth son, Sergey; 1894 In 1905, Victoria’s granddaughter Alexis married Alexander’s grandson Nicholas II; 1905, C3783# Victoria’s granddaughter Saxe-Coburg and Gotha’s Victoria Merita , married to Alexander’s grandson Kirill.

Finally, when the Tsarist royal family fell, Victoria's anxiety was finally verified, but that was more than ten years after her death.

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