Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia |Sapphire Diamond Brooch Wedding Present|Royal Jewels Great Britain and Ireland|Romanov Imperial Jewel

Zarewitsch Alexander verlobte sich mit Prinzessin Dagmar von Dänemark, sie konvertierte zum russisch-orthodoxen Glauben und nannte sich fortan Marija Fjodorowna (russisch Мария Фёдоровна).

 

Ihre Hochzeit mit Alexander fand am 9. November 1866 in Sankt Petersburg statt. Ihr Schwester die Prinzessin Alexandra von Wales und ihr Schwager Eduard, schenkten Ihr zu diesem Anlass die Saphir und Diamantbrosche. Die später Königin Alexandra und Witwe von King Edward VII, sieht man oben abgebildet neben ihrer Schwester sitzen. Die Kaiserin trägt die Saphir-Diamant-Brosche.

Das neuvermählte Paar zog in den Anitschkow-Palast in St. Petersburg, wo es die folgenden fünfzehn Jahre lebte. Aus der Ehe gingen sechs Kinder hervor.

Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar, Prinzessin von Dänemark war als Gemahlin von Kaiser Alexander III. als Maria Fjodorowna, auch Maria Feodorowna, von 1881 bis 1894 Kaiserin von Russland. Sie war die Mutter von Nikolaus II., dem letzten russischen Zaren.

 

 

 

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia |Sapphire Diamond Brooch Wedding Present|Royal Jewels Great Britain and Ireland|Romanov Imperial Jewel

 

‘The Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia’s Brooch’. Empress Maria Feodorovna's wedding gift.

When the Princess Dagmar of Denmark married the futur Czar and Tsarewitsch Alexander, in the year 1866, her sister Alexandra Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra and her brother-in-law King Edward VII presented her this oval brooch surrounded by two rows of diamonds with a pearl drop hanging from a collet diamond cabochon sapphire and diamond brooch with a pearshaped pearl.

We see above the empress Maria Feodorovna wearing the Sapphire and Diamond Brooch on her bodice, sitting beside her sister Queen Alexandra.

After the death of the Empress Maria Feodorovna, her daughters Grand Duchess Olga and Grand Duchess Xenia, inherit the jewels and sold it*. Queen Mary bought the Sapphire and Diamond Pearl brooch and wore it several times, from the year 1937 till 1953.

 

In the year 1864, her great love Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Nicholas, or "Nixa" as he was known in his family, went to Denmark and proposed to Dagmar. Her future mother-in-law Empress Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) gave her a pearl necklace and Nicholas gave her diamonds. In total, the betrothal gifts Dagmar received from her future in-laws cost 1.5 million rubles. Grand Duke Nicholas died of Meningitis in 1865.

.....St. Petersburg, where she was greeted by her future mother-in-law and sister-in-law on 24 September. On the 29th, she made her formal entry in to the Russian capital dressed in a Russian national costume in blue and gold and traveled with the Empress to the Winter Palace where she was introduced to the Russian public on a balcony. Catherine Radziwill described the occasion: ”rarely has a foreign princess been greeted with such enthusiasm… from the moment she set foot on Russian soil, succeeded in winning to herself all hearts. Her smile, the delightful way she had of bowing to the crowds…, laid immediately the foundation of …popularity

 

 

Sources:Royal Collection; Leslie Field;Little Mother Russia;