Free Alexandra by Carolly Erickson

conscience so deeply was not the prospect of being baptized into the Orthodox church:
it was forswearing Lutheranism. She had always assumed that the two things would have to go hand in hand. But perhaps they need not. Ella, when voluntarily adopting the Orthodox faith, had not been
required to abjure her Lutheranism. And other German princesses, facing the same difficulty Alix faced, had, it now appeared, arrived at compromises that allowed them to continue their loyalty to
the Lutheran creed while entering into their new church.
    One such princess was Aunt Marie, Maria Pavlovna, born a Princess of Mecklenberg-Strelitz – known in the Romanov family as ‘Auntie Miechen’ – the wife of Uncle Vladimir.
(Not to be confused with Aunt Marie, the sister of the late Tsar Alexander II and wife of Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.) Alix went to visit Auntie Miechen, at her brother’s urging,
presumably to talk about her conversion. To Nicky, Ernie gave an encouraging message – that ‘there was hope of a happy outcome’. 3
    Two days now remained before Ernie and Ducky’s wedding, and more and more family members were arriving at the Coburg station. There were excited greetings, tearful hugs. When passing one
another in carriages, the affectionate members of Queen Victoria’s large family sometimes got out and ‘started kissing in the middle of the road’, much to the amusement of the
visiting Russians. The official topic of conversation within the family was the forthcoming marriage, what a handsome couple Ernie and Ducky made, how enviably tiny Ducky’s waist was, where
the newlyweds would go on their honeymoon, what a cheery, ebullient fellow the grand duke was, sodebonair and artistic. How surprising it was that he had never married
until now.
    But at the same time, much attention was focused on the drama between Nicky and Alix. Would they become engaged? Why was she hesitating? Had Queen Victoria said or done something to prevent the
two from marrying?
    In the evenings, after the theatre, when champagne was served in the billiard room and the men gathered to smoke and drink and talk, Nicky was asked about Alix. How did things stand? What could
be done? His cousin Willy, German Emperor, was especially solicitous. He would talk to cousin Alix, Willy said. He would take command of the situation. Alix could not hold out against him. All
would be well. The champagne flowed freely, and Nicky, who confided to his diary that he was suffering ‘great fears and doubts’, did not go to bed until the early hours of the
morning. 4
    The arrival of Queen Victoria provided a temporary respite from these preoccupations. Clutching a thick black cloak around her, she drove in her carriage from the train station through the town,
shivering in the northern chill – she had just come from warm Florence – and smiling her endearing shy smile at the cheering Coburgers. The elderly queen felt a strong nostalgic
attachment to the duchy of Coburg, for her beloved late consort Prince Albert had been raised there and she viewed everything associated with Albert through a haze of sentiment and regret. She had
taken to wearing a miniature of Albert around her neck, and speaking to it on occasion. One imagines that she had much to say to his image on this April afternoon, as her carriage, escorted by an
entire battalion of guardsmen, clattered along the cobble-stoned streets. Handfuls of flowers were flung in front of her carriage wheels as they rolled under an enormous triumphal arch of welcome.
In the palace square, in front of Schloss Ehrenburg, she paused to receive her official welcome.
    All the relatives had assembled to greet the family matriarch, the women in formal afternoon attire, the men in freshly pressed uniforms. They took tea with her, but could not all dine together
as there were far too many to fit around the long dining table. Thequeen, white-haired and benign, her lumpy figure (Nicky unkindly referred to