Duchess Alexandra of Oldenburg

Alexandra Frederica Wilhelmina was born at her parents' palace at Embarkment, 2 in St. Petersburg on , as a Duchess of Oldenburg. She was the eldest of the eight children of Duke Peter of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg, half-sister of Sofia of Nassau, queen consort of Oscar II of Sweden. where her family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty. Duke Peter, Alexandra's father, was the only surviving son of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia. Peter of Oldenburg followed a military career in the Imperial Russian Army and was also a scholar, a music composer and philanthropist. Alexandra's mother, Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg, was interested in painting and like her husband was deeply involved in charity work, so much so that she was considered an eccentric. The family spent the winter months in Peterhof and moved for the summer to their other residence Kamenoi-Ostroff. There, Alexandra and her siblings had a children's farm where they grew vegetables and tended farm animals under the supervision of their Russian governess. Alexandra and her siblings grew up surrounded by art and music. She learned Russian, German, English and French. Besides the usual school subjects, the children had to practice music, painting, dancing, riding and palace etiquette. Alexandra excelled at the arts and she was also interested in literature, Russian history and genealogy. Alexandra's education awoke in her an interest in medicine and in solving social problems of the poor. In 1848, Alexandra's parents took her and her younger brother, Nicholas, to visit their relatives in Germany. They stayed with Alexandra's maternal family in Wiesbaden and Alexandra's paternal relatives in Oldenburg. ==Marriage==

After Alexandra made her debut at court with a series of dinners and receptions, her parents arranged a high-status marriage for her. The Russian Imperial family, in an attempt to control the Grand Duke's excesses, had propelled Nicholas to marry Alexandra, hoping that she would have a good influence on him. Alexandra was described by Anna Tyutcheva (1829-1889), a lady in waiting to Empress Maria Alexandrovna, as: "... a sweet and docile creature... Although not beautiful, she is captivating with the freshness of her seventeen years of age, and also with the sincerity and kindness that shines on her face". There, in their apartments on the ground floor, nine months after their wedding, Alexandra gave birth to their first child on 18 November 1856, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia the Younger. ==Charity work==

Alexandra loved her husband and her son deeply but she felt it was also her duty to help those in need. However, at the Russian court, Alexandra Petrovna's involvement in philanthropy was considered excessive and she was regarded as a holy fool. In December 1861, the couple moved to their newly built Nicholas Palace on Annunciation Square. Even in the country, Alexandra continued her charity work. She started a first aid station from where she received patients, offered treatment and visited them at home. On 10 January 1864, Alexandra gave birth to her last child, Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia. The following year, Alexandra became chairwoman of the board of trustees of the office of Empress Maria Alexandrovna which oversaw orphanages, founding homes, schools and hospitals. The area of medicine and nursing had a particular appeal to Alexandra, and sometimes she nursed the patients herself. In 1865, Alexandra founded a training institute for nurses in St Petersburg, the Pokrov of our lady commune. In spite of the differences in character and outlook, Alexandra and her husband lived in harmony for the first ten years of their married life. Initially, Grand Duke Nicholas respected and admired his wife's interest in charities and medicine as well as her being extremely religious. He financed a hospital in the city where her theories could be developed and put into practice and poor patients received care without charge. ==The end of married life==

As time went by, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich grew tired of Alexandra's increasing preoccupation with religion and began complaining of his wife's lack of glamour and distaste for society. However, no sound information has surfaced to corroborate these claims. The story of the illegitimate child seems unlikely. Alexandra Petrovna was deeply upset by her husband's infidelity. Grand Duchess Alexandra, leaving behind her jewelry, clothes and possessions, had to move to her parents' house. The same year, Alexandra suffered a carriage accident which left her almost completely paralyzed. She could move neither her legs nor her right arm. Alexandra asked her brother-in-law, Tsar Alexander II, for help. Appalled by the scandal, Alexander II was not sympathetic towards Alexandra and instead made her leave Russia indefinitely to seek medical treatment abroad. Alexander II himself paid for the trip expenses. ==Sister Anastasia==

In November 1880, the Grand Duchess left for Italy with her two sons on board the naval steamer . She was hoping to find relief for her ailments in the mild climate of Naples. In January 1881, her estranged husband, Grand Duke Nicholas, arrived unexpectedly and took both their sons with him. According to Alexandra: he "made me experience things I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy". She completely relied on religion for solace and comfort. In Kiev, Alexandra's health did not improve for years. Alexandra became a nun, as Sister Anastasia, taking Holy Orders on 3 November 1889 in Kiev, while her husband was still alive. For the rest of her life, she worked at the hospital performing nursing duties, helping contagious patents and cleaning infected wounds. She often assisted in surgeries. ==Last years==

Catherine Chislova died in 1889, and Grand Duke Nicholas survived his lover by only two years. When he died in the Crimea in 1891, Alexandra Petrovna did not attend the funeral. She also refused to pay homage to her dead husband when the funeral catafalque, taking his body for burial in the St Peter and St Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, came by train via Kiev on its route from the south. She was buried within the monastery graveyard in a plain white coffin, wearing her monastic habit. On the day of her burial, Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna attended a memorial service held in the Moscow Kremlin palace church. In the 1950s, Alexandra's remains were moved to the Lukianovskoe Cemetery. She was reburied in the garden at the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Pokrov Monastery on 2 November 2009. Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on 24 November 2009 as the locally venerated Reverend Grand Duchess Anastasia of Kiev, patron saint of all divorced men and women. Today her grave in the convent garden is again tended by nuns and her works continues. ==Ancestry==