Estate / Collection: The Property of a Collector

Inscribed in English: "To fair dearest Henry all hearty Xmas & New Year blessings from Ella. 1908-1909."

Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (Irène Luise Marie Anne, 1866-1953), later Princess Henry of Prussia, was the third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and the younger sister of Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, née Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864-1918), a princess of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, was the second child of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria, and the older sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. She was chosen as the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. Married in 1884 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the couple established themselves in Moscow in 1891 where the Grand Duke had been appointed Governor-General.

It did not take long for the people of Moscow to appreciate the kindness and generosity of Grand Duchess Elizabeth. She paid frequent visits to hospitals, almshouses and orphanages and worked tirelessly to help the needy by distributing food and clothing, donating money and working to improve their living conditions. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, she led the initiative to aid soldiers on the front lines and opened an infirmary in Moscow for the wounded. Elizabeth also helped to coordinate the delivery of supplies, equipment, medicine and gifts for the soldiers and provided aid to war widows and orphans.

Grand Duke Sergei, as a member of the Russian Imperial Family, increasingly was viewed as an obstacle by a growing revolutionary movement. As violence began to intensify in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 22, 1905, Sergei was targeted for removal. On February 4, 1905, he fell victim to a terrorist bombing on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was leaving her palace at the time, and she arrived at the scene of the attack just as a soldier was spreading his cloak over the remains of her husband.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth was so traumatized by her husband's assassination that she decided to devote herself to the church and to the service of the less fortunate. She gave away her collection of jewelry and sold her possessions. With the proceeds, Elizabeth founded the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary in Moscow, which opened in February 1909. She also purchased land and constructed a hospital, an orphanage for girls, and living quarters for the sisters.

The abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in March of 1917 came as a tremendous shock to Grand Duchess Elizabeth. She believed Russia was on the precipice of disaster, but there was nothing she could do to prevent it. In April 1918, two days after Easter, the Bolsheviks came to arrest Elizabeth, accompanied by a novice from the convent, Sister Barbara. She was taken to Ekaterinburg to join the Imperial Family but was denied access them. At the end of May, Elizabeth was moved to nearby Alopaevsk with Grand Dukes Sergei, John, and Constantine and Count Vladimir Paley. On the night of July 5, they were all taken to a place outside Alopaevsk and executed. The Grand Duke Sergei was shot, but the others were thrown down a mineshaft and grenades were thrown after them. Elizabeth lived for several hours and could be heard singing hymns.

On January 15, 1920, the bodies of Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Sister Barbara were brought to Jerusalem and laid to rest in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives. In 1888, Emperor Alexander III appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was accompanied by Grand Duchess Elizabeth, to represent him at the consecration of this very church. Taken by the beauty of the church and the significance of the location, the Grand Duchess is said to have expressed her wish to be buried there, a wish that turned out to be prophetic.

Elizabeth was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 1981 and by the Russian Orthodox Church as a whole in 1992 as New-Martyr Elizabeth. She is also one of ten twentieth-century martyrs memorialized above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London.