THE ENGAGEMENT OF TSAR NICHOLAS II & ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA WITH THE PRINCESSES SITTING ON A STUFFED BEAR VICTORIA (1819-1901, Queen of Great Britain)

Superb group photo by Eduard Uhlenhuth taken at the Coburg wedding of Grand Duchess Victoria Melita to Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig, showing the Queen surrounded by the crowned heads of Europe, the English family is represented by the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchesses of Edinburgh & Connaught, Prince Henry of Battenberg, the Princess Beatrice, Prince Alfred & Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh, the German Royals are represented by Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Empress Frederick (Vicky, former Princess Royal), Princesses Victoria & Irene of Hesse, the Romanian Royals include Crown Prince Ferdinand and Crown Princess Marie, and the Russian Imperial House is represented by Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Grand Dukes Serge & Paul, Grand Duchess Ella and Vladimir, 10” x 7½”, Coburg, April

It is interesting to note that this is the only photograph of the Queen with Alexandra Empress of Russia and her sister Ella as adults, it is also the only time she was photographed with so many of her important grandchildren. This image includes five members of the Romanov family who were assassinated in the Revolution and Prince Alfred of Edinburgh who committed suicide five years after this photo was taken.
From the album of Arthur Duke of Connaught.
Eduard UHLENHUTH (1853-1919) was a German Photographer who working in Coburg from 1880 and later in Schweinfurt.
On 19th April 1894, Tsarevich Nicholas was at the wedding of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, to their mutual cousin, Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Nicholas had also obtained permission from his parents, Tsar Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, to propose to Ernst's younger sister, Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, one of the favourite granddaughters of Queen Victoria. The Emperor and Empress had initially been opposed to the match. However, Nicholas, who had first met Alix a decade earlier in St. Petersburg when Alix's sister, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, married Nicholas's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was not to be dissuaded. Furthermore, Tsar Alexander's health was beginning to fail. Shortly after arriving in Coburg, Nicholas proposed to Alix. However, Alix, who was a devout Lutheran, rejected Nicholas's proposal, as in order to marry the heir to the throne, she would have to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. However, Alix's cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been at the wedding along with their grandmother, Queen Victoria, came to speak to her, insisting that it was her duty to marry Nicholas, despite her religious scruples. At the prompting of the kaiser, Nicholas proposed for the second time, and she accepted.
Victoria Milita and Ernst are not in the picture as they were married the day before and so had gone on their honeymoon. Victoria wanted a picture of Nicholas and Alexandra for the occasion.

Item Date:  1894

Stock No:  30385      £2750

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