Alexandra of Hesse

Alexandra of Hesse, Alix von Hessen-Darmstadt (25 April 1872 - 16/17 July 1918) was born in Darmstadt, Germany. She was the Tsarina (wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) from 1894 to 1917. Born as Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice, Princess of Hesse.

Her father was Ludwig IV von Hessen-Darmstadt, Grand Duke of Hesse and her mother was Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Alexandra met Nicholas at age twelve when her sister Ella (Grand Duchess Elizabeth) married Grand Duke Sergei in 1884. For Nicholas, who was sixteen, it was love at first sight.

Alexandra and Nicholas were married on November 26, 1894 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. They had four daughters and one son, Olga, Tatiana, Maria (or Marie), Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei.

Her husband abdicated as Tsar in 1917. On July 16/17, 1918, Alexandra, Nicholas II and their children and staff were shot in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Her life was dramatized in Nicholas and Alexandra.