Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia

Who was Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia?

Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia (Александра Георгиевна), née Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Πριγκίπισσα Αλεξάνδρα της Ελλάδας και Δανίας) (30 August 1870 – 24 September 1891) was born in Corfu, Greece. She was the third child and firstborn daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, herself the daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia. She was a sister to Constantine I of Greece, and thus aunt of three kings and two queens, Constantine's three sons, who all became kings of Greece, and two of his daughters, who were queens, in name, of Romania and Croatia, respectively. She is also an aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Alexandra with her husband Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovitch.

Grand Duchess Alexandra with her first child Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.Alexandra, whose nicknames were "Greek Alix" or "Aline", was well-loved by her family. "She had one of those sweet and lovable natures that endeared her to everybody who came in touch with her," recalled her brother Prince Nicholas of Greece. "She looked young and beautiful, and ever since she was a child, life looked as it had nothing but joy and happiness in store for her." When she was nineteen years old, she was married to Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, the eighth child and sixth son of Emperor Alexander II and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. They had become close when Grand Duke Paul spent winters in Greece due to his frequent respiratory illnesses. The Greek royal family also frequently spent holidays with the Romanov family on visits to Russia or Denmark.

They had two children:

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Seven months into her second pregnancy, Alexandra took a walk with her friends on the bank of the Moskva River and jumped directly into a boat that was permanently moored there, but fell as she got in. The next day, she collapsed in the middle of a ball from violent labour pains brought on by the previous day's activities. She gave birth to her son, Dmitri, lapsed into a fatal coma, and she died six days later. Her grieving husband had to be restrained from throwing himself into the grave with her.The "Alexandra Maternity Hospital" (now "Alexandra General Hospital") in Athens was later named in her memory by her nephew, King Paul; it was affiliated with the University of Athens with a special remit to research and combat postpartum maternal mortality. Alexandras Avenue in Athens was also named after her.

Her husband later morganatically remarried Olga Karnovich.