“In the evening, at the roulette, I also think about you…” Letters of Grand Duchess Wilhelmine of Hesse to her daughter: new touches to the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The end of the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century

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doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1118-1134

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Suleymanov, Irek T. (2025). “In the evening, at the roulette, I also think about you…” Letters of the Grand Duchess Wilhelmina of Hesse to her daughter: new touches to the biography of the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The end of the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 1118-1134, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1118-1134

Suleymanov, Irek T., National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

“In the evening, at the roulette, I also think about you…” Letters of Grand Duchess Wilhelmine of Hesse to her daughter: new touches to the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The end of the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century

Abstract

The article is the first to publish deciphered and translated letters from the German and French languages of the Grand Duchess Wilhelmina of Hesse and the Rhine (1788-1836), addressed to her daughter Princess Maria of Hesse and the Rhine, later the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880). The analysis of this epistolary corpus from the collection of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) is given, first of all, in the context of clarifying the children's pages of the biography of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The "Childhood World" of Princess Marie of Hesse remains the least explored element of her biography. The main difficulty faced by the biographers of the Empress was the lack of valid archival documents. In this regard, the letters of Grand Duchess Wilhelmina are of scientific value, as they contain rich source material about the childhood of the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna, enabling researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the initial prerequisites and factors of her personality formation. The corpus of letters covers the chronological framework of 1831-1835, including the years of systematic education of Princess Mary, which began in 1829, almost up to the death of Grand Duchess Wilhelmina. The letters demonstrate the established educational tandem of Princess Mary's mother and her governess, Baroness Maria (Marianne) von Senarklen de Grancy, and also give an idea of the mode and content of communication between the Grand Duchess and her daughter, including cultural accents in the educational program. The archival materials contain colorful examples of the existence of the Darmstadt court in the 1830s. They give the reader an authentic idea of the intra-family ties and the nature of relations in the Grand Ducal family, in particular, noticeably correcting the prevailing ideas about the "separation" of the younger children of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and the Rhine (1777-1848) and Grand Duchess Wilhelmina from the older children and members of the Grand Ducal family. families. The letters mention the social circle of both the Grand Duchess and her daughter, the study of which deserves a separate study. The epistolaries under consideration allow us to form a more realistic picture of the relationship between Princess Mary and her mother, clarifying the idealized ideas of a number of biographers of the Empress, in particular, who speak of the "inseparability" of Wilhelmina and her daughter. The corpus of letters demonstrates the practice of epistolary communication inherent in Grand Duchess Wilhelmina and inherited by her daughter. The corpus of letters is equally relevant for clarifying the biographical picture of the final stage of the life of the Grand Duchess Wilhelmina herself.

Keywords

Grand Duchess Wilhelmina of Hesse and the Rhine, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Princess Maria of Hesse and the Rhine, House of Hesse, Romanov Dynasty, Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Rhine.

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About authors

Suleymanov Irek T., Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge, Department of Educational Programs, Associate Professor, Moscow, Russia, +7-985-112-15-57, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The article was received in the editorial office on 23.12.2024, recommended for publication on 20.06.2024.