Customer Reviews

Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Fedorovna (1847-1928)

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This biography of the last Dowager Empress of Russia should be shelved next to Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra. Like Massie's work, this biography by Coryne Hall does more than just cover the life of its subject, it successfully evokes the last sixty years or so of the Romanov Dynasty, Russia, and Europe.

Dowager Empress Marie Fedorovna was born into an obscure branch of the Danish Royal Family with little money and fewer prospects. Her rise to fame and fortune began when her father was adopted as the heir to the Danish throne, making her and her siblings acceptable spouses for the royal houses of Europe. Marie (or Dagmar, as she was originally named) had one sister who married the Prince of Wales, a brother who became King of Greece,and another who became King of Denmark. Dagmar herself was picked to be the wife of the Tsar of Russia's heir.

Dagmar/Marie seems to have sincerely loved her fiancee, Tsarevich Nicholas, and she was devastated when he died a few months after their engagement. Nevertheless she was able to accept and eventually love Nicholas's younger brother Alexander, and together they produced what seems to have been an unusually happy royal family of five children. Marie became Empress of Russia under the horrifying circumstances of the assassination of her father-in-law, and the reign of her husband Tsar Alexander III was tense and reactionary. Marie seems to have been utterly loyal and loving, and although Hall tries to paint her as a secret liberal, no evidence is given that she ever tried to moderate any of her husband's policies.

When Alexander III died in 1894 Marie's oldest son became Tsar Nicholas II. Here we see Marie's less admirable side as her cold treatment of her daughter-in-law Alexandra cut the ground from under the new Empress almost as soon as she arrived in Russia. Hall cannot offer an explanation for the two womens' lack of sympathy beyond saying that they were simply too different. As the book goes on, this lack of sympathy becomes even more tragic, as Alexandra came under the thrall of Rasputin and Nicholas's fatalism caused him to take less and less action as Russia weakened and collapsed. One senses that the Tsar and Empress could have used a dollop of good Danish common sense every now and then!

The last part of the book is the most heroic. Marie stuck it out in Russia, to her own considerable endangerment, until late in the Revolution and only consented to leave if her companions were also allowed to do so. During her last few years she stubbornly maintained as much grandeur as possible (to the considerable aggravation of her relatives who paid her bills) and died in her native country in 1928. She is buried in the Danish Royal Family's crypt. I hope that eventually her last wish, that she be reburied beside her husband in St. Petersburg, can be realized. It would be a fitting final tribute.

It's been a long time since any new research has been done on Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. Most recent works have concentrated on Nicholas and Alexandra to the exclusion of the rest of the Romanovs.

Marie' was born as Dagmar, a princess of the Danish Royal house and was sister to Queen Alexandra of Britian and King George of Greece. Her life was long and eventful. She came from an impoverished royal familiy, ended empress of the richest royal house in Europe and finally an exile with the bulk of her Russian family and relations killed in the revolution. The sole "imperial" survivor.

This book presents information that I haven't seen before. The author has had access to new sources inside Russia that weren't available for earlier biographies and it makes this book worth reading as I found a few suprises in information, especially in regards to her first engagement.

A worthwhile and timely update of Dagmars life that explains the sorces of many of the conflicts of the 19th century and gives us an overview of imperial life from the 1860's to the 1920's,

As a die-hard Romanov fan, I found the story of Empress Marie Feodorovna in Little Mother of Russia by Coryne Hall to be fascinating. Unfortunately, errors and oversights by Hall kept this from being a truly great biography.

Marie, the former Princess Dagmar of Denmark, is best known as the mother of the ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II. This is a rags to riches to almost rags story. Dagmar was born into one of the poorer branches of the Danish Royal Family. Although not heir to the throne, circumstances lead to her father being crowned King Christian IX. Her sister Alix eventually became Queen Alexandra of England (married to Edward VII), and her brother became King George I of Greece. Dagmar was not as beautiful as Alix, but she had velvety eyes, a caring heart, a petite figure and a sense of style. She was originally engaged to the Russian Tsarevitch Nicholas. When Nicholas died suddenly, his brother Alexander (Sasha) took Dagmar as his bride. This was a marriage of opposites, yet it was one of the happiest among any royal family at that time. When Sasha ascended the throne on the assassination of his father, Alexander II, Dagmar became the glittering and very popular Empress Marie Feodorovna.

Sasha and Marie had a happy family life and reared five children. But their biggest failing was raising Tsarevitch Nicholas to be a weak man, totally unprepared for the crown. When Sasha died suddenly at the age of 49, Marie's life took a dramatic turn when she found herself on the outside looking in.

Nicholas was totally dominated by his wife, Alexandra. The situation became worse when after the birth of four daughters, the empress finally gave birth to a son and heir, Alexis. Soon after his birth, it was discovered that Alexis suffered from hemophilia. In desperation, Nicholas and Alexandra turned to a number of quacks and mystics before meeting up with the infamous Rasputin. Marie could only sit by helplessly as Russia headed toward revolution.

Little Mother Russia shows how Marie was a woman of contradictions. She was a loving and devoted mother to her oldest three children. But after she became empress, she became more remote and detached to the two youngest. She was an anti-Semite, yet treated Jews with kindness. She wasn't the most intelligent woman, but she was clever, witty and possessed a strong political acumen. Marie had a talent for toning down her often stubborn and autocratic husband. It wasn't until after Sasha's death that she became stubborn herself, as well as selfish and demanding.

After the revolution, Marie lost almost everything including two sons, five grandchildren, assorted in-laws, her palaces, her wealth and most of her possessions. She lived the rest of her life in her native Denmark, supported by her two nephews, King George V (England) and King Christian X (Denmark). Her meager allowances did not allow her to live as an empress, although she certainly tried.

Unfortunately, there are a number of problems that detract from this book. First, there are a number of typos and errors that are unacceptable. Little Mother of Russia is generously sprinkled with Russian terms without explanations. I had to go on Google to discover that a panikhida is a memorial service. The ending was rushed and not well documented. On page 357, she states that the remains of two bodies, believed to be Alexis and the missing grand duchess, were discovered near Ekaterinburg and were awaiting DNA testing. She does not document where she got this information, and I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else.

Even with these problems, Marie led a fascinating life and Little Mother of Russia is quite interesting. Just the photos are worth the price of the book-many never before seen. So while I thought this book was good, it could have been much better.

I have always looked on Czar Alexander III as a less well-known figure, so when I saw this biography of his wife I read it because I wanted to know more about her husband. I found this a rewarding read, since the life of Dagmar, wife and widow of Alexander III, is full of the events which made Russia a centerpiece of history from 1881 to 1928 (when Dagmar died). It is not an academic biography but it reads very easily and moves right along. One cannot help but be appalled by the insensitivity of the Russian ruling class before the Revolution--which no doubt explains the ferocity of the events of 1917 and the following years. And as one who about 20 years ago was very interested in the Anastasia story, and Anna Anderson, (and after reading Peter Kurth's book Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson on Oct 24, 1983, for a time believed that Anna Anderson actually was Anastasia) this book's incidental account of the denounement of that issue was of high interest. This book will be relished by anyone interested in Russian or royal history. The genealogy tables on the covers are helpful to keep straight the tangled families of European royalty.

I can't improve on the reviewers below, but I must say this is a very comprehensive, yet readable biography, one that is a "must have" for any Romanov fan. The life of Empress Marie is one of extremes. Born in a rather insignificant branch of royalty, she is catapulted to one of the most glittering kingdoms of its time. And yet, despite the tremendous wealth, her life is marked by tremendous tragedy. I had always wanted to learn more about Marie since reading Robert Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra", and this book does not disappoint. My only two (minor) complaints are 1) rather sloppy editing (in one family tree a member is 130 years old when she dies) and 2) I find the book slightly overpriced at [item price]. Despite this, however, I do recommend this biography of an incredibly interesting woman. I think you will enjoy it.

This was the hardest book to find it after five years of searching and two failed attempts I finally found it. It was certainly worth the wait. It was well researched and written. The Empress Marie certainly had anamazing life and one of the few to survive the Russian Revolution which most ofher family was killed including two of her children and five grandchildren. Even though she went to her grave still believing they were still alive some where. It must have been easier to accept then the fact they were killed. I enjoyed learning about her childhood in Denmark and her marriage which was pretty romantic. An excellent book.

What a disappointment. This reads like a cut and paste job--there's no flow from paragraph to paragraph and virtually no personal information about the Dowager Empress. There is however a great deal of politics in the book if that's what you want.

From Dagmar of Demark to Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, this beautiful woman was nonetheless a remarkable person. One doesn't see many biographies as of late on the last living Empress of Russia. Coryne Hall does a good job in helping us remember a great icon in Russian history.

Great insight into one of the most fasinating empresses of imperial russia. This book showcased the life of the last dowager empress and the grand russian court life in such vivid detail. I now feel that I intimately know the Empress Marie who has always been an interesting empress that so little has been written about.

For those interested in the last ruling families of Russia this book will be a pleasure to read. It contains many interesting points of interest and several photos not often seen in books on the later Romanov families. The Empress Marie had a most interesting life and this book covers it completely. A good read.