Children of Alexander 1. Alexander 1 Pavlovich: years of government, personal life, biography

Emperor Alexander I was the grandson of Catherine the Great from her only son Pavel Petrovich and the German princess Sophia of Württemberg, in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna. He was born in St. Petersburg on December 25, 1777. Named after Alexander Nevsky, the newly born princess was immediately selected from his parents and brought up under the control of the royal grandmother, which strongly influenced the political views of the future autocrat.

Childhood and Youth

All the childhood of Alexander went under the control of the reigning grandmother, he almost did not communicate with his parents, however, despite this, he, like Father Pavel, loved and was well versed in military affairs. The active service of the princess was held in Gatchina, at the age of 19 he was promoted to colonel.

The Czarevich was perceptive, quickly grasped new knowledge and studied with pleasure. It was in him, and not in his son Pavle, that Catherine the Great saw the future Russian emperor, but she could not put him on the throne bypassing his father.

At the age of 20 he became Governor-General of St. Petersburg and Chief of the Guards Semenovsky Regiment. A year later he begins to sit in the Senate.

Alexander critically treated the policy that his father, the emperor Paul, conducted, so he was involved in a conspiracy, the purpose of which was to remove the emperor from the throne and Alexander's accession. However, the condition of the Crown Prince was the preservation of his father's life, so the violent death of the latter brought the cesarevitch a sense of guilt for life.

Married life

The personal life of Alexander I was very rich. Marriage of the Tsesarevich began early - at the age of 16 he was married to the fourteen-year-old Baden Princess Louise Maria Augusta, who changed her name in Orthodoxy, becoming Elizaveta Alexeyevna. The newlyweds were very fit for each other, for which among the courtiers received the nicknames Cupid and Psyche. In the first years of marriage, the relations between the spouses were very tender and touching, the Grand Duchess was very fond of and respected at the court by everything except Maria Fedorovna's mother-in-law. However, warm relations in the family soon changed into cool - the newlyweds had too different characters, besides, Alexander Pavlovich often cheated on his wife.

Alexander's wife was modest, did not like luxury, did charity work, balls and social events, she preferred walking and reading books.

The Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

Almost six years the marriage of the Grand Duke did not bear fruit, and only in 1799 there were children at Alexander I. The Grand Duchess gave birth to a daughter - Maria Alexandrovna. The birth of a baby led to an intra-family scandal in the imperial family. Alexander's mother hinted that the child was not born from a czarevich, but from Prince Czartoryski, in a novel with which she suspected her daughter-in-law. In addition, the girl was born a brunette, and both parents were blond. Emperor Paul also hinted at the betrayal of his daughter-in-law. The very same Tsarevich Alexander recognized his daughter and never spoke about the possible change of the wife. The happiness of fatherhood was short-lived, Grand Duchess Maria lived a little more than a year and died in 1800. The death of her daughter briefly reconciled and brought her spouses closer.

The Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alexandrovna

Numerous novels increasingly alienated the crowned spouses, Alexander, not hiding, cohabiting with Maria Naryshkina, and the Empress Elizabeth from 1803 began an affair with Alexei Okhotnikov. In 1806, the wife of Alexander I gave birth to a daughter - Grand Duchess Elizabeth, despite the fact that the couple had not lived together for several years, the emperor acknowledged his daughter, which made the girl first in line for the Russian throne. The children of Alexander I did not enjoy him for long. The second daughter died at the age of 18 months. After the death of Princess Elizabeth, the relationship of the married couple became even cooler.

Love affair with Maria Naryshkina

Married life with Elizaveta Alexeyevna in many respects did not come about because of the fifteen-year-old relationship of Alexander with the daughter of the Polish aristocrat M. Naryshkina, before the marriage of Chetvertinskaya. Alexander did not hide this connection, his family and all the courtiers knew about her, moreover, Maria Naryshkina herself at every opportunity tried to prick the Emperor's wife, hinting at an affair with Alexander. During the years of love affair, Alexander was attributed to the paternity of five of the six children Naryshkina:

• Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1803,
• Elizaveta Dmitrievna, born in 1804,
• Sofya Dmitrievna, born in 1808,
• Zinaida Dmitrievna, born in 1810,
• Emmanuil Dmitrievich, born in 1813.

In 1813, the emperor broke up with Naryshkina, because he suspected her of another man. The Emperor suspected that Emmanuel Naryshkin was not his son. After the separation between the former lovers, friendly relations were preserved. Of all the children of Mary and Alexander I, Sophia Naryshkina lived the longest. She died at the age of 16 on the eve of her wedding.

Extramarital children of Alexander I

In addition to the children of Mary Naryshkina, the Emperor Alexander had illegitimate children from other favorites.

• Nikolai Lukash, was born in 1796 from Sofia Meshcherskaya;
• Maria, was born in 1819 from Maria Turkestanova;
• Maria Alexandrovna of Paris (1814), mother of Margarita Josephine Weimer;
• Alexandrova Wilhelmina Alexandrina Paulina, was born in 1816, the mother is unknown;
• Gustav Ehrenberg (1818), the mother of Elena Rautenstrauch;
• Nikolai Isakov (1821), mother - Karacharova Maria.

The paternity of the last four children among the researchers of the biography of the emperor remains controversial. Some historians in general doubt whether there were children from Alexander I.

The internal policy of 1801-1815.

Having ascended to the throne in March 1801, Alexander I Pavlovich proclaimed that he would continue the policy of his grandmother Catherine the Great. In addition to the title of the Russian emperor, Alexander was crowned king of Poland from 1815, the Grand Duke of Finland from 1801 and the Protector of the Order of Malta since 1801.

His reign Alexander I (from 1801 to 1825) began with the development of radical reforms. The Emperor abolished the Secret Expedition, banned the use of torture against prisoners, allowed him to import books from abroad and open private printing houses on the territory of the country.

Alexander took the first step towards the abolition of serfdom, issuing a decree "On Free Farmers", and introduced a ban on the sale of peasants without land, but these measures have not made any special changes.

Reforms in the education system

More fruitful were Alexander's reforms in the education system. A clear graduation of educational institutions was introduced in accordance with the level of educational programs, so there were county and parish schools, provincial schools and colleges, universities. Throughout 1804-1810 years. Kazan University, Kharkov University were opened, the Pedagogical Institute, the privileged Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum was opened in St. Petersburg, the Academy of Sciences was restored in the capital.

From the first days of the reign, the emperor surrounded himself with young, educated people with progressive views. One of these was the law professor Speransky, it was under his leadership that Peter's colleges in the Ministry were reformed. Speransky also began to develop a project to reorganize the empire, which provided for the separation of powers and the creation of an elected representative body. Thus, the monarchy would be transformed into a constitutional one, however, the reform met with opposition from the political and aristocratic leaders, so it was not held.

Reforms of 1815-1825

Under the reign of Alexander I, the history of Russia has radically changed. The Emperor showed active action in domestic politics at the beginning of his reign, but after 1815 they went into decline. In addition, each of his reforms met with fierce resistance from the Russian nobility. Since that time, no significant changes have taken place in the Russian Empire. In 1821-1822, secret police were established in the army, secret organizations and Masonic lodges were banned.

Exceptions were the western provinces of the empire. In 1815, Alexander 1 granted the Polish Empire a constitution under which Poland became a hereditary monarchy within Russia. In Poland, the bicameral Sejm was preserved, which together with the king was a legislative body. The Constitution was liberal in character and in many ways resembled the French Charter and the Constitution of England. Also in Finland was guaranteed the implementation of the constitutional law of 1772, and the peasants of the Baltic States were freed from serfdom.

Military reform

After the victory over Napoleon, Alexander saw that the country needed a military reform, so from 1815 the military minister Arakcheev was commissioned to develop its project. It implied the creation of military settlements as a new military-agricultural class that would equip the army on an ongoing basis. The first such settlements were introduced in the Kherson, Novgorod provinces.

Foreign policy

The reign of Alexander I left its mark in foreign policy. In the first year of his reign, he concluded peace treaties with England and France, and in 1805-1807 became a member of the French Emperor Napoleon. The defeat of Austerlitz aggravated the situation in Russia, which led to the signing of Napoleon of the Peace of Tilsit in June 1807, which implied the creation of a defensive alliance between France and Russia.

The more successful was the Russian-Turkish confrontation of 1806-1812, which ended with the signing of the Brest Peace, according to which Bessarabia moved to Russia.

The war with Sweden in 1808-1809 ended in the victory of Russia, under the peace treaty the empire received Finland and the Aland Islands.

Also during the reign of Alexander during the Russo-Persian war, Azerbaijan, Imeretia, Guria, Mengrelia and Abkhazia were annexed to the empire. The empire obtained the right to have its own Caspian fleet. Earlier, in 1801, Georgia became part of Russia, and in 1815 - the Duchy of Warsaw.

However, Alexander's greatest victory is the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, therefore he led the anti-French coalition of 1813-1814. In March 1814, the emperor of Russia joined Paris at the head of the armies of the coalition, he also became one of the leaders of the Vienna Congress to establish a new order in Europe. The popularity of the Russian emperor was colossal, in 1819 he became the godfather of the future Queen of England Victoria.

Death of the Emperor

According to the official version, Emperor Alexander I Romanov died on November 19, 1825 in Taganrog from complications of inflammation of the brain. Such early death of the emperor caused a lot of rumors and legends.

In 1825, the health of the Emperor's spouse deteriorated sharply, the doctors advised the southern climate, it was decided to go to Taganrog, the emperor decided to accompany his wife, relations with which in recent years have become very warm.

Being in the south, the emperor visited Novocherkassk and the Crimea, on the way he caught a severe cold and died. Alexander was healthy and never sick, so the death of the 48-year-old emperor became suspicious for many, and many considered his sudden desire to accompany the Empress on a trip suspicious too. Moreover, the body of the king before the burial was not shown to the people, the farewell took place with a closed coffin. Even more rumors were born and the speedy death of the Emperor's wife - Elizabeth died six months later.

The emperor is an elder

In the 1830-1840's. The deceased king was identified with an elder Fedor Kuzmich, who resembled the emperor with his features, and moreover possessed beautiful manners that were not peculiar to a simple vagabond. Among the population there were rumors that the emperor's double was buried, and the tsar himself lived under the name of the elder until 1864, while the empress Elizaveta Alekseevna was also identified with the hermit Vera Molchalnitsa.

The question of whether the elder Fyodor Kuzmich and Alexander is one person has not yet been clarified, only genetic examination will be able to put all the points on the "i".