by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Russian Titles and Patronymics

On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (age 53) and five other Romanovs, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich (age 59), Prince Ioann Konstantinovich (age 32), Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich (age 28), Prince Igor Konstantinovich (age 24), and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (age 21) along with Varvara Alexeievna Yakovleva, a nun from Elizabeth’s convent, and Feodor Semyonovich Remez, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary, were executed by the Bolsheviks.

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The second of the seven children of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was born Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine.  She was known in her family as Ella and was an elder sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine), the wife of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia.

In 1884, Ella married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the second youngest son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. The couple had no children but they later became the guardians of the children of Sergei’s brother Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger), and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. The children’s mother Alexandra of Greece and Denmark had died in 1891 giving birth to Dmitri, and they spent much time with Sergei and Ella.

In 1905, Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. Four years after her husband’s assassination, Ella sold all her jewelry and with the proceeds opened the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary in Moscow and became its abbess. A hospital, pharmacy, and orphanage were opened on the convent’s grounds, and Ella and her Russian Orthodox nuns spent their time serving the poor of Moscow.

• Unofficial Royalty: Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

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Born in 1869, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich was a son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia and Cecile of Baden (Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna). His father was a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Sergei had a military career, achieving the rank of Adjutant General. He served as General Inspector of the Artillery and Field Inspector General of Artillery. Grand Duke Sergei never married but had a long affair with the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska who had previously been the mistress of Nicholas II while he was still unmarried and the heir to the throne.

• Wikipedia: Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich

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Prince Ioann Konstantinovich was born in 1886 and was the eldest of the six sons and the eldest of the nine children of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I, and Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (Elizaveta Mavrikievna). Ioann was very religious and thought about becoming a monk but he fell in love. In 1911, he married Princess Helen of Yugoslavia, daughter of King Peter I of Yugoslavia and Zorka of Montenegro, and she took the name Yelena Petrovna. The couple had two children:

• Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich (1914 – 1973)
• Princess Yekaterina Ivanovna (1915 – 2007)

Ioann fought in World War I and was a decorated war hero. His sister Princess Vera Konstantinovna, his mother Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna, and his wife Princess Yelena Petrovna left Russia in April 1919 with help from Swedish and Norwegian diplomats.

• Wikipedia: Prince Ioann Konstantinovich

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Nicknamed Kostya, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich was born in 1891, the third of the six sons and fourth of the nine children of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I, and Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (Elizaveta Mavrikievna). Prince Konstantin wanted to act in the theater but instead, he attended the Corps des Pages, a military academy in St. Petersburg. He served as an officer in the Izmaylovsky Regiment during World War I.

• Wikipedia: Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich

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Prince Igor Konstantinovich was the fifth of the six sons and the six of the nine children of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I, and Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (Elizaveta Mavrikievna). He was born in 1894 and like his brother Konstantin, Igor liked the theater and attended the Corps des Pages, a military academy in Saint Petersburg. Despite having fragile health, Igor served with the Izmaylovsky Regiment during World War I and was a decorated war hero.

• Wikipedia: Prince Igor Konstantinovich

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Born in 1896, Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley was the son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (the youngest child of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia) and his mistress Olga Valerianovna Karnovich. In 1902, Grand Duke Paul, a widower, made a morganatic marriage with Vladimir’s mother. Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria created Olga Valerianovna Countess von Hohenfelsen in 1904, and Vladimir was titled Count Vladimir von Hohenfelsen. In 1915, Olga Valerianovna was created Princess Paley by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia which allowed Vladimir to use the title of Prince Paley.

Vladimir grew up in Paris and then attended the Corps des Pages, a military academy in Saint Petersburg. During World War I, he fought with the Emperor’s Hussars and was a decorated war hero. A talented poet from an early age, Vladimir published two volumes of poetry and wrote several plays and essays.

• Wikipedia: Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley

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What Happened

On March 9, 1918, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich was arrested in St. Petersburg and, with his secretary Feodor Semyonovich Remez, was sent to Perm, a city in Perm Krai, Russia. The three brothers – Princes Ioann, Konstantin, and Igor – along with Prince Vladimir Paley, were arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918. In late April, all four were transferred to the “red capital of the Urals” – Yekaterinburg, a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was arrested in Moscow on May 7, 1918, along with Varvara Alexeievna Yakovleva, the nun from her convent, and was first sent to Perm and then to Yekaterinburg. With the family of Nicholas II also in Yekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks decided that there was too much of a concentration of Romanovs and decided to move them. On May 20, 1918, they were all taken to Alapaevsk, a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, where they were kept in the Napolnaya School.

During the beginning of their confinement, the prisoners had a certain amount of freedom. They were allowed to write letters, leave the school to go to church, and were able to walk in a nearby field. Elizabeth Feodorovna spent her time praying, painting, and embroidering. The prisoners could sit in a small garden where they drank tea in the fresh air. Their so-called freedom disappeared in mid-June 1918 when there was an incident during the execution of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the brother of Nicholas II. It appeared to his executioners that Michael had been trying to escape after the gun that was intended for him misfired. The incident was used by local authorities to justify the necessity of keeping all imprisoned Romanovs under a strict regime of imprisonment. All their property was confiscated including shoes, clothes, linens, pillows, jewelry, and money. They were left with only one set of clothes, one pair of shoes, and two sets of linens. In addition, they were prohibited from leaving the school, could not write letters, and had limited food rations.

On the night of July 18, 1918, the prisoners were awakened and told they needed to be taken to a safe place because there was a risk of armed raids. The prisoners were blindfolded and their hands were tied behind their backs. The women were placed in a horse-drawn cart and the men in another. Only Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich resisted. The prisoners were taken out of town to one of the abandoned iron ore mines known as Lower Selimskaya. When the carts reached their destination, the prisoners were made to walk into the forest.

They walked to the edge of a mine shaft partially filled with water. According to the personal account of Vassili Ryabov, one of the killers,  the prisoners were then hit in the head and thrown into the mine shaft. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich once again resisted and he was shot in the head and thrown down the mine shaft. When it was obvious that the prisoners were not dead, grenades were thrown down the mine shaft. All was quiet but after a short time, talking was heard and more grenades were thrown down the mine shaft. The prisoners then started singing the prayer “Lord, Save Your People.” This terrified the executioners. They had no more grenades and they needed to finish their job. The executioners set fire to wood and threw it down the shaft. The hymns and prayers continued for a while and then stopped. The mission was accomplished.

On September 28, 1918, the White Army captured Alapayevsk, hoping to rescue the prisoners from the school building. Some local peasants directed them to the abandoned mine and on October 8, 1918, bodies began to be retrieved from the mine shaft. After a medical examination and autopsy, the bodies were washed, wrapped in white shrouds, and placed in wooden coffins. Funeral services were held and the coffins were placed in the crypt of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Alapayevsk where they remained until July 1919.

For their safety, the coffins were moved around Russia during struggles between the White Army and the Red Army. The coffins made their way to Beijing, China where they were interred in a chapel at the former Russian Mission. In 1921, the remains of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna were interred at the St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem along with the remains of her fellow nun Varvara Yakovleva. The church was built in 1886 by Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia to honor his mother Empress Maria Alexandrovna, born Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, a first cousin once removed of Elizabeth.

In 1957, the chapel at the former Russian Mission in Beijing, China was demolished and the coffins of the five Romanov men were moved to the Russian Orthodox cemetery in Beijing. However, in the late 1980s, the Chinese converted the cemetery into a park and it is believed that the coffins are now buried under a parking lot.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was canonized in 1981 as New-Martyr Elizabeth by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia along with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich, Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, and Varvara Yakovleva. However, Feodor Remez, Grand Duke Sergei’s personal secretary, was not canonized. They are known as the Martyrs of Alapaevsk. In 1992, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Varvara Yakovleva were canonized as New-Martyr Elizabeth and New-Martyr Barbara by the Russian Orthodox Church. The others killed with them were not canonized.

The mine shaft in Alapayevsk became a site of religious pilgrimage and a Russian Orthodox chapel was built there in 1992.  On July 18, 2001, the Monastery of the New Martyrs of Russia, also built on the site of the mine shaft, was consecrated.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London, England. Ella’s convent was closed in 1920 during the Soviet regime, but the convent was re-opened in 1994 and the sisters there continue doing the work Ella started.

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Works Cited