Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Royal Guests and Relatives from around Europe joined the Russian Imperial Family for the Funeral of Tsar Alexander III of Russia at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on this day in 1894, 130 years ago, following three weeks of Processions and Services from Livadia by way of Moscow.
The Funeral of Tsar Alexander III of Russia was held at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, where he was joined by Tsarina Maria Feodorovna 112 years later. The Tsar had passed away in Livadia Palace in the Crimea on November 1st, and after sailing from Yalta to Sevastopol, it took three days for the Train to reach Moscow, where there was a laying-in-state at the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin for 36 hours, before making the final journey to St Petersburg. In Queen Victoria and the Romanovs, Coryne Hall wrote:
“Alexander III’s coffin was carried to the jetty at Yalta by sailors from the imperial yacht along a path strewn with cypress sprays and laurel leaves, followed by the imperial family on foot. It took two-and-a-half hours for the long procession (which included the emperor’s charger, without trappings) to reach Yalta harbour where the coffin was placed on board the warship Pamiat Merkuria. Accompanied by an escort from the Black Sea fleet and a final salute of cannons it sailed for Sevastopol where a train was waiting to take them north. Three days and 1,400 miles later the slow-moving train reached Moscow, where snow was on the ground and the wind was biting.
In a silence broken only by tolling bells and guns firing in salute, the coffin was borne through streets lined with thousands of sorrowing people. Ten times they stopped at churches along the route for a Litany to be sung on the steps before they finally reached the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, where Alexander III lay in state for 36 hours. Still the interminable masses for the dead continued. One was repeated thirty-nine times.
The whole process had to be gone through again when the coffin was borne back to the station for the final journey to St Petersburg. Bertie later described the journey as ‘very fatiguing, though most impressive, with the constant religious services in the open air at the different places where the train had to stop.’
Meanwhile the funeral services continued. On 16 November Bertie telegraphed again. ‘The service on Monday commences at 10 and will last 2 or 3 hours.”
The Russian Imperial Family were joined by Royal Guests and Relatives including King Christian IX of Denmark (father-in-law), the Prince and Princess of Wales (sister-in-law), the Duke of York (nephew), and Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (sister), Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, and the soon-to-be Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.
A week after the Funeral, the new Tsar Nicholas II married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine at the the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, with Court Mourning suspended for a day to celebrate the Wedding.
Empress Maria Feodorovna’s Pearl Wave Tiara
Empress Maria Feodorovna’s Pearl Brooch
Russian Imperial Diamond Necklace
Maria Feodorovna’s Sapphire Bandeau
Russian Sapphire Cluster Brooch