Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia
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{{Infobox_Prince| name = Alexandra Alexandrovna
| title =Grand Duchess of Russia
| image =[[Image:Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia.jpg|250px|center]]
| caption = Grand Duchess Alexandra with her younger brother [[Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsarevich of Russia|Nicholas]].
| consort =
| issue =
| royal house =[[House of Romanov]]
| father =[[Alexander II of Russia]]
| mother =[[Marie of Hesse and by Rhine]]
| date of birth ={{birth date|1842|8|30|mf=y}}
| place of birth = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
| date of death ={{death date|1849|7|10|mf=y}} ({{age in years and days|1842|8|30|1849|7|10|mf=y}})
| place of death = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
| place of burial=
|}}
'''Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna of Russia''' ([[August 30]] [[1842]] - [[July 10]] [[1849]]) was the eldest child of [[Alexander II of Russia]] and [[Marie of Hesse and by Rhine]]. She died from [[meningitis|infant meningitis]] at the age of six and a half.
===Life and death===
She was nicknamed Lina or Sashenka within her family. Her father enjoyed having her keep him company while he worked in his study. Her death from [[meningitis|infant meningitis]] at the age of six and a half devastated her parents. Her mother was still brought to tears by the mention of her eldest child decades after her death.<ref>Zeepvat (2004), p. 178</ref><ref>Radzinsky (2005), p. 121</ref> Her father placed a dried flower from her funeral mass in his diary and marked the page in black to signify mourning.<ref>Radzinsky (2005), pp. 92-93</ref> They were thrilled when they had a second daughter, [[Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia]], because they had so missed having a little girl.<ref>Zeepvat (2004), pp. 25, 94</ref>
===Ghostly visit===
The [[ghost]] of Alexandra supposedly appeared along with that of her grandfather, [[Nicholas I of Russia]], during two palace [[séance]]s during the 1860s organized by [[Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg|Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna]]. The Tsar and others at court were interested in the [[spiritualism]] that was fashionable at the time. At one of the meetings, the table rose a few centimeters, spun and rapped out the words to "[[God Save the Tsar!]]" The Tsar and others present claimed he felt the touch of ghostly fingers. The spirits responded to questions asked by [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]], answering by rapping the letters of the alphabet, which he wrote down painstakingly on paper in front of him. A [[lady-in-waiting]] later complained that the answers were meaningless and wondered why they were more interested in playing games than providing real answers to the Tsar's questions. Alexandra's mother refused to come to the second séance, having decided that the ghosts were "spirits of lies" manipulated by the [[devil]] and her daughter had not actually appeared.<ref>Radzinsky (2005), pp. 120-121</ref>
===A portrait and mementoes on display===
A blue [[silk]] [[dress|frock]] worn by Alexandra was still on display in the [[Winter Palace]] fifty years after her death, according to [[Margaretta Eagar]]. "A pretty golden-haired child she was, too, judging from her portrait," wrote Eagar, a nurse for the four daughters of [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] and [[Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Tsarina Alexandra]].
===Name considered unlucky===
Eagar also wrote that the name Alexandra was considered unlucky in the [[Romanov]] family by the late 19th century because so many Romanov Alexandras had died as children or in their teens. The British public had wondered why none of the Tsarina's daughters was named in her honor; Eagar explained that the name was not used, despite the fact that Alexandra was their mother's name, because it was considered so unlucky. Other ill-fated Alexandras were [[Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia|Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna]], [[Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia|Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna]] and [[Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia|Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna]]. Eagar wrote that other branches of the family had named daughters Alexandra, but none lived past age twenty-one.<ref name="Eagar"> {{cite web | author=Eagar, Margaret | year=1906| title= "Six Years at the Russian Court" | work= alexanderpalace.org|url=http://www.alexanderpalace.org/eagar/eagar.html/ |accessdate = January 27| access year=2008}}</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
*[http://www.alexanderpalace.org/eagar/eagar.html Margaret Eagar, ''Six Years at the Russian Court,'' 1906.]
*Radzinsky, Edvard (2005). ''Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar''. Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7432-7332-9
*Van Der Kiste, John (2004). ''The Romanovs 1818-1959'' Sutton Publishing. ISBN 075093459X
*Zeepvat, Charlotte (2004). ''The Camera and the Tsars''. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3049-7
==External links==
*thePeerage.com, Alexandra Alexandrovna Romanov, Grand Duchess of Russia [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10114.htm#i101136]
{{Russian grand duchesses}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Alexandrovna, Alexandra
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Grand Duchess of Russia
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= Royalty of Russia
|DATE OF BIRTH= [[August 30]] [[1842]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
|DATE OF DEATH= [[July 10]] [[1849]]
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
}}
[[Category:1842 births|Romanov]]
[[Category:1849 deaths|Romanov]]
[[Category:Deaths from meningitis|Alexandra Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess]]
[[Category:House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov|Alexandra Alexandrovna]]
[[bg:Александра Александровна]]
[[hu:Alekszandra Alekszandrovna Romanova orosz nagyhercegnő]]
[[nl:Alexandra Aleksandrovna van Rusland]]
[[pl:Aleksandra Aleksandrowna Romanowa]]
[[ru:Александра Александровна]]
[[fi:Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Romanov]]