The personal jewellery of the last Tsarina, Alexandra Feodorovna

The personal jewellery of the last Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna provides a living, tangible timeline of her private life, quite apart from the glittering jewels which she would have worn as a Romanov bride As Princess Alix of Hesse, Alexandra had, of course, received items of jewellery as personal gifts; her maternal English grandmother, Queen Victoria gave her a memorial bracelet containing a picture of her father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse, who died in 1892, an event which Alexandra's biographer, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden described as 'perhaps the greatest sorrow of Princess Alix's life' Alexandra replied in a thank you letter to Queen Victoria: 'My own darling Grandmama, I send you my most loving and heartfelt thanks for the lovely bracelet with my beloved Papa's head - nothing could have given me greater pleasure' and tellingly, Alexandra continued: 'I shall wear it constantly' The latter is important, I think, because it shows that jewellery was meant to 'carry around' an association with the person concerned, similarly to how Queen Victoria would, remarkably, take out a locket from her corsage when on holiday in Italy.

Photographs are in some cases, the best way to see the kind of jewellery Alexandra was wearing as a child; we can see a sort of memorial locket in the photographs made of Alexandra after the death of her mother, Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse Jewellery formed an integral part of Alexandra and Nicholas' courtship and engagement In their wartime correspondence, the period of their engagement was remembered with personal gifts, though not always jewellery - Alexandra sent Nicholas an icon for the anniversary of the engagement in 1915.

The following year, Alexandra wore her personal jewellery again, on the anniversary of their engagement. . Source