As the daughter of a Russian grand duchess, Maria ("Marusya") and her siblings (Nicholas, Eugen, Eugenia, Sergei, and George) were always treated as grand dukes and duchesses, bearing the styles Imperial Highness.[2] After their father's death in 1852, their mother morganatically remarried to Count Grigori Stroganov two years later.[3] As this union was kept secret from her father Emperor Nicholas I (and her brother Emperor Alexander II could not permit the union, preferring instead to feign ignorance), Grand Duchess Maria was forced into exile abroad.[3] Alexander felt sympathy for his sister however, and paid special attention to her children from her first marriage, who lived in St. Petersburg without their mother.[3]
1866 assassination attempt on Alexander II
On 4 April 1866, Maria and her brother Nicholas were accompanying their uncle Alexander in St. Petersburg, when an assassination was attempted.[4][5] Alexander stopped to put on an overcoat before climbing into his carriage, when a man quickly aimed a pistol at him; only the swift action of a man named Komissaroff, [who?] who knocked the man's hand up in the air, saved the emperor's life.[4][5]
Upon learning of the marriage, United States PresidentAbraham Lincoln sent a letter to Wilhelm's elder brother Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden in which Lincoln stated: "I participate in the satisfaction afforded by this happy event and pray Your Royal Highness to accept my sincere congratulations upon the occasion together with the assurances of my highest consideration".[9]
After her marriage, Maria spent most of her time in Germany, paying only rare visits to Russia.[10] As a new wife, Maria began her duties soon after marrying, for instance representing her husband's relative Grand Duchess Louise of Baden at the christening of the Prince of Leiningen's daughter.[11] During the Franco-Prussian War, Wilhelm served with the Prussian army under the command of Wilhelm I. On 29 July, Maria and her husband stayed with Crown Prince Frederick William, and according to the prince's memoirs, "distracted us for the moment from the anxieties of the present".[12]
Prince Wilhelm died on 27 April 1897.[citation needed] After his death, Maria founded a new organization, called the German Anti-Immorality Association. Its purpose was to suppress "vice among the upper classes".[13] Maria, with the help of Grand Duchess Eleonore of Hesse and Queen Charlotte of Württemberg, set aside a fund meant to produce pamphlets persuading both female and male royal figures that their prominent roles in society meant they should be examples of moral purity.[13] They also sent a missive to their family and friends asking them to "abstain from immorality" for one year.[13]
Princess Maria remained widowed until her own death, on 16 February 1914 in St. Petersburg.[14] As with the court of St. Petersburg, Maria's death cast the Berlin court into mourning, disrupting planned court festivities.[14]
Generations indicate marriage to the princely descendants of Charles Frederick, the first Grand Duke of Baden. Only princesses notable enough for standalone articles are included. Later generations do not legally hold a title due to the abolition of the monarchy.
