Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (1865-1927)

Russian-German Royalty, a.k.a Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna of Russia. Born in Meiningen, Germany, to Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and the former Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess Elisabeth married her second cousin, Grand Duke Konstantin of Russia, grandson of Czar Nicholas I, on April 27, 1884. Despite religious and other difficulties, (the 19-year-old bride remained staunchly Lutheran to the disappointment of her devoutly Russian Orthodox groom), the marriage was a successful one, and nine children were born to the couple between the years 1886-1906. Affectionately known as "Mavra" to her Romanov in-laws, she survived the horrors of World War I and the Russian Revolution, but her beloved husband and four of their sons did not. Widowed in 1915, she was able to take refuge in Sweden in 1918, where she lived for a time with her two youngest children before eventually returning to the Saxe-Altenburg family seat near Leipzig. In 1927 she died there of cancer at age 62. Initially interred in Herzogin-Agnes Gedachtniskirche, her remains and those of several other members of the Saxe-Altenburg ruling family were transferred to Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf in 1939. In addition to her husband and their sons Oleg, Ivan, Konstantin, and Igor, she was predeceased by their infant daughter, Natalia. Survivors at the time of her death included two sons: Gavril and George, two daughters: Tatiana and Vera, and several grandchildren.

Bio by: Nikita Barlow