The Rebel Romanov

JULIE OF SAXE-COBURG, THE EMPRESS RUSSIA NEVER HAD

© Veste-Verlag Rossteutscher

“My principle is to live and let live. I respect the independence of another person, but I will not allow anyone to deprive me of my own. … I will not allow myself to be governed or directed.”

Julie of saxe-coburg

The Rebel Romanov

In 1795, and sensing that her powers and energy were waning, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia was anxious to secure a dynastic marriage for her grandson Konstantin, brother of the future Alexander I. For should Alexander and his wife Elizaveta produce no male children Konstantin would be next in line to the Russian throne. He therefore was in need of a suitably virtuous bride and Catherine, being German herself, settled on a German princess. To her mind they were more meek and submissive; Julie of Saxe-Coburg, however, would prove her wrong.

The Veste Coburg, ancestral home of the Saxe-Coburgs in the 18th century

In an eeerie echo of her own story, Catherine (who had been married off at 16 to Tsarevich Peter) invited Princess Auguste of Saxe Coburg-Saalfeld to bring her three eldest daughters – Sophie, Antoinette and Juliane – on a long and exhausting 40-day coach journey to St Petersburg to be inspected as possible brides for Konstantin.

Julie arrived at the Winter Palace from Coburg in October 1795

Although Konstantin at first prevaricated, after two weeks he chose Julie. The bewildered young princess, having had no say in the matter, was summarily abandoned to her fate in Russia by her mother, who returned to Coburg with her two sisters. Aged only 14, alone and friendless and speaking no Russian, Julie was married to Konstantin early in 1796.

Julie, c 1799, after her marriage to Grand Duke Konstantin

Now a Romanov Grand Duchess, Julie had everything a young bride could wish for: jewels, fabulous gowns and a grand palace on the Neva Embankment. But aside from her only real friend, Elizaveta, the German-born wife of Alexander, she was isolated in a court dominated by an ageing empress and riven with rivalries, plotting and gossip. Julie’s unhappiness was made worse by the erratic and unpredictable behaviour of her bullying husband, who made Julie’s life in Russia a misery.

Julie’s husband, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich

She longed to escape and go home to Coburg, but it took until 1801 before she finally managed to get away, and Julie had to wait until 1820 for a divorce. During that time she took refuge in Switzerland and built a fascinating and unorthodox new life for herself, in the process producing two illegitimate children. In 1814 Grand Duke Konstantin attempted a reconciliation with Julie, knowing that with the continuing failure of Alexander and Elizaveta to produce a male heir, the throne would pass to him – and he, in turn, would need a male heir. Julie adamantly refused to go back; had she agreed, when Alexander died prematurely in 1825, she would have become Empress of Russia. Instead Julie retreated to the beauty and comfort of her beloved home at Elfenau, near Bern, and the man with whom she had found enduring love.

Julie’s Swiss home Elfenau, near Bern

Her German family and relatives never referred to her by her official Russian name of Anna Feorodovna, but simply as Julie. She was loved and admired by all who met and knew her; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert held her in particularly high regard as their beloved ‘Aunt Julia’. Yet in truth they knew very little of the real woman, or of Julie’s extraordinarily difficult life in Russia and how she had sacrificed her reputation and a life of luxury in exchange for the freedom to live as she wished.

The Rebel Romanov is the first biography of Juliane of Saxe-Coburg in any language and draws on extensive primary research in the Saxe-Coburg archives, the Royal Archives at Windsor and other European archives. It includes many previously uncited and newly translated letters and contemporary accounts from German, Russian and French sources.

Helen Rappaport outside Julie’s home at Elfenau, October 2023

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