Anna Pavlovna of Russia

Anna Pavlovna of Russia ( ; ; – 1 March 1865) was Queen of the Netherlands by marriage to King William II of the Netherlands. She was a Russian patriot who upheld a strict royal etiquette in the Netherlands, where she never felt at home, and identified more as an imperial Russian grand duchess than a Dutch queen. She had no political influence, but was active within charity. She is the paternal grandmother of Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, via her eldest son, William III.

Youth

Anna Pavlovna was born in 1795 at Gatchina Palace, the eighth child and sixth daughter of Paul I of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), and thus was Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. Following the death of Anna's paternal grandmother, Catherine the Great, in 1796, her father became the emperor, but was deposed and killed in 1801, when she was six years old. Anna Pavlovna's brother Alexander succeeded to the throne.

Anna was raised by her mother at the summer residence of the Romanovs, Tsarskoye Selo. She spent her childhood there with her two younger brothers, Nicholas (1796–1855) and Michael. Anna was tutored by the Swiss governess Louise de Sybourg ('Bourcis') and received a broad education, including foreign languages (Russian, German and French) and mathematics. She was good at handicrafts and painting. Other suitors were Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (a prospective Bourbon heir to the French throne), and the British Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. In truth, however, the relationship between her and the freedom loving, easy going Alexander could be tempestuous. When Anna insisted he accompany her on a journey to Italy in 1846, Alexander complained of being dragged off like a monkey in a cage. Anna's capriciousness and angry outbursts left him exasperated at times and caused several major rows. Although Alexander was not the perfectly compliant, obedient son his mother made him out to be (especially in letters to her Russian family), his death at age 29 in 1848 was a heavy blow for her. She mourned him intensely for the rest of her life and hung on to many of his possessions. Anna focused her attention on her eldest son William because of his position as heir. William, like his mother, was capricious and hot headed. Her relationship with him was strained, especially after his marriage, which she strongly disapproved of. Comments in her letters suggest that she tried to dominate and influence him, though she did not quite succeed.

Ancestry