Russianhistoryindenmark.Info (2025)

14/04/2025

Baroness Lyudmila Petrovna Buxhoeveden née Osokina photographed by Peter Elfelt, 1917.

Lyudmila Buxhoeveden was the wife of the Imperial Minister to Denmark Baron Karlos Matthias Konstantin Ludwig Otto von Buxhoeveden, a Baltic diplomat living in Denmark. As Imperial Minister he was the top figure of the Corps Diplomatique in Copenhagen and had several functions at the Royal court. When members of the Romanov family visited Denmark, he would participate in the official reception, arrival and departure and the couple Buxhoeveden would be invited to participate in dinners, balls and receptions. Naturally as a diplomat in Copenhagen he would also be dealing with politics.

Their daughter Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden would become Lady-in-waiting in service to Empress Alexandra, first as honorary Lady-in-waiting 1904 and officially from 1913 with duties at court. She became witness to the last days of the Imperial family, and was nicknamed "Isa" by the Empress and her daughters. After the 1917 Revolution she followed the Imperial family to exile in Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg.

Sophie Buxhoeveden was refused permission to join the Imperial family in the Ipatiev house and was lodged in a fourth class railway car along with the foreign tutors, Pierre Gilliard and Sydney Gibbes, and attendants Alexandra Tegleva and Elizaveta Ersberg. She and her companions made personal representations to the Ural Soviet on behalf of the Romanovs. Sophie was later released by the Bolsheviks and spent many months on the run across Siberia, with other members of the Imperial household. In exile, Buxhoeveden lived in Copenhagen with her parents.

13/04/2025

In June 1866, Tsarevich Alexander arrived in Copenhagen with his brothers Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duke Alexei. On June 17th, he proposed to Dagmar during a picnic to the beach at Hellebæk by the coast of the Øresund strait near Elsinore and received a yes. The engagement was announced on June 23rd at Fredensborg Palace.

Tsarevich, Grand Duke Alexander and Princess Dagmar, Maria Feodorovna, photographed by Georg Emil Hansen in the year of their betrothal 1866. Det Kongelige Bibliotek/Royal Library, public domain.

The official entry of the royal engagement in the court-diary June 23rd 1866. Rigsarkivet/State Archives.

12/04/2025

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Queen Alexandra in the drawing room at Hvidøre House, posing at the piano. From a large series of photographs taken by Danish photographer Mary Steen at Hvidøre 1908.

Empress Maria Feodorovna's and Queen Alexandra's Steinway & Sons grand piano in a lemonwood and satinwood case, decorated throughout in multicolored vine, rosettes, flowers, masks and musical instruments, was manufactured in 1906. The piano was sold at Maria Feodorovna's and Alexandra's estate auction at Hvidøre House April 10th 1929.

The historic and beautifully decorated piano is now to be sold at upcoming auction in Copenhagen May 8th 2025.

11/04/2025

The historic Alexander Nevsky Church in Copenhagen

The church was officially inaugurated Saturday evening, September 8th 1883, and sprinkled with holy water by the the Imperial legation priest in Denmark and by the most prominent Russian cleric Yanishev from Sct. Petersburg.

Next day, in the morning Sunday 9th, a cortege of prominent guests departed by train from the Royal Palace at Fredensborg, later using 15 carriages, being escorted by guards and led by the Imperial Court Marshall Prince Obolensky. Present royalty included the Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, Queen Olga of Greece, Grand Duchess Xenia, The Prince and Princess of Wales and many others.

The streets in Copenhagen were decorated with flags and flowers. At the church entrance, the Royal party were greeted by the Russian ambassador in London formerly Copenhagen, Baron Morenheim and the Imperial Russian Minister in Denmark count de Toll. Included in the saintly ceremonies were also the Archdean Popov from Sct. Petersburg and the ships-priest from the Imperial yacht Derschava, as well as employees and staff from the Imperial Legation, the architects Grimm and Meldahl and officers and sailors from four Russian naval vessels. 30 shipmates from the Imperial yacht Derschava managed the choir music. After the inauguration, royalty as well as clergy and diplomats were escorted to the harbor and invited for lunch at the Imperial yacht, each cheer saluted by gun-fire.

Alexander Nevsky Church, Copenhagen. Detail: Onion Domes, photography by Holger Damgaard ca. 1900 and Church Interior, photography by Budtz Müller & Co., 1884.
The Empress Dowager on departure from Christiansborg Palace royal chapel, the wedding of Princess Ingeborg 1908. Photography by P. Elfelt.

08/04/2025

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, her sister Queen Consort Alexandra and her brother in-law, the King of Great Britain Edward VII visiting at Amalienborg Palace – the first floor great hall drawing room at King Christian IX´ palace wing, Copenhagen, may 1908.

Empress Maria Feodorovnas´ father having died in January 1906, his Royal children scattered all over Europe decided to leave his home at Amalienborg Palace as it had been in the days of their mother and father, the “In-Laws” of European Royalty, and actually remained as such until a registration of furniture took place there in 1948.

Following the political events, Maria Feodorovna moved into these very rooms at Amalienborg in November 1920. The first floor rooms being her mothers former apartment. According to the Police Registry 1920-22 , at least ten people were moving in at the Palace with the Dowager Empress, or at least had their official address stated as the Amalienborg – “Christian IX´s palæ”.

They were all part of the former Imperial household, and now took up their duties: Zinaida Mengden, Lady-in-waiting; Cecilia Grunwald, Head chambermaid; Xenia Moschaeva, Nurse; Olga Vassilieva, Wardrobe attendant; Catharina Vassilieva, Wardrobe attendant; Timofei Yaschik, Cossack; Kirill Poliakov, Cossack; Ivan Wiagis, Headbutler; Maria Ivannovna, Maid; Emilia Tenzo, Chambermaid; Martha Ozer, Chambermaid.

The lady-in-waiting Zinaida Mengden naturally brought her own maid Marta Ozer, the rest of the company were waiting on the Dowager Empress. Head chambermaid Cecilia Grünwald shared adjoining rooms with the Dowager Empress on the first floor.

photographs: Det Kongelige Bibliotek/Royal Library, Public Domain

07/04/2025

Timofei Xenofoontowich Yaschik served as private Imperial bodyguard Cossack for the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna, December 1915 – October 1928.

Yaschik´s house is situated in the outskirts of Copenhagen, part of the area called Valby, a corner-property originally intended as an allotment for harvesting fruits and vegetables in a small city-household. The house was built in 1917, a small building with a basement and ground floor, later adding a roof that in 1926 was arranged as a secondary flat. At some time after 1926, probably right after the Empress´death in October 1928, Yaschik states that he, by the grace of some of the Empress´friends, was given the opportunity to buy or receive a small business, thus earning his living as a merchant in a modest house. The largest room on the ground floor was the grocery shop. The shop had its´ own entrance and two large square windows overlooking the streets, decorated with painted glass panels and enamelled metal signs painted with colorful commercials.

Beginning a new life didn´t seem too difficult for Yaschik. His nephew Bent remembering his uncle having to cut off part of his large Cossack beard, since the voluminous trimmings frightened children.

Yaschik preferred to serve his customers wearing his black, simple Russian Cossack shirt, a button-down with a characteristic, high shirt collar. Actually he never spoke Danish, but he understood everything, smoothing the customer-grocer encounter by dispatching his clients with a little Danish song, having heard and remembered the chorus-line of the 1921 hit “Lille sommerfugl” (Little Butterfly. Composed by Elith Worsing, text by Axel Andreasen and Ludvig Brandstrup, performed by Ingeborg Bruhn-Bertelsen), and somehow mistaken the lyrics meaning someone being drunk! Yaschik had learned how to say “thank you”, “Empress” and “yes” (in Danish).

When Yashik served a customer, he would receive the cash payment and immediately put it in a wooden drawer behind the counter. The customer then having left, he would fetch the money and put it into his very large, black leather private purse. Bent would also later remember how Yaschik had filled the house with mementos from his Imperial service, including a large variety of impressive uniforms, one studded with goldbraid, and a collection of Cossack weapons decorated in silver ornaments.

Photographs from Yaschik´s private album, private coll.

06/04/2025

Grand ball given in the evening of September 7th 1866 in honor of the Queens birthday and the departure of Princess Dagmar.

The ball marked Queen Louises´ birthday (born September 7th 1817) and was later called “Ball of the century” because of the magnificence, luxury and number of guests invited.

The grand ball also marked the ceremonial “Farewell” to the young princess Dagmar, who would be leaving Denmark September 22nd on her journey to Sct. Petersburg, where she would marry the Grand Duke Alexander on November 9th.

The grand ball took place on Christiansborg Palace. During the evening, the Royal Family hosted almost a thousand guests to dances and dinner, entertained by amusements as this “Russian dance”, danced by children in a choreography by famous master of ballet Auguste Bournonville. Dinner and refreshments included oyster, lobster, trout, pheasant, wine and champagne, fruit, ice cream and biscuits.

04/04/2025

Formerly employed in the household of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovitj and Grand Duchess Elisabeth Fjodorovna (Sister to Empress Alexandra), Ivan Wiagis was employed by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna during her semi-captivity and stay in the Crimea 1917-1919 as a valet and later took upon himself the duties of a house butler. Here he is (center) between Life-Cossacks Poliakov and Yaschik at the Hvidøre main entrance (1923-1928).
From Yaschiks´private family album, private collection.

As lady-in-waiting countess Zinaida Mengden described him, he was extremely skilled and almost at once had the responsibility of running the households both at Harraks (Crimea) and later at Hvidøre (Denmark).

In the semi-captivity and dangerous situation before their escape, Wiagis himself took care of procuring anything the household needed, an almost entirely impossible job. As the food-shortage in the Crimean Peninsula grew, and more and more staff fled the Imperial premises (even the chauffeur having left and taken the Imperial car with him!), Wiagis also took upon him to serve in the kitchen as cook. As Zinaida Mengden later told, he was a master in the art of cooking too.

The Danish newspaper Nationaltidende, described Wiagis in a sad little article, 1929, only a year after the Empress´death: The Empress´old major domo still guarded, from his home at the gardeners lodge, the home of his former employer. After her death, he was the only person from the old “staff” to remain on the premises. In his living room, pictures of the former Emperor Nicholas and his wife hung over a simple wooden wardrobe. In one of his drawers, he had kept a small parcel wrapped in silk with old photographs, papers and letters. On the wall, a paper-calendar still hang from a hook, with the calendar sheet from the 13th of October 1928, date of his Empress´death.

02/04/2025

The Imperial Yacht Standart (Штандартъ) was built in Copenhagen by order of Emperor Alexander III.

The ship was constructed at the Danish shipyard of Burmeister & Wain, in the beginning of 1893. On October first, 1893 Emperor Alexander III, the Empress Maria Feodorovna and Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (the future Emperor Nicholas II) were present at the keel-laying ceremony of building no.183 at Copenhagen where Alexander III personally nailed the first rivet in the keel. With a length 112 meters, a width of 15,8 meter and a deepgoing 6 meters, the imperial vessel was also a marvel of engineering.

Standart was probably the most exclusive and magnificent yacht ever built. She was launched on 21 March 1895 and came into service early September 1896. Standart was fitted out with ornate trimmings, including mahogany paneling and crystal chandeliers. The yacht was used as a veritable floating palace both at official state-business and for private vacations and travel. The Imperial apartments were situated on the main deck: Rooms for the Emperor and Empress, each comprising a sitting room, a bedroom and a bath-room. Adjacent to these rooms were the Imperial drawing- and dining rooms. Staterooms for the officers were situated on both sides of the boiler room and the Imperial kitchen was situated between the two funnels. On the lower deck there were rooms for the Imperial children and the Imperial suite. The ship was lighted by electricity. The most costly woods had been used for interior fittings: Imperial suites with solid cherry; for the Empress-Dowager’s suites and Grand Duke’s apartments, birchwood.

In June 1908, King Edward VII and Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia met in the Bay of Reval, now Tallinn, the state-banquet was held onboard. The Russian Imperial Family was very often on vacation on the Standart. With the outbreak of World War I, Standart was placed in drydock. After the fall of the Romanov Dynasty, Standart went into ordinary naval service and was scrapped as late as 1963.

Russian Imperial Yacht S/S Standart, original drawing. M/S Museet for søfart, Maritime Museum of Denmark, Creative Commons/ Public Domain

01/04/2025

Empress Maria Feodorovna and her sister Alexandra the princess of Wales on a sofa, and Emperor Alexander III behind his writing desk in the study of the Imperial couples´ apartment when staying at Fredensborg, 1889. Notice the wonderful portrait of Empress Catherine II.

Photograph, Royal Library, Public Domain.

31/03/2025

Emperor Alexander´s Imperial Villa at Fredensborg

It is often said that the Emperor Alexander III felt so at home visiting Denmark that he wished to acquire property. In 1885, his eyes fell on a small house situated on a slope near the Fredensborg Palace. Here he could work on his state papers and perform physical exercises in private. The ownership was celebrated with a housewarming in the beginning of October 1889.

The villa was decorated with carved, wooden ornaments, the location on a high slope overlooking a pond surrounded by tall trees resembling that of a Swiss cottage. The villla was to become the Emperors´own little jewel. His special focus on the layout of the garden was very specific, ordering roses and nut bushes.

On the ground floor the house had a winter garden, a salon, a dining room and stairs for the first floor apartment consisting of two bedrooms, dressing rooms and rooms for a valet; furniture was delivered by architect C.B. Hansen – not great luxury, but commodious and in great taste, including lots of “Turkish sofas” upholstered in silk and velvet and lots of soft cushions. The villa also had its very own wine cellar.

Many happy times have probably been spent in the house, the Empress Maria Feodorovna calling it “My little Gatchina” after her own favorite Palace. September 17th 1891, the Emperor invited his mother-in-law (The Danish queen Louise) to celebrate her birthday, the food prepared by himself in the small kitchen, asking his Danish teenage nieces to lay the table. For private use, the Emperor had ordered the delivery of a special dinner service named “Ceramia” decorated in the latest fashion and in white-and-blue from Danish ceramics factory “Aluminia”.

After the Emperors´ death in 1894, the house was never used, though cleaned and maintained, his son Nicholas II even paying Danish taxes for the property. In 1917, it was still fully furnished and almost ready for visits. The cottage was inherited by Grand Duchess Olga and her sister Xenia who sold it in 1929, as part of the estate belonging to the late dowager Empress.

31/03/2025

“Old-Style Russian Pavilion” at the great Nordic Industrial- and Agricultural Exhibition exhibition grounds in Copenhagen and later at Fredensborg Palace.

The 1888 great Nordic Industrial- and Agricultural Exhibition in Copenhagen was that years biggest social event. More than 29 organisations were exhibiting in several pavilions laid out between the Town Hall square, the Tivoli amusement parc and the grand central station. Subjects included both hygiene, farming, fishing, navy, army, industry, a cattle show and sports. The grounds also included a lake with a ship, a labyrinth and several wooden pavilions. In the largest were exhibited arts and crafts, both represented by Danish Royal Porcelain Factory and the famous ceramics design factory P. Ipsens Enke. The modern industrial age was being rendered and exhibited with every progress from gaz-engines to bicycles to COLD butter and sealed metal containers for storing and protecting various goods. The large exhibition hall and center-focus was designed by the Czechoslovakian illustrator and architect Karel Šedivý.

The Russian Pavilion, a large wooden structure decorated with lots of gilded Romanov eagles and gilded cupolas, created the entrance to the Russian exhibition in the great exhibition Hall.

A contemporary review of the exhibition at the Russian Pavilion at the Nordic Industrial- and Agricultural Exhibition, wrote an article in the illustrated news (Illustreret Tidende), “those who enters the Russian Pavilion will find only the gilded world of the Empire, telling only the story of the Emperor´s delights”.

The pavilion was later, at Imperial and Royal request moved to the grounds at Fredensborg Palace where it was used as garden pavilion, where tea could be served for the royal family in similarly “Russian old-style”-porcelain. The pavilion was dismantled and totally demolished in 1919. Photograph: Royal Library, Public Domain.

28/03/2025

Timofei Xenofoontowich Yaschik served as private Imperial bodyguard Cossack for the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna, December 1915 – October 1928.

At some time after 1928, probably right after the Empress´ death in October 1928, Yaschik states that he, by the grace of some of the Empress´ friends, was given the opportunity to buy or receive a small business, thus earning his living as a merchant in a modest house. In fact he moved in with his Danish wife Agnes and his best friend, the Cossack Poliakov.

This series of wonderful photographs shows us the life of the Imperial Cossack both as guard at Hvidøre and as shop-keeper in Copenhagen, the latter with his second Danish wife Agnes, named Nina. Yaschik is wearing a white grocer´s coat, his gold pocket watch dangling in its´ chain from his pocket. The watch was a present from the last Emperor. Actually, Yaschik would primarily serve his customers wearing one of his Cossack uniforms.

Photography from Yaschiks´ private family album in private collection.

28/03/2025

HVIDØRE - home of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna

The residence or summer villa Hvidøre at Klampenborg was bought in 1906. Architectural plans, drawings and official permits from the period 1906 onwards shows us how the villa was being transformed for greater housing, including the transformation of stairways, the building of a colonnade, the adding of a porch and a rooftop gallery.

The building had four floors: A basement for practical use and staff; the ground floor with the reception areas and drawing rooms; the first floor with Queen Alexandras and Empress Marias´ apartments, each with a bedroom, a sitting room, a bo***ir and luxurious bathrooms complete with waterclosets; the top floor with housing for the immediate staff, primarily ladies-in-waiting and chambermaids.

Naturally, the “moving in” also included making rooms for more practical use in a modern household: A new greenhouse with heating and domestic-buildings laid out over the park-like grounds, including stables, a garage and a lodge for the gate-keeper and gardener. Later, as the Empress decided to move more permanently in by 1923, a pavilion was added in the gardens for housing of the male staff, and kitchen, a temporary structure made entirely out of wood.

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