Product Description

Considered to have been the most beautiful princess in Europe, capable of arousing ‘profane passions’, Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, or ‘Ella’ as she was known, was a  granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the daughter of Princess Alice of Great Britain and Grand Duke Louis of Hesse. A privileged, happy Victorian childhood was touched by tragedy not only with the early deaths of her youngest brother and sister but also that of her young mother. Close to Queen Victoria, Ella spent some of her happiest times in Britain. At 20, however, much against the wishes of her  grandmother, who despised everything Russian, Ella became engaged to Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich, the authoritarian younger brother of Tsar Alexander III. It was at their wedding that her younger sister, Alix, formed a love match with the future Tsar Nicholas II; an event which not only  sealed the fate of both sisters, but that of the Imperial House of Romanov. But for these two marriages, the history of Russia might have been very different.

With the assassination of her husband, Ella renounced society and, against considerable opposition, founded the first religious Order of its kind in Russia, working for the poor and destitute of Moscow. Though loved for her charitable works and pionerering achievements, Ella, like Nicholas, Alexandra, and fourteen members of their family, met a brutal death at the hands of the Bolsheviks. At the height of the Russian Revolution, she was taken captive to Siberia where, having been clubbed with rifle butts, she was hurled alive into a disused mineshaft and left to die  of her injuries. Later retrieved, her incorrupt body was eventually laid to rest on the Mount of Olives. She was subsequently canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as the Holy Imperial Martyr Saint Elisabeth Romanova. 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #169954 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
"the book lingers with you long after you have finished it." (Majesty, September 2006)

"As ... Warwick’s biography of Ella aptly demonstrates, unravel one biography of a late–19th–century European royal and the entire dynasty unfolds." (The Daily Telegraph, November 2006)

"…inspiring…" (Majesty, November 2006)

"Christopher Warwick marshals an impressive dossier of research, drawing extensively on primary sources, to bring to life the lost worlds of late 19th Century royalty and the sumptuous last gasp of the Romanovs...it is hard to imagine a more rigorous study of a woman who, unusually in the annals of history, combined the roles of society beauty and latter–day saint." (Mail on Sunday, December 2006)

"Warwick′s biography is freighted with domestic and cultural detail and weighted with tragedy." (The Times, December 2006)

“Christopher Warwick’s well–research biography fills a gap in the literature of royal lives.” (The Times Literary Supplement, February 2007)

"Christopher Warwick has given the story a new power and a subtle shift of meaning." (Royalty Digest, February 2007)

"Christopher Warwick′s acclaimed new biography of Ella sheds new light on a remarkable woman." (Royalty Magazine)

"…a definitive biography…Elisabeth Feodorovna is one of the last century′s true heroes. Christopher Warwick′s book will tell you why." (The Tablet, February 2007)

The remarkable life of Elizabeth, or Ella as she was almost universally known, is revealed in fascinating detail by  Warwick.” (Yorkshire Evening Post, March 2007)

“…Warwick has produced a definitive biography…” (The Tablet, March 2007)

Review
"the book lingers with you long after you have finished it." (Majesty, September 2006)

"As ... Warwick’s biography of Ella aptly demonstrates, unravel one biography of a late–19th–century European royal and the entire dynasty unfolds." (The Daily Telegraph, November 2006)

"…inspiring…" (Majesty, November 2006)

"Warwick′s biography is freighted with domestic and cultural detail and weighted with tragedy." (The Times, December 2006)

“Christopher Warwick’s well–research biography fills a gap in the literature of royal lives.” (The Times Literary Supplement, February 2007)

"Christopher Warwick has given the story a new power and a subtle shift of meaning." (Royalty Digest, February 2007)

"Christopher Warwick′s acclaimed new biography of Ella sheds new light on a remarkable woman." (Royalty Magazine)

"…a definitive biography…Elisabeth Feodorovna is one of the last century′s true heroes. Christopher Warwick′s book will tell you why." (The Tablet, February 2007)

“The remarkable life of Elizabeth, or Ella as she was almost universally known, is revealed in fascinating detail by  Warwick.” (Yorkshire Evening Post, March 2007)

“…Warwick has produced a definitive biography…” (The Tablet, March 2007

From the Author
There can be little doubt that the last of the Romanovs,
Russia's imperial family, continue to cast a tantalizing air of mystery and
historical `magic' almost ninety years after Nicholas II and the Empress
Alexandra, their teenaged children and fourteen other members of the
imperial family were slaughtered by the Bolsheviks in the mayhem of
Revolution. For me, one of the most interesting of all the Romanovs was
Ella, otherwise Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, elder sister of the
last Tsarina.

The story of her life is essentially that of romance, tragedy, murder and
revolution. Add to that the courage she herself displayed at many points in
her life, not least when, despite the fact that she was virtually revered
for the way in which she worked for the welfare of the poor, the sick and
the forgotten of Moscow, she was finally arrested. Taken away under false
pretences to Siberia, it is my belief that she realized that death awaited
her. What she cannot have imagined, however, was the gratuitous manner or
the brutality with which she would meet her end.

Since her death in the summer of 1918, although she features in almost
every book written about Nicholas and Alexandra, there have been so few
biographies of Ella herself. Indeed, when I discovered that hers was a
story with which many people with whom I spoke were either unfamiliar or
did not know, I felt the time was right to redress the balance. It was
therefore just over three years ago, that I set out on my own voyage of
discovery; one that took me from the Royal Archives in Windsor, to St
Petersburg and Moscow, to Darmstadt (the city in which she grew up) and
elsewhere. In my search, through her correspondence and other primary and
little known sources, I discovered so much more about Ella than I already
knew, much of it amusing, surprising and often heartbreaking, but all of it
colourful and fascinatingly human, allowing us to see both the grandeur of
Russia in its final years as well as the simplicity of the home life Ella
and her husband, Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich, preferred to lead at their
country estate outside Moscow.

During my research, my quest for Ella led me to question several aspects of
her life that others seemed to have accepted without so much as raising an
eyebrow, but which were frequently distorted by conflicting versions of
events and even so-called facts that were nothing of the kind. Ella's
marriage and the last days of her life are just two of the areas that I
looked at and seriously questioned. The historian Hugo Vickers has said of
Ella, Princess Saint & Martyr 'the book lingers with you long after you
have finished it' while Alison Weir, one of our leading popular historical
writers, called it, 'riveting and unutterably moving ... powerful, stunning
and poignant.' I would like to think those views mean that I have done
justice to a remarkable character and a remarkable life.

Christopher Warwick

Customer Reviews

A solid biography about a remarkable woman
The life of the Grand Duchess Elisabeth, sister of the last Czarina and by marriage her aunt, seems to be made for legend: the society beauty who marries the prince charming who in terns got assassinated, she then turning to religion, becoming an abbess before being killed my the ruthless revolutionaries. Well, all this is true but it is only half of the story.

Christopher Warwick unfolds the events of the life of the Grand Duchess step by steps, putting them into context and being quite frank about things, like the doubtful sexual orientation of her husband. He does not writes in order to promote the cult of an saint and therefore refrains from the religious connotations or myths, like those surrounding the Grand Duchess 's death. This is very much appreciated.

Still there are certain elements missing which could explain how this person really was like. Born into a family of strong woman, she was
during her marriage a rather weak person, ordered about and publicly humiliated, only in widowhood she came into her own. How very different form her sister, the Czarina, who dominated her husband. There is not too much about her, but the relationship was not all good. Here the reader relies on guesswork. Her change from Grand Duchess to Abbess could have merited a more in-depth study. I liked that C. Warwick points out that she was as an abbess still a grand duchess and that she showed in her way of life.

The reader will meet a remarkable woman, an interesting woman and the biography is very solid giving the reader a great inside, but I feel the author has not really taken all available material into account. In my own library I have some books with shed more light on certain aspects of the grand duchess's life than this one. But still it is a very good book and enjoyable to read. However, I would not go as far as the previous reviewer in my praise I still believe it is worthwhile reading this very book

Ella - A gem of a book
This new biography about Ella (Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna of Russia) is a must read for any Romanov enthusiast. Christopher Warwick has obviously done extensive research in the archives at Windsor, Darmstadt and Moscow to come up with new information about Ella and her husband Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich to satisfy even the most well informed Romanov buffs. Even if one isn't particularly interested in Russian history Mr Warwick has produced a well written and very readable book about a woman who continues to fascinate many people.

Ella was considered by many to be the most beautiful of Queen Victoria's granddaughters. She was also an elder sister of the last Tsarina Alexandra and like her she was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Ella's life took her from the Courts of Germany and England to St Petersburg. She later moved to Moscow when her husband was appointed Governor-General of Moscow and this city became her main residence until she was arrested in 1918. A few years after the assassination of her husband Ella founded the Martha and Mary Convent and took the veil. Two years after her murder Ella's coffin's was transported to the Russian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem where she still rests. Ella was canonised in 1981 and in 1998 her great nephew Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh was present along with Queen Elizabeth II when ten statues of twentieth century martyrs were unveiled above the west door of Westminster Abbey. Ella's statue is the fourth from the left.

Wiley have produced a beautifully bound hardback book, which is excellent value for money and makes for a very interesting read about a figure from history that deserves to be better known by a wider audience.

A Truly Good And Human Woman
I have to say when I finished reading this book I was sory to have come to the end of the story. Ella is a true story of human courage and goodness, she was a remarkable woman yet so humble and unasuming. Considering she married in to the wealth and splendour of the Russian court she never let it get the better of her and stayed the same person she had been before her marriage. She met a cruel end yet never gave up her faith or goodness. The sad thing is if she had been Empress of Russia perhaps history would have turned out differently, maybe the Tsar married the wrong sister. I strongly recomend this book its a great price and a really good read.