Alexandra Feodorovna /

Alix of Hesse and by Rhine later Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova (Russian: Императрица Александра Фёдоровна Романова Imperatritsa Aleksandra Fyodorovna Romanova) (6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918), was Empress consort of Russia as spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire. Born a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, she was given the name Alexandra Feodorovna upon being received into the Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized her as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer in 2000. Alexandra is best remembered as the last Tsarina of Russia, as one of the most famous royal carriers of the haemophilia disease and for her support of autocratic control over the country. Her notorious friendship with the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin was also an important factor in her life. Alexandra was born on 6 June 1872 at the New Palace in Darmstadt as Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luise Beatrice of Hesse and by Rhine, a Grand Duchy that was then part of the German Empire. She was the sixth child among the seven children of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince