Maria Feodorovna (Russian: Мария Фёдоровна, romanized: Mariya Fyodorovna; 26 November 1847 – 13 October 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was Empress of Russia from 1881 to 1894 as the wife of Emperor Alexander III.

"[1] When she was tsarevna, Thomas W. Knox met her at Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia's wedding and wrote favorably about her beauty compared to that of the bride, Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

He wrote that Dagmar was "less inclined to stoutness than the bride, she does not display such a plumpness of shoulder, and her neck rises more swan-like and gives fuller play to her finely formed head, with its curly hair and Grecian outline of face."

"[6] Nadine Wonar-Larsky, her lady-in-waiting, noted that "her smile cheered everyone and her gracious manner always suggested a touch of personal feeling which went straight to the hearts of her subjects.

The sisters received the same education deemed appropriate for upper-class girls: they were taught housekeeping by their mother, and learned to dance, play music, paint and draw, and speak French, English, and German by tutors.

She is even more beautiful in reality than in the pictures we have seen so far.After returning to Russia to obtain his father's permission, Nicholas proposed to Dagmar on 28 September 1864 in the Bernstorff Palace Gardens and received a yes.

In a letter, she asked Alexander II of Russia: "Use your power to mitigate the terrible conditions which the Germans have brutally forced Papa to accept... the sad plight of my fatherland, which makes my heart heavy, has inspired me to turn to you.

"[20] Dagmar, who sincerely mourned Nicholas, and Alexander, who was in love with his mother's lady-in-waiting Maria Meshcherskaya and attempted to renounce his place as heir to the throne in order to marry her, were both initially reluctant.

Dagmar was warmly welcomed in Kronstadt by the emperor's brother Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia and escorted to St. Petersburg, where she was greeted by her future mother-in-law and sister-in-law on 24 September.

Catherine Radziwill described the occasion: "rarely has a foreign princess been greeted with such enthusiasm… from the moment she set foot on Russian soil, succeeded in winning to herself all hearts.

"[28] After the many wedding parties were over the newlyweds moved into the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg where they were to live for the next 15 years, when they were not taking extended holidays at their summer villa Livadia in the Crimean Peninsula.

In a letter, her father Christian IX of Denmark praised her for her shrewd arranging of the marriage: "Where in the world have you, little rogue, ever learned to intrigue so well, since you have worked hard on your uncle and aunt, who were previously decidedly against a match of this kind.

[42] On the morning of 13 March 1881, Maria's father-in-law Alexander II of Russia was killed by a bomb attack carried out by the revolutionary socialist political organization Narodnaya Volya on his way back to the Winter Palace from a military parade.

Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin wrote that Maria's "bearing, her distinguished and forceful personality, and the intelligence which shone in her face, made her the perfect figure of a queen... She was extraordinarily well-loved in Russia, and everyone had confidence in her... and [was] a real mother to her people.

[26] A contemporary remarked on her success: "of the long gallery of Tsarinas who have sat in state in the Kremlin or paced in the Winter Palace, Marie Feodorovna was perhaps the most brilliant".

[48] Nearly each summer, Maria, Alexander and their children would make an annual trip to Denmark, where her parents, King Christian IX and Queen Louise, hosted family reunions.

Nicholas's parents had known Alix as a child and formed the impression that she was hysterical and unbalanced, which may have been due to the loss of her mother and youngest sister, Marie, to diphtheria when she was just six.

During the first Russification period, she tried to have her son halt the constraining of the grand duchy's autonomy and to recall the unpopular Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov from Finland to some other position in Russia itself.

During the funeral, she kept her composure, but at the end of the service, she ran from the church clutching her son's top hat that been atop the coffin and collapsed in her carriage sobbing.

[67] There are documents that support the fact that in this critical situation, Maria Feodorovna was involved in a planned coup d'état to depose her son from the throne in order to save the monarchy.

[66] The plan was reportedly for Maria to make a final ultimatum to the Tsar to banish Rasputin unless he wished for her to leave the capital, which would be the signal to unleash the coup.

Initially, she refused to make the appeal, and her sister-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna stated to the French Ambassador: "It's not want of courage or inclination that keeps her back.

[26] In Kiev, Maria engaged in the Red Cross and hospital work,[68] and in September, the 50th anniversary of her arrival in Russia was celebrated with great festivities, during which she was visited by her son, Nicholas II, who came without his wife.

"[71] Although Maria Feodorovna steadfastly believed Nicholas and his family survived, she firmly regarded Franziska Schanzkowska (famously known as "Anna Anderson") as a fraud falsely claiming to be her granddaughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.

After living briefly with her nephew, King Christian X, in a wing of the Amalienborg Palace, she chose her holiday villa Hvidøre, which was originally a summer retreat near Copenhagen, as her new permanent home in 1923.

The All-Russian Monarchical Assembly held in 1921 offered her the locum tenens of the Russian throne but she declined with the evasive answer "Nobody saw Nicky killed" and therefore there was a chance her son was still alive.

The Grand Duchess Olga sent a telegram to Paris cancelling an appointment because it would have been too difficult for the old and sick woman to hear the terrible story of her son and his family.

On 13 October 1928 at Hvidøre near Copenhagen, in a house she had once shared with her sister Queen Alexandra, Dowager Empress Maria died at the age of 80, having outlived four of her six children.

[78] Following services in Copenhagen's Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Church, the Empress was interred at Roskilde Cathedral on the island of Zealand, the traditional burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century.

[79] In 2005, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia and their respective governments agreed that the Empress's remains should be returned to St. Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband.