Upon her marriage, she converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and took the name Olga Feodorovna with the title of Grand Duchess of Russia.

She was a strong supporter of her husband's governmental activities as a viceroy of the region and she took an interest in charities, particularly in the field of female education.

In 1882, the family moved back to the Imperial court in St Petersburg to a large palace on the bank of the Neva river.

With a strong personality and a sharp tongue, Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna was not a popular member of the Romanov family.

Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna was born on 20 September 1839, in Karlsruhe as Cäcilie Auguste, Princess and Margravine of Baden.

[4] Grand Duke Michael loved his wife deeply all his life and was under her strong influence; they were like polar opposites and this only seemed to cement their alliance.

[5] Michael Nikolaevich was a kind, calm, rather dull man who would have been completely happy to devote himself only to the artillery and his family, and he did not shine with exceptional intellect.

[3]In 1862 Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich's brother, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, appointed him as governor of the Empire in the Caucasus, and Olga moved with her husband to Tiflis.

In addition to official duties as wife of the imperial governor, Olga provided support to her husband Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich, who supervised the implementation of the liberal reforms of Alexander II in the region.

Grand Duchess Olga took part in ceremonies as the viceroy's wife and in supporting many charities, especially in the field of female education.

During the reign of the new Tsar Alexander III of Russia, Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich served as chairman of the Imperial Council and the family moved back permanently to Saint Petersburg.

While her husband busied himself with his military and governmental career, Grand Duchess Olga ruled her family with an iron hand.

She was particularly close to her eldest son Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia, whose intellectual interests were like hers, but she remained aloof and cold towards the others.

[12] Her second son, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, who was not intellectually gifted (she called him a fool), was a constant source of disappointment for her.

[14] Anastasia carried some bitterness about her upbringing and relationship with her mother - her daughter Cäcilie recounts that at a party to celebrate her engagement, when she committed some infraction she was sent to bed by Olga like a naughty child.

Although he admitted she was clever, he described her as an acid-tongued, quarrelsome, idle woman, who did nothing but sit in her palace on the bank of the Neva river and gaze through the window onto the walking people and speak nasty things about them.

Olga, who was tradition-conscious and deeply devout, suffered a terrible blow when her second son, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich contracted an unequal marriage in San Remo on 26 February 1891.

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich was deprived of his military rank and of his position as adjutant at the Imperial Court and also forbidden to return to Russia for life.

When Olga heard of her son's morganatic marriage, she was deeply wounded and fell ill. A few days later, at the insistence of her doctors, she set out for her estate in Crimea, near the Cape of Ai-Todor, to recover her health.