Background
She was born as Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt in Prenzlau, Uckermark, Brandenburg, Prussia as the fifth child of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his spouse Caroline of Zweibrücken, Countess Palatine.
She was born as Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt in Prenzlau, Uckermark, Brandenburg, Prussia as the fifth child of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his spouse Caroline of Zweibrücken, Countess Palatine.
Hurriedly, the three Princesses studied to perfect their French, worked on their dancing, practiced dropping deep curtseys, and completed their wardrobes.
The King thought about the remaining three unmarried daughters of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Their first stop was in Berlin where from there a flotilla of four ships, sent by the Empress Catherine, took them to Russia. He was immediately captivated by these charming passengers, and was particularly taken with Wilhelmine.
She was not insensible to the admiration of Andrei.
Wilhelmine was very pretty, gay and exuberant, and Paul was very delighted with her. Their betrothal was celebrated with great ostentation and Wilhelmine changed her religion and her given name: she became Natalia Alexeievna.
On 29 September 1773, the wedding took place in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. The Empress was delighted with her initially, but as time passed difficulties started to appear.
Paul and Natalia"s marriage was a failure.
Paul"s mother wrote that Natalia "loves extremes in all things. She fell in love with the charming Andrei Razumovsky and the two started an affair. Unfortunately for Natalia, the whole court knew of her infidelities.
Andrei was supposed to be sent away from the palace but Paul, who knew nothing of the situation, protested against his best friend"s departure.
At the same time, Natalia was pregnant, and Catherine didn"t seem to care if the child was Paul"s or Andrei"son Natalia was carrying the heir to the Russian throne, and for Catherine, that was all that mattered.
Natalia finally delivered a stillborn son, after a long and painful labour, on 15 April 1776. The infant was enormous and although it was impossible for Natalia to safely deliver the child, the court doctors did not perform a Caesarian.
Shortly after the delivery, Natalia died.
Her husband, Paul, was mad with grief and insisted on keeping her with him. The Chevalier de Corberon questioned the surgeon Moreau during a dinner, and he wrote, "He told me privately that in his opinion, the surgeons and doctors of the court were asses. The Grand Duchess should never have died.
In truth, it is very surprising that greater care is not taken in advance with a Grand Duchess.
The people are very angry, weeping and bitter. Yesterday and today, people in shops were heard to say, "The young ladies die.
The old babas never die."" "Old babas" (old women) was an allusion to Empress Catherine World War II
Troyat, Henri, Catherine the Great, 1980.