Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar Eisenach

Maria Pavlovna (Мария Павловна; 16 February 1786 [O. S. 5 February 1786] – 23 June 1859 [O. S. 11 June 1859]) was a grand duchess of Russia as the daughter of Paul I, Emperor of all the Russias, and later became the Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar Eisenach by her marriage to Charles Frederick of Saxe Weimar Eisenach (1783–1853).

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Romanova of Russia was born on 16 February 1786 in Saint Petersburg as the fifth child and third daughter of Tsesarevich Paul Petrovich of Russia and his second wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna (1754–1801), born Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg (1759–1828). She was named after her mother. Maria Pavlovna spent her childhood in the Pavlovsk Palace and the Great Gatchina Palace. As a child, she was not considered pretty as her face had been disfigured as a result of being variolated. She was a talented pianist, for which her paternal grandmother, Catherine the Great (1729–1796) admired her, even though she thought that Maria Pavlovna would have been better off had she been born a boy. Her music instructor was Giuseppe Sarti, an Italian composer and the kapellmeister of the Russian court. From 1798, she was taught music by Ludwig Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson.

On 3 August 1804, Maria Pavlovna married Charles Frederick, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar Eisenach (1783–1853). The couple stayed in Saint Petersburg for nine months before departing for Weimar. There, Maria Pavlovna was greeted with festivities as described by Christoph Martin Wieland: "The most festive part of all the magnificence of balls, fireworks, promenades, comedies, illuminations was the widespread and genuine joy at the arrival of our new princess". As grand duchess, she took care of the poor of the country. She last visited Russia at the occasion of the coronation of her nephew, Alexander II of Russia in 1855.

Maria Pavlovna's letters to her maternal grandfather, Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg written between 1795 and 1797 are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart. Her letters from between 1800 and 1859 are preserved in the "Maria Paulowna letters" collection of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives of Stanford University.