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Alexandra's Fans
In the middle of the small, old-fashioned town of Darmstadt, surrounded by quiet, dignified streets, belonging to a time long gone by, stands the New Palace. It was the house Alexandrabaki of Great Britain and Ireland," the second daughter of Queen Victoria, wife of Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt, had built for herself when her first home proved too small for her rapidly increasing family. For a town house the New Palace had a lovely garden, the site having originally been that of the Botanical Gardens. It was built according to the Princess's own taste and was made by its owner as much like an English house as possible. In that palace the future Empress was born.

More Alex's Fairytales
"I can't fancy I am in Germany, the house and all its arrangements being so English," the Princess wrote to the Queen on March 20th, 1866. All the family portraits were there, from those of King George III and his family to numerous pictures of the Queen, the Prince Consort, and of all her brothers and sisters. Sketches of Windsor, Balmoral, and of other places she had loved in her youth were treasured by the Princess at Darmstadt, and fostered in her children that love and admiration for England that was so strong a trait in all of them. Life in the Palace was organized on English lines, and was so carried on after the Princess's death.


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Her days
Princess Alex's private life was devoted to her husband and their seven children. In her letters to Queen Victoria she continually mentions their little ailments, their quaint sayings, and the trivial things that a mother loves to note. She directed their education, studied their characters, and guided each one individually. The terrible death of her baby boy, Prince Frederick, who was killed by a fall from a window under her very eyes (May 29th, 1873), gave her a moral and physical shock from which she never really recovered. But she braced herself for the sake of her other children; she wrote to Queen Victoria: "God is very merciful in letting time temper the sharpness of one's grief and letting sorrow find its natural place in our hearts without withdrawing us from life."

The little Princess, whose birth was recorded on June 6th, 1872, and who was destined to be one of the most tragic figures of history, was christened, on her parents' wedding day, July 1st, Victoria Alix Helena Louise Beatrice, her godparents being the Prince and Princess of Wales (King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra), the Tsarevich (Alexander III) and Tsarevna - Princess Alix's future parents-in-law, Princess Beatrice of Great Britain, the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Landgravine of Hesse.

Some of My Favorite People
My grandma and grandpa are some of my favorite people. Grandma always has a cupboard full of twinkies and raisen-filled cookies. She also lets me pick my favorite cereal when we go to the grocery store. Grandpa takes us for rides on his four-wheeler when we go to his house in the summer.

Crayon Drawing
This is one of my first drawings of my brother Joe. Joe has read hair. Grandma gave him that shirt for Christmas, and she gave me one like it, only blue.
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