Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad

[hikaru]

She gave birth to the 5 beautiful children who were able to be used as the commercial of the IF .
Children were cute and photogenic so Nicholas could raise the prestige of his family by selling a lot of the photo cards .
As far as I understand , she spent more time with the children than other Empresses before her.

[lexi4]

Good point hikaru and good to see you.  
She was a good mother. I didn't know they tsar sold postcards of his family for income. Are there any of those still around?

[hikaru]

I do not think that they were selling the post cards for incom. just for propaganda.
A lot of the photos from such postcards now we can see in this web site.

[bluetoria]

Like Marie Antoinette, Alix was very much a victim of slander which seriously damaged the public perception of her - the perception, that is, of people who didn't actually know her. People who witnessed her kindness were amazed by her gentleness and genuine concern.
She tried hard to establish many charitable groups & to engage the aristocracy in useful occupations that would be beneficial to the people. Time & again her efforts efforts were thwarted by the aristocracy who simply couldn't accept her philanthropic outlook. Had they, instead, offered support, Alix might have been seen as a great Tsarina.

[bluetoria]

I found some quotations from Anna Vyrubova which support what I just wrote!!

"The Empress possessed a heart and a mind utterly incapable of dishonesty or deceit, consequently she could never tolerate it either in other people. This naturally got her heartily disliked by people of society to whom deceit was a matter of long practice..."

"One of her early projects was a society of handwork composed of ladies of the Court and society circles, each one of whom should make with her own hands three garments a year to be given to the poor. The society, I am sorry to say, did not long flourish. The idea was too foreign to the soil."

[BobAtchison]

Her life was totally dominated by her love for her husband and her children.  The fact that he was Tsar was just his 'job'.  Had he been an officer or a shopkeeper she would have been the same person and had the same priorities.  Her number one goal in life was to create a wonderful home for her family and keep them protected and safe.  She believed in a personal God who loves each one of us - in His ultimate goodness and involvement in each and every event of our lives.

The seriousness she brought to her responsibilities is very much like her her mother Alice and both of her grand parents.

Bob

[clockworkgirl21]

Well, I believe Aleksandra wasn't all that good looking. She was pretty when she was younger, but she aged quickly. Some good things about her: She seemed like a wonderful mother and wife.

[grandduchessella]

I have trouble pointing out 'good' qualities with Alexandra--she was just way too complex for me. I'm a simple person.    For every one I came up with I could find a 'yes but' side to it. I will say that she was a spiritual person who I don't think did anything through malice or ill-intent and that she, moreso than many of her era and station, didn't care for the ostentatiousness that went along with it. I've always thought that she and NII would've been much more successful as constitutional monarchs like GV was--without the weight of being an absolute ruler and able to devote more time to the charitable endeavors one saw in the UK.

[lexi4]

grandduchess,,
I agree that they would have been more effective as constitutional monarchs. I think they were both in way over their heads.
I would be interested in knowing the things you think about and then say yes but. Might enlighten me.

[Finelly]

I don't think it's fair to say she was ineffective or unreliable as a nurse.  There's a letter from her to Nicky during the war describing some pretty horrific injuries to soldiers she was caring for.  She didn't seem to flinch - just dealt with the most gruesome things ever.  That takes strength.
As for other positive characteristics:  she was loyal (perhaps to a fault), nurturing to her friends, passionately in love with her husband and he with her, a good mother, practical in many ways, deeply spiritual, and an avid reader.

[pinklady]

In the Crimea where they built their holiday house there were heaps of hospitals for tuberculosis patients, and Alix always went to visit the patients and  she took her daughters with her. She said of taking  the girls with her, "They should realise the sadness that lies beneath all  this beauty" or something along those lines. Apparenty  she founded 2 of the hospitals herself and that was way before the 1st World War.
She sold her own needlework every year to raise funds for her hospitals. She and her daughters worked hard making things  themselves to be sold, and then the whole family worked at the stalls selling the items for charity.
That shows she was a caring person and was teaching her daughters to look around them at others less fortunate than themselves.

[Val289]

 There are so many other threads here that deal with Alexandra's negative aspects, it's nice to see one that deals with her more positively

Certainly, Alexandra had her share of faults - no one here would deny that.    However, I think she had some great qualities about her too.   On a personal level, she was utterly devoted to her husband and her family.  It seems like she did her best to make life comfortable and safe for them - to the best of her ability, that is.  She was certainly giving and generous in her charitable acts, and she passed those traits along to her children.  She was quiet yet compassionate, and I believe that she possessed a great deal of warmth underneath her sometimes aloof exterior.  She was certainly a woman of complexities, which makes her all the more human to me.  I also admire her spirituality and faith, during times which were trying to her soul.  Certainly her beauty adds to her mystique and appeal, as well.  

[Marialana]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but Alexandra has always been the Romanov that I've identified with & understood the most. I've always thought her positive traits have been unfairly overshadowed by her flaws.

From what I can see, Alexandra was the kind of woman that felt everything to the core. When she loved, she loved from the depths of her soul. What she despised, she detested just as equally. She may have made judgment errors & mistakes, to be sure, but they came from her heart and without fakery or deceit. I admire that immensely.
Much has been made of Alexandra's physical weakness, and emotional ups and downs. IMO, however, she was an incredibly strong woman. She dealt with the den of vipers that was Petersburg society in the only way she could have - sealing herself off from them & creating a nest at home in which she could be herself. She never tried to be something she wasn't - she adapted her life and the life of her family to protect them all from a vicious, trite society life.
Her compassion and warmth was real,and she exuded these qualities while trying to help in the hospitals in WWI. She witnessed some horrible things while tending to soldiers - something she never had to do - and did it without flinching. When she knew or felt that something was her duty, she went about it wholeheartedly despite anyone's ill-will or negative opinion of her.
Those are a few of the things I find admirable in Alexandra.

[Abby]

Well said, Marialana! I agree, I think Alix would have a difficult time being fake or hypocritical. She always acted upon her beleifs, and had a hard time hiding her feelings (she probably passed this trait onto daughter Olga)!

[bluetoria]

Problem:  hypocrisey is not deliberate.  Alexandra was hypocritical (aren't we all, in some area or another?).  

In what way was she hypocritical? I would have thought that that was one accusation which could not be levelled against her. She made no show of pretending to like people she didn't like, nor to be enjoying something she did not enjoy. I would have thought that one thing which must be said in her favour is that she was totally sincere in all she did & acted according to her own beliefs (whether or not they were sometimes misguided).