Thank you Kate!
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I wanted to ask, if there is any biography on the Empress in English? Also, I undertand that Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote her biography, but has anyone here ever read it?
I have only seen a copy of Nikolai Mikhailovich's biography of Elizaveta Alexeievna once, and that was on a site for rare books. Unfortunately, Nicholas I had his sister-in-law's diaries destroyed when she died, so Nikolai Mikhailovich did not have them to use as a primary source, but he did have the letters she wrote to her mother, in which she was very candid.
I don't think there are any biographies of her in English, but there is information about her in
Alexander I by Henri Troyat--I think this is where I learned about the Nikolai Mikhailovich book. Apparently, Nikolai wanted to include a chapter about Elizaveta Alexeievna's extramarital affairs (particularly her relationship with Alexei Okhotnikov), but Nicholas II would not allow him to do so.
