Inexperienced....*lol* a 22 year old woman becoming Empress of all the Russians. Considering all and everything she did and tried to do for her people and how disgusting she was treated by many and the most tragic fate of giving birth to one son suffering from an incurable disease... I cannot stop wondering how one is able to prefer the idle, superficial and not really well-read Dowager Empress...
People often do prefer the superficial- it is easier to deal with. People prefered Marie Feodorovna because she was active in Russian society and played out the social role of the Empress well. She was more like most of the Russian court than Alexandra, and easier to understand, and presented a good public image. Alexandra didn't fit in as well with the Russian court, did not fill the social role of Empress well, and was defintely a deeper more interesting person than MF, but people didn't see or appreciate that. She had real public image problems. MF had tragedies in her life too, she just dealt with them differently than Alexandra. Her infant son died, another son died as a young man, another son made an unsuitable marriage ( Michael), and her husband did die young, and of course she was engaged first to Alexander III's older brother who died, then Alexander. People say Alexandra's early life was surrounded by death and tragedy- true enough. But, MF also had enough death and tragedy in her life, perhaps just as much or more than Alexandra's- thanks to Jehan for making that point. I would say, MF dealt with the tragedies that happened to her better than Alexandra. MF was more resilient. She had a different personality, and did not let these tragedies ruin her health or life. Alexandra was more affected by her tragedies,I suppose because she was more sensitive. So I feel you have to admire how MF dealt with the tragedies in her life, more than you can admire Alexandra's way of coping. MF was a more superficial person than Alexandra, but in the end when dealing with life, that served her well.
