Sources:
My Mission to Russia, volume 1, pages 166 to 167, by Sir George Buchanan, 1923
The description:
My relations with the Imperial family date back to the days, some sixteen years before my appointment as Ambassador at St. Petersburg, when I was accredited as chargé d'affaires to the Empress's brother, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Princess "Alix" — the name by which the Empress was best known before her marriage — was then a beautiful girl, though shy and reserved; but when once this barrier of reserve was broken down, one realized how charming she could be. Her natural kindness of heart manifested itself in many ways, and in our case more especially by the ready sympathy which she more than once showed us when we were in trouble. Her face was a very striking one, with, at times, a sad and pathetic expression — an expression which Koppay has reproduced to the life in the portrait which he painted soon after her marriage. I remember remarking, when I first saw an engraving of this picture, that there was something in it that suggested the idea of impending tragedy. ...
Above: Alexandra.
Above: Sir George Buchanan.
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