Anyway, I wanted to return to Westminster Abbey to capture a photo of this particular monument above the Abbey's western door. It features ten statues of 20th century martyrs, one of whom is a royal person that I have taken a bit of an interest in.
The 20th century martyr in particular that I was interested in seeing was Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia; a close-up of her statue is below.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was born as Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the second daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. Through her mother, Elizabeth was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Regarded by her contemporaries as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, she attracted a number of hopeful suitors, including her cousin, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose romantic gestures she turned down.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia in Russian imperial court dress
In 1884, she married Grand Duke Serge of Russia, son of Tsar Alexander II and brother of the currently reigning Tsar Alexander III. After marrying into the Romanov dynasty and converting to the Russian Orthodox Church, she became known as Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia. Ten years after her arrival in Russia, Elizabeth's youngest sister, Alexandra, would marry Serge's nephew, Tsar Nicholas II.
After Grand Duke Serge was assassinated by a terrorist's bomb in 1905, Elizabeth gradually began renouncing her royal lifestyle and threw herself into religious devotion. She became a nun, founded the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary, and used her considerable means to open hospitals and orphanages throughout Russia.
Although she was one of the most respected and well-loved members of the Russian imperial family, Grand Duchess Elizabeth was sadly not spared from the horrors of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which deposed Elizabeth's brother-in-law, Nicholas II. She refused offers from her foreign relatives to flee the country, instead choosing to remain behind and continue her work with the convent. In 1918, she was arrested by the Bolshevik government and transported to the town of Alapayevsk along with five other princes of the Romanov family. Elizabeth's sister, Empress Alexandra, along with her husband the Tsar and their five children had all been brutally murdered by their Bolshevik captors on July 17, 1918. Just one day later, on July 18, Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the group of Romanovs imprisoned with her were taken to the woods outside of Alapayevsk. There, they were beaten and hurled alive down an abandoned mineshaft. The Bolshevik soldiers then threw grenades inside the mine. When the bodies were later uncovered and identified, it was discovered that the seriously wounded Elizabeth still had the strength to bandage the wounds of one of the Romanov princes who lay dying alongside her.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth's remains were unearthed and reburied at the Church of Maria Magdalene in Jerusalem, a Russian Orthodox Church built by Tsar Alexander III. In 1981, she was canonized as Saint Elizabeth Romanova by the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1998, Grand Duchess Elizabeth's statue as part of the 20th century martyrs above the west door of Westminster Abbey was dedicated in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip, in fact, is Grand Duchess Elizabeth's great-nephew (Elizabeth's elder sister, Princess Victoria of Hesse, was Prince Philip's maternal grandmother).
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