Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg

Princess Eugenia of Leuchtenberg was born on 1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1845 at the Mariinskiy Palace in Saint Petersburg. She was the fourth child and third daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. Eugenia's father, Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, had traveled to St. Petersburg, eventually winning the hand of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Nicholas I's eldest daughter. Maximilian was subsequently bestowed with the style Imperial Highness and given the title Prince Romanowsky. As the daughter of a Russian grand duchess and an ennobled Russian prince, Eugenia and her siblings were always treated as grand dukes and duchesses, bearing the styles Imperial Highness.

Princess Eugenia (She was called Eugenie, the French form of her name, by her family) spent her childhood in the Mariinsky Palace with her siblings. Both of her parents were interested in artistic and scientific endeavors so Eugenia received a better education than most princesses of her time. She studied music, drawing, dancing and languages. As a girl she enjoyed horse-riding. Hunting with horses and riding became hobbies she enjoyed throughout her life.

After their father's death in 1852, Grand Duchess Maria morganatically remarried to Count Grigori Stroganov two years later. As this union was kept secret from her father Emperor Nicholas I (and her brother Emperor Alexander II could not permit the union, preferring instead to feign ignorance), Maria was forced into exile abroad. Alexander felt sympathy for his sister however, and paid special attention to her children from her first marriage, who lived in St. Petersburg without their mother.

Due to her rank, Eugenia often served in various court functions. In 1860 for instance Eugenia accompanied Dowager Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to France, where they were greeted by Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie. In 1866, the princess, Grand Duchess Maria, and other prominent royal figures officially greeted U.S. Ambassador Cassius Clay and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox with a lavish banquet; Clay was given the honor of sitting between Eugenia and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna. Clay and Fox had previously traveled to the country palace of Grand Duchess Maria, where they were officially presented to Princess Eugenia; they ate lunch together, and afterwards the two men journeyed back to St. Petersburg to carry out other visits of state.

As a young woman, various candidates were put forth as potential husbands. One such possibility was Crown Prince Umberto of Italy. Nothing came of this however, and Umberto later married Princess Margherita of Savoy. There were also planned for Eugenia to marry then Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, the nephew of King Otto of Greece, and have him convert to Eastern Orthodoxy to reassure the Greek people, but the plans came too late to help King Otto.

On 19 January 1868 at the Winter Palace, Eugenia married Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg, a son of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg. Alexander's grandfather had married Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, daughter of Paul I of Russia, and their descendants had been raised in Russia ever since and become completely "Russianized", much like Eugenia's own family. Thus despite his German title, Duke Alexander, like his father before him, had grown up entirely in Russia, serving his military service for the czars. He was always considered a part of the Russian imperial family.

The couple had one son, Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg (21 November 1868 – 11 March 1924). Eugenia had a long-standing friendship with Empress Maria Feodorovna, and the two helped arrange the marriage of Eugenia's son to Marie's daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

Arts and philanthropy

Eugenia was considered by contemporary sources to be the "most cultured and amiable women that could be met with", while Alexander was celebrated as a man with "much intellect and character". As a very popular and educated princess, Eugenia hosted a salon that was the center of literary, philosophical, scientific activity in Russia. By 1907, she and her husband were widely known to devote "all their life and the greater portion of their wealth to philanthropy", according to one source. Their extensive donations helped fund and found technical schools, hospitals, orphanages, as well as other philanthropic institutions all over Russia. She was also instrumental in establishing the Red Cross in Russia. The Oldenburg Institute was one such organization founded by the couple; its purpose was to teach two thousand boys and girls trade and technical education, with more than half of them being lodged at the school at the prince and princess' expense. As she suffered from delicate health, Eugenia did not often venture out, instead preferring to quietly entertain in her house.

While attending the opening of the St. Petersburg School of Experimental Medicine as its main benefactor in January 1907, a prominent government official, General von Launitz, was assassinated before Eugenia and her husband's eyes. The general was standing a few steps away from her husband, so that Eugenia, believing at first that Alexander had been the one killed, fell into a faint.