Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 – 3 June 1880) was, under the name Maria Alexandrovna (Russian: Мария Александровна), Empress of Russia as the first wife of Emperor Alexander II, having been born a German princess. The Mariinsky Theatre and the city of Mariehamn in Åland are named after her.

Marie was the youngest of seven children born in Darmstadt to the marriage of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and his first cousin, Princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788–1836), a sister of the Russian Empress consort, Elizaveta Alexeievna. The four youngest of Grand Duchess Wilhelmine's children are purported to have been the biological children of Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy, although even after their mother's death Grand Duke Ludwig acknowledged as his own children the two who lived to adulthood; Alexander (1823-1888) and Marie, whose marriage to the future Russian emperor he approved.

When in 1838, the Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolayevich toured Europe to find a wife, he fell in love with the 14-year-old Marie. She was escorted to Russia by her brother Alexander and was married to the Tsarevich on 16 April 1841, even though the latter was well aware of the allegations concerning her parentage. Alexander Nikolaevich's mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, objected but her son insisted. Upon Marie's conversion to the Eastern Orthodox Church prior to the wedding, she was given the Russian name Maria Alexandrovna.

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