Maria Feodorovna (26 November 1847 – 13 October 1928), christened Dagmar, was a Danish princess and Empress of Russia as spouse of Tsar Alexander III (reigned 1881–1894). She was the second daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Cassel; her siblings included Alexandra (Queen Consort of the United Kingdom), King Frederick VIII of Denmark and King George I of Greece. Her eldest son became the last Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, whom she outlived by ten years.

Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar was born at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a member of a relatively impoverished princely cadet line. Her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

She was baptised into the Lutheran faith and named after her kinswoman Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Dowager of Denmark as well as the medieval Danish queen, Dagmar of Bohemia. Growing up, she was known by the name Dagmar. Most of her life, she was known as Maria Feodorovna (Russian: Мари́я Фёдоровна), the name which she took when she converted to Orthodoxy immediately before her 1866 marriage to the future Emperor Alexander III. She was known within her family as Minnie.

...
Wikipedia