Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia
| Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna | |
|---|---|
| Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Grand Duchess of Russia |
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Portrait by Vladimir Borovikovsky, 1796. Oil on canvas from the Gatchina Palace Museum, St Petersburg, Russia.
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| Born |
24 December 1784 Saint Petersburg, Empire of Russia |
| Died | 24 September 1803 (aged 18) Ludwigslust, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Holy Roman Empire |
| Spouse |
Duke Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (m. 1799 - 1803; her death) |
| Issue |
Grand Duke Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Princess Marie Louise, Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg |
| House |
Romanov |
| Father | Emperor Paul I of Russia |
| Mother | Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg |
Grand Duchess Elena of Russia, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg (Russian: Великая Княжна Елена Павловна) (24 December 1784 – 24 September 1803) was a daughter of Grand Duke, later Tsar Paul I of Russia and his second wife Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. After marrying the son and heir of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin she ceased to use her Russian title.
Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna was born in Saint Petersburg, capital city of the Russian Empire. The arrival of a second daughter was happy news to her father, Tsarevich Paul Petrovich, who had lost his first wife Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt in childbirth, eight years before. She was also said to be very beautiful so her grandmother, the Empress Catherine, named her after Helen of Troy.
As a girl, Elena was educated privately at home, her first years' education being supervised by her paternal grandmother, the formidable Catherine II of Russia. As any other royal of her time, the Grand Duchess' education was focused mainly on art, literature and music. Her real purpose in life, eventually, would be to marry well and provide her husband-to-be with children. Out of all her siblings, Elena was closest to her older sister Alexandra, whose life was shaped practically the same as was Elena's.
Elena's mother, Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg (by now known as Maria Fyodorovna following her baptism in the Orthodox faith), turned out to be an excellent matchmaker. Although one of her daughters died as an infant, the rest married members of Europe's most important and prestigious royal houses.
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