Grand Duchess Marie weds popular sailor prince

Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection

May 3, 1908


The beginning of the "nuptial ceremonies" between Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and Prince Wilhelm of Sweden was announced by the firing of five guns at nine a.m., this morning by the battery at Tsarskoe-Selo and from the fortress of St. Peter and St Paul in St. Petersburg, reports the New York Times.

The wedding guests assembled at 2:30 p.m., in the great Palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, where the ceremony was "conducted with a pomp and brilliancy characteristic of the most stately court in Europe."

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovitch and the late Princess Alexandra of Greece, was robed "in accordance with court custom in the private apartments of the Empress. She was dressed by Empress Alexandra and the Dowager Empress Marie, with the assistance of their maids of honor and ladies in waiting. The bride "wore on her head a jeweled diadem, and from her shoulders hung a long-trained mantle of strawberry velvet lined with ermine." This train was "borne by five Court Chamberlains."

After Marie was "completely arrayed," Prince Wilhelm, younger son of King Gustav V and Queen Victoria, was "notified by the master of ceremonies and conducted to the inner apartments" where his bride was waiting.

After a 21 gun salute and trumpet fanfare, the royal procession began. The Dowager Empress on the arm of King Gustav led the procession and was followed by the Russian emperor escorting Queen Olga of the Hellenes, Empress Alexandra escorted by her brother, the Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Roumania, all of whom were attended by court ushers and "other functionaries."

The next to enter was the bridal pair, who were followed by Prince and Princess Nicholas and Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece, and Prince and Princess Carl of Sweden. The members of the foreign courts were followed by "more than a score of Russian Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses," including Nicholas II's three oldest daughters, Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess Maria. This was the first time that the Emperor's daughters were present for a state function.

All of the invited ladies "wore the picturesque court costumes of high pearl-encrusted caps and low cut gowns."

At the chapel door, the Russian Emperor was blessed and "sprinkled with holy water." He conducted the bride and groom to the dais before the great altar. The wedding rings were brought from the altar on "golden salvers" and placed on the "fingers of the bride and bridegroom by the Emperor's confessor." The Metropolitan completed the Russian Orthodox service, where two of Marie's "nearest relatives" held the crowns over the heads of the bridal pair during the ceremony."

After the Te Deum was sung, and a 101 gun salute was fired, the procession moved to one of the palace's ante-salons for the Lutheran wedding ceremony, which was performed by the Bishop of Lund.

A nuptial dinner began at 7 p.m. Toasts were drunk to the Emperor and Empress, to the newlyweds and their parents, to the Imperial family, and to "their loyal Russian subjects." The dinner was followed by a polonaise,  "a stately progress around the great reception hall," similar to the Prussian torch dance. The reception continued at the Alexander Palace, and, at a "late hour in the evening," the bridal pair boarded a special train for St. Petersburg, where they will be spending their honeymoon at the palace of the late Archduke Sergei.