Chère Annette

by Marīi͡a Ḟeodorovna Empress, consort of Paul I, Emperor of Russia

My blessings and best wishes to you, Dear Anne, as to William and the children. May God grant you all a happy year and reunite us one day. Thus begins, in January 1820, the surviving correspondence from Empress Maria Feodorovna in St Petersburg to her youngest daughter, Anna Pavlovna, Princess of Orange. Separated by Anna's marriage in 1816 to William of Orange, mother and daughter maintained almost daily contact by letter for twelve years. Anna and her family were indeed eventually reunited in 1824. The long trip was, however, made difficult by the Prince and Princess's position in the Dutch court and by Anna's frequent pregnancies. When Anna left again for Brussels she was not to know that this would in fact be the last occasion she would see her mother or brother, the Emperor Alexander. Although far from her home country Anna was kept fully acquainted with events in Russia and within the extended Romanov royal family. There was a series of particularly tragic and worrying events at