to Hesse and take up her new position with her husband. They stayed in St. Petersburg, where her health rapidly declined. She went into labor prematurely, three months before the child was due, and gave birth to a son, Wilhelm. The infant died shortly after he was born, and Alexandra died later the same day. She was the first of her parents' children to die. Her parents were devastated and their grief would last until the end of their lives. She was buried at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. Her son was buried in Rumpenheim (Germany). Nine years later, Fritz married Adini's first cousin, Princess Anna of Prussia (1836–1918), as his second wife. Eventually he became head of the House of Hesse-Kassel. Although they had six children together, Fritz and Anna were never emotionally close, and it is speculated that one reason was because Fritz was unable to overcome his grief for his first wife. Legacy In the gardens of the Petergof palace near Saint Petersburg there is a memorial bench with a small sculpture bust of the Grand Duchess. Her rooms there have been preserved just as they were at the time of her death. Six sheaves of wheat made of diamonds, which came to Hesse on one of the dresses in Alexandra's trousseau, were transformed into a tiara by Anna around 1900. This tiara is now the traditional wedding tiara of the Hessian princely family, and was last worn by Floria of Faber-Castell when in 2003, she married Donatus, Hereditary Prince of Hesse, Adini's husband's great-great-grandson by his second marriage. Ancestry Sources Hesse: A Princely German Collection. Catalog of exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, 2005. John E. Buchanan, Jr., Director, The Marilyn H. and Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. Collection. Olga, Queen of Wuerttemberg. Traum der Jugend goldener Stern. Günther Neske Verlag, 1955. External links 1825 births 1844 deaths Deaths in childbirth House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Russian grand duchesses House of Hesse-Kassel 19th-century people from the Russian Empire 19th-century women from the Russian Empire Daughters of Russian emperors Children of Nicholas I of Russia Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg