- Just nine months after their marriage, the Duchess gave birth to a son, Alfred, born in Buckingham Palace on 15 October 1874. The Tsarina came to London to visit her daughter during her confinement and to meet her grandson.
- Half-sister of George Alexandrovich Yurievsky (1872-1913), Olga Alexandrovna Yourievsky von Merenberg (1873-1925), Boris Alexandrovich Yurievsky (1876-1876) and Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yourievsky (1878-1959).
- Daughter of Tsar Alexander II. Sister of Czar Aleksandr III.
- When she visited Scotland, Maria Alexandrovna was frozen in her unheated bedroom in Balmoral Castle and ordered a fire to be lit. When she was out, Queen Victoria entered the room and ordered a maid to throw water on the fire and open all the windows.
- Maria disliked her in-laws. Queen Victoria's company was oppressive, and her husband was a philanderer. Of her sisters and brothers-in-law, she only cared for the two youngest: Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice. Considered Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, a light-minded and foolish woman.
- In 1877, Russia went to war with Turkey in an attempt to gain control of the Balkans. Queen Victoria sent Tsar Alexander II a series of aggressive telegrams that almost led to a state of war between the two countries. The Duchess was deeply shocked at her mother-in-law's hostility towards her country and her own father in particular.
- British people thought her rough and masculine in her manners. Her imperious attitude towards her servants and her defiance of English convention by smoking in public made her unpopular. She made it equally plain that she did not care what people thought.
- The family's main residence in England was Clarence House, in London. Autumns, Christmas and new year were spent at Eastwell Park, a country estate they leased in Kent. On summer holidays, the family went to Osborne Cottage on the Isle of Wight.
- Her birthplace, Palace Tsarskoye Selo, lent its name to the town it was located in. "Tsarskoye Selo" means "Tsar's Village". Tsarskoye Selo and the palace was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in 1991.
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