Meant to celebrate the love of Nicholas II and Alexandra, this egg has as its surprise two golden doves perched on a tree stump, one slightly elevated. Nicholas and Alix/Alexandra met when she was 12 and he was 16 at the wedding of his uncle, Grand Duke Serge to her older sister Ella who became Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

The girls were the daughters of a minor German Prince and although this was permissible for the Grand Duke, for Nicholas - the Tsaravich - it was not considered a suitable match. Royal marriages at that time were designed to strengthen the royal houses involved, or to cement treaties or long term relationships between countries. Marriage to Alix/Alexandra would not bring about any of these results. Love was never involved in royal marriages. They were arranged politically and the participants had little if anything to say or do with the arrangements. If one examines the lineage of the royal houses of Europe, it is immediately apparent that certain countries were inextricably tied to each other because of the lineage of the royal families.

Marriages then were considered almost a line of defense. In any case, Nicholas saw Alix a number of times and as they became adults he realized that he loved her, and he was determined to marry her. When his father, Alexander III, became quite ill in 1894, Alexander concluded that it was most important to provide a stabilizing influence in Nicholas' life and gave his approval to the marriage. Nicholas and Alix/Alexandra were married one week after the funeral of Alexander III. The clasp on the Egg is the Romanov Double Eagle.

Retail: $450.00. Our price $404.90.