Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, married for love. He first met Princess Alix of Hesse (later Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) as a teenager. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria — shy, deeply religious, and raised in Germany and England. Nicholas fell in love early and refused other political matches despite pressure from his family. They married in November 1894, just weeks after his father, Alexander III, died and Nicholas unexpectedly became Tsar at 26. Many Russians felt the wedding