Stunning museums facsimile: Heavy Religious Cross Pendant:
19th Century 1874 : 7 cm x 4 cm marked : BA 1874 84 . Lillies and Grapes on the cross.
Real sterling silver surface: bronze silvered.
The Original cross was in the possession of the Grand Duchess , wife of the Duke of Edinburgh.
On 23 January 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh married the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the second (and only surviving) daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Wilhelmine of Baden, at the Winter Palace, St Petersburg. To commemorate the occasion, a small English bakery made the now internationally popular Marie biscuit, with the Duchess' name imprinted on its top.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on 12 March. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and the bride was thought haughty by London Society.[18] She was surprised to discover that she had to yield precedence to the Princess of Wales and all of Queen Victoria's daughters and demanded that she take precedence before the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) because she considered the Princess of Wales's family (the Danish royal family) to be inferior to her own. Queen Victoria refused this demand, yet granted her precedence immediately after the Princess of Wales. Her father gave her the then-staggering sum of £100,000 as a dowry, plus an annual allowance of £32,000.
On 4 January 1874, Alfred arrived in St Petersburg for the wedding and stayed in the Winter Palace.[56] The other British guests arrived on 18 January. The wedding was celebrated in great splendour, at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace on 23 January [O.S. 11 January] 1874.[48] Queen Victoria was represented by her eldest son Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra, Princess of Wales, sister of Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The Queen's eldest daughter, Victoria, and her husband Frederick, Crown Prince of Germany, were present as well.
The marriage ceremony consisted of two parts. The Orthodox service took place first and was performed by the Metropolitans of St Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev in the Imperial Chapel.[29] Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexis, and Sergei and the groom's brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, relieved each other taking turns holding the golden crowns over the head of the bride and groom.[29][48] Maria wore a glittering coronet and a mantle of crimson velvet trimmed with ermine and a sprig of myrtle, specially sent by Queen Victoria. Alfred wore the uniform of the Royal Navy. The Tsar looked pale throughout the entire ceremony and said afterwards: "It is for her happiness, but the light of my life has gone out."[57] After this, the bride and groom each drank thrice from a goblet of wine. The service concluded with the couple joining hands under the priest's stole. Then they all proceeded to the Alexander Hall, where Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster, made Prince Alfred and Maria Alexandrovna husband and wife according to the rites of the Church of England.[58] The two services were followed by a banquet at the palace. The famous opera singer Adelina Patti sang for the guests. The evening ended with a ball at St George Hall.
In London that night, Queen Victoria wore the Order of St Catherine on her dress and drank a toast to the young couple. Those members of her court who had traveled to St Petersburg were overwhelmed by the scale of the celebrations, receptions and entertainments marking the Anglo-Russian marriage. Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone noted that, in one room, supper was served to five hundred people at fifty different tables, with "palms and exotics ... used to so large an extent that it gives the place the appearance of a conservatory ... the heat of the rooms was almost unbearable, and several ladies left the ballroom in a fainting state."[59] Lady Augusta Stanley summed up the wedding in three words: "What a day."
Alfred and Maria spent their wedding night at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.[60] Alexander II had ordered a lavish honeymoon suite on the ground floor, hoping that it would persuade the young couple to remain in Russia. After a short honeymoon in Tsarskoe Selo, however, Alfred and Maria left Russia to live in England. Alexander II never lost hope that they would return, and the honeymoon suite was kept preserved for the couple for two decades. In 1894, it became the bedroom of the last Tsar and his wife, Nicholas II and Alexandra, who were Maria's nephew and Alfred's niece respectively.