The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had

A storybook romance gives way to a marital nightmare and then a rebellious escape in this sparkling biography. Historian Rappaport (After the Romanovs) recaps the life of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a German duke’s daughter who in 1796 was married off at the age of 14 to 16-year-old Russian prince Konstantin Romanov. At first Julie was dazzled by Konstantin, but after the wedding she became the victim of his escalating psychopathy. (His bizarre cruelties included locking her in a room filled with mice and trying to rip off her dress in public.) Her parents were no help (instead pestering her for money), but in 1801, after rumors circulated that Julie was having an affair, czar Alexander I allowed her to leave Russia. She ended up in Switzerland, establishing herself as a charismatic socialite. Not granted a divorce until 1820, her affairs continued apace. High society was at first sympathetic but eventually grew scandalized when she had a child with a married doctor. Julie later came to be considered uniquely “lost” to history, as her siblings were all successfully married off by their strategically minded mother into powerful European dynasties. Rappaport provides an elegant study of how these machinations had a devastating personal cost for Julie, and how she fought back with freethinking attitudes about love. It’s a captivating historical saga of a woman in revolt. (Apr.)