When the heir of Alexander II, Nicholas, suddenly died of an unknown illness, his bride, the Danish Princess Dagmar, passed, as it were, to the second son, became his betrothed and, accordingly, came to Saint Petersburg

When the heir of Alexander II, Nicholas, suddenly died of an unknown illness, his bride, the Danish Princess Dagmar, passed, as it were, to the second son, became his betrothed and, accordingly, came to Saint Petersburg. This was September 1866. The weather was splendid. And so Tyutchev, in honour of the occasion, composed an inspired poem which ended with these lines: «and Dagmar's week shall pass from generation to generation». As if pointing to the significance of the event and assuming that the memory of Princess Dagmar would be preserved by many generations to come. But he was wrong; nothing of the kind happened. Where the Romanov dynasty was concerned he was in general often wrong, and very sincerely so. And who today remembers Dagmar and her week? There you are