Russian Tsarina reburied in St Petersburg

Moscow, Sep 28 (UNI) Danish-born Russian Tsarina, Maria Fedorovna who was forced to exile, after the October revolution in 1917, was reburied in the cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg today.

Fedorovna was the wife of Tsar Alexander III and mother of the last Russian monarch, Nicholas II. Her remains were brought two days ago in a military ship from Copenhagen.

The ceremony culminated in a 31-gun salute, similar to the one given to the Danish princess as she first stepped onto Russian soil 140 years ago.

On Thursday, Russian Patriarch Alexy II performed a service at St Isaac's Cathedral in central St Petersburg, to commemorate Princess Dagmar, who had assumed her Russian name Fedorovna and converted to the Orthodoxy before marrying into the Romanov family at the age of 19.

Hundreds of Russian and foreign dignitaries, including members of royalty, attended the service.

Fedorovna fled Russia in 1919 after the Bolsheviks made her son Nicholas abdicate the throne and then killed him, together with his wife and children.

She died in 1928 in her native land Denmark, wishing her final resting place would be beside her Russian family.

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