Russia reburies empress in imperial crypt

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Sep 29 (Reuters) Russia reburied the mother of its last tsar, forced into exile by the Bolshevik revolution, in an act of reconciliation with the country's bloody past.

Empress Maria Fyodorovna fled Russia after her son, Tsar Nicholas II, was murdered by Bolsheviks. Eighty seven years on, she was reburied beside her son and husband in accordance with her final wishes.

As a choir sang the Orthodox liturgy, eight black-suited men lowered her coffin down into the imperial crypt as the St Peter and Paul cathedral, resting place for the Russian tsars since Peter the Great.

Danish Crown Prince Frederick and descendants of the Romanov family filed past sprinkling earth onto the coffin. The white marble cover of the crypt was then put back in place.

Artillery guns fired a salute and flags around the cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital, flew at half mast.

The return of the empress's remains from Denmark was a personal initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet spy who has revived some of Russia's old imperial grandeur to symbolise his country's revival.

''This will be another sign that Russia is overcoming the enmity and divisions brought by the revolution and civil war,'' Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II, who led a mourning ceremony in St Isaac's cathedral before the burial, told the preachers yesterday.

CLOSES CHAPTER The burial closes a chapter in Russian history left open for decades: the former empress was the only ruler from the Romanov dynasty not buried in the crypt.

''I am convinced that the best tribute to her memory will be a resurgent Russia that will once again go along the path of Christ, a Russia that strives to live in wisdom and in truth and by the eternal moral laws,'' Alexiy said.

Unless Russia revives its monarchy -- which is highly unlikely -- she will be the last to be buried there.

Maria Fyodorovna was born as Princess Dagmar into Denmark's royal family. She changed her name and converted to Russian Orthodoxy when she married the man who later became Russia's Alexander III. She died in exile in Denmark in 1928.

Putin did not attend the ceremony. The reburial was earlier postponed after Moscow accused Denmark of giving refuge to violent Chechen separatists. The issue still clouds relations.

Many Russians view Maria Fyodorovna with affection because they associate her with a golden era of the Russian empire.

After her son took over, the country slipped into war and misrule that eventually led to the revolution.

''She was one of our better empresses. She did not meddle in politics and she lived a good Russian life,'' said Yevgeny Levashov, a 77-year-old pensioner.

''I think it is worth reburying her. A wife should be laid to rest next to her husband.'' REUTERS AD RAI0524