ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Czarina Maria Fyodorovna, the Danish-born mother of the last czar of Russia, was laid to rest Thursday in St. Petersburg with her son and grandchildren.
The czarina was re-interred in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the Novosti news agency reported. Her remains arrived in the city earlier this week on a Danish military vessel. She was honored with a 31-gun salute, the greeting she received when she arrived in St. Petersburg in 1866.
Before the burial, Patriarch Alexey II presided at a service in honor of the czarina's life at the Cathedral of St. Isaac.
Born Princess Dagmar, the czarina changed her name and adopted the Russian Orthodox faith when she married the future Czar Alexander III at the age of 19. In 1919, she returned to Denmark after the abdication and death of her son, Nicholas II, who was shot with his wife and children in 1918.
The czarina died in 1928 in Copenhagen. She had said that she hoped to be buried in Russia. The remains of Nicholas and his family were brought to St. Petersburg in 1998.
