On the western facade of Westminster Abbey is the fourth figure from the left, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanova, a relative of the last Russian tsar, brutally killed by the Bolsheviks. She is adjacent to Martin Luther King.

How did the figure of the Russian duchess end up on the walls of the abbey in London? In the late 1990s, the British decided to install statues of all modern martyrs there, among whom was Elizabeth Feodorovna. Important ties between the British and Russian royal families played a significant role.

Thus, the western facade of Westminster Abbey is adorned with the statue of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, canonized as a saint-martyr. She came from a noble German family and bore the full maiden name Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

In 1884, she married Russian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of Emperor Alexander III, converted to Orthodoxy, and took a new name. Her younger sister, Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova, Victoria Alice Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt, married Emperor Nicholas II in 1894, becoming the last Russian empress, Alexandra Feodorovna.

Contemporaries recalled that Elizabeth Feodorovna had a pious nature from her youth. After the death of Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905 at the hands of terrorists, she withdrew from public life, sold her jewelry and art collection, directing the funds to charity. In 1907, in Moscow on Bolshaya Ordynka, Elizabeth Feodorovna founded the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.

After the revolution, she refused to leave Russia, and in 1918 was arrested and sent first to Perm, then to Alapayevsk, near Yekaterinburg. In Alapayevsk, Elizabeth Feodorovna, along with her sister Varvara, four princes, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and his assistant were thrown into a mine 18 km from the city. According to one version, only the grand duke was shot, while the others were thrown in alive, dying from injuries and starvation over several days.

In 1981, Elizabeth Feodorovna was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and in 1992, she and her sister Varvara were included in the list of new martyrs by the Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1998, the western facade of Westminster Abbey was adorned with statues of 20th-century new martyrs from around the world.

Fourth in line stands the Grand Duchess. From left to right: Maximilian Kolbe, Manche Masemola, Janani Luwum, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi, and Wan Chzhimin.