Tsar Alexander II of Russia seemed to possess the conservative spirit predominant in Europe at the time of his birth, a trend which continued in Russia through to the end of his father's reign. Until the time of his accession in 1855, few imagined that he would be known to posterity as a great reformer abolishing, for example, the Russian serfdom. To the disappointment of his father, who was passionate about the military, he showed no love of soldiering. Rather, Alexander gave evidence of a kind disposition and a tender-heartedness which were considered out of place in someone destined to become a military autocrat. Unlike some of his predecessors, he had no grand, original schemes of his own to impose on his subjects, and no pet projects to lead his judgment astray. He looked instinctively with a suspicious, critical eye upon the projects which more imaginative and less cautious people recommended. However, the growth of a revolutionary movement to the 'left' of the educated classes led to an abrupt end to Alexander's reforms when he was assassinated in 1881.
He was the grandfather of Grand Duchess Helena Vladimirovna and thus great-grandfather to her daughter Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark. The photograph of Tsar Alexander II framed by Fabergé is therefore a sentimental and personal rather than a purely political tribute to Princess Olga's great-grandfather.