1500) Maria of Alania

Maria of Alania (born Martha; 1053–1118). Byzantine empress by marriages to emperors Michael VII Doukas and Nikephoros III Botaneiates.

Her status as empress was considered a significant success for a newly unified Kingdom of Georgia, which would achieve regional influence comparable to that of Byzantium only during the reign of Martha's nephew, King David IV, who refused to carry a Byzantine title. Maria was the only non-Byzantine empress of the eleventh century.

 

- "After rejecting a proposal from Eudocia Macrembolitissa , he chose the "beautiful Maria" of Alania, she of the red hair, the alabaster skin, and the bright blue eyes." https://www.encyclopedia.com/.../anna-dalassena-c-1025-1105

 

 

1490) Nazikeda Kadin

Nazikeda Kadın (born Princess Emine Marshan; 1866 – 1947), also nicknamed the Last Empress. First wife and chief consort of the last sultan, Mehmed VI of the Ottoman Empire.

Nazikeda was born Emine in Sukhumi to a family of Abkhazian principality. She was the daughter of Prince Hasan Bey Marshan and Fatma Horecan Hanım Aredba. She came to Istanbul in 1876, and married Prince Mehmed Vahdeddin later known as Mehmed VI, in 1885. She was the mother of three daughters, Fenire Sultan, Ulviye Sultan, and Sabiha Sultan.

After Mehmed's accession to the throne in 1918, she was given the title of 'Senior Kadın'. Mehmed was deposed in 1922, and sent into exile in 1924. Nazikeda followed him, and remained with him until his death in 1926. She spent her last years with her two daughters, Ulviye and Sabiha, and died at Cairo in 1947.

- "Nazikeda had honey coloured eyes, long auburn hair, and slender waist." https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Nazikeda_Kad%C4%B1n_(wife_of...

 

In the photo below, Nazikeda Kadin is the third from left.

 

 

624) Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II (1729 – 1796), also known as Catherine the Great, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst. Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader. She came to power following a coup d'état when her husband, Peter III, was overthrown. Under her reign, Russia was revitalised; it grew larger and stronger, and was recognised as one of the great powers of Europe.
The period of Catherine the Great's rule, the Catherinian Era, is often considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire and the Russian nobility. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the short reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine, freed Russian nobles from compulsory military or state service. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress, changed the face of the country. She enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment and is often regarded as an enlightened despot. As a patron of the arts she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, a period when the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, was established. 
Mother of Paul I. 
One of her favourites was Prince Grigory Potemkin. 

- "... a woman of middle height, her glossy, chestnut-colored hair massed under the jeweled crown.…" https://erenow.com/biographies/catherinethegreat/45.html

- "All of them must have peered at the thirty-three-year-old woman in her prime, with her long auburn hair, her bright-blue eyes..." https://books.google.it/books…

621) Carlota of Mexico

Carlota of Mexico (1840 – 1927). Belgian princess who became Empress of Mexico by marriage to Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.

- "She has a heavy head of hair, of a beautiful dark auburn shade." https://royalfavourites.blogspot.com/…/austrial-royals-aris…

581) Maria Anna of Bavaria

Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574 – 1616). German princess member of the House of Wittelsbach by birth and Archduchess of Inner Austria by marriage. She married her first-cousin Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria and was the mother of Ferdinand III and of Cecilia Renata of Austria.

563) Helen Gloag

Helen Gloag (1750–1790), of Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, became the Empress of Morocco.

- "Due to her beauty, red hair, and green eyes, the Sultan added her to his harem. His infatuation toward her resulted in her becoming his fourth wife and eventually 'principal' or favourite wife, and later being given the title of Empress." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Gloag

- "Helen was a striking woman of considerable beauty with red hair and green eyes and it seems the Sultan was very taken with this new addition to his harem." https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/us…/g/helengloag.html

- "Captured by pirates while trying to emigrate to America, sold at a North African slave market and then wed to the Sultan of Morocco after he became smitten with her red hair and green eyes, the story of Perthshire teenager Helen Gloag is fantastical stuff." https://www.scotsman.com/…/the-perthshire-country-girl-who-…

518) Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)

Maria Feodorovna (née Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg; 1759 – 1828) Empress consort of Russia as the second wife of Tsar Paul I. 

Daughter of Duke Frederick Eugene of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Sophie Dorothea belonged to a junior branch of the House of Württemberg and grew up in Montbéliard, receiving an excellent education for her time. After Grand Duke Paul (the future Paul I of Russia) became a widower in 1776, King Frederick II of Prussia (Sophie Dorothea's maternal great-uncle) and Empress Catherine II of Russia chose Sophie Dorothea as the ideal candidate to become Paul's second wife. In spite of her fiancé's difficult character, she developed a long, peaceful relationship with Paul and converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1776, adopting the name Maria Feodorovna. During the long reign (1762-1796) of her mother-in-law, she sided with her husband and lost the initial affection the reigning Empress had for her. The couple were completely excluded from any political influence, as mother and son mistrusted each other. They were forced to live in isolation at Gatchina Palace.

They had ten children. Among them, Alexander I and Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich. 

Maria Feodorovna founded and managed all the Empire's charitable establishments and founded the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria.

We couldn't find any information about her hair colour, but in some portraits it looks red/copper.

401) Eleanor of Portugal

Eleanor of Portugal (1434 - 1467). Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Consort of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

400) Elisabeth of Bavaria

Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sisi (1837 - 1898). Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress of Austria at 44 years. Mother of Rudolf.

- "Her auburn hair is crimped as if it had been recently unbraided and its loose ends tumble over the folds of fabric that envelop her body."

http://www.academia.edu/2456924/I_Am_a_Slave_To_My_Hair_Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria_Hair_Fetishism_and_Nineteenth-Century_Austrian_Sexuality

 

- "She looks over her shoulder at the viewer, with her glorious auburn hair covered in diamonds."

http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2009/12/lonely-empress-life-of-elisabeth-of.html

 

          - "Instead, he was fascinated  by her sister's untarnished elfin qualities, by the long auburn hair..."  https://books.google.it/

The following portrait was painted in 1903 by Andreas Wildhack on request of Elisabeth's friend Ida Ferenczy.

by Andreas Wildhack, 1903

397) Isabella of Portugal

Isabella of Portugal (1503 - 1539). Empress consort and queen consort of her cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was the ruler of the Spanish Empire. She was Queen of Spain and Germany, and Lady of the Netherlands from 10 March 1526 until her death in 1539, and became Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Italy in February 1530. She was the regent of Spain because of her husband's constant travels through Europe, ensuring that the kingdom remained independent of imperial policies and economically healthy during her lifetime.

Her maternal grandmother was Isabella of Castile. Mother of Philip II.

369) Eugénie de Montijo

Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 19th Countess of Teba, 16th Marchioness of Ardales (1826 – 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo, was Empress of the French from her marriage to Emperor Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until the Emperor was overthrown on 4 September 1870.

Napoléon and Eugénie had one child together, Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–79). After the fall of the Empire, the three lived in exile in England; Eugénie outlived both her husband and son and spent the remainder of her life working to commemorate their memories and the memory of the Second Empire. 

 

- "The last Empress of the French was a Spanish beauty, Eugénie de Montijo, who owed her auburn hair and fiery temperament to her Scottish grandparents." https://www.johnstoncollection.org/lectures_archive 

 

- "In 1837, Eugénie and Paca [her older sister] briefly attended a boarding school for girls on Royal York Crescent in Clifton, Bristol, to learn English. Eugénie was teased as "Carrots", for her red hair, and tried to run away to India, making it as far as climbing on board a ship in Bristol docks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A9nie_de_Montijo

 

- "During his eighteen-year reign, his wife, Empress Eugenie, was fond of the Angoulême Emerald Tiara, apparently especially liking the way that it looked in her red hair." https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2021/01/museum-week-angouleme-emerald-tiara.html

349) Maria Anna of Spain

Infanta Maria Anna of Spain (1606 – 1646). Daughter of King Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria and Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia by marriage to Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. Sister of Philip IV of Spain and Anne of Austria.

We couldn't find any reference to her hair colour, but in some of her portraits it looks red.

327) Bianca Maria Sforza

Bianca Maria Sforza (1472 – 1510). Queen of Germany and Italy, and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire as the third spouse of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his second wife, Bona of Savoy.

She had two brothers: Gian Galeazzo Sforza and Hermes Maria Sforza, Marquis of Tortona, and a sister, Anna Maria Sforza. Caterina Sforza was her half-sister.

In 1485, the engagement between Bianca and John Corvinus, the only (though illegitimate) son of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, was formally announced. The marriage by proxy was signed on 25 November 1487, and according to the terms of the contract, Bianca received several Hungarian counties. However, due to the opposition and intrigues of Queen Beatrix, wife of King Matthias, the formal marriage never took place.

In 1494 in Hall, Tyrol, Bianca married her second husband, the widowed King Maximilian I of Germany.

 

255) Alexandra Feodorovna

Alexandra Feodorovna (1872 – 1918). Empress of Russia as the spouse of Nicholas II, the last ruler of the Russian Empire. Granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Originally Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine at birth, she was given the name and patronymic Alexandra Feodorovna when she converted and was received into the Russian Orthodox Church. She and her immediate family were all killed while in Bolshevik captivity in 1918, during the Russian Revolution. In 2000 the Russian Orthodox Church canonized her as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer.

Sister of Elisabeth. 

Her children were Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei. 

She was also a maternal great-aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

- “By her late teens, Alix had blossomed into a beautiful young woman with red gold hair and sparkling blue eyes…” https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Alexandra_Feodorovna_(Alix_of_He…
 
- “Over the head of Alexandra Feodorovna flows the same Niagara of dark auburn hair which was her greatest physical charm when she was merely Princess Alix Helena Louise Beatrice Victoria of Hesse and knew the pinch of poverty.” http://theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.it/…/empress-alexandra-f…
 

- “Her red-gold hair was never touched with curling irons…” http://www.alexanderpalace.org/realtsaritsa/1chap4.html
 
- “She was blessed with extraordinary good looks; she was a small girl with a slim yet shapely figure, rosy lips, a clear and fair complexion, blue eyes, and waves of dark auburn hair.” http://crownstiarasandcoronets.blogspot.it/…/alexandra-feod…

207) Eleonora Gonzaga the Younger

Eleonora Gonzaga (1630 – 1686). Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethel from the Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga and, by marriage to Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia.
Nicknamed the Younger to distinguish herself from her namesake aunt, she was considered one of the most educated and virtuous women of her time. Fascinated by religious poetry, she founded a literary academy and was also a patron of musical theater. As Holy Roman Empress, she promoted the development of cultural and spiritual life at the Imperial court in Vienna, and despite being a staunch Catholic and benefactress of several monasteries, she had a tolerant attitude towards the Protestantism.

She established two female orders: the Order of Virtuosity (1662) and the Order of the Starry Cross (1668).

172) Elizabeth Petrovna

Elizabeth Petrovna (1709 - 1761). Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death.

- "The love child was very attractive, with thick red hair and divine porcelain skin with a rosy blush".
https://books.google.it/books…