Romanov sisters

It has been pointed out by some, that no sisters could have been closer than the last Russian Grand Duchesses. This closeness was given not only by a very little age differences of the girls, but also by their way of life. In their diaries usually isn´t „I“ but „us“. Almost everything they did together. It also didn´t matter that they were all very different in personality. „The Grand Duchesses were charming - the picture of freshness and health. It would have been difficult to find four sisters with characters more dissimilar and yet so perfectly blended in an affection which did not exclude personal independence, and, in spite of contrasting temperaments, kept them a most united family. With the initials of their Christian names they had formed a composite Christian name, OTMA, and under this common signature they frequently gave their presents or sent letters written by one of them on behalf of all.“ – this was written by one of the Imperial children´s tutors.

„Olga has grace, wit, and good looks, Tatiana is a regular beauty, Marie is so sweet-natured, good and obliging, no one could help loving her, but little Anastasie has personal charm  beyond any child I ever saw,“ pointed someone. They were never happy when apart and it would have been an unheard-of thing for one of the Grand Duchesses to go anywhere without her sisters. She would not have enjoyed it at all.

Tsar´s daughters had a rank of Grand Duchess (Velikaya Kniezhna) and were adresses as „Imperial highnesses“, which was a greater rank than that of any other princess in Europe, but this all meant very little to them and they prefered to be called by their first and patronymic names instead of long titles.

Imperial family was very close. The Grand Duchesses saw their mother as infallible. They surrounded her with every attention they possibly could. Of their own initiative they had arranged matters in such a way that they could take turns of "duty" with their mother keeping her company for the day. When the Tsarina was ill the result was that the daughter on duty could not go out at all.

Their relationship with the Tsar was probably even more sincere. He was not only a father, but also the greatest friend. He also spent more time with his children than Tsarina did. Grand Duchesses´ feelings for him were according to one of the tutors "dictated by circumstances, passing from religious veneration to utter frankness and the warmest affection. Was it not he before whom the ministers, the highest dignitaries of the Church, the grand dukes, and even their mother bowed in reverence, he whose fatherly heart opened so willingly to their sorrows, he who joined so merrily in their youthful amusements, far from the eyes of the indiscreet?"

They spent most of their lives in Imperial palaces of Peterhof, Gatchina, Livadia and especially Alexander palace at Tsarskoe Selo (today named Pushkin) not very far away from the city of St. Petersburg. The Imperial children lived on the second floor of the Alexander palace separately from their parents. Olga and Tatiana – the Big pair – shared one room and Maria and Anastasia – the Little pair - had the one right next door. They were both airy and lofty rooms. Olga and Tatiana´s room had pink walls with dragonflies while Little pair´s room was painted in light shade of blue with butterflies. The furniture was taken from different places of the palace and some of the pieces were also gifts from relatives. The rooms were full of snapshots, since all the girls were very fond of taking photos.

 The four girls shared one bathroom. There were two bathtubs in it. A silver-plated one originated from the days of Nicolas I. and names of everyone who had ever used it were engraved on it. Nearby was a smaller one, which was used while the Grand Duchesses had been only a little girls. Along the sides there were large buckets for maids to pour water over the children as they bathed and later the four sisters did it for each other. There was only a single toilet behind a partition hung with watercolours and prints. When they bathed at night, the water was perfumed and softened with almond bran. All the girls were addicted to perfumes an always used those of Coty. Olga favoured "The Rose", Tatiana "Jasmin de Corse", Maria was constantly changing her perfume but she liked lilac the best and Anastasia prefered violette. 

This is how the nurseries were remembered by Margaret Eagar, a nurse of Imperial daughters: „The walls of all new rooms are painted in oil with beautifully executed frizes of the same flowers as apear in the chintz, interspaced with golden butterflies or birds. The bathroom has sea-gulls painted on the frieze. At the end of this suite is the play room. It has eight windows overlooking the park and gardens. It is all yellow and green, like a bunch of daffodils, and has a frize of peacocks strutting about amids greenery. The carpet is a pale sage green, unpatterned. Over each window is a panel, in painted poker work, each representing some scene in animal or bird life. There are two fireplaces in this great room, but as the rooms are all heated with hot air, the fires are not required excepting for ventilation.“

Sometimes the family stayed in the Winter palace in Sankt Petersburg. Also there the nurseries were very large and in one of them there was even a „mountain“ down which children could toboggan. It was also the same room where the little Grand Duchesses were taught to dance, sometimes accompanied by their cousins. „The little Grand Duchesses already dance well and gracefully,“ notes one of the nurses. From that room it was possible to entered the yellow room. There the walls and furniture were covered with a yellow brocade, and there were kept the children's various toys. Another room had eight pairs of doors of tortoiseshell embellished with gold. At the end of all these great rooms was a theatre.  The little Grand Duchesses would sit for half an hour at a time seriously looking while the attendants changed the drop scenes, and turned on the various coloured electric lights for their entertainment. This they called "going to the theatre." 

 Though they were born to immense luxury the life of Imperial children was not without strickt rules. Since the days of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna they had to get up at 6 A.M. and get a cold bath. They ate simple food and had to sleep on uncomfortable camp beds with only a thin pillow. Each bed was marked with the name of its owner and instead of headboards there were striped covers and they were decorated by numerous small icons pinned to them. The matresses may have been thin, but the blue blankets were warm and also monogramed with each girl´s initials. The camp beds were light and easy to move, so the Grand Duchesses could move them around the rooms.  In summer when the upstairs rooms of the palace became hot and stuffy they would set them up under the big open windows to catch the cool night breezes. At Christmas the girls assembled their beds around the Yule tree in Aleksey's playroom. There they could lie in the dark, watching the sparkling ornaments and star-like lights as they drifted off to sleep. The camp beds were always following them whenever they traveled, although they could easily have duplicates made. Those beds also followed them to exile. And in the morning of July 17th 1918 their murderers slept on them.

 The children's nurses were Russians, the head nurse being Marie Vechniakova. Others were Alexandra Tegleva, nicknamed "Shoura," a great favorite with the girls, Anna (called Nyuta) and Lisa, both of them kind, faithful girls who spoke no word of any language except Russian. The Grand Duchesses liked them very much and often helped them tidy up the rooms and make the beds.

Imperial children were taught arithmetics, geography, history and religion, from languages they had to know Russian, English and French and the two elder girls knew a little German, but spoke it with difficulty. The younger ones and the Tsarevich did not know it at all. The language situation within the Imperial family was such that the Grand Duchesses spoke English to their mother and Russian to their father and brother. They used both and also French among themselves, and since they were as children usually without any serious contact from outside the nursery, they often made their own words and way of speech. Because of their early nurse Margaret Eager, who was from Ireland, they developed a Hibernian accent, later labelled as „Scotish“ by a proper English tutor.Of course the dancing, piano and drawing lessons couldn´t be forgotten.The Grand Duchesses took their lessons in pairs according to their age.

The first teacher of the Imperial children, from whom they received their elementary education was Miss Schneider called „Trina“ within the family. She first came into service as instructor in the Russian language to Alexandra´s elder sister Elisabet, who got married to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1884. Afterwards she taught Alexandra herself and was retained at Court as reader to her Majesty. Later she followed the family to Siberia.

According to a close family friend Anna Vyrubova the most valued of teachers was Pierre Gilliard, a French tutor to all Imperial children, and another great favourite was Charles Sydney Gibbs who taught children English language.

Anna wrote: „In his book M. Gilliard has recorded that he was never able to teach the Grand Duchesses to speak a fluent French. This is true because the languages used in the family were English and Russian, and the children never became interested in any other languages. „Trina“ was supposed to teach them German but she had less success than M. Gilliard with French. The Emperor and Empress spoke English almost exclusively, and so did the Empress´ brother, the Grand Duke of Hesse and his family. Among themselves the children usually spoke Russian. The Tsarevich alone, thanks to his constant association with M. Gilliard, mastered the French language.“

And M. Gilliard himself wrote: „With the exception of Olga Nikolaevna, the Grand Duchesses were very moderate pupils. This was largely due to the fact that, in spite of my repeated suggestions, the Tsarina would never have a French governess. No doubt she did not wish anyone to some between herself and her daughters. The result was that though they read French, and liked it, they were never able to speak it fluently.“

There was also one other teacher very dear to the Grand Duchesses – Petr Vasiliyevich Petrov, to whom they often wrote letters from exile.

Since they were children the Grand Duchesses had a luncheon with their parents, even if there were guests present. Their table manners were very good and they talked quite easily to strangers. Lady-in-waiting baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden wrote: „They changed into romping clothes for the afternoon, but appeared again at tea time in their best frocks with their toys. Later the toys were replaced by needlework, for the Empress would never allow them to sit about idle. They were perfectly at ease with their parents, looking upon them, not only as parents, but as delightful companions. When they grew up, they laughed and joked with them, the Empress joining in when the Emperor teased his daughters.“

And Lily Dehn seconds that: „The Imperial Family all met at tea, which was quite "en famille"; and dinner, which was at 8 o'clock, was often a movable feast in the literal sense of the word. Dinner over (and it was a very simple dinner) the Imperial Family spent the remainder of the evening together, and the Grand Duchesses, who had a flair for puzzles, usually indulged in puzzlemaking: sometimes the Emperor read aloud whilst his daughters and their mother worked.“

The girls were usually dressed all alike, sometimes the Big pair wore one colour and the younger girls another one, clothing being chosen by their mother and the clothes outgrown by the elders were handed down to the younger girls. According to the tradition the girls didn´t  wear long skirts until they were 16, when they were considered adults. At that age they also could cut off their long hair and choose their own dresses. The girls were usually dressed in a simple English fashion, especially for outdoor wear. In summer they dressed almost entirely in white, and while they were children they liked to wear sailor suits and straw hats. They didn´t wear much jewels, only for special occasions. In the day of her twelth birthday every Grand Duchess received a simple golden bracelet, which was then worn always day and night for „good luck“. Another Imperial tradition stated that every Grand Duchess should get a diamond and pearls necklace for her 16th birthday. Alexandra Fyodorovna, mother of four daughters, decided to give them one pearl and diamond on every birth and namedays, so they would have the precious stones ready by the time they reached their sixteen.

For security reasons the Imperial family was always surrounded by guards. It was almost impossible to get near them without being cleared by the police. If someone ran into the Grand Duchesses by accident, he would be interrogated by the police to find out their identity, why they had spoken to the princesses and the nature of the conversation. Press reporters and society gossips kept the family under intense surveillance, anyone who got close was in danger of having their reputation ruined by wagging mouths and unscrupulous tabloid journalists. All that made meeting new people difficult. Also the press was still after them. For example while in Germany, Alxandra together with Olga and Tatiana enjoyed going unattended to Nauheim, walking unnoticed through the streets, and gazing admiringly into shop windows like ordinary tourists. Another time Nicolas took his daughters and went toHamburg. For a very short hour they walked about quite happily unobserved. But soon the Emperor was recognized and the small party had to flee before the gathering crowds and the ever enterprising news photographers.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, remembering her own isolated life in Gatchina while she was a little girl, organized small home parties for her nieces almost every Sunday, and later were such parties held also in Alexander palace. No adults were ever invited to those parties with the only exception of Duchess Marie Leuchtenburg, who came with her daughters and acted as a chaperone to all the others. As for Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, her nieces saw her more as their sister and loved her for her delightful and cheerful disposition. Sometimes the girls had also tea at Anna Vyrubova´s little house.

The Empress trying to learn her daughters the value of money gave them a small pocket money – just two pounds a month. From this income the girls paid for their note-paper, perfumes and little gifts. In this way they realised the value of money, but etiquette prevented them from going into any shops but those of the little stationers at Tsarskoe Selo and Yalta, and so they never had any clear idea of the value and price of things.

The girls didn´t travel much to abroad, but there were short visits to France, England, Denmark and also Darmstadt in German province of Hesse, where lived the family of their mother Empress Alexandra. One of such visits occured in 1903 when Imperial family was present at the wedding of princess Alice of Battenberg and prince Andrew of Greece. After the ceremony one of the Grand Duchesses, all dressed in white Honiton lace frocks, said: „I´ll never marry. I couldn´t leave my dear Mama.“ The nurse told her that every one who´s married had to go to live with husband or wife, but that they see their parents often. the girl began to wonder why people married, when it meant separation, and the nurse said: „Very few people can stay always with their father and mother, many people are obliged to go away and live with strangers without being married at all."  The girl was surprised and wanted to know if the nurse had ever known anyone who did such thing. The nurse told her about several people and included herself. The Grand Duchess considered it all for a while and then with a smile said: „But that was different, our Mama called you.“ 

In Darmstadt the girls liked to play with their numerous cousins, little Elisabet, daughter of ernst of Hesse, being probably the favourite one, while they were little. Elisabet - Ella - didn´t have any siblings and so she was greatly enjoying her Russian cousins´ stay. As Margaret Eagar wrote: "She prepared and carried out an innocent little practical joke on her father and the Empress. She asked me to put her three eldest cousins in her bed, and leave little Anastasie alone in her bedroom. "When auntie Alix and papa come," said the child, "auntie Alix will be looking everywhere for her children, and papa will not know how he has got four." Accordingly it was done, and I stepped into the corridor to ask the Empress and the Grand Duke to be very much surprised. They were, of course, exceedingly surprised, and the Empress pretended to be much frightened, to the child's great delight. You could hear her laughter all through the house, as one by one the cousins were disclosed."

The family used luxurious Imperial train and also several yachts – Polarka and Standart being their favourite. While on board every child had their own attendant to keep them from falling overboard or any other mishap. Almost every year the Imperial family used Standart to sail the Baltic sea and making short trips along the seaside of Finland, which was a part of the great Russian Empire back then. The Finnish waters were usually calm and only one serious accident happened as Anna Vyrubova writes: „We were seated on deck at tea, the band playing, a perfectly calm sea running, when we felt a terrific shock which shook the yacht from stem to stern and sent the tea service crashing to the deck. In great alarm we sprang to our feet only to feel the yacht listing sharply to larboard. In an instant the decks were alive with sailors obeying the harsh commands of the captain, and helping the suite to look to the safety of the women and children. The fleet of torpedo boats which always surrounded the yacht made speed to the rescue and within a few minutes the children and their nurses and attendants were taken off. Not knowing the exact degree of the disaster, the Empress and I hastened to the cabins where we hurriedly tied up in sheets all the valuables we could collect. We were the last to leave the poor Standart, which by that time was stationary on the rocks. We spent the night ona small vessel, the Asia, the Empress taking Alexei with her in one cabon and the Emperor occupying a small cabin on deck. The little Grand Duchesses were crowded in a cabin by themselves, their nurses and attendants finding beds where they could.“

Also the travels by train weren´t without danger. As soon as they got into the train it went off at eighty-five miles an hour (a terrific rate at that time!). In a few minutes all were desperately sick from the rocking and the children were terrified, fearing every moment the train would topple over. The upset servants were on their knees praying. With great difficulty the nurse made her way to the engineer and begged him to reduce the speed. He was sorry, and said he had not had any idea that the results of going at such a pace would be so frightful, but he could not reduce the speed now, as the risk of running into other traffic was too great. The train was too long and heavy, and he could not stop it, not even for five minutes. He had wished to try the engines and thought that it was a good opportunity. For nearly four hours the train rushed up and down in the darkness through Germany at the same rate. Fortunately the nurse managed to get the children to bed, and they slept worn out by the fright and crying.

About the life of Grand Duchesses while they were still very little we know thanks to Margaret Eagar, who published her book „Six years at Russian court“ in 1906. About her first meeting with children in the late of 1898 she writes: „She (the Empress) herself conducted me to the nurseries, where I saw my future charges, who were beautifully dressed, in honour of the festival, in transparent white muslin dresses trimmed with Brussels lace, and worn over pale-blue satin slips. Pale-blue sashes and shoulder ribbons completed their costumes.“

All of the children loved animals. They all had a pet of their own. One of their favourite things while they were still little were visits to Subswina Dacha about five miles from Peterhof. „The house is surrounded by well wooded and excellently kept parks and gardens, among which is. a pretty rose garden,“ rememberes Margaret Eagar. „ One of the delights of the children was to go there to spend the afternoon and take tea, especially during hay-making time, when they would have rides in the hay-cocks, and run up and down the grassy slopes. Another great delight was to visit the farm, see the cows milked, feed the fowls, collect eggs, and fill baskets with apples. Two years ago the farmer's wife, a most amiable woman, was bringing up by hand four kittens whose mother had been killed. When the little Grand Duchesses went over in the morning on their Shetland ponies or bicycles, the kittens were always brought out, four bottles of milk were produced and each child, bottle of milk in one hand and a kitten comfortably tucked under her arm, would quietly take a place in the milk-cart and go for a drive round the farm-yards, feeding the kittens in the meantime.“

Shah of Persia himself once send a conjuror to the Emperor, and he performed for the children, who gave a large party of their friends to see him. He was a most wonderful performer and did many extraordinary tricks. Children had been placed in the front row and when he produced a pair of live pigeons from a pudding their joy knew no bounds. He presently produced a guinea pig, passed his hand over it, and lo! there were two in his hands. In a moment three little girls were on the platform, and eager voices cried: "Oh! Please, Mr. Conjuror, make me a guinea-pig for myself." The three eldest Grand Duchesses attacked him with beseeching eyes and hands. He would have given them his trained guinea pigs, but the nurse ran and stopped him, telling the children that the little animals were so fond of their master, and would be unhappy if taken away, she managed to get them into the hall again.

In Poland (also Russian at that time) on the hunting estate of Spala, there was a little orchard in which a tea-house had been built and about a dozen tame deer turned in, besides tame pheasants, hares, etc. Those animals would all come and eat from children´s hands, and the deer would follow them about everywhere, lay their pretty heads on their arma and, looking beseechingly in their faces as if begging for notice. The Grand Duchess Tatiana named them "the pretty creatures" and by this name they were known since then. Outside the palings enclosing the orchard flowed a river in which swam all manner of water-fowl. They would also come to be fed. But there was also another surprise for the children. They were given a little carriage drawn by a pair of goats, each led by a boy in Polish costume, a long frock coat of white homespun decorated with black braid, and a high crowned black felt hat trimmed gaily with bands of black velvet ribbon, coloured paper flowers and a rosette of different coloured ribbons. The trimming was pinned on the hat.

In Spala the children and a nurse used to go for long drives in a little pony carriage with just the coachman. The nurse, affraid that it was not quite safe as an accident might happen to the ponies, and nobody of them spoke Polish, so it would have been impossible to send for help if anything did occur, asked that a Cossack might be sent after us on horseback. The first day after it was done they were driving through a village when they saw a man running towards them clad only in his night-shirt. But as soon as he saw the Cossack he turned and ran in another direction without attacking the carriage in any way. The next day he was found in a wood by the police and he proclaimed himself as the King of Poland. He proved to be a dangerous lunatic addicted to stone throwing.

From all the places and palaces the Imperial children liked Livadia in Crimea the best. There was a stony beach where the children would play every morning. They would get on their paddling drawers and shoes, and go wading in the sun-warmed water, and gather pebbles. Once their nurse was taking them home when they met a young officer from the Standart. He asked them what they had in their hands and the children showed the little bits of green stones they had picked up, and gravely asked him to keep them if he would like to. He took a little stone from each child and when the nurse saw him afterwards he had those stones mounted in gold and attached to his watch chain. He said he would not part with them for any consideration, the children having found them themselves, and offered them to him. 

Another time the girls were getting into the carriage at Peterhof when an officer came running over to say goodmorning. The little Grand Duchesses were friendly creatures and began to talk to him, and one of them took a little wooden toy out of her pocket and asked him if he would like it. He was much pleased and afterwards turned to the nurse and said he was in trouble, and seeing the children coming out, thought that if he could reach the carriage in time to bow to the children he would find a way out of his troubles. "And see," he said, "not only did I bow to them but I kissed their hands and received a little toy from one of them. I shall keep that toy as long as I live." When next time the nurse met him he told her the omen had been verified, and he had found a way out of his trouble.

A little friend of the children, Paul, was once dangerously ill with pneumonia. The doctors said recovery was doubtful and so the Empress allowed her little daughters to take a few roses and sweets to the boy. The boy´s governess, who was very sad and affraid about her charge, took the roses and a basket of sweets, went to Paul and told him the Imperial children had brought them and are waiting in the garden to know how he was. The boy sent his thanks to the children and wanted his sister Daria to be brought in. "Daria," said the supposed dying child, "you see the Imperial children think a great deal more of me than they do of you; when you had a cold they did not even send to inquire by telephone. They have come themselves, and have brought me all these good things. I am going to eat them and get well." And eventually he really did.

As children of the Russian Tsar, the Grand Duchesses were all raised in Russian Orthodox church beliefs. They all deeply believed in God and that also helped them a great deal in their last months. The great festivities were always held at Easter time and also Christmas. Those were usually spent in Tsarskoe Selo. The children were always greatly charmed with the decorations, and pulled each other under the mistletoe for kissing purposes. Once when their mother came in dressed in beautiful court dress, the girls circled round her in speechless admiration for some time, then suddenly Olga clapped her hands, and exclaimed fervently: "Oh! Mama, you are just like a lovely Christmas tree!"

There used to be about eight Christmas trees in various parts of the palace. Tsarina liked to dress each of them herself, and also personally chose the presents for each member of the household, and for each officer, to the number of about five hundred. The children had a tree for themselves. It used to be fixed into a musical-box which played the German Christmas hymn, and turned round and round. All the presents were laid out on white covered tables, and the tree stood for several days an object of intense interest and admiration to the children. They were very sad when it was dismantled, but they were consoled by being allowed to help, and to divide the toys between the members of their own household. After that the family used to go to Peterburg and join a great a great ceremony in a palace cathedral. When they grew older, the girls (as was the custom) were present in their beautiful court dresses.

 Since they were little the Grand Duchesses were taught to help others and one of their first contributions to people´s joy occured during Russian-Japaneese war in 1904-1905. Together with their nurses they were folding and stamping form-letters from wounded soldiers to their families. The letters usually looked like this:

"My dear parents,-- I am at___ In the battle of___; I was wounded in___ (or) I am ill in hospital; (or) I am in good health. How are___? Give my love to___."

            The children, even little Anastasia, worked also at frame knitting. They made scarves for the soldiers, and Olga and Tatiana crocheted caps indefatigably.

At that time which was very difficult for Imperial Russia and Tsar´s family a great and joyous event occured – finally after four daughters a boy was born, an Heir to the Throne. he was named Alexei – the Bringer of Peace. „The little sisters were delighted with the new brother, and made many quaint and critical remarks about him,“ writes Miss Eagar. „They were at the baptism dressed in Russian Court costume of blue satin, brocaded in silver and trimmed with silver braid and buttons, and they wore silver shoes. Their head-dresses were of blue velvet embroidered with pearls; they looked very sweet and quaint... It was the little girls' first great ceremony, and we can judge how delighted they were with it all!“

They all loved Alexei very dearly and because of that they were always very concerned about his health, which was so many times at risk, him being the victim of hemophilia. The disease passed to Alexei from his mother, and it is very likely that all the four Grand Duchesses were also carriers of it. They all were helping their mother to take care of Alexei when he was sick. As Pierre Gilliard noted: "Every now and then the door opened and one of the Grand Duchesses came in on tip-toe and kissed her little brother, bringing a gust of sweetness and health into the room. For a moment the boy would open his great eyes, round which the malady had already painted black rings, and then almost immediately close them again."

Because of this incurable illness a man named Grigory Efimovich Rasputin made his way into the palace and the life of Imperial family. The girls, just like their parents, saw him as a holy man and gave him their complete trust, believeing he was sent by God himself. When Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was escorted to the nursery to meet this man in 1907, all the Imperial children were wearing their long white nightgowns. „All the children seemed to like him,” Olga Alexandrovna recalled. "They were completely at ease with him.”

Too little they knew about his true intentions and lifestyle – all the rumours about that didn´t reach the ears of the Imperial children. They reached Alexandra, but she refused to listen to them, saying all that was just a gossip. The children saw Rasputin coming into the palace to help, when no one else could. They had no reason to doubt him and they were taught to speak of him as of „Our friend“. The girls were exchanging letters with him, in February 1909, Rasputin sent them a telegram, advising them to "Love the whole of God's nature, the whole of His creation in particular this earth. The Mother of God was always occupied with flowers and needlework.”

People, who didn´t know about Tsarevich´s illness, had no explanation for Rasputin´s presence in the palace and so they started to spread gossips, which were even easier to make since the Russian society never fully excepted Alexandra Fyodorovna. Soon the rumours spread, that Tsarina is nothing but a Rasputin´s mistress and she even gave each of her four daughters to him. Nothing of that was true. Lili Dehn wrote on that account: “All the Grand Duchesses were innocent children in their souls. Nothing impure was ever allowed to come into their lives – the Empress was very strickt over the books which they read wchich were mostly by English authors. They had no idea of the ugly side of life, although, poor girls, they were destined to see the worst side of it and to come in contact with the most debased passions of humanity! And yet it has been stated that the Empress in her neurotic, religious exaltation, gave each of her daughters to Rasputin. Knowing her, knowing the Emperor, and knowing the daughters as I did, such an assetion savours of the monstrous...The Emperor would never have permitted such a thing.... “

"Our Friend is so contented with our girlies, says they have gone through heavy 'courses' for their age and their souls have much developed," Alexandra wrote to Nicholas in 1916. That is also the year when the “holy man” was murdered by those, who, unlike the Empress, saw the devastating effect Rasputin had had over the dynasty.

 In his memoirs, A. A. Mordvinov reported that the four grand duchesses appeared "cold and visibly terribly upset" by Rasputin's death and sat "huddled up closely together" on a sofa in one of their bedrooms on the night they received the news. Rasputin was buried with an icon signed on its reverse side by Tsarina and all the Grand Duchesses, and the whole famly was also attended the funeral on December 21, 1916. Their mother wanted to have a church built over his grave, but the life of the Empire was shortening and there wasn´t enough time to do that.

Before the war the European press stated that there were no more desirable brides that the two eldest daughters of the Russian Tsar. As the girls were growing up, people wondered what would happen in such a united family when the question of marriage arose. The Imperial couple wanted their daughters to marry love, as they themselves had done. On the other hand, especially the Empress disliked the idea of marriage with commoners. She thought that it weakened the prestige of the Imperial Family, and that the Emperor's daughters had a duty towards their father's position.

In the summer of 1914 the news about atentat which happened in Saraievo reached the Russia. The victims were Archduke of Austria Ferdinand d´Este and his beloved wife, Czech countess Sophie Chotkova. Their death became the main excuse of the war that followed. The most terrible, bloody and destructive war till that time. The war that like some illness inffected the whole world.

„Meanwhile the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses were waiting for him in the dining-room, Her Majesty, becoming uneasy at the long delay, had just asked Tatiana Nikoaevna to fetch her father, when the Tsar appeared, looking very pale, and told them that war was declared, in a voice which betrayed his agitation, notwithstanding all his efforts. On learning the news the Tsarina began to weep, and the Grand Duchesses likewise dissolved into tears on seeing their mother's distress,“ that´s how Pierre Gilliard recalled the fateful day.

Since that day nothing was ever the same. Because the German Emperor was a close family relative, some of the officers used to tease them about him. "Well, how is Uncle Willie today?“ they asked the girls. And the aswer was always the same: „No - no he's not our Uncle Willie - we don't want to hear his name.“

Tsarina Alexandra and her daughters learned the basics of the medical treatment. They were taking care of the wounded whose number was still increasing. Some of the palaces were transformed into hospitals and Grand Duchesses spent there many days without rest.  Lili Dehn wrote: „All the sisters were utterly devoid of pride and when they nursed the wounded during the war, they were known as the Sisters Romanov and thus answered to the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4.... Directly they had passed the necessary examinations, the Empress and „the four sisters Romanov“ started nursing spending hours with the wounded and almost invariably being present at operation.“

Sometimes Tsarina and her children paid a visit to Russian general headquaters – Stavka, Mogilev, where Tsar was at that time. During those short visits they lived in their train and Tsar joined them at lunch, sometimes he also took them on excursions. The Grand Duchesses greatly enjoined their stay there, because they had there much more freedom than in Tsarskoe Selo. They spent their spare time visiting the peasants in the near neighborhood and families of railway employees. „Their simple ways and natural kindness soon won all hearts, and as they adored children you could see them always accompanied by a mob of ragamuffins collected on their walks and duly stuffed with sweets,“ recalled Gilliard.

 Another time the family traveled together in the south of Russia to inspecting hospitals and review troops. It was a terribly wet time and the Grand Duchesses went about in mackintoshes with well tucked up skirts, while on the other hand, when summer came, the Empress was complaining that Grand Duchesses used to lie like lizards in the sun beside the train at Sevastopol, regardless of her appeals to them to think of their complexions.

The girls tried to please their mother, and nearly felll into a pond from a raft on to which they had climbed to pick some water-lilies for "Mamma" and had to be rescued by the Emperor, although he said he had never before provided Her Majesty with flowers under such difficult conditions

All their lives the Grand Duchesses were treated like children, and in many ways they also behaved and spoke like that. Time for them to grow up came with Russian revolution.

The peasants, workers and people, who had no rights and place in society for do many years, hungry, cold and without boots and clothes, raised up again the Tsar and the regime he represented, which they saw responsible for all the troubles. It was Tsar who pushed Russia to the terrible war, it was him who sacrificed so many lives in 1905 in needless war with Japan. It was Nicolas II. who had innocent blood of many Russians on his hands. Down with the Tsar and whole Romanov dynasty!

When the revolution finally broke out in Petersburg, the Grand Duchesses with their mother and brother were in Tsarskoe Selo, while Nicolas was at the headquaters. In the capital the army joined the angry crowd and the power was given to the Provisional government.  

But Imperial children were quite unaware of the danger. Behind the walls of the Alexander palace they all one by one succumbed to the attack of measels. When they recovered, they were no longer Tsarevich and Grand Duchesses, but only a family of Nicolas Alexandrovich Romanov. They were all brave and didn´t think of anything else except how to help their parents. Though they were still weak from illness, they all mastered their emotion. Under house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo, the family drew their strengh from being all together. It is told that the children were allowed to travel to their grandmother Maria Fyodorovna to Crimea from where it was relatively easy to escape from Russia. But not one of them excepted this and their parents didn´t have the strength to send them away against their will. All servants, who didn´t wish to share the fate of the family had to leave the palace. The guards were everywhere, some always ready to provocate, but some very nicer and helped the family to take care about the little garden.

 The girls were bored and so they were only happy to do something else besides knitting or sewing. Nicolas and Alexei were working also, Alexandra usually spent her time sitting in a wheel-chair, not atlking to soldiers at all, while her daughters were quite popular among theses young men for their sincerity – altough they were completely hairless. Because of the medications they had been using when having the measels, the hair of the grand Duchesses began to fall out. Alexandr had her daughters and Alexei´s head shaved, so the hair would grow more quickly again. still they didn´t loose the high spirit. As Pierre Gilliard wrote into his diary: „When they go out in the park they wear scarves arranged so as to conceal the fact.Just as I was going to take their photograph at a sign from Olga Nikolaevna they all suddenly removed their headdress. I protested, but they insisted, much amused at the ides of seeing themselves photographed like this, and looking forward to seeing indignant surprise of their parents. Their good spirits reappear from time to time in spite of everything. It is their exuberant youth.“

 Because their parents didn´t want them to stop their education, the lessons took place still. The Emperor undertook to teach his children history, the Empress taught the Catechism,  Miss. Schneider mathematics, and Dr. Botkin Russian since Petr Petrov couldn´t stay with the family. Countess Hendrikova started art lessons with the Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Sophie BuxhoevedenI was entrusted with piano lessons for all the three younger Grand Duchesses and English lessons for them and their brother. 

 Meanwhile the Privisional government led by Alexander Kerenski was trying to arrange the exile for the Imperial family in England or France. But all the negotiations failed. France as a proud republic refused to welcome a family, that represented autocratic power. Britain, although the king was Tsar´s cousin and close friend, decided that the presence of the Imperial family in England would only rise commotions. And United Stated of America congratulated Russia for getting free from the chains of the old regime. Paradoxly the one who offered the help was the Emperor Wilhelm. he promised, that if the family, was sent to Germany, no one would attack the ship. But sending the family to Germany was unthinkable due to the war that was still gripping the old continent.

There were rumours the Imperial family was to be rescued. And people, who were still hungry for revenge for their miserablelives, were impatient and preparing to take things into their own hands. Kerenski sensed that. It was impossible for the family to stay at Tsarskoe Selo any longer. It was too close to Petersburg, where the rumours had spread like fire. The doors to other countries were shut. And so it was decided that the family would be send off to Siberia. 

And so they had to leave the Alexander Palace, where they lived for more than twenty years, where the children grew up, where they lived their joys and sorrows. After many tiring days of traveling by train and ship, in August 1917, the Romanovs reached the destination – the city of Tobolsk. Not very big and quite calm. The family together with the tutors Mr. Gibbs and Gilliard, Sophie Buxhoeveden, dr. Botkin and others, was to live in the former governor´s house, which was quite comfortable, but after the large rooms of the palaces it seemed a bit too small. The family lived upstair, while the servants occupied the ground floor. The family was only occasionally allowed to visit a nearby church, but otherwise than that they were not allowed behind a high wooden plank. They spent their days occupying themselves with reading, practising the piano, writing letters, manual work, short walks around the house and playing theatre. When winter came, they made a huge pile of snow and were sliding it down. The soldiers however were not as nice as those in Tsarskoe Selo. One morning, when the family woke up, the pile of snow was totally destroyed. The reason? From top of it the little square could be seen. They also covered a swing former Grand Duchesses and their brother liked to play on with naughty paintings and words. Yet  the grand Duchesses never complained about their new home, although in the room they now shared was freezing cold during the winter. The girls spent most of the day in their parents room, and late in the evening they were trying to warm themselves under the thin blankets.

Pierre Gilliard: "Meanwhile our life gradually settled down along definite lines, and by mobilising all our resources we managed to resume the education of the Tsarevich and two youngest Grand-Duchesses. The lessons began at nine o'clock, and were broken off from eleven to twelve for a walk, which was always shared by the Tsar. As there was no schoolroom, the lessons were given sometimes in the large hall on the first floor, sometimes in Aleksey Nicolaievich's room, or mine. When it began to get very cold, and the large hall became impossible, we took refuge in the adjoining room, which was Their Majesties' drawing-room, the only really comfortable apartment in the house The Tsar would often read aloud while the Grand-Duchesses did needlework or played with us."

The days were long and boring. But as they were fading and the spring of 1918 came near, those last days of peace in their life came to an end.

Kerenski and his Provisional government  were loosing their powere and finally were completely overwhelmed by Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who is known to the history as Lenin. With the new government new orders arrived to sleepy Tobolks. The family was to be moved to another, "safer", place. But Alexei was ill and still weak after the last attack of hemophilia, and so he couldn´t travel. Under these circumstances it was decided, that only Nicolas had to leave, and the rest of the family would join him later. No one of the Romanovs liked the idea of being separated, especially Alexandra. She couldn´t decide, if she should go with her husband, whom she felt to be in danger, or if she rather should stay and take care of her ill son. After hard thinking she decided to join Nicky´s danger.

Together with Grand Duchess Maria they were taken to the city of Ekaterinburg, where they were held in the Ipatiev house, now called „The house of the special purpose“. Other four children, family doctor Evgeny Botkin, cook Kharitonov, vallet Alexei Trupp and little footman Leonid Sednev came from Tobolsk in May. Maid Anna (Nyuta) Demidova had come earlier with the Imperial couple and Grand Duchess Maria.

Sophie Buxhoeveden: „Nearly a month had passed (from April 26th to May 23rd) since parents and children had been parted. The Empress knew the children were leaving Tobolsk, but it was a joyful surprise to her that May morning when they walked in. The delight of being together again made them forget their hardships for the moment. Four of the servants who had come with the second party were brought to the house later in the day. These were the cook Ivan Kharitonov, and his assistant, Leonide Sednev, Nagorny and a servant named Trupp...The Emperor asked for his suite to be allowed to join him, and particularly for M. Gilliard, who was indispensable to the Tsarevich, but this was refused..."

Life in Tobolsk seemed as a sweet dream once they were in Ekaterinburg. The guards were even more provocative and cold than ever before and they stole what they could. No one was allowed to visit the family, although Mr. Gilliard and Gibbs who stayed in Ekaterinburg and weren´t arrested thanks to their foreing nationality, didn´t stop trying.

Alexei and his parents occupied the room in the angle formed by the square and Vosnessensky Lane, the Grand Duchesses had the adjoining room - its door had been removed. Until their camp beds arrived, they slept on the floor. Dr. Botkin slept in the drawing-room and the maid in the room in the angle of Vosnessensky Lane and the garden. The other prisoners were put in the kitchen and hall.

The family was allowed only an hour a day of walking in the small yard, they also couldn´t work like they did in Tobolsk. The cook Kharitonov began to teach them how to bake bread. The Grand Duchesses also helped Demidova with the housework. They washed and ironed the linen, mended the clothes, washed up the plates, and took turns in reading to and amusing their brother. Sometimes Grand Duchesses were allowed to play the piano, and the guards liked to listen. The guard-room was so near the sitting-room that, with the open doors, the men could hear the music well from their quarters.

The house itself had been surrounded by a high fence of boards and so turned into a veritable fortress. There were sentries stationed outside and within, machine guns in the building and garden. The Commissary of the house was Avdayev and he occupied on the same floor as the prisoners did. The guards lived in the basement, but often came upstairs and strolled into the rooms of the Imperial family as they liked.

Still the family didn´t loose their humble strengh, thanks to their religion. They had kept that wonderful faith, such serenity in suffering. The Tsarina and Grand-Duchesses could often be heard singing religious airs, which affected the guards in spite of themselves.

"Gradually these guards were humanised by contact with their prisoners. They were astonished at their simplicity, attracted by their gentleness, subdued by their serene dignity, and soon found themselves dominated by those whom they thought they held in their power. The drunken Avdiev found himself disarmed by such greatness of soul; he grew conscious of his own infamy. The early ferocity of these men was succeeded by profound pity." - Pierre Gilliard

Except for Olga the girls still possesed a good spirits, and they enjoyed flirting with the young soldiers.

This befriending came to an end when Avdayev, was replaced by Yakov Yurovski. Yurovski immediatelly began preparations for Imperial family´s total disposal.

Because the Russia was burning with civil war – Reds against Whites, and both of the sides were equally cruel in their fight. The Reds (Bolsheviks) were loosing their positions and it was only a matter of time till the city of Ekaterinburg would fall into the hands of the enemy. And Bolsheviks knew they couldn´t let the Tsar escape. When the situation grew even more serious, the Bolsheviks began to act.

On July 14th the locall priests at Ekaterinburg conducted a private church service for the family and reported that all of the imprisoned, contrary to custom, fell on their knees during the prayer for the dead.

Just two days after the service came the end. The whole family and their servants disappeared. No transport, no funeral, no explanation.... Only on July 20th 1918 posters with these words were hung out:

„The Grand Duchesses were fast leaving childhood behind them and blossoming into charming girls; they did not greatly resemble one another, each was a type apart, but all were equally lovely in disposition. I cannot believe that any men so inhuman existed as those who, it is said, shot and stabbed those defenceless creatures in the house of death at Ekaterinburg. Apart from their beauty, their sweetness should have pleaded for them, but, if it is true that they have "passed," then surely no better epitaph could be theirs than the immortal words, "Lovely and pleasant were they in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."  Lily Dehn