anastasianikolaevnaromanova

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia having fun with fellow cadets in Finland in 1912.

We can see Alexei's 'sailor-nanny' Andrey Eremeevich Derevenko swinging a forest hammock lined with hay to protect the young Tsarevich (who suffered from haemophilia) from getting hurt.

The Tsarevich is also pictured with his best friend, Nikolai 'Kolya' Vladimirovich Derevenko, who was the son of Vladimir Nikolaevich Derevenko, Alexei's personal doctor.

The heir's tutor, Pierre Gilliard, wrote in his memoirs that when he was looking for a companion for the tsarevich, "circumstances themselves partially filled this gap. Dr. Derevenko had a son of about the same age as the Heir." Although Kolya was 2 years younger than Alexey, and far from being of royal blood, this did not prevent the establishment of a close friendship between the boys. Soon they began to see each other almost daily, and the tsarevich even received permission to visit Dr. Derevenko, who lived in a small dacha near the palace.  Often Alexey spent the entire afternoon there playing games with his friend and his companions. These meetings continued after the February Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent house arrest of the imperial family.

In their letters, Alexei and Kolya would refer to each other by their names read backwards – Alexei was “Ieskela”, while Kolya was “Yalok”.

Kolya famously gave an interview shortly before his death in 2003 (yes, quite incredible), where he spoke of his memories of Alexei. Here's a transcript in English. If you're interesting in watching the full interview in Russian, which is part of a 2016 NTV documentary, here's the link.

#Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

From Victoria to: Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, Grand Duchess Maria, Grand Duchess Anastasia, Tsesarevich Alexei

#Victoria of the United Kingdom #princess alice of the united kingdom #Alix of Hesse #Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Posting this here, despite it not being my history account, because those who follow me on my history account might hang me for this. (That is most likely incorrect, but there is a possibility I could get scolded.)

Some very late night sketches of the Romanov sisters. May they rest in peace,

#Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughters, 1913.

Another example of "old timey Photoshop." All the other postcard versions of this image are landscape; for some reason this one was published in portrait orientation. That meant they had to draw in the rest of Alix and Maria's skirts as well as the chair. They didn't . . . they didn't do great. The draping on Alix's especially looks very stiff and unnatural, being so straight. You can also see editing above Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia's heads where they had to fill in background that wasn't there.

#1913 #Alix of Hesse #Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Christmas card from Princess Alix of Hesse to her sister Princess Irene of Prussia, 1891.

Very rare German Christmas card from the last Empress of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), wife of Tsar Nicholas II sent in 1891 to her sister Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (1866-1953), she was the wife of Prince Heinrich of Prussia, a younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II and her first cousin.  Born as Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, she was granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Upon being received into the Russian Orthodox Church, she was given the name Alexandra Feodorovna and in 2000 she was canonized as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer. "Merry Xmas to you, my darling Irene from yr. ever loving, Alix. 1891"

#Alix of Hesse #Irene of Hesse and by Rhine

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

FAVORITE OTMA PHOTOS: ANASTASIA It was the first time I had seen any of the four. The two older ones were in simple white, each with a single string of small pearls, and with their heavy dark hair hanging over their shoulders looked very girlish and sweet. Olga carried a little bunch of violets, and Marie and the ten-year-old Anastasia had boxes of silver-wrapped chocolates. Anastasia sat down nearest me and gave me a demure little smile as she set the chocolates on the railing between us. She was not a beautiful child, but there was something frank and winning about her. Music behind the curtain was playing in a very low key, and she began to hum the air softly to herself. It was a haunting air, with a minor strain suggestive of the Volga Boat Song. "What is that song you are humming?" I asked. "Oh," she said, "it is an old song about a little girl who had lost her doll." The music faded out then, the people were crowding in from the foyer, and she was biting into another chocolate. Her white gloves were now quite hopeless, but when I went to sleep that night her song was humming away tantalizingly in my head. "The little girl who had lost her doll." That was more than forty years ago. - Post Wheeler, Dome of Many-Coloured Glass (1955)

#Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

FAVORITE OTMA PHOTOS: MARIA She was born good, I often think, with the very smallest trace of original sin possible. She is a very fine and pretty child, with great, dark-blue eyes and the fine level dark brows of the Romanoff family. She has the face of one of Botticelli’s angels. But good and sweet- tempered as she is, she is also very human. She is constantly held up as an example to her elder sisters. They declared she was a step-sister. Vainly I pointed out that in all fairy tales it was the elder sisters who were step-sisters and the third was the real sister. They would not listen, and shut her out from all their plays. One day they made a house with chairs at one end of the nursery and shut out poor Marie, telling her she might be the footman. She suddenly dashed across the room, rushed into the house, dealt each sister a slap in the face, and ran into the next room, coming back dressed in a doll’s cloak and hat, and with her hands full of small toys. "I won’t be a footman, I'll be the kind, good aunt, who brings presents.” They had learned their lesson—from that hour they respected her rights in the family. - Margaret Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court (1906)

#Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

~ ♔ ꧁ OTMA ꧂ ♔ ~

❧ “In the darkness of the mystery which surrounds the fate of these innocent children it is with poignant emotion that I recall them as they appeared, so full of life and joy, in those distant, yet incredibly near, days before the World War and the downfall of Imperial Russia.”

❧ “Olga was perhaps the cleverest of them all, her mind being so quick to grasp ideas, so absorbent of knowledge that she learned almost without application or close study. Her chief characteristics, I should say, were a strong will and a singularly straightfor, ward habit of thought and action.”

❧ “Tatiana was almost a perfect reincarnation of her mother. Taller and slenderer than her sisters, she had the soft, refined features and the gentle, reserved manners of her English ancestry. Kindly and sympathetic of disposition, she displayed towards her younger sisters and her brother such a protecting spirit that they, in fun, nicknamed her "the governess."

❧ “Marie had splendid eyes and rose-red cheeks. She was inclined to be stout and she had rather thick lips which detracted a little from her beauty. Marie had a naturally sweet disposition and a very good mind.”

❧ “Anastasia, a sharp and clever child, was a very monkey for jokes, some of them at times almost too practical for the enjoyment of others. I remember once when the family was in their Polish estate in winter the children were amusing themselves at snowballing. The imp which sometimes seemed to possess Anastasia led her to throw a stone rolled in a snowball straight at her dearly loved sister Tatiana. The missile struck the poor girl fairly in the face with such force that she fell senseless to the ground. The grief and horror of Anastasia lasted for many days and permanently cured her of her worst propensities to practical jokes.”

- Anna Vyrubova (friend and personal confidante of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna)

#Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna of Russia on her 16th Birthday Nov 15th 1911, Livadia.

#Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, 1896. This photograph was on the front page of the 'Figaro Illustre' in 1897.

#alix of hesse #1896

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

VERY rare photo of Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Olga Nikolaevna with Baroness Sophie “Isa” Buxhoevden, Livadia 1913 🤍

Source: Baroness Sophie Buxhoevden’s albums

#Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Baroness Sophie Buxhoevden

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Photograph of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. 1894.

She is sitting in an ornate wooden chair and holding a folded fan. She is wearing an embellished dress with a sash, a tiara and veil and pearl necklaces. The photograph has been annotated 'Your very loving Grandchild Alix 1895' and 'For my beloved Grandmama'. Alexandra Feodorovna, formerly Princess Alix of Hesse, married Nicholas II at the Winter Palace on the 26th of November 1894. This cabinet card was sent as a gift to her grandmother Queen Victoria.

#Alix of Hesse

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

A kokoshnik belonging to the sister of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, has been found in the funds of the Omsk Museum of Local History, according to the website of the Ministry of Culture of the Omsk region.

It is believed the piece was made by art critic and artist Andrei Borovsky for the famed Winter Palace Ball held in 1903 in honor of the 290th anniversary of the Romanovs' reign.

You can read more about the ball here.

#grand duchess Xenia alexandrovna romanova of russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

♡ ~ OTMA ~ ♡

~ 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." ~

~ Lili Dehn

(Inspired by @abigaaal 🤍)

#Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Portraits of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wearing uniform of the chief of the 5th Hussar Alexandria regiment, Tsarkoye Selo, 1911.

#Alix of Hesse

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Photograph of Tsar Nicholas the II and his son Alexei. C. 1907

#Nicholas II of Russia #Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov of Russia

[anastasianikolaevnaromanova]

Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia of Russia, 1904.

The daughters of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia.

Photographed by Boasson and Eggler, St. Petersburg, Nevsky 24.

Source Royalty In Colour

#1904 #Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia #Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia