2015 – Page 32 – The Romanov Family

August 18, 2015Helen Azar 1 Comment

TATIANA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS TATIANA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanov (1897-1918)

“The second bright happy day in our family: at 10.40 in the morning the Lord blessed us with a daughter – Tatiana. Poor Alix suffered all night without shutting her eyes for a moment, and at 8 o’clock went downstairs to Amama’s bedroom. Thank God this time it all went quickly and safely, and I did not feel nervously exhausted. Towards one o’clock the little one was bathed and Yanyshev read some prayers. Mama arrived with Ksenia; we had lunch together. At 4 o’clock there was a Te Deum. Tatiana weighs 8 ¾ pounds and is 54 centimeters long. Our eldest is very funny with her. Read and wrote telegrams…”

~ From the diary of Nicholas II, 29th May, 1897 ~

Tsar Nicholas II’s second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, was born to the growing Romanov family on May 29 (Old Style) 1897, in Peterhof – a town located on the Golf of Finland, just outside of St Petersburg. While her big sister Grand Duchess Olga resembled their father, baby Tatiana looked more similar to her mother, and the Tsar often remarked that she reminded him of his wife. Nicholas II loved his second daughter dearly; later her sisters used to joke that if it was necessary to appeal to him with any request: “Tatiana must ask Papa to allow us to do this.” Read more TATIANA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS TATIANA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

August 18, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

EMPRESS ALEXANDRA – “MAMA” AND HER GIRLS (OTMA)

EMPRESS ALEXANDRA – “MAMA” AND HER GIRLS

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her four daughters: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov. — The Romanov family women: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her four daughters, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov.

The four Russian grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, or OTMA as they often referred to themselves, loved and respected each other, as well as other members of their family: their mother, father and little brother, Tsesarevich Alexei. “We 7” is how every member of the close knit Romanov family referred to themselves collectively. Read more EMPRESS ALEXANDRA – “MAMA” AND HER GIRLS (OTMA)

August 17, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

Romanov Family Mystery Solved:

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia and Tsesarevich Alexei.

For those of you who would like to read the original paper on the identification of two Romanov children, please click on the “Romanov Mystery Solved” link below. We will probably never know for sure if the remains of the missing girl discovered with Tsesarevich Alexei’s remains are those of Grand Duchess Maria or Grand Duchess Anastasia, as the “little pair” were too close in age and the investigators have no confirmed DNA sample to compare. But the most important thing is that the entire Romanov family is now accounted for. Let’s hope the two children will be buried with the rest of the family soon!

The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis: Romanov Family Mystery Solved

August 17, 2015Helen Azar No Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY AND VOLTAIRE

The article below was translated from Russian by Helen Azar.

French philosopher François-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire.

Note from the translator:

When I first showed up at the Tsarskoe Selo Rare Book Fond for my library school internship, I found out that they just made an amazing discovery: two previously unidentified books from the vast collection of books once owned by the famous French philosopher, François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. At this time, it was thought that all of Voltaire’s books, which were brought to Russia by Empress Catherine the Great upon his death, were accounted for, and thousands of his marginalia had been transcribed and published. But it seemed that two of these books slipped through the proverbial cracks. Voltaire’s handwriting in the marginalia of these two books, held for years in The Rare Book Fond at the Tsarskoe Selo Museum. Somehow no one recognized them for what they were, for all these years. Read more ROMANOV FAMILY AND VOLTAIRE

August 17, 2015Helen Azar 2 Comments

ROMANOV FAMILY AND THE CAMERA

ROMANOV FAMILY AND THE CAMERA

All members of the Romanov family were avid photographers. Luckily for us, because they left behind hundred upon hundreds of photographs! They often mentioned photographs in their diaries and letters, as well as one of their favorite past times: “pasting” their photographs into albums. Read more ROMANOV FAMILY AND THE CAMERA