ROMANOV DYNASTY: A BRIEF HISTORY

Romanov Dynasty coat of arms
Romanov Dynasty coat of arms

ROMANOV DYNASTY: A BRIEF HISTORY

The Romanov Dynasty also known as “The House of Romanov” was the second imperial dynasty (after the Rurik dynasty) to rule Russia. The Romanov family reigned from 1613 until the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, as a result of the Russian Revolution.

The direct male line of the Romanov family came to an end when Empress Elizabeth died in 1762. The House of Holstein-Gottorp, a branch of the House of Oldenburg, ascended the throne in 1762 with Peter III, a grandson of Peter the Great. Hence, all Russian monarchs from the mid-18th century to the Russian Revolution descended from that branch.  In early 1917 the extended Romanov family had 65 members, 18 of whom were killed by the Bolsheviks. The remaining 47 members escaped abroad. Read more ROMANOV DYNASTY: A BRIEF HISTORY

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TATIANA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS TATIANA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

 

TATIANA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS TATIANA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanov (1897-1918)
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

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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)

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OLGA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS OLGA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

 

OLGA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS OLGA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova (1895-1918)
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanov (1895-1918)

A very large baby girl joined the Romanov family on November 15 (Old Style: November 3) 1895, in St Petersburg, Russia. On that day her father, Tsar Nicholas II, wrote in his diary: “A day I will remember forever . . . at exactly 9 o’clock a baby’s cry was heard and we all breathed a sigh of relief! With prayer we named the daughter sent to us by God ‘Olga’!”
Baby Olga’s aunt, the Grand Duchess Ksenia’s diary entry for 3 November was a bit more cynical: “The birth of a daughter to Nicky and Alix! A great joy, although it’s a great pity it’s not a son! . . . The baby is huge – weighing 10 pounds – and had to be pulled out with forceps!”

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanov was the first of Tsar Nicholas II’s and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s five children. Born at the Anichkov Palace where the newlywed Russian imperial couple initially settled, the first of four daughters, Olga Romanov was born “in the purple” – during the imperial reign of her parents. Her Russian title “Velikaya Knyazhna” is most precisely translated as “the Grand Princess”, which means that Olga Romanov, as an “Imperial Highness”, was higher in rank than other princesses in Europe who were merely “Royal Highnesses”. “Grand Duchess” is the more common English translation. Read more OLGA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS OLGA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

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MARIA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS MARIA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

MARIA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS MARIA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

by Amanda Madru

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova (1899-1918)
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanov (1899-1918)

June 14th, 1899 (O.S.). A 101-gun salute is fired from the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, heralding the birth of yet another daughter to Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, and his German-born wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna. The baby’s arrival is met with near-universal disappointment: the Pauline Laws implemented by her ancestor, Emperor Pavel I’s stipulated that males come first in the succession, and a male heir was eagerly awaited. Nicholas and Alexandra have, after nearly five years of marriage, only three little girls to show for themselves. Russia is in need of an heir, and the Imperial couple has once again failed on this count. The infant is named in honor of her paternal grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She is christened Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. Read more MARIA ROMANOV: GRAND DUCHESS MARIA NIKOLAEVNA OF RUSSIA

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TSAR ALEXANDER II: Tsar Liberator and Rise of Terrorism in Russia.

TSAR ALEXANDER II: Tsar Liberator and Rise of Terrorism in Russia.

By Cheryl Adams Rychkov

(edited by Helen Azar)

"Tsar Liberator" Alexander II
“Tsar Liberator” Alexander II

Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov, eldest son of Russia’s Tsar Nicholas I, was born, grew up, and came of age in the maelstrom of autocracy and repression; and a swelling tide of radicalism, nationalism, and nihilism, all of which defined much of nineteenth-century Russian politics and culture. Read more TSAR ALEXANDER II: Tsar Liberator and Rise of Terrorism in Russia.

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