romanovconfessions:

The Romanov Family || Make it like we were nothing

themauveroom:

Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Maria dressed for a play, c. 1912

The photographs were taken from a documentary, hence the poor quality. 

ooc: wow, I’ve never seen these! These much be such rare photos!!!

(Source: framepool.com, via romanovconfessions)

themauveroom:

Grand Duchess Olga’s cat, Vaska and the Tsarevich with his dog Joy and Grand Duchess Maria’s siamese cat (I don’t know what its name was).  The Imperial Family were all very fond of pets. Although they took their three dogs into exile with them, it was impossible to bring all of the animals so the cats were left behind. 

In her diary, Valentina Tschebotareva recorded: 

“There was a drama with the cats. The kitchen was closed-there was nothing to feed them with-there was not a soul in the palace. On the very first day that Geringer arrived the unfortunate hungry animals dashed towards her…a dismal impression, a dead, empty palace, all exits are locked and only three cats flit about like shadows.” 

Homes were found for the cats (Vaska, Maria’s siamese, and another which Alexei had brought home from Headquarters.) Apparently they were transported to their new homes through an underground passage to the Alexander Palace. The entrance was said to have been in one of the private houses adjoining the park. 

Source: Russia, My Native Land by Gregory P. Tschebotarioff

themauveroom:

Today, May 25, is Alexandra Feodorovna’s 140th birthday. 

Above: The Hesse Family 1875 (you can see where Alix got her childhood nickname “Sunny.”)

Alix and her Uncle Leopold, shortly after the death of her mother Alice in 1878. The Hesse children were very fond of their Uncle Leopold, who visited them often, especially after the death of their mother. They were devastated when he died an early death due to a fall which caused a fatal attack of hemophilia. 

From left: Prince Eddie of Wales, Princes Alix of Hesse, Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice, Princess Irene of Hesse at Balmoral in Scotland, 1887. This may have been the beginning of Queen Victoria’s attempted matchmaking between the (then) future King of England and the youngest Princess of Hesse. Alix decidedly refused Eddie, who was eight years older than she was, and had a somewhat dubious reputation. 

A portrait of Princess Alix of Hesse painted for Queen Victoria. 

(via tragicrussianbeauty)

themauveroom:

Little Alix- 1875

With her sister Ella preparing for her first ball, 1889.

A portrait of Alexandra, circa 1894 and another, 1903. 

(via tragicrussianbeauty)

(Source: romanovconfessions, via x-jennii-the-rose-x)

persephone-dreams:

Call me a history nerd, but I’ve always been intrigued and enchanted by the history of Russia, particularly by the encounters of the family of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of the Russian Empire, and felt the need to make this post in memory of Anastasia Nikolaevna, the Grand Duchess of the Russian empire back then.

After watching YouTube videos of the songs from the soundtrack of the 1997 movie Anastasia, I’m surprised at how many people don’t know Anastasia’s real story and that the movie was even based on a real person and real events. This post is in memory of Anastasia.

Anastasia was born June 18th, 1901, to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. She was the second youngest of five children, the youngest being Alexei, the Tsarevich and her younger brother.

In 1917, the Tsar of Russia abdicated his throne after the disastrous effects of World War I. The royal family was then placed under house arrest in their palace and Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks took over. Russia became the world’s first communist country.

After the Bolsheviks took over, the royal family was transferred to the Ipatiev House in the Ural Mountains of Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 1918, Yakov Yurovsky took over as the Commandant of the Contingent guarding the royal family and earned the trust of the family. But Yurovsky had ulterior motives - Lenin had sent him to the Ipatiev house on a mission.

On the night of 16 July 1918, the royal family was waken from their slumber and asked to enter a small room in the house. They were asked to stand in rows and were told that a photograph was to be taken to show that, contrary to rumors in Moscow, the royal family was still in Russia and had not fled the country. However, the photo was never taken. Instead, guards entered the room and executed all of them with their guns.

When the bodies of the family were on a truck to be taken away, the guards were surprised to find that some of the Romanov girls cried out and moved. They were stabbed with bayonets, but the soldiers were alarmed to notice that their bayonets were bent. 

When the guards reached their final destination that morning, Yurovsky ordered all the bodies to be undressed. It was then found that the Romanov girls had corsets filled with diamonds acting as shields, deflecting the bullets and stabs of the guards.

Years after the grisly execution, the bodies of the Romanovs and their servants were found, but not Anastasia’s and Alexei’s. The last photo in this photoset is the last known image of Anastasia.

The mystery of this whole thing intrigues me. What really happened to Anastasia (and Alexei)? What was it like being her, a grand duchess at such a young age? It’s such a pity she died young, barely a month after her 17th birthday. This is one of my favourite parts of learning World History.

This post is in memory of Anastasia Nikolaevna, one of the greatest teenagers in history of all time (in my opinion, at least). 

Photo & info credits: Wikipedia.org

(via frickyeahanastasia)