The Romanov Sisters (Four Sisters) (71 page)

23 Queen Victoria’s journal for 27 April 1892, in Zeepvat,
Cradle to
Crown
, p. 133.

24 Hough,
Advice to a Granddaughter
,
p. 116.

25 15 February 1887 to Vicky, Bokhanov
et al.
,
Romanovs
, p. 53; Hough,
Advice to a Granddaughter
, p. 88.

26 Hibbert,
Queen Victoria
, pp. 318, 329.

27 Vacaresco,
Kings and Queens
, p. 161

28 Vassili,
Behind the Veil
, p. 226.

29 26 December 1893, RA VIC/Z/90/66.

30 Poore,
Memoirs of Emily Loch
, p. 154.

31 21 October 1894, in Miller,
Four Graces
, p. 93.

32 Mandache,
Dearest Missy
, p. 172.

33 Poore,
Memoirs of Emily Loch
, p. 155.

387

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NOTES

34
Westminster Budget
, 6 June 1894, p. 37.

35 Letters to Nicky, 22 April 1894,
LP
, p. 59; 25 May 1894,
LP
, p.

70.

36
Westminster Budget
, 22 June 1894, p. 4.

37 Malcolm Neesom,
Bygone Harrogate
(Derby: Breedon Books,

1999), p. 9.

38
LP
,
p. 68.

39 ‘Concerning Her Grand Ducal Highness, Princess Alix of Hesse’,

Armstrong’s Harrogate Almanac (Harrogate, Yks: J. L. Armstrong,

1895), p. 2.

40 Ibid.

41 Swezey,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, p. 58.

42
Correspondence
, p. 157.

43
LP
, p. 110.

44
New Weekly Courant
,
1 December 1894.

45 Radziwill,
It Really Happened
, pp. 88–9.

46 26 November 1894 OS,
Correspondence
, p. 166.

47 20 November 1894 OS,
Correspondence
, pp. 163 and 164.

48 Queen Victoria to Victoria of Milford Haven, 31 March 1889 in

Hough,
Louis and Victoria
, p. 149.

49 G. E. Buckle (ed.),
Letters of Queen Victoria . . . 1886 to 1901
, 3rd series (London: John Murray, 1931), vol. 2, p. 454.

50
Guardian
, 7 November 1894.

Chapter 2 –
La Petite Duchesse

1 Buxhoeveden,
Before the Storm
, p. 148.

2 Vorres,
Last Grand Duchess
, p. 73.

3
LP
,
11 December 1894, p. 117.

4
Correspondence
, 20 February 1895, p. 180.

5 Ibid., 28 February 1895, p. 181.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid., 7 January 1895, p. 171; see also p. 174.

8 Ibid., 5 March 1895, p. 183.

9 For a discussion of the Russian laws of succession, see Harris,

‘Succession Prospects’.

10
Correspondence
, 17 December 1894, p. 170.

11 W. T. Stead, ‘Interview with Nicholas’, in Joseph O. Baylen,
The
Tsar’s ‘Lecturer-General’: W. T. Stead and the Russian Revolution of
1905
(PLACE?: Georgia State College, 1969), p. 49.

388

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NOTES

12 Vay de Vaya and Luskod,
Empires
, p. 10.

13
Correspondence
, 30 June 1895, p. 197.

14 Ibid., 5 July 1895, p. 203.

15 Swezey,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, pp. 2–3.

16
Correspondence
,
15 September 1895, p. 222.

17 Evgeniya Konradovna Günst (a Russian of German extraction) was

a much sought-after midwife to European royalty and delivered

several of Nicholas and Alexandra’s relatives’ babies, including

Marie of Romania’s son Carol in 1893 and her daughter Elisabeta

in 1894. After delivering Ernie and Ducky’s baby Elisabeth in

Darmstadt in February 1895, Günst returned to Russia for the

birth of Grand Duchess Xenia’s first baby Irina in July. She was

still in service to royal clients in 1915, when, in turn, she delivered Irina’s first baby by her husband Prince Felix Yusupov. There are

numerous references to her in this guise in Mandache,
Dearest

Missy.

18
Correspondence
, 21 August 1895, p. 216.

19 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/90/81: 31 October (12 November NS) 1895.

20
SL
, pp. 98–9.

21 Ibid., p. 100.

22
Correspondence
,
9 October 1895, p. 225.

23 Reuters telegram,
North Eastern Daily Gazette
, 12 November (NS) 1895;
Aberdeen Weekly Journal
, 4 November 1895 (NS).

24 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/90/83: 4 November (17 November NS) 1895.

25 Collier,
Victorian Diarist
, p. 4.

26
DN I
, p. 234.

27 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/90/83: 4 November (17 November NS) 1895.

28
LP
,
p.
144;
DN I
,
pp. 234, 246. See also Ella’s letter to Queen Victoria: RA VIC/MAIN/Z/90/83.

29
DN I
, p. 235.

30 Queen Victoria’s Journal, vol. 102, p. 116, accessible @: http://

www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/home.do/

31 RA VIC/Main/Z/90/82: 13 November (25 November NS) 1895.

32 Durland,
Royal Romances
, p. 134.

33 Collier,
Victorian Diarist
, p. 4.

34
Woman’s Life
, 27 March 1897.

35 Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm, ‘The Russian Imperial Award System

during the Reign of Nicholas II 1894–1917’,
Journal of the Finnish
Antiquarian Society
113, 2005, p. 357.

36
LP
, p. 130.

37 Two Russian Girls, ‘Nestful of Princesses’, p. 937; Buxhoeveden,

389

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NOTES

Life and Tragedy
, p. 56;
LP
,
p. 244. Accounts vary on the number of volleys but 101/301 appears to be correct. Under the rules laid

down by Nicholas I in 1834, there would be 201 volleys for any

other sons born after the male heir. See N. P. Slavnitsky, ‘Sankt-

Peterburgskaya Krepost i tseremonii, svyazannye s rossiiskim

tsarstvuyushchim domom’, in
Kultura i iskusstvo v epokhu Nikolaya I

[conference papers] (St Petersburg: Alina, 2008), pp. 143–4.

38 ‘Alleged Dynamite Conspiracy’,
Daily News
, 15 September 1896.

39
Pall Mall Gazette
, 16 November 1895 (NS).

40
Woman’s Life
, 27 March 1897 (NS), p. 81.

41
Westminster Budget
, 17 January 1896 (NS), p. 14.

42 Collier,
Victorian Diarist
, p. 4;
Westminster Budget
, 29 November 1895 (NS).

43
DN I
, p. 235;
LP
,
letter to Queen Victoria, 12 November 1895, p.

131.

44 Collier,
Victorian Diarist
, p. 4. See also Eagar,
Five Years
, pp. 78–9

for a fuller description of the christening ceremony, as performed

for the third daughter, Maria.

45 10 December 1895, Mandache,
Dearest Missy
, p. 245.

46 See Zeepvat,
Cradle to Crown
, p. 39; Buxhoeveden,
Life and
Tragedy
,
p. 99. Orchie later returned to England, where she died in 1906.

47
Correspondence
, 12 December 1895, p. 227.

48
DN I
, p. 242;
Correspondence
, p. 229.

49 Zeepvat,
Cradle to Crown
, p. 20;
LP
,
p. 133.

50
Birmingham Daily Post
, 27 November 1895.

51
Correspondence
, 9 January 1896, pp. 229–30.

52 Ibid., 13 April 1896, p. 230;
DN I
, p. 269.

53 RA VIC/ADD1/166/27: 20 May 1896.

54 Ibid.

55 Lutyens,
Lady Lytton
, p. 79.

56 Welch,
Russian Court at Sea
, p. 56;
DN I
, p. 270.

57
Correspondence
,
12 July 1896, p. 232.

58 ‘Alleged Dynamite Conspiracy’: see extensive coverage of this in

the British press July–September 1896, @: http://www.britishnews-

paperarchive.co.uk/

59 RA VIC/MAIN/H/47/92.

60
Leeds Mercury
,
26 September 1896.

61
DN I
, p. 297.

62 Ramm,
Beloved and Darling Child
, p. 195.

63 Lutyens,
Lady Lytton
, p. 75.

390

693GG_TXT.indd 390

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NOTES

64
Huddersfield Daily Chronicle
, 1 October 1896.

65
Yorkshire Herald
, 2 October 1896.

66
DN I
, p. 297.

67
Windsor Magazine
41, no. 240, December 1914, pp. 4–5;
Hampshire
Telegraph
, 23 January 1897.

68 Buxhoeveden,
Life and Tragedy
, p. 73.

69
SL
, p. 114; ‘Daughters of Royal Houses’,
Woman’s Life
, 27 March 1897, pp. 81 –2. When, a few years later sailors on the
Shtandart
jokingly referred to Olga as the
duchesse
she indignantly retorted that she was no ‘duchess’ but a Russian princess. See Sablin,

Desyat’ let
, p. 140.

70 See e.g.
Church Weekly
, 14 September 1900.

71 Zimin,
Tsarskaya dengi
, p. 177. Two weeks before Olga’s birth the sum of 318,913 roubles as well as 60,000 French francs were put

into a fund for the child and invested in stocks and shares. By

1908 the roubles had increased to 1,756,000.

72 ‘Daughters of Royal Houses’,
Woman’s Life,
27 March 1897, p. 82.

73 Mandache,
Dearest Missy
, p. 281.

74 Almedingen,
Empress Alexandra
, p. 64.

75 Moe,
Prelude
, p. 100.

76
Correspondence
,
26 March 1897, p. 239.

77 Ibid., p. 240.

78 Günst was awarded a pension for applying the forceps so skilfully during the birth of Tatiana. The pension was paid until 1917; she

was also given regular free holidays in the Crimea. See Zimin,

Tsarskaya dengi
, p. 19.

79 Marfa Mouchanow,
My Empress
(New York: John Long, 1918), p. 91.

Chapter 3
: My God! What a Disappointment! . . . A Fourth Girl!

1 RA VIC/ADDU/127.

2
DN I
,
pp. 343–4.

3 Swezey,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, p. 66;
LP,
p. 163; ibid.

4
Isle of Man Times
, 12 June 1898.

5
Boston Daily Globe
, 14 June 1897.

6 For descriptions of Alexandra’s mauve boudoir, see King,
Court of the
Last Tsar
, p. 199; Marie Pavlovna,
Things I Remember
, pp. 34–5; Buxhoeveden,
Life and Tragedy
, pp. 51–2; ‘Famous Opal-hued Boudoir of Alexandra’, accessible @: http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/

mauve.html

391

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NOTES

7
Brisbane Courier
, 19 October 1897.

8 Vassili,
Behind the Veil
, pp. 291–2;
SL
, pp. 126–7.

9 Marie Pavlovna,
Things I Remember
, p. 34.

10 ‘Something About Dolls’,
English Illustrated Magazine
24, 1901, p.

246;
Danville Republican
, 30 December 1897.

11
LP
, p. 166.

12 Bariatinsky,
My Russian Life
, p. 88.

13
SL
,
21 November 1897, pp. 128–9.

14 If Alexandra miscarried this must have happened very early in the pregnancy. It has also been suggested that she may have suffered a

miscarriage around the time of the coronation, in May 1896, but

as she was seen riding soon afterwards, this seems unlikely. See

Hough,
Advice to a Granddaughter
, p. 13; King,
Court of the Last
Tsar
, p. 123.

15 Poore,
Memoirs of Emily Loch
, p. 194.

16 Ibid., pp. 194–5; ‘The Good Works of the Empress of Russia’,

Review of Reviews
26, no. 151, July 1902, p. 58.

17 Poore,
Memoirs of Emily Loch
, pp. 199–200.

18 Ibid., p. 224.

19 Almedingen,
Empress Alexandra
, p. 76.

20
Correspondence
, 2 april 1898,
p. 244.

21 Mandache,
Dearest Missy
, p. 349.

22
LP
, 20 September 1898, p. 174.

23
SL
,
30 October 1898, pp. 130–1.

24 King,
Court of the Last Tsar
, p. 124.

25 Zeepvat, introduction to Eagar,
Six Years
, pp. 7–8, 14.

26 Eagar,
Six Years
, p. 49.

27 Marie Pavlovna,
Things I Remember
, p. 34; for Vishnyakova, see Zimin,
Detskiy mir
, pp. 73–4.

28 Ibid., pp. 34–5, 51.

29 See
LP
, pp. 184–5;
DN I
, pp. 470–1;
LP
, p. 183.

30 Buxhoeveden,
Life and Tragedy
, p. 92;
DN I
,
p. 476.

31
LP
, p. 185.

32 Ibid., p. 186.

33 Mandache,
Dearest Missy
, p. 383.

34
Lloyds Weekly Newspaper
, 2 July 1899 (NS).

35
Weekly Standard and Express
, 29 July 1899 (NS).

36
Lloyds Weekly Newspaper
, 2 July 1899 (NS).

37 Eagar,
Six Years
, pp. 78–9.

38
LP
,
p. 188.

39
Lloyds Weekly Newspaper
, 6 August 1899;
Fort Wayne Sentinel
, 5

392

693GG_TXT.indd 392

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NOTES

August 1899;
Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette
, 5 August 1899.