Russian inspiration

[elsalouisa]

Cemetery walks

[elsalouisa]

"As soon as I was in a fit state we left for the castle of Lancut, where my husband's grandmother. Princess Lubomirska, had set up her establishment. She was known as the Princess Marshal. It would hardly have been possible to meet with an individual who, in addition to many excellent qualities, boasted such peculiar whims. She liked neither her children nor her country, and from sheer tedium was perpetually moving from place to place. Estranged from everything but the old traditions of the court of France, she was better acquainted with the age of Louis XIV. than with the events which had agitated her own country. A spectator of the horrors that had disgraced the revolution of 1789, and an intimate friend of the Princess Lamballe, she hated all new ideas. To the princess. Napoleon was nothing but a miscreant, promoted by lucky chances to a height at which he could never remain. She avoided speaking of him, and when compelled to mention the abhorred name, she called the emperor little Bonaparte. Faithful to the Bourbons, she wore mourning for the Due d'Enghien, and showered her charity upon all the "emigrants" she could pick up in the high roads.

When we got to Lancut we found His Grace the Bishop of Laon established in the castle. All the honours due to the tiara were rendered him.

When the princess made her journey to Vienna, which happened nearly every winter, since her advanced years, together with the change in the dynasty, had prohibited a stay in Paris, nothing changed at Lancut. Every morning the steward came for His Grace's orders. He was there as if in his own palace, and he surely was better off there than at home, for in no country have I seen any establishment at the same time so gorgeous and so elegant. As rich as a princess in the "Arabian Nights,'' the Lady Marshal had elected to indulge in English comforts and French tastes.

She had, in addition, the merit of worthily employing the immense fortune placed in her hands by chance. Her generosity was remarkable in so far as she was entirely reasonable in dispensing it, and gave the benefit of it chiefly to her numerous vassals. There was not a village where she had not set up a school, a doctor, or a midwife. Her agents were charged with supervising these charitable institutions, for, though she did require everything in her own house to be sumptuous and costly, she never neglected her poor".

Memoirs of the Countess Potocka

[elsalouisa]

"Her sister. Princess Alice of Hesse, mother of the Russian Empress, I saw a good deal of, at one time. It is said she was the favorite daughter of Queen Victoria, and I do not wonder, for she was a sweet creature, with a lovely face, though something tragic about it. She was also an artist, and had asked me to let her come and model in my studio. All the arrangements were made when she was summoned home by the illness of one of her sons, afterwards the Grand Duke of Hesse".

Harriet Hosmer letters and memories

[elsalouisa]

"Natasha Bagration rang up to say ‘goodbye’, this gentle, angular,bony, highly-bred Princess goes to Cairo tomorrow as secretary to Purić, the Yugoslav PM".

"Natasha Bragation back from Cairo came to dine – she looked v lovely, long and angular. She had flown with King Peter; she is still acting as is still acting as secretary to Purić, the unfortunate Yugoslav Prime Minister".

Henry "Chips" Channon. The Diaries.

[elsalouisa]

Princess Alix to Queen Victoria:

"Seeheim

June 7 1883

Darling Grandmama

I thank you very much for Your kind letter and the pretty silver box. It is very nice here and the weather is fine. Yesterday we had a family dinner and I got many pretty presents. Herr Muther gave me a “cress-doll.” It is a bottle with a doll’s head and arms covered by a dress, he knitted himself and on which cress is sown. I water it often and the cress is growing quite big. We have brought all the dogs here and they bark dreadfully at night. Please give much love to Aunty and Ella from us all, and with many kisses I remain

Your dutiful, loving Grandchild Alix".

[elsalouisa]

"In this terrible year 1918, my parents had a hard time surviving the murder of the Imperial family. On the night of July 17th to 18th (note: the author got the date wrong by 1 day) the whole family was tortured in the basement of the Ipatievsky house in Yekaterinburg. It was the first time in my life that I saw my mother crying.: "The unfortunate ones," she said, "the unfortunate ones…" At that time she still did not know the details of the brutal murder. She recalled that she had sometimes seen these now-tormented children in St. Petersburg, smiling at passers-by, simple and friendly. It seemed that Russia's past had been destroyed! That Russia no longer existed. Even as a young child, I understood that "everything had been lost" around me."

Anastasia Manstein-Shirinskaya

[elsalouisa]

"Since the time of Marie-Antoinette, the daughter of Maria-Theresa—that beautiful young archduchess who was confided to our keeping as one of the fairest jewels in the imperial crown of Austria, that proud and happy-hearted young dauphine whose arrival in France was hailed by a people captivated by her youthful loveliness and grace, and whose sorrows dated from the moment a royal diadem touched her charming brow—since her tragic end, what a series of misfortunes has pursued all those who, happy, beloved, and prosperous, have crossed the threshold of that ill-fated palace! As its queen, overwhelmed with insults, outraged in every sentiment of her character as wife and mother, she finally left the shadow of its direful portals for the Temple, the Conciergerie, and, at last, the scaffold.

The Empress Josephine, the unfortunate heroine of one of the fairest romances the world has ever read, that shamefully abandoned wife, departed from the palace where she had hitherto beheld the world cringing at her feet, to fly and hide her shame and mortification in the solitudes of Malmaison. Another archduchess came to us. MarieLouise traversed for a while the spacious salons of the Tuileries; then a tempest whirled her from her high position and sent her to die with her son in the bitter loneliness of exile.

The Princess Caroline of Naples, Duchesse de Berry, that delicate and gracious dauphine who yet led a troop of herces in La Vendée, saw, within the short period of a few years, her husband perish beneath the assassin’s knife and her son despoiled of his birthright.

The Princesse Héléne de Mecklenburg, Duchesse d’Orléans, widowed at thirty of an adoring husband who perished miserably “ because a postilion had dropped his rein,” as Alfred de Musset says in one of his poetical outbursts—the victim of another revolution, was obliged to bring up her two children in exile.

The white hairs of Marie-Amélie could not preserve her from the inexorable wheel of Fate. With her noble brow adorned by every virtue pertaining to a sovereign and mother, she seemed, above all others, qualified to keep her place upon the throne until death should deprive her of it; and yet, when nearly a septuagenarian, she too was driven from her country. In her exile at Claremont she became the support of a stricken and enfeebled husband, and her tender care and sympathy enveloped the last days of Louis-Philippe with all the comfort and consolation which a tender Christian soul could bestow.

And lastly the Empress Eugénie. Each of these ill-fated names evokes a bloody epoch, wherein the most dissimilar destinies have met upon a common ground of misfortune. Were the tears shed by all these princesses a necessary and natural expiation, or did the mysterious and baleful spirit of Catherine de Medicis, the founder of the Tuileries, attach a strange and ill-omened fatality to the stones of this palace?"

Madame Carette "Recollections of the court of the Tuileries"

[adini-nikolaevna]

“On June 12 [June 24th New Style], 1825, our beloved sister Adini (Alexandra) was born, our ray of sunshine, which the Lord gave us and whom He was pleased to take back to Himself so soon!”

- Queen Olga of Wurttemberg, second daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, on the birth of her younger sister, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna.

[elsalouisa]

"In true Christian humility in the Archduke's presence, she lowered her heavy lids over the glowing dark eyes. That fascinated him and spurred him on to the attack. What their Highnesses love above all else is the unreachable, or at any rate that which shows fight and doesn't allow itself just to be served up on a salver. Countess 'Sopherl' met his approaches with the firmest resistance. And thus she aroused in him that relentless urge which proves stronger than any force set against it, and worth any sacrifice in order to achieve".

Unpublished memoirs of Count Sternberg

[elsalouisa]

Alix to Ernie, July 18th 1887. Windsor castle

My darling Ernie, This will be the last letter you will get from here, as we are leaving tomorrow for Osborne. I am very happy to go again to Osborne, although sorry to leave this nice place. The Wales Family only go on Friday, I think.- You will be glad to hear that Uncle Fritz's voice is rapidly progressing, and soon I believe he will have quite regained it - but I am afraid he will always be rather hoarse, like Sophie. -

How is the Lawn Tennis getting on, or do they not play much now? Have you seen dear Toni yet? When you do, please give her my very best love. - Yesterday afternoon, Papa, Irène, Aunt Beatrice, Liko and myself drove to Clifton (it belongs to the Duke of Westminster), and had tea. Only Children, and one of the Duke's sons were living there. It is an hours distance from here. A most lovely place, and one has such a pretty view on the Thames, I wish you had been with us. Grandmama, Aunt Beatrice & Mama lived there once, in 66 I think. -

I dined last night at Grandmama's Dinner, Lord Salisbury was there, the Dean of Windsor &c. There was also one Lady, who was at Grandmama's Corronation, & who remembers having danced in the same room, as you all did the other night. -

I have played Lawn Tennis already twice, once with Irène & Liko, & once with Liko, Herr Muther and Miss Paget. It was very nice. It is still very warm, & reins only a little, sometimes. -

How is Sandro feeling & looking now, do you think the cure did him any good. When he was there he saw Pa Frederica's mother & Sister Mary, they were quite enchanted with him, Lily toled me. She was so sorry you had left. She remembers still the nonsence you & she did at Balmoral quite well. Now, darling Boy, Adio, Ever your loving little Alicky.

Is it not very dull for you all alone at the Schloss? When you see Victoria & Louis please give them my best love.

[elsalouisa]

Lilac memoires...

[elsalouisa]

"The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who married the Grand Duke Sergei, was really the “ Pre-Raphaelite Beauty,” as the Ambassador von Schweinitz had acclaimed her in his report on the wedding in 1884".

Prince von Bulow. Memoires.

[elsalouisa]

"Lady Abdy is so exotic and sensible and strange and ballet russe – one could scarcely understand her. But I find her amusing intelligent and that rare thing, ‘real’. How many are that I wonder? …."

Henry "Chips" Channon "The Diaries"

[elsalouisa]

"...Anglo-Russian Convention was signed in 1907. A personal touch of royal friendliness was felt to be required to clear away any lingering mistrust, and Edward embarked for Reval. He had long talks with the Russian Foreign Minister, Isvolsky, and danced the Merry Widow waltz with the Czarina with such effect as to make her laugh, the first man to accomplish this feat since the unhappy woman put on the crown of the Romanovs. Nor was it such a frivolous achievement as might appear, for though it could hardly be said that the Czar governed Russia in a working sense, he ruled as an autocrat and was in turn ruled by his strong-willed if weak-witted wife. Beautiful, hysterical, and morbidly suspicious, she hated everyone but her immediate family and a series of fanatic or lunatic charlatans who offered comfort to her desperate soul. The Czar, neither well endowed mentally nor very well educated, was, in the Kaiser's opinion, "only fit to live in a country house and grow turnips."

Barbara Tuchman "The Guns of August"

[elsalouisa]

"Maria Baryatinskaya was a blonde with black eyebrows, and her gaze, when she was fond of someone, was full of a warmth that I had never seen in anyone except the Empress Maria Alexandrovna (the wife of Emperor Alexander II), perhaps because I genuinely loved both of them. Maria Baryatinskaya was the same height as I was. When she let her hair down, it covered her knees, and she wrapped it three times around her head and secured it with a gold pin. I remember a birthday party at Papa's in Peterhof. Although the Baryatinskys lived nine versts away, she arrived with fresh flowers in her hair. Most of the flowers were still in bud, and in the warmth of the dance, they bloomed. A portrait by the famous artist Robertson captured her in all her beauty, playing the piano".

Grand duchess Olga Nikolaevna "The golden dream of my youth"

[elsalouisa]

"One night, at a Court ball, she saw and danced with Prince Otto Windischgratz. The next day she went to her Royal grandpapa and decisively announced that she wished to marry the said gentleman. The kind old Emperor, whose dearest wish is to have everyone about him quite happy, sent for the young man, and, smiling, informed him of the honour which he was about to bestow upon him, in the form of his granddaughter's hand in marriage. The young officer was overwhelmed ; he blu'shed, stammered and bowed. The Emperor, thinking all this emotion was gratitude for the honour he was about to receive, beamed upon him, and, waving his hand, said gently : "It is all quite settled ; you may go to her." Then the deeply confused and equally distressed officer burst out : " Pardon, sir, but I am fianceed already." The Emperor, perhaps not quite taking in the import of this announcement, and perhaps thinking of his granddaughter's happy face, again waved his hand, and said : " 'Tis no matter. You can easily arrange that," and thereupon dismissed the agitated young man. Of course, it is not every day that a young army officer has a Royal Princess thrust into his arms with an Emperor's blessing. So, naturally enough, the previous engagement was broken off, and the Archduchess Elizabeth made a mesalliance, as she had told me she would do".

"Recollections of a royal governess"

[elsalouisa]

"We were awaiting our parents’ return, and had even thought out a little ‘tableau’ which we could enact for a welcome. Then, while we were at lunch on the Sunday, Monsignor Stanowsky, the tutor to my brothers, was called away from the table to the telephone. He came back completely shaken but said nothing, and we thought it was bad news about his mother, who was very ill at the time. He immediately rang up our aunt Henriette, my mother’s sister, in Prague, and asked her to come to Chlumetz immediately. She arrived that afternoon and told us, more or less straightaway, that there had been an attack on our parents and that they were both injured. We were shattered and begged to be allowed to go to them. Instead, we were taken to the village church in Chlumetz to pray for them. Stili we had no idea how dreadful the news really was. They let us sleep - as well as we could - overnight, and then, early the next morning, we were told the dreadful truth".

Memoirs of Sophie Hohenberg