The Personalities of the Romanov Family
NICHOLAS ALEXANDROVICH - “Spring is coming quietly but there is no doubt that it’s really coming. I’ve loved nature since my childhood and each year in this period of time I feel excited and cheerful. I’d like to spend more time outdoors in fresh air but numerous receptions and reports are always in the way.” - Nicholas II
ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA - “She was constantly blushing with shyness, like a young girl; her eyes, huge and profound, came alive when she was in conversation, and they laughed.” - Lady-in-waiting and family friend, Anna Vyrubova.
OLGA NIKOLAEVNA - “She was by nature a thinker, and as it later seemed to me, understood the general situation better than any member of her family, including even her parents. At least I had the impression that she had little illusions in regard to what the future held in store for them, and in consequence was often sad and worried.” - Gleb Botkin, family friend.
“Olga possessed a remarkably quick brain. She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee. She gave me a certain amount of trouble at first, but our early skirmishes were soon succeeded by relations of frank cordiality. She picked up everything extremely quickly, and always managed to give an original turn to what she learned. She read a great deal apart from her lessons.” - The children’s French language tutor, Pierre Gilliard.
TATIANA NIKOLAEVNA - “All the doctors who saw the Grand Duchess Tatiana at her work [said] that she was born to be a nurse, that she gently and fearlessly touches the most serious wounds, that all of her dressings are done by a confident and skillful hand. Meanwhile, just the sight of some of these injuries could deprive [another] person of sleep and rest.” - Anna Vyrubova.
“Tatiana, as always, helps everyone, everywhere.” - Empress Alexandra, 1918.
MARIA NIKOLAEVNA - “Why are you not disgusted with yourselves when you use such shameful words? Do you imagine that you can woo a well-born woman with such witticisms and have her be well disposed towards you? Be refined and respectable men and then we can get along.” - Maria.
“I was always afraid of the wings growing, and I am glad to see she is only a human child.” - Maria’s father, Nicholas II.
ANASTASIA NIKOLAEVNA - “I am in Tatiana’s room. Tatiana and Olga are here. I am sitting and digging in my nose with my left hand. Olga wanted to slap me but I ran away from her swinish hand.“ - Anastasia.
“She undoubtedly held the record for punishable deeds in her family, for in naughtiness she was a true genius.” - Gleb Botkin
“Even at sixteen she still behaved like a headstrong young foal that has run away from its master.” - Pierre Gilliard.
ALEXEI NIKOLAEVICH - “After the Spała crisis, Alexei became a more serious child, more reflective and more considerate of other people. For an eight-year-old boy, it was a matter to ponder that his father was autocrat over millions of men and the master of the largest empire on earth, and yet had no power to spare him the pain he had felt in his leg.” - Robert K. Massie.
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