⠀OH SO ROMANOV

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[ohsoromanov]

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia reading the Sunday edition of the С.-Петербургскія Вѣдомост on April 4 (16), 1899. He's sitting in his wife's Mauve Room at the Alexander Palace. You can read this newspaper (and read exactly what Nicholas was reading that day) here. You can also read all the С.-Петербургскія Вѣдомост for the year of 1899 here [and search for other years as well].

In his diary, of this day he wrote:

April 4th. Sunday. It snowed during the night, but in the afternoon it all melted. The four of us went to mass, Tatiana until half of the service and Olga until the end. After breakfast, the two of us went for a ride, then for a walk. Yesterday, I killed one crow, today - three. The three of us had lunch with Sergey and listened to our music.

4-го апреля. Воскресение. Ночью выпал снег, днем он весь стаял. Ходи- ли вчетвером к обедне, Татьяна до половины службы – Ольга до конца. После завтрака покатались вдвоем; затем гулял. Вчера убил одну во- рону, сегодня – три. Обедали втроем с Сергеем и слушали нашу музыку.

[ohsoromanov]

In the personal collection of jewellery of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, there was a pearl-ruby sautoir with a removable pendant, presented to her by Emperor Nicholas II in late 1900.

In early October 1900, by order of Nicholas II, the Volga-Kama Merchant Bank transferred 80,000 German marks from the Tsar’s personal funds to the Empress's brother, Grand Duke Ernst of Hesse.

On 30th October, a box with five seals arrived in St. Petersburg from Darmstadt. The Empress liked the necklace very much and wore it often, as evidenced by numerous photographs during the early 20th century.

In August 1917, the Empress took this necklace, among other items of jewellery, when she and her family were sent into exile. It was discovered in 1933 in Tobolsk among 154 other precious objects and was described under No141 as "a belt of small pearls with 11 large rubies, studded with diamonds and additional rubies, worth 75,000 rubles."

The whereabouts of this necklace remain unknown. [From Paul Gilbert]

[ohsoromanov]

Tsar Alexander III, Empress Marie Feodorovna and their son Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch standing nearby, c.1888-1890. From an album compiled by Princess Victoria of Wales.

[ohsoromanov]

@roses-of-the-romanovs I agree, it's hard to pinpoint exactly. Although from the research I've done it seems it might have been taken around 1897 (based on these photos) and the fact that we can see both Alexandra's dog (Eira) and one of Nicholas' dogs, possible Iman, who died in 1902. As Tatiana was born at the Farm Palace in June of 1897, it's possible that the photos were taken around that time. Alexandra does look a little different, but I wouldn't say older... perhaps a little disheveled.

[ohsoromanov]

Mystery solved: Ilya has confirmed the photo was taken at the Farm Palace (Фермерский дворец) in Peterhof on July 1, 1897. That's little over a month after Tatiana's birth assuming O.S. dates.

[ohsoromanov]

The Russian Imperial family at Gatchina, including Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Xenia, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Grand Duke Mikhail, in Gatchina. 1906. The lower photo came from an album compiled by Princess Victoria of Wales.

[ohsoromanov]

OTMA enjoying their 1905 summer. The Romanov children frequently swam, waded, and relaxed on the beach of the Gulf of Finland right outside the Lower Dacha. Because the palace sat directly on the shoreline, the family treated the stone-and-sand beach as their private backyard. 

Other photos show OTMAA throughout the years sitting on the shoreline rocks, building sandcastles, and wading into the shallow coastal waters.

Tsar Nicholas II was highly active and also loved kayaking right off the Lower Dacha shore. He encouraged his children to be equally physically active, teaching them to row and paddle.

When they wanted to swim in deeper, cleaner waters, they would board the imperial yacht Standart to cruise the Finnish Skerries. Nicholas II and his son Alexei were known to go skinny-dipping in the sea during these remote excursions, which was standard practice for men at the time.

[ohsoromanov]

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with Anna Vyrubova and maid of honor Princess Elisabeth Nikolaevna Obolenskaya, 1905.

[ohsoromanov]

The Coffee Room at the Lower Dacha

The coffee room was decorated like a bedroom: low mahogany paneling, cretonne with garlands of flowers on the walls, a coffered stucco ceiling, mahogany furniture characteristic of the Art Nouveau style-tables, armchairs with elegant curved legs, built-in corner sofas with shelves - made by the Roman Melzer.

Here, whole family liked to gather in the evenings to read books or past photos in albums. The imperial family was very fond of photography, and in the Lower Dacha there were over 1,000 photographs that vividly captured various events and features of everyday life of the royal family.

[ohsoromanov]

Alexandra sitting in the coffee room in 1911 and with her nephew Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich.

[ohsoromanov]

Spotted next to Alexandra are a few photos of Alexei aboard the Standart and of her brother Louis with his daughter Elisabeth:

[historicalroyalresearcher]

from George V’s diary

‘Young Prince George of Wales is said to be covered with tattooings of mermaids and dolphins’ and George wrote underneath this cut out from a newspaper: ‘How the devil do they know?’

[ohsoromanov]

In 1881, a 16-year-old Prince George and his older brother, Prince Albert Victor, visited Japan as naval cadets aboard the HMS Bacchante. Despite the Meiji government having officially banned tattooing for its own citizens, foreign dignitaries were permitted to meet local master craftsmen. During the trip, George got not one but two tattoos:

The Dragon: Prince George met with a master tattooist (believed to be Karakusa Gonta) in Tokyo. In his personal diaries, George described the ink as a "large dragon in blue and red writhing all down the arm," a process that took roughly three hours. 

The Tiger: Later in the same trip, George visited Kyoto and received a tiger on his opposite arm to complete a symbolic representation of the East and the West. His brother Albert Victor chose a dancing crane instead.

King George V's first cousin and lookalike, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, also had a large traditional Japanese dragon tattooed on his forearm. Nicholas received his during a state visit to Japan in 1891, a meticulous design with yellow horns and a red belly that required seven hours of work.

Nicholas described the experience in his diary:

April 16, Tuesday. I awoke to a wonderful day, and the shore was irresistibly inviting. The streets and houses of Nagasaki make an exceptionally pleasant impression: everything is spotlessly clean and tidy, and it is a pleasure to enter their homes. The Japanese people, both men and women, are so warm and welcoming. We returned to the frigate around five o'clock for tea. After dinner, I decided to have a dragon tattooed on my right arm. It took exactly seven hours—from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. Once is quite enough of that sort of pleasure to cure one of any desire to repeat it! The dragon turned out splendidly, and my arm did not hurt at all.

Dragons were a popular subject among Japanese ink-painters and tattooists. Said to control thunder and rain, they were also a powerful symbol of the East, and often paired with a prowling tiger representing the West.

The matching nature of their tattoos became a famous anecdote highlighting the close cultural and familial ties between the British and Russian royal families before World War I. Read more here.

[ohsoromanov]

Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra with their children Olga, Anastasia, Maria and Alexei in 1905. Also pictured is Andrei Eremeevich Derevenko, Alexei's sailor-nanny.

[ykzzr]

Queen Victoria in her carriage at Balmoral Castle with her daughter Princess Beatrice and her grandchildren Prince Ernest Louis and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, circa 1890.

[ohsoromanov]

A bronze bust of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia in military uniform with the Order of St Vladimir, 4th Class.  The Emperor sat for this bust in the Portrait Hall, Alexander Palace, Tsarskoe Selo in 1909, and the bust was first made in 1910. His wife, Empress Alexandra, did the same. This example sent as a gift to King George V by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Christmas 1912.

[the-last-tsar]

[the-last-tsar]

Maria Feodorovna

[ohsoromanov]

[ohsoromanov]

[ohsoromanov]

Evening dress of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. Tulle, satin, chiffon, guipure, galloon, silver brocade, silver thread, sequins, chenille. Workshop A. Brizak 1900-1901.Hermitage Collection Inv. №No. ERT-8623.

[ohsoromanov]

I believe Alexandra can be seen wearing it in this photo (taken in 1900):

Bonus pics:

[Source]

[ohsoromanov]

Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich (later Tsar Alexander II)