#buxhoeveden

[ohsoromanov]

Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana painting outdoors with Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden in Livadia, 1913. From Olga's 1913 album.

[historyabc-blog]

S is for Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden

Born on September 6, 1883 in St Petersburg, Russia

Died on November 26, 1956 in England

Became an honorary lady-in-waiting to Alix in 1904, and an official one in 1913.

She was nicknamed "Isa" by Alix and OTMA.

Alix often chose her to accompany them on official duties during WWI.

While some historians say that Sophia betrayed the family's secret that they were hiding jewels, it is untrue. 

She met Anna Anderson and did not believe that she was Anastasia (who she knew well). 

Before she escaped Russia, she was reunited with Alexei's dog Joy.

Sophie's meeting with Anderson in her own words:

"When she heard us enter the room, she hid herself under the cover to hide herself from our stares, and we were not able to get her to show us her face....After asking my companions to move away from the bed a little, I tried to attract the young woman's attention as I caressed her hair and speaking to her in English while using the types of phrases I would have used while speaking with the Grand Duchesses, but I did not refer to her by any name other than 'Darling'. She did not reply and I saw that she did not understand a word of what I had said, for when she raised the cover after a certain period of time, and I saw her face, there was nothing in her eyes which showed she had recognized me. The eyes and forehead showed some resemblance to the Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicolaievna, resemblance that disappeared, nevertheless, as soon as her face was not covered. I had to remove the cover by force, and I saw that neither the nose, the mouth, nor the chin were formed like that of the Grand Duchess. The hair was lighter in color, some of her teeth were missing-and the remaining ones were not like those of the Grand Duchess...Her hands were also completely different, the fingers were longer and the nails narrower. I wanted to measure her height, but she refused, and I found it impossible to get an exact measurement without force. We judged roughly that in any case, she was smaller than me, while the Grand Duchess Tatiana was more than ten centimeters taller than me. I have been able to verify this, thanks to the patient's official measurement at the time of her arrival at the hospital and that corresponded exactly with the one which was taken in my presence. I tried to awaken the memory of the young woman by all the possible means; I showed to her an 'icon', with the date of the Romanov jubilee, that the emperor had given to some persons of the suite, after that a ring that had belonged to the empress; the latter had been given to her in the presence of the Grand Duchess Tatiana. But none of these things seemed to evoke in her the slightest recognition. She remained completely indifferent, she whispered some incomprehensible words into Ms. Peuthert's ear. Although I noted a certain similarity in the upper part of the face with the unknown -currently Mrs. Tschaikovski- with the Grand Duchess Tatiana, I am sure that she is not her. I later learned that the she supposes that she is the Grand Duchess Anastasia, but she does not physically resemble her in the least. She has none of the special characteristics that would allow any one who knew the Grand Duchess Anastasia well to identify her."