TSAR NICHOLAS II by A.A. Taneeva (Vyrubova)
On weekdays the Emperor and Empress rose between eight and nine o'clock. A maid woke them, knocking with a small wooden hammer on the bedroom door. This is how it was done in the first years of my stay at court, but when the Empress's health deteriorated and it was established that she had a heart defect, she remained in bed until eleven o'clock, sorting through correspondence, answering letters or dictating them.
Having risen, the Imperial Couple moved to the Empress's small working study for morning tea. After the Empress fell ill, the Emperor drank tea alone and immediately went off to attend to his state affairs.
After the morning working hours, they had breakfast at noon. From the age of three or four, the children could sit at the table together with their parents. Only the duty Flügel-Adjutant was regularly invited to breakfast; guests were in exceptional cases. It was possible for some minister to be present at the table who had an urgent consultation with the Emperor immediately after breakfast, or some member of the Imperial Family who was on a visit to the palace.
After breakfast the Empress worked another three hours or, if she had free time, walked or played with the children. At the Empress's table there was a bell with three buttons: a diamond one rang in the nursery, a pearl one to the chambermaid, a ruby one to the chamberdiner. When the Empress pressed the diamond button, immediately from above was heard the patter of children's feet — the children ran down the stairs which led from the nursery through the Empress's bathroom into her room.
During the afternoon tea in the second half of the day there were never guests, but the children were always present. The tea table was brought into the Empress's working room, in which there always stood a large tall basket with toys. They were fetched from there and the children could play to their heart's content, often very noisily. Neither the Emperor nor the Empress were irritated by the children's running around and unrestrained romping. The Empress sat on a sofa and offered tea. The Emperor sat opposite her, always in one and the same large armchair upholstered in blue-red silk. Often he had a large number of telegrams with him which he read, but made no notes, as he had a remarkably good memory. When the clock struck six, the Emperor returned to his working room, the children were sent upstairs, and the Empress took up her work.
At eight in the evening they dined. The Flügel-Adjutant was present here too, but there was rarely anyone else. Sometimes the duty Freylina [lady-in-waiting] was invited to dinner. Dinner lasted about half an hour and in the middle of the ninth hour the Emperor again returned to his working room. Thus, he by no means had a six-hour working day as is usual for a government servant; he rarely got even eight hours.
Falling ill, the Empress always went to rest after dinner and often called me to her to read her some spiritual or philosophical work.
Both morning and after-dinner tea were the most ordinary: tea, butter, toasted bread and English biscuit. Only when guests were present could there be exceptions: pies, a cake or sweets. Everyday food was not refined; between everyday and holiday food there was a great difference, especially during the war.
At the Alexandrovsky Palace in Tsarskoye Selo the Imperial Family did not even have a dining table at their disposal. A table with food and a small Swedish table were covered and ready-laid, and carried into the Empress's living room, and if she was ill, into her working room. The Empress was a vegetarian, but still ate eggs, cheese and butter, drank usually milk like the children, sometimes wine diluted with water.
Official dinners were given at the Grand Palace in Tsarskoye Selo; in Peterhof there was a small dining room.
At breakfast and dinner there was first a Swedish table [smörgåsbord], covering a special small table. On it were all possible delicacies. The greater part of the assortment consisted of Russian delicacies such as caviar and herring, and everything else that was available. At breakfast and dinner the Emperor drank two glasses of rye kvass. The dishes of the Swedish table were eaten standing and relatively quickly. The Emperor was not a glutton and did not overeat. The Empress rarely reached the dishes of the Swedish table. Often, when others were eating, she conversed with one of her daughters.
At breakfast, besides the Swedish table, there were meat or fish dishes; as drinks there was a choice of wine or beer.
For dinner after the Swedish table, soup and pies were offered — typical dishes of Russian cuisine. After the soup, fish, meat and vegetable dishes were served. Dessert was also eaten at the table. The Emperor loved simply prepared meat; in the refinements of culinary art he did not indulge; he ate fish extremely rarely, hardly ever at all.
The same eating routine was observed when the Imperial Family was aboard the yachts Standart or Polar Star.
After the family dinner, usually standing, a cup of strong coffee was drunk in the Empress's working room. The Emperor together with dessert, and as dessert, often drank a couple of glasses of port wine. During coffee, cigarettes and cigars were brought; the Emperor persistently invited people to smoke: "Please, gentlemen, be so good as to take cigarettes or cigars." The Emperor himself was a dedicated smoker; he almost always — especially when he was absorbed in thought — had a cigarette in his mouth. He smoked constantly and often threw a half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray. The Grand Duchesses nearby threw themselves to take it, jokingly wanting to let the "royal" smoke escape. The heir, for his part, never felt any pull toward tobacco.
At the family dinner table the Emperor sat opposite the Empress, the Freylina on the Emperor's right side, and the Flügel-Adjutant or some guest accordingly on the right side of the Empress. The children could sit at any place after others had taken their indicated seats. Sitting down at the table and getting up from it, they always prayed.
The dinner lasted most often half an hour. The custom of sitting so long at the table came from the Danish court. Alexander III ate with pleasure, and Nicholas II no less followed his example. The Empress was accustomed to a shorter mealtime; at first she complained that they sat too long at dinner. From the table they rose only after the Emperor gave a sign.
Official dinners were magnificent. The head chef, a Frenchman Cubat, spared no effort in preparing the rarest culinary masterpieces — the number of dishes was unlimited. On such occasions the menu was discussed by the Empress with Field Marshal Count Benckendorff. The necessary products were obtained all over the country, sometimes even abroad.
(My note: Pierre Cubat was a mentor to Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov, who also served as a cook to the Imperial family and was later executed with them. Cubat left the imperial household in 1914 and returned to France).
"Cubat was a most interesting person, late head chef to the Czar, whose service he had only just left. When asked the reason, he said that the supervision in the kitchen of the royal palace was so irksome and stringent — dozens of detectives watching his every gesture and pouncing on every pinch of salt — that the salary of £2,000 a year did not compensate him". Lady Randolph Churchill, 1908.
Holiday dinners were also arranged on the Imperial Yacht. Cubat always appeared in chef's attire, performing even minor chef's work. On the yacht he was in his element. Often during a meal he came out of his kitchen and spoke about some new delicacy or recommended to the Emperor some already familiar dishes, for example, white mushrooms prepared in smetana [sour cream], or dishes from all possible crawfish. The Imperial master of culinary arts greatly valued Vyborg, where, as he said, he acquired the best products and wines. During a cruise on the Imperial Yacht, being near a town, it was a rare day when Cubat, in his white chef's attire, did not walk down the gangplank into Vyborg, visiting the various palace suppliers. Wines for the Imperial table were purchased from Buttenhoff.
The formalities at official dinners were unchanged since the times of Catherine II. Chamberdiners, dressed in livery with gold galloon, in knee-length breeches and silk stockings, performed the main service. Dressed in frock coats, chamber lackeys observed the order of service. In addition, three couriers were present; they stood, drawn up, so to speak, idle at the end of the dining hall. Their presence recalled past times, when they stood on hand so that the Emperor could even during an official dinner pass important messages or orders.
Official dinners, as far as I remember, always proceeded smoothly. The service was quick, completely noiseless. Even during family dinners there were no improprieties; only one single tragic incident remained in my memory. This happened in Tsarskoye Selo. For me these were the first duties of the Freylina, and I sat, as it happened, next to the Emperor.
A dish with flower-decorated cabbage [cauliflower] was brought to the table, on which I noticed large green caterpillars. Instinctively I glanced at the Emperor's plate. Quite right — on the Emperor's plate too there were caterpillars. I did not know what to do. It would have been unseemly to draw the Emperor's attention to this. Of course, I did not want to eat my flower-decorated cabbage, even less did I want to allow the Emperor to eat his. Fortunately, the Emperor still noticed this unpleasant fact, pushed both the plate and the dish to the chamberdiner, saying only: "Take it away — this is Cubat's work."
What was talked about during meals — to answer this question is as difficult for me as for any other person who might be asked what they usually talk about at home at dinner. Still, I remember that during the meal of the Imperial Family, conversation about politics was completely excluded. It was also impossible to speak about this in a home setting. For everything that even slightly touched on politics and appointments was spoken only in the presence of the Emperor and Empress in an official setting. After all, there were also other interesting topics for conversation: they talked about travels, about tennis and other kinds of sport, about science, culture and music. And in the very narrow family circle, the usual reason for conversation was the children, their games and their pranks.
At official dinners they conversed usually only with those sitting next to each other at the table, and even with them, apart from official conversations, they rarely spoke about politics or appointments.
In a home setting, often after evening tea, the Emperor talked about travels he had made when young. He had travelled a great deal both in Europe and beyond its borders. The Emperor had a good memory and an extraordinarily keen observation. For example, at an art exhibition he rarely stopped at any work, absorbed in it, but despite this, he always led a conversation about works with artists or professors. Subsequently it turned out that he had seen almost everything and could characterize even the smallest details to which none of the other visitors had paid attention. Similarly when out in nature, he displayed his rare observation.
The Emperor had a phenomenal memory for faces and names. Years later he remembered his meeting with a person and could connect it with an event or matter in connection with which he had met him. It is understood that the Emperor's stories about his travels included many details, and to their interesting presentation was added the captivating manner of the Emperor in telling stories. He would have made a remarkable lecturer.
The Emperor had a habit of coming home at five o'clock for tea. I noticed that the Empress became more restless the more time passed in waiting. At last we heard through an open window the clinking of spurs and the greeting of the guard soldiers: "Good health to Your Imperial Majesty!" Then was heard the jingling of spurs of the approaching Emperor at the door. The Empress leapt from her seat, her face lit up. The children in "khaki"-coloured costumes — the Emperor entered the room. He kissed the Empress and exclaimed: "Everything went splendidly, my dear!" Then he sat down, lit a cigarette with a thin, slightly scorched, muscular hand, and put first one then the other leg on the stool — a habit I always remember in him. Meanwhile the servants brought in the tea table and noiselessly withdrew. I went home, to my parents at the dacha.
Prepared by Lyudmila Huhtaniemi.
Source: "Anna Vyrubova — Lady-in-waiting of the Empress." St. Petersburg, 2012. [Source]
