Messages

1

Scandanavian Royal Families / Re: King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia

« on: November 02, 2019, 09:37:36 AM »

Seems pretty confused to give them a princely and ducal title in the first place, when they are not supposed to be royals. Since their princely titles formally are hereditary, they kind of constitute a new class of princely nobility, like the Russian Rurikid princely families!

2

Having Fun! / Re: NAOTMAA's Celebrity Look-Alikes!

« on: September 05, 2019, 04:45:59 AM »

Something about handsome jailed Putin critic and student leader Yegor Zhukov reminds me a lot about teenaged Alexey Nikolayevich:

3

Imperial Russian History / Re: Technical university or highschool in St. Petersburg around the year 1900?

« on: July 18, 2019, 06:46:03 AM »

Here is the Russian Wikipedia page translated: https://translate.google.no/translate?hl=no&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fru.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25D0%2592%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BD%25D0%25BD%25D1%258B%25D0%25B9_%25D0%25B8%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B6%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D0%25BD%25D0%25BE-%25D1%2582%25D0%25B5%25D1%2585%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B8%25D1%2587%25D0%25B5%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9_%25D1%2583%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B5%25D1%2580%25D1%2581%25D0%25B8%25D1%2582%25D0%25B5%25D1%2582

4

Imperial Russian History / Re: Is there anything to say about the Rurik family or families?

« on: July 18, 2019, 06:40:47 AM »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurik_dynasty

Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Rurikid+Dynasty+DNA+Project&rlz=1C1GGRV_enNO758NO758&oq=Rurikid+Dynasty+DNA+Project&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60.1433j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

5

Tsarskoe Selo Town / Re: Maps of Tsarskoe Selo

« on: June 26, 2019, 01:12:46 AM »

Does anyone know where the village of Bolashaya Kuzmino is? It is near one of the railway stations in this area?

That name is an impossibility. It must be Bolshaya, meaning Great, but the ending of the adjective is feminine by gender and names ending in -ino are neutral. There doesn't seem to exist any place called Kuzmino, but there are a number of places called Kuzminka (feminine ending). There is a village called Большая Кузьминка - Bolshaya Kuzminka, formerly Kuzminkoy, in Lipetskaya oblast, a few kilometres north of Lipetsk, where the nearest railway station is.

There are two Kuzminkas in Leningradskaya oblast, one (see here) along the Neva southeast of St. Petersburg, where a railway line crosses the Neva on a huge bridge (and the nearest station is called 26 км / 26-й километр), but none close to Tsarskoy Selo.

6

Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: Family story about being in service to the Romanov family

« on: June 26, 2019, 12:46:42 AM »

Hello admin and Превед, so sorry, I thought that 'Velikye Knyaz' under your account name was your name, but now I see it is some kind of forum status. I would edit my responses, but can't seem to find an edit option.

You're welcome. You can't edit your posts after 30 minutes have passed since posting. Velikiy (=grand) knyaz (=prince) means "grand duke" in Russian. I only have that status on this forum :-) It's only now that I notice that this status is misspelled. Velikye looks like a misspelling of the transliteration of the plural form великие, velikiye.

7

Other Palaces / Re: Grushovka/ Grushevka

« on: June 22, 2019, 07:04:27 AM »

There are a number of Грушёвка (Grushovka) / Грушевка (Grushevka) in Russia, Belarus and Ukraina, apparantly signifying "place / estate of pears" (груша - grusha meaning "pear"). When you google великий князь Николай Михайлович and the names you get some hits in online articles that note that his estate with this name was in the Kherson Governorate. There is a Грушівка / Hrushivka (Ukrainian form of the name) there still - this one: See Wikipedia and Google Maps..

It looks like a small hamlet in Novorossiya, not far from the Black Sea Coast. The regular street and field pattern seem to indicate settlement as a planned colony in the 18th century. I can't see any obvious traces of a manor from Google Maps and the very short Wikipedia articles in Russian and Ukrainian don't say anything about an imperial connection or anything about the hamlet's history. It's of course also possible that estate itself was located a bit away from the hamlet, although the -evka ending is typical of estates and estate villages.

Hope this helps. Good luck with further research!

8

Having Fun! / Re: OTMA on horses

« on: April 10, 2019, 05:08:07 PM »

like driving to the grocery store on a riding mower today

Saw that happen in  a movie, but I can't remember the name of said movie.

"The Straight Story" from 1999, about a guy riding through Iowa on a riding mower?

Typically a much-loved Norwegian folk song (really a lullaby for a horse) with music by Edvard Grieg about a working farm horse's existence imagines a farm horse's holiday would consist of just lazily going around the courtyard med veslegutt på nakken - with the wee lad on the neck: Fola, fola Blakken

9

Having Fun! / Re: OTMA on horses

« on: April 10, 2019, 09:25:31 AM »

Of course they were all taught to ride well. The modern equivalent would be learning to drive a car.

Both yes and no. It's interesting to read accounts from that time of people who didnt't know how to ride a horse. I think they were the majority, and horse-riding was primarily linked to the military and the upper classes that dominated the army. The horses most farmers kept for farmwork (and horses used for hauling goods in urban areas, barges on rivers etc.) were not trained to be ridden, so you usually only hear about small children riding them as a treat (and playing at hussars etc.) Much more common was the skill to drive a horse and cart (or a plough or other farm equipment and handle and take care of a horse), as this was alpha and omega in agriculture and in many urban transportation jobs, including cab drivers. If peasants owning a horse were going anywhere far (market, church etc.) they drove their usual farm cart. Bourgeois families had a roofed coach. To come riding would be seen as the modern equivalent of arriving in an unpractical cabriolet sports car. Something for the chosen few. I doubt common people owning a horse even owned a saddle, so they would have to ride bareback on an untrained horse. Surely a sight for the neighbours to laugh at, like driving to the grocery store on a riding mower today.

Riding was probably a more common skill among the populace before the construction of early modern roads and the Industrial Revolution, as old traditions of Easter races among farmers etc. testify to.

10

Having Fun! / Re: Russian Music

« on: April 03, 2019, 08:35:21 AM »

What a beautiful piece.

Amazingly chilling and to the point, isn't it?

Отступать дальше некуда, сзади Японское море,
Здесь кончается наша Россия и мы.
=
There is nowhere left to retreat, beyond the Sea of Japan
Here ends our Russia and here is the end of us.

[...]
Только скорбь Божьей Матери по России моей.
=
Only the grief of the Mother of God for Russia is mine.

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Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: Family story about being in service to the Romanov family

« on: April 03, 2019, 08:26:17 AM »

I'm quite prepared for this to be a family story that can't be proved or that may have been embellished but would really love to try and find out more information if possible.

It could very well be an embellished tale of an ancestor working as a nanny for more distant members of the huge Romanov family or for members of the Russian aristocracy or rich bourgeois.

12

Having Fun! / Re: Russian Music

« on: March 28, 2019, 10:19:25 PM »

I'm sure I've heard this tragically beautiful song before, in Romanov movies and videos, but I've never paid attention to it untill I stumbled upon it on YouTube:

Всё теперь против нас = All is now against us, by Yuriy Arkadyevich Borisov.

This White Russian lament was actually not written during or just after the Civil War, but by a Soviet citizen (born in 1944) in internal emigration.

13

Having Fun! / Re: Youtube favourites. (NON-Romanov & Royality videos)

« on: March 17, 2019, 02:33:41 PM »

That's a boring version.

Hey, I didn't make the thing, I just posted a link to it.

I know! I'd never criticize it so bluntly if you had put your heart and soul into it :-) I reserve that for badly researched Romanov fan fiction.

14

Having Fun! / Re: Youtube favourites. (NON-Romanov & Royality videos)

« on: March 17, 2019, 04:40:30 AM »

The Bonnie Blue Flag - instrumental

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsyXJ-tVle0

That's a boring version. This one is much better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqUEeGg4Ys

Modern Norwegian folk (traditional Norwegian with a dash of American country) that makes you wanna dance: Staut: Bekken (The Brook) / Sjå sole (Look at the sun)
The song is a description of an idyllic summer day.

Sjå sole, e må myse
Tenk så gøtt me ska ha det i lag
Ligge mjukt i ei eng, som gjør nytta si som seng
Bærre gå hånd i hånd ein sommardag.
=
Look at the sun, I have to squint
Imagine how good we will have it together
Laying softly in a meadow which doubles as a bed
Just walking hand in hand a summer day.

15

Nicholas II / Re: 120 years of the First International Peace Conference (1899-2019)

« on: March 16, 2019, 04:10:02 PM »

Delete this thread, there is already one about this topic: http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=586.0