Olga Anecdotes

[blessOTMA]

Well actually Anne it was 101 years ago when Olga turned 16. It's only its presence on the AP that's new :-)

Smack me, you're entitled!

  don't tempt me!  lol  yes, new to AP!

[Jen_94]

From Meriel  Buchanan's  book : Recollections of Imperial Russia
On the occasion of the Romanoff Tercentenary there was also a ball given in the Assembly Hall of the nobles which the Emperor and Empress opened in a formal polonaise and where Grand Duchess Olga fair and graceful in a soft white dress , danced every dance and enjoyed her self as simply and whole-heartly as any girl at her first ball.

I have a vivid recollection of her, standing on the top of the steps leading down from the gallery to the floor of the ball room , her hair shining golden against the crimson velvet curtains, her cheeks softly flushed, her blue eyes very bright , while one or two of her cousins and several young officers all clamoured for her attention  

few can put you there like Meriel Buchannan. Of course we know a ball in 1913 was not Olga's first. However such events were rare enough that I can see her enjoying it as if it was.

Thanks for that! I love the way Meriel has worded/described Olga, especially in the second paragraph!

[blessOTMA]

I'm reading her book Recollections of Imperial Russia online

http://archive.org/stream/recollectionsofi00buchuoft#page/n13/mode/2up

The first part is especially  good because she  describes Russia as she first knew it in 1910. The  later part is a history of Russia that is a good read. She was haunted by Ekaterinburg, as anyone would be. But again for Buchanan, she had the memory of other times always before her . She puts side by side her memory of  the hearing girl's laughter ring though the woods of Peterhof as they rode on a sunny morning along with what happened later and the reader can't help but shutter along with her . If the thoughts of the cellar are painful to  us, how much more so those who actully  knew the family even in passing?

[edubs31]

I'm reading her book Recollections of Imperial Russia online

http://archive.org/stream/recollectionsofi00buchuoft#page/n13/mode/2up

The first part is especially  good because she  describes Russia as she first knew it in 1910. The  later part is a history of Russia that is a good read. She was haunted by Ekaterinburg, as anyone would be. But again for Buchanan, she had the memory of other times always before her . She puts side by side her memory of  the hearing girl's laughter ring though the woods of Peterhof as they rode on a sunny morning along with what happened later and the reader can't help but shutter along with her . If the thoughts of the cellar are painful to  us, how much more so those who actully  knew the family even in passing?

Thanks Anne and of course I completely agree. Here is the full paragraph from page 47.

In he hideous tragedy of Siberia, the grim awfulness of the days recorded, read like an incredible, ghastly nightmare too frightful to be true, the most heartbreaking note of all I think, is the marvelous, unselfish love that united the Imperial Family. And for me the saddest memory of all is the picture of Grand Duchess Olga, radiant and laughing at the ball in the assembly hall of the Nobles, or, sadder still, that other vision I have of her riding through the park at Peterhof one early summer morning with her sisters, the Grand Duchess Tatiana and Anastasia, the light of youth and glowing health on their faces, and the clear sound of their laughter echoing back through the sunny dew drenched woods.

Sigh!

[blessOTMA]

Thank you for that, I couldn't type that too!  ...my eyes keep misting up!

the most heartbreaking note of all I think, is the marvelous, unselfish love that united the Imperial Family

I found it remarkable how this was known so early on...how the family reacted to thier situation and thier example of love.  It was not something discovered years later by a review of thier letters etc.  It's really the foundation of thier passion bearing sainthood status today  ...how they meet thier captivity. As my husband says , " they were never more noble than after they were royal ".

Also Buchanan always has an extra source  of pain when thinking on this as her father, UK ambassador to Russia, Sir George Buchanan, was wholeheartedly involved in trying to get the family out. The  failure of that and what happened later shattered him . So for Meriel Buchannan, events in  Ekaterinburg were very  personal in an unique way.

[Sunny]

I've noticed too that none like Meriel B. is able to describe memories in such a vivid way you can actually see them like it was a movie; and when she writes about NAOTMAA, this is particularly touching for us.
 i liked "City of trouble" so much, that i wanted to read her other books too, but "An ambassador's daughter" seems to be impossible to find!

Bless, thank you; i have  not read that book yet, but i'm going to do immediately <3

[blessOTMA]

I haven't read "  City of trouble" but will do so! Thanks Sunny!

 Her work is a gold mine for any one writing about
this time in Russia as there are so many  day to day details  etc.

Here's Meriel Buchannan in the 20's I believe

[Ortipo]

тяв-тяв!

This one is my personal favorite - I can't believe it hasn't been posted yet!

From M. Eagar's Six Years In The Russian Court - Chapter 12


"There is a collection in the museum of old state carriages -- wonderful erections, all gilding and velvet, with delicately painted panels. Catherine's travelling carriage is there. There is a long table down the middle of it, and how it could be turned I know not; it is rather larger than an ordinary tramcar or 'bus. Indeed, I do not believe that there is a street in Moscow in which one of those carriages could be turned. The little Grand Duchess Olga sat in each carriage in turn; finally she selected the largest and handsomest, and said, "I'll have this one." She then gave orders quite seriously that the carriage should be sent to Tsarskoe Selo for her. She was told that could not be, so she ordered that it should be prepared for her daily drive. I was very pleased that her ideas on the subject of the carriage were not carried out."

[Jen_94]

I love that little anecdote! So sweet.

[Duchess Hydrangea]

My favorite is the policeman one already mentioned. It's funny because Olga knew she was being bad.

[Jen_94]

Mine too!! I always laugh at that one.

[blessOTMA]

I like when she gets back to AP, and  after  Olga  asks if the police had been  there for her, ( lol)
she then asked her father if he was ever in prison? When she got his bemused answer," no"
she says"  oh you must of been very good! " Cute, but kind of chilling too

[Jen_94]

That is cute but a little chilling, I agree.

What I love about little Anecdotes about Olga is that she always seems to come out with pretty some smart answers or some clever questions.

[Rodney_G.]

 

That is cute but a little chilling, I agree.

What I love about little Anecdotes about Olga is that she always seems to come out with pretty some smart answers or some clever questions.

"Out of the mouths of babes."

[Duchess Hydrangea]

I like when she gets back to AP, and  after  Olga  asks if the police had been  there for her, ( lol)
she then asked her father if he was ever in prison? When she got his bemused answer," no"
she says"  oh you must of been very good! " Cute, but kind of chilling too

That's what I thought when I first read it. Chilling.