Letters from Tatiana

A rough translation [I apologise for the mistakes].

From Vel. Knyazhna Tatiana Nikolaevna to Vel. Knyazhna Xenia Alexandrovna
(Tsarskoe Selo - 20th July1917)

I thank you very much, my dear Godmother, for the great letter which brought much joy to me. I sent you a postcard and I wonder if you have received it. I’m glad that all of you, thank God, are healthy and that you are with your boys this time. We are all right here. . Papa just received your letter before he went out to walk. One of our teachers cannot go here but we still continue our lessons with Papa and Mama. I walk with Papa in the morning and afternoon and I accompany Mama from 2:00 to 5:00. We walk in the woods where Papa and some of our friends cut down dead trees for firewood. We also help them. This work [in the kitchen garden] is now already about 2 months and previously they made beds themselves and now we have a very nice garden from where we get the vegetables we eat. There are 60 beds all in all.
Every evening, Papa reads aloud to us while we are working or doing something else. Now, we four went to shave our heads because our hairs have terribly fallen out after our measles. More than a half of Maria’s hair has fallen - it’s a horror but now we feel comfortable. 
I always think of you all. God bless you all. I kiss Grandmother, Aunt Olga, Soph. Dm., Zina M. and Tetyu [?]. Have you seen Nadya and her husband? Goodbye my dear Godmother.

Your loving Tatiana. 

A rough translation [I apologise for the mistakes].

I'll take a rough translation over none any day! Thank you for posting these!!!

We’re like living in a faraway place and that we get to another world.
Och!!
We even have a newspaper clipping which said of my escape to America! I hope that you will not believe it.

too bad it wasn't true!

Nice avatar, blessOTMA! You are most welcome!
I wonder why only Tatiana was involved in such kind of piece of news.

Nice avatar, blessOTMA!

You noticed....(blush)  And it only took me an hour to figure it out!

You are most welcome! I wonder why only Tatiana was involved in such kind of piece of news.

That's a good question!  And they got so little news, it's funny how they learned this item. Someone must of  send them a clipping 

Nice avatar, blessOTMA! You are most welcome!
I wonder why only Tatiana was involved in such kind of piece of news.

Ah you mean why was Tatiana featured in the story and not the others? Well I think she was considered the most beautiful of the older girls and there fore most suitable for this thrilling fiction. When I stated being interested in  the Romanovs, Olga and Anastasia were considered plain...if not ugly...yes, can you believe it? Now,  Olga and Anastasia have not changed ....but it seems public tastes has wised up a good deal  since then.

You noticed....(blush)  And it only took me an hour to figure it out!

You are most welcome! I wonder why only Tatiana was involved in such kind of piece of news.

That's a good question!  And they got so little news, it's funny how they learned this item. Someone must of  send them a clipping  

I think those who wrote them letters sent them clippings, too. Sophie Buxhoeveden also said that in the earlier periods of their exile in Tobolsk, they were given whole newspapers but as time went on, the newspapers they received were about the size of half a foolscap.

Ah you mean why was Tatiana featured in the story and not the others? Well I think she was considered the most beautiful of the older girls and there fore most suitable for this thrilling fiction. When I stated being interested in  the Romanovs, Olga and Anastasia were considered plain...if not ugly...yes, can you believe it? Now,  Olga and Anastasia have not changed ....but it seems public tastes has wised up a good deal  since then.

I think you are right. I think Anastasia and Maria were not involved in such kind of news since they're both still young. Olga was a bit as famous as Tatiana but then, no ridiculous news like that about her were published.  However, if Olga knew such a piece of news was made about her, she would also feel disgusted or just laugh about it.

I think those who wrote them letters sent them clippings, too. Sophie Buxhoeveden also said that in the earlier periods of their exile in Tobolsk, they were given whole newspapers but as time went on, the newspapers they received were about the size of half a foolscap.

and I'm guessing this item appeared in a Russian paper because I doubt they would have been allowed to receive even clippings from a foreign paper.


 

Yes, it is true.
I think the one who wrote that news about Tatiana would have wondered where the Imperial family was sent and then he/she invented that story saying Tatiana had escaped to US. I also wonder if the place of exile for the imperial family was generally known in that time.

Yes, it is true.
I think the one who wrote that news about Tatiana would have wondered where the Imperial family was sent and then he/she invented that story saying Tatiana had escaped to US. I also wonder if the place of exile for the imperial family was generally known in that time.

Good question...and  they are so far removed from the capital that it would be easy to create such a story.  But really the media then and now can make stuff up for no reason beyond selling papers. However it would be interesting to see that clipping....so we can read among others things ,the method of her "escape"! Tatiana even says Many stupid rumors are written in the newspapers so this story is one of many...it's just the one she mentioned particularly , I guess because it's so fantastic .

I believe the story about tatiana being in America was in the New York Times. Apparantly she was doing the rounds lecturing on the Revolution!

I hope I could find that clipping from New York Times. So, where did the news come from -US or Russia? Or is it the news is originally from Russia and then it eventually reached US.

The news could easily have been spun from mid air....there seemed to be  many false reports about them thought out captivity. A few months ago I saw for sale on eBay a 1918 Aug edition of the women's magazine, Ladies Home Journal, which featured a large excerpt from the book "My Empress" about Alexandra which almost certainly was penned by Princess  Radziwiłł, ( I mean who else? ) but purports to be from a lady in waiting with Alexandra from the beginning of her Russian life. I have a  copy of the the US edition and it is very  handsomely mounted...gold leaf embossed no less. Somewhere , it seems, there was an powerful , well backed  interest in presenting a Romanov story in the US and right away. The book and magazine had to have gone to press weeks before August...  These stories with an US twist could be a way to develop an American interest/ market for the book. But besides all that, the Romanovs were always good copy

I don´t think Marfa Mouchan was Catherine Radziwille. The style is different and Radziwill was much more critical to Alix and far less critical to Ella.

I don´t think Marfa Mouchan was Catherine Radziwille. The style is different and Radziwill was much more critical to Alix and far less critical to Ella.

Very good points Ally. Is there an idea who Marfa Mouchan was? 

I believe the story about tatiana being in America was in the New York Times. Apparantly she was doing the rounds lecturing on the Revolution!

So did Tatiana read of it from a New York Times clipping? Or did she read of it in a clipping from a Russian newspaper reporting info The New York Times said originally? I am unclear on this point.