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The Imperial Family / Re: The Imperial children "sad,sheltered" life?
« on: February 03, 2021, 09:41:16 PM »
I recommend Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone's biography For My Grandchildren. She discusses how her mother would invite other little girls over to play because Alice only had one sibling - her brother Charles. Alice notes that this was unusual in her family - her grandmother Queen Victoria did not approve of royalty forming close friendships outside the family circle. Alice notes that cousins who had four or five siblings were expected to just socialize with their siblings and cousins as children. Empress Alexandra may well have shared some of Queen Victoria's concerns about suitable friendships for royal children.
I also recommend books about early to mid 20th century debutantes in Britain such as Last Curtsey by Fiona McCarthy and Debs at War by Anne de Courcy. de Courcy notes "Girl children were often lonely" and the reminiscences of the debutantes indicate that many had little social life as children before making their formal debut into society at seventeen or eighteen. One debutante recounted having little contact with anyone as a child except for her parents, her governess, her pony and her dog, recalling that at her family's country estate, "There were no children of my sort of age near by. I did very much miss young people."
If Nicholas and Alexandra's daughters had limited social contacts as children - and their letters/correspondence indicate more contact with other people than previous assumed - this limited social life would not have been unusual for young women of their era and social class. Alexandra's parenting often receives critical scrutiny but she was certainly not the only royal/aristocratic parent whose daughters lived comparatively quiet lives as children.
I also recommend books about early to mid 20th century debutantes in Britain such as Last Curtsey by Fiona McCarthy and Debs at War by Anne de Courcy. de Courcy notes "Girl children were often lonely" and the reminiscences of the debutantes indicate that many had little social life as children before making their formal debut into society at seventeen or eighteen. One debutante recounted having little contact with anyone as a child except for her parents, her governess, her pony and her dog, recalling that at her family's country estate, "There were no children of my sort of age near by. I did very much miss young people."
If Nicholas and Alexandra's daughters had limited social contacts as children - and their letters/correspondence indicate more contact with other people than previous assumed - this limited social life would not have been unusual for young women of their era and social class. Alexandra's parenting often receives critical scrutiny but she was certainly not the only royal/aristocratic parent whose daughters lived comparatively quiet lives as children.