Messages

91

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Her Hair

« on: August 12, 2009, 06:37:28 AM »

What books could I find that info in? I've read so many I can't recall right now.

92

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: THE RUSSIAN RIDDLE: Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich by Tamar Anolic

« on: August 08, 2009, 11:23:31 AM »

I'm glad to hear this book has been published. A biography on Grand Duke Sergei was needed.

93

Having Fun! / Re: If you had time-machine in which era would you return?

« on: August 08, 2009, 10:57:02 AM »

I would have liked to be born around 1900 and to have been young in the 1920s- that's my favorite era. I'm not sure which historical character.. I guess I would have liked to have been a flapper, like Zelda Fitzgerald, although her life ended sadly.

94

Rulers Prior to Nicholas II / Re: Alexandra Pavlovna

« on: August 05, 2009, 01:08:54 PM »

She looks somewhat like her grandmother Catharine in these portraits as well.

95

Having Fun! / Re: What Do You Dream of Doing?

« on: July 31, 2009, 08:41:03 PM »

My dream is to meet my online best friend in person in New Orleans. I also someday want to write a book on my unusual and not very happy childhood and parent. Mostly, my dream is to enjoy and be happy in life.

96

French Royals / Re: The children of Henri II and Catherine de Medici

« on: July 31, 2009, 02:16:19 PM »

Thanks. Yes, they were all related to each other through all the intermarriage.Marie Antoinette was of course related to Catharine de Medici through Catharine's daughter Claude with the Lorraine line, since MA was the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis, Duke of Lorraine.

97

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Alexandra as Empress and Mother

« on: July 30, 2009, 08:44:48 AM »

I do feel though that it is easier to make more accurate statements and/or speculations about Alexandra than it is about OTMA since we have more historical evidence about Alexandra and what she was like than we do about 0TMA, since they died so young.

98

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: DIARIES OF GRAND DUKE SERGEI ALEXANDROVICH - 2 VOLUMES

« on: July 30, 2009, 08:28:48 AM »

So no diaries of him in later years survive? It doesnt surprise me, that is what I had always though before I read this thread but then this thread gave me some hope later diaries of his survived.

99

French Royals / Re: The children of Henri II and Catherine de Medici

« on: July 30, 2009, 08:20:08 AM »

Did the French Royal Family end up being descended from Catharine de Medici before the French Revolution through intermarriage with other dynasties? I'm not sure.

100

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Alexandra as Empress and Mother

« on: July 28, 2009, 02:24:34 PM »

Thanks Sarushka for looking that up. I agree with Georgiy, I don't think Tatiana was the type to be a glorified maid. But I also think that Alexandra wasn't the type of mother to have treated one of her daughters like a glorified maid, nor one I feel who would have forced or encouraged one of her daughters to stay with her unmarried against their will, so the issue might never have come up. Had any one his daughters stayed with her, it would likely have been Tatiana, but even had she stayed with her mother, I don't think she would have been treated like Toria. Nicholas and Alexandra and their children were a close knit family, unusually so for royals of the time, so maybe one of the daughters would have stayed. Queen Victoria tried to force Beatrice her youngest daughter to stay, but Beatrice had other plans and married against her mother's will, so Queen Victoria didn't speak to her for months during her engagement while they lived under the same roof, etc. I don't know whether Alexandra would have done that. I think of all her children, it was not daughters she clung to, but instead, the heir Alexei.

101

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Alexandra as Empress and Mother

« on: July 27, 2009, 07:01:46 PM »

Indeed, Tatiana was her favorite daughter or the one who was a good companion for her. I think Alix and her parenting was different than Alexandra in England though. What books say Alix and Alexandra's parenting was alike?

102

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Alexandra as Empress and Mother

« on: July 27, 2009, 04:45:18 PM »

Shandroise,
yes, it was the view of Marie of Romania. Though I did not really know a lot about Alix' educational methods this comment represented my impression I had. It was barely victorian age but I've red a lot of people find her education too oldstyled and compared her with Alexandra of England who - correct me if I am wrong - kept one of her daughters doggedly by her side because she could not accept that times have changed. Maybe Alexandra would have done so with Tatiana or maybe Anastasia as her youngest. But this is just my speculation :-)

Yes, Alexandra of England did keep one of her daughters by her side, Toria. But it wasn't so much because she couldn't accept that times had changed, it was because as a mother she really clung to her children and kept them by her side, that's true not just of Toria- one of her other daughters, Maud didn't get married for a long time, and Alexandra and her son George V's letters when he was a young man show she regarded her children as children long after they were adults, that was just her way of being a mother. Alix of Russia I don't think would have clung to her daughters as much, although I'm sure she would done so to Alexei, as he was the hemophiliac heir.

103

French Royals / Re: The children of Henri II and Catherine de Medici

« on: July 25, 2009, 10:42:23 AM »

I have always found Catharine de Medici very interesting. She has often been described as a very manipulative woman, and this reputation has made her seen to be a villain of history quite a bit. She had little power in her husband's reign because he was dominated by his mistress Diane de Poitiers. But she certainly was never far from power during the reigns of her sons. She and Henri had a hard time producing children at first interestingly enough, and I think there was even talk of having him divorce Catharine and get a more fertile wife. They ended up having many children, but no descendents on the French throne, which is what would have happened anyway had Catharine had no children, so the Valois were doomed either way. Do the two daughters Claude and Elisabeth had descendents down to the present day, and who are some of them?

104

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: Alexandra as Empress and Mother

« on: July 25, 2009, 07:42:27 AM »

You also have to take into account smiling for pictures was not very common back then. People did not automatically smile when they got their picture taken like they do today. It is true though Alexandra did not smile a lot in public as she was too shy.

105

Having Fun! / Re: Do you dislike a French royal?

« on: July 14, 2009, 04:52:51 PM »

I think the issue with MA is she often gets romanticized and inaccuratly portrayed ( as she was in her lifetime, albeit then it was in negative ways), and it's hard to cut through all that and see MA as she actually was in historical reality. Obviously she had faults, but rather than good or bad, both of which labels can not describe her fully, I think she was both.