Messages

1

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution

« on: July 15, 2021, 08:14:46 AM »

Hello everyone,

I have a question about Olga' diary for 1913 (translated by Helen Azar).

On 15 September, she says "Alexei was so cute with Shotol." I have been searching who "Shotol" was but my research did not come up with anything. I have thought it may have been one of the imperial pets but probably not a dog because we know them relatively well. Maybe a cat?

Does anyone know?

2

The Imperial Family / Re: Names, Patronymics, Nicknames and Name Days

« on: June 02, 2020, 03:34:33 AM »

Does anyone know who was the saint patron of Grand Duke Mikhail and when was is namesday ? I would think it could be Saint Michael of Chernigov, but this is only speculation. I didn't know until now that the Archangel Michael was not recognized by the Orthodox religion. I'm still not sure about it, but in any case it is not mentioned in the Russian wikipedia.

3

The Alexander Palace / Re: AP Misc c1900s

« on: October 23, 2019, 08:17:12 AM »

Hello,

I know it's been a while since this post has been written, but I have been desperately searching for Professor Sergei Petrovich Fyodorov's memoirs for months. I never found any trace of them and had come to believe that they had never been published as such. Could you give me the references of these memoirs, excerpts of which appear in the previous post? Was it a German translation of an original Russian publication?

4

Nicholas II / Re: Chronology of the Travels of Nicholas II as Tsar and Tsarevich

« on: October 11, 2019, 08:28:51 AM »

Standart cruises around Virohlati, Finland including official ceremonial visits within Baltic area:

1905
July 23rd -24th
August 29th
September 17th to October 1st

1906
September 13th to October 7th

1907
August 8th
October 12th to 19th

1908
June 12th to 27th
July 2nd to 16th
July 24th – 25th
July 29th to August 2nd
August 31st to October 20th

1909
June 12th to 25th
June 30th to July 7th

1910
June 15th 
July 8th
July 19th to August 1st

1911
June 18th to August 9th

1912
July 12th to August 10th

1913
June 23rd to July 25th

1914
July 2nd
July 14th to 19th
July 23rd
August 8th to 10th

From “Keisarit Kesalomalla Suomessa” – Jorma & Paivi Tuomi-Nikula, 2002

Joanna

For your information I just compared some of the dates given here for the cruises made on the Standart with several sources including Nicholas II & the Grand duchesses' diaries and Spiridovich, and unfortunately it seems that most of them are false. Sometimes they are given in Gregorian calendar instead of old style (as for 1906), and sometimes they are completely wrong, (as in 1910 : they were on cruise from June 2 to - at least - the end of the month ; and in 1913 : they left on the Standart from June 9 to July 12, and from August 9 to 14). I haven't yet checked the dates for the other years but I doubt they are right.

5

Alexandra Feodorovna / Re: voices of the Imperial Family

« on: July 18, 2019, 08:44:17 AM »

Are they confusing him with George VI and his stammer?

That's interesting about the actors being used, although if it's true, that's very disappointing!

Unfortunately in my opinion the speech of Nicholas II to President Emile Loubet which one can find on youtube does not feature the real voice of Nicholas II. I have tried in vain to find another recording of Emile Loubet to confront this one through the voice of Emile Loubet - failing to be able to do this with Nicolas II’s voice - but unfortunately it seems that there is none either.

Anyway :
- I don’t doubt for a moment that Nicolas II indeed spoke in French during this speech, but on the recording, the voice does not have the slightest Russian accent: the one attributed to Nicholas II rolls even less the "r" than the one attributed to the French President. I do not know how much Nicolas II mastered the French accent, but whereas it is certain that he was fluent, I doubt that he spoke it like the voice on the recording, which sounds too French.
- It seems that there is no break between the first voice saying "Discours du Tsar et réponse de M. Loubet à la revue de Krasnoe" and the supposed voice of the Tsar. Even more suspicious: the voice doesn’t seem to change. Yet during the real event, it is obvious that the speech was not announced like this (still less by the Tsar himself).
- The absence of background sounds during the speeches seems to me suspicious, as well as the intonations, which, if the voices are rather high, do not seem to me to be the same as those one would have in front of a large audience.
- Moreover, the voice is not the same as the other available recording where he addresses his troops in Russian, and whose voice, in my opinion, is better suited to the one I imagine to be his.

Listening to this recording the first idea that came to me was that the speeches had been recorded after the event by French people (journalists or actors) for public distribution. It seems that this idea was also raised by someone else on this forum, so for me there is no longer any doubt.