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Alexandra Feodorovna / what would you say...?

« on: May 16, 2019, 10:01:52 PM »

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this is a "what if" question...

let's say you have 5 - 10 minutes sometime in 1913 to speak privately with the empress. what would you say to her,
to try and persuade her onto a different path and, hopefully save her children, herself, her husband and the others?

PLEASE NOTE:
i am NOT looking for an argument. if one starts, no matter who it's between, i will simply remove this topic.
also
i am NOT saying she is the reason the family was murdered. however, one must recognise that she was a contributing factor, especially given the influence she held with her husband.

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Mediatized Noble Families / Thurn und Taxis mystery...

« on: May 22, 2017, 05:09:43 AM »

i was going to put this in the Thurn und Taxis thread, but was advised to start a new topic.
so i am.

my question is this: does anyone know what happened to Heinrich von Fels?

he was the son (born in 1867) of prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis (supposed former lover of Ludwig II, who later gave him the title "von Fels" after Paul had been disowned by his family) and the actress, Elise Kreuzer. Paul's family had forced him to marry her morganatically in 1868, after which, they disowned him, stripped him of all titles & cast him out -- they did, however, give him a yearly allowance. in any case, Paul contracted tuberculosis and traveled, with his wife & 12 year old son, to Cannes for his health. his wife ran off with a man she met at their hotel, leaving behind her sick husband & their son, Heinrich von Fels. Paul died very soon after her departure.

i haven't been able to find out anything about what happened to poor Heinrich after his father died.

he, apparently, was not retrieved by his mother, as i can find no mention of him in anything regarding his mother Elise after her departure from Cannes.

i figured i'd ask here, and see if anyone has any idea what happened to the poor kid who, abandoned by his mother, was left to watch his father die. the TuT family don't seem to have taken him in. i believe his mother's family were all dead already (i could be mistaken about this, however).

anyway --
thanks for any info.

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Imperial Transportation / His Majesty's Train

« on: May 11, 2017, 07:11:04 PM »

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unfortunately, these are not in the correct order, but i'm sure y'all can figure that out.
click to enlarge.

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Palaces in St. Petersburg / Yusupov Palace on the Moika

« on: March 29, 2017, 05:41:18 PM »

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some of Feliks & Irina's rooms on the ground floor of the palace.

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Their World and Culture / the Jewel Cases...

« on: July 24, 2015, 01:30:31 AM »

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a couple of questions to the AP Forum at large:

RE: the famous "display" cases the grand duchesses & ladies of the court had in their bedrooms & dressing rooms to hold & display their famous jewelry.

1.) we've all read of their existence & some references to their appearance, but has anyone of us ever SEEN one? i have a photo of Ksenia Aleksandrovna's bedroom in Ai-Todor, which shows, i believe, a corner of one. sadly, that photo has been floating around somewhere in my photobucket albums for several years now, unlabeled & i have not been able to find it so far. it's in there somewhere. at any rate, does anyone else have any images which show these famous yet vague cases in situ? or any images at all?

2.) where are they? what happened to them? why aren't they in evidence...anywhere?! i would imagine many, or even most, were destroyed, but i can't imagine that ALL were destroyed! and even if only a few survived, why haven't we seen them?

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3.) what did they actually look like? allowing for minor variations for the individual, did they all follow the same basic build -- like the court dresses? or were they as wildly varied & individualistic as those who owned them?

SIDE-QUESTION: recall hearing, many years back, that the Yusupov Palace had rebuilt/restored/whatever the walk-in vault that Feliks Feliksovitch had built for Irina Aleksandrovna, in which there were display cases for her jewels. does anyone know if this restoration actually took place? better still, does anyone have any images of it?
y'all would absolutely make my day if there are photos! :-)

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The Wittlesbachs / Ludwig II and his castles

« on: July 21, 2009, 01:26:49 AM »

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click on image to enlarge
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his "wintergarten" in 1869

& his "wintergarten" in 1870

the apartments of Ludwig II

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Their World and Culture / 1903 Costume Ball

« on: April 10, 2008, 07:29:21 PM »

A NOTE TO THE MODERATORS
i realize there other threads about and/or that contain the topic of the 1903 ball, but I'm still hoping this thread won't get "merged" with any of those. no one else may care, but one of the first thoughts i had after looking through the plates once i got home, was that i wanted to share it with others on the APF. so, if the fate of THIS thread is to disappear into some other thread, I'd rather it be removed. thank you.

San Francisco Public Library holds huge book sales (some are enormous!) at least once a year...sometimes several. the books for sale are former library books and books donated to the library and books donated for these sales. at the last one, i came across a large folio (2 feet long!) containing 50 loose plates & an explanatory "insert". when i saw what the folio contained, i knew I'd beg, borrow or steal to get it....well, maybe not steal. i got it for $20! i know nothing about it, though. it may be an extremely common item. regardless, i count myself very lucky to have found it.

Historical Russian costumes, XIV-XVII century. Worn by the Russian imperial family and their guests at the ball in the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, on February 27, 1903. published by H.C.Perleberg, New York

there's no publishing date given, but it was after the revolution. of course, it's not one of the original 1903/1904 albums, which contains hundreds of images.

the folio itself is crumbling, but the plates are, for the most part, in amazingly good condition.

since most of us have seen the images of N II & AF, MP the elder & Ksenia Aleksandrovna, i decided i wouldn't bother posting those.
the ones i'm posting are those i hadn't seen before.

a note about the identification: every sitter is identified, but i'm feeling lazy at the moment, so i'm doing what was done in the folio.
each plate is numbered, and the corresponding number in the table of contents identifies the sitter & who or what they are costumed as.
so the images in this post are numbered; i'm including the title page, "editor's page & the table of contents; and y'all will have to go back and forth yourselves to see who is who....just like i did.

btw, i'm not going post all of them cuz it takes so long & it'd be a pain in the a**

b]click the following images for larger versions[/b]

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Tsarevich Alexei Nicholaievich / another "what if..."

« on: December 16, 2007, 08:49:33 PM »

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if this has been asked before, i couldn't find it.

so here's my question:

how might things have differed if the hemophiliac Aleksei had been born first?

since Aleksandra had pinned all her value as a mother & empress on producing a boy, and with each girl her anxiety level increased to the point of hysteria, by the time the heir arrived, it's not surprising her behavior was as pathological as it was. but what if the heir had been born first, therefore removing the years of desperation from the equation. would she have been more reasonable in her outlook? would she have reacted to Aleksei's illness in a less desperate manner? would she & her family have withdrawn so completely from society, the world & reality? how might the girls lives have differed if Aleksei was their elder brother, instead of their baby brother?

et cetera

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Palaces in St. Petersburg / Palace of the Leuchtenbergs, aka Kochubey mansion, 44 English Quay

« on: September 09, 2007, 01:43:04 AM »

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this is, possibly, my 2nd favorite mansion/palace in Petersburg. the Yusupov palace on the Moika is my favorite, but i do have to say, this mansion was more tastefully furnished but lacked the legendary art collection -- but i must add, i am rather partial to 18th century french furniture & decoration).

btw, this was the home of prince Lev Mikhailovich Kochubey, the 1st husband of countess Daria Evgenievna de Beauharnais, & their children.

click on image for larger version

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Russian Noble Families / Ladies of the Russian Nobility in court-dress

« on: June 30, 2007, 03:29:58 AM »

NOBLESSE RUSSE: PORTRAITS

***i aoplogize for the lack of information regarding the individuals in the photos, but it took a really long time to scan these, so i noted their surname (as it appeared in the book) & their title (if they had one). their christian names & patronyms were listed, as well as their maiden names (if they were married), but that would have taken more time than i had. once again, the names are listed as they are in the book, in French.

(of the families featured, i was rather surprised at how many members of the Russian nobility, and of the Imperial Court, had no title, as such. being obviously of noble birth, but bearing no title.)

princesse Bariatinsky

princesse Cantacuzene

princesse Galatzine

comtesse Keller

mlle Khlebikoff

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The Yussupovs / Private Apartments in Moika Palace of the Yusupovs

« on: April 01, 2007, 10:08:32 PM »

i know asking about any ground-floor plan of the Moika residence would be redundant, so i'll ask a different question:

does anyone have any fotos of Feliks & Irina's private apartments? i've found one or two (i believe i posted them at the time), but have been unable to find anything else.... eg: Feliks' study, Irina's Silver Boudoir, Feliks' bathing pool etc.

here's another question along the same lines: why doesn't anyone ever seem to take fotos of F & I's rooms while touring the palace? (or if they do, why don't they ever post them?) the only ones that i find are the same ones, over & over & over.

i believe the website http://yusupov-palace.ru has "wraparound" images of the rooms i'm referring to, but those images can't be viewed on a mac.

any suggestions (& otherwise) is greatly appreciated.

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French Royals / Impératrice Eugénie

« on: March 05, 2006, 11:00:43 AM »

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Russian Imperial Medals, Orders, Uniforms & Militaria / orders & badges

« on: February 23, 2006, 10:21:30 PM »

i don't know if anyone has seen these, or not, so just in case......

(btw, if anyone can read russian, i'd be interested in knowing the orders these belong to...)