Author Topic: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad  (Read 280251 times)

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Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #570 on: March 22, 2009, 11:23:52 AM »
However Nicolas (very curiously) never noted down Maria´s birth weight, although he did so with all his other babies. I always wondered why?

Offline Grand Duchess Jennifer

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #571 on: March 22, 2009, 11:31:57 AM »
That is strange. But I remember reading somewhere that she was around 9 or 10 pounds.

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Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #572 on: March 22, 2009, 11:44:08 AM »
Could you post the source? I´ve never read anything like that. Perhaps another family member noted that down?

Offline Olga Maria

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #573 on: March 23, 2009, 11:17:19 PM »
Did she let her daughters know abut her full name in Lutheran?
I'm referring to her names Viktoria Alix Helena Luise Beatrice.

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Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #574 on: March 24, 2009, 02:29:38 AM »
Did she ever talked tothem about her being Lutheran? If she did, it is possible she told them about her name. Of maybe her daughters could have asked why little cousin Ella has so many names.... or whatever..

Offline Olga Maria

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #575 on: March 24, 2009, 02:55:07 AM »
I hope someone else knows...
Maybe  Thomas Hesse.
perhaps OT haven't realized their cousin Ella has so many names, too. (I don't know)

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Offline violetta

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #576 on: March 24, 2009, 12:49:33 PM »
I`d like to refer to Alexandra`s Russian. She was , in fact, quite fluent in Russian. her Russian was better than Maria Feodorovna`s but due to her excessive shyness she was not often able to speak Russian in public. I guess she had to speak during some public events. During WWI , however, her Russian became more fluent. I read her correspondence (I mean the Imperial Couple`s letters), and in one of them she proudly told her husband that she was not afraid of speaking Russian during meetings with some officials and that she did not stammer or pause. she also compared the  speed of her speech with that of the rifle or gun (I`m not sure what it was). I don`t have this book with me, I should go to the library to provide some quotations (unless someone does this earlier ;) )
« Last Edit: April 28, 2009, 09:50:06 AM by Alixz »

RomanovsFan4Ever

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #577 on: March 24, 2009, 01:03:37 PM »
I have read the same thing in the book of Henri Troyat (My source of informations  ;)).

Olishka Romanova

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #578 on: April 09, 2009, 09:49:24 PM »
As for Alix always thinking that the tsar and tsarina were above the people, It is my understanding that this was not always the case.  Growing up I think she was exposed to a very different view in England and Hesse.  England was rather liberal in its views of monarchy, I believe.  When Alix converted to Orthodoxy and grew into her adopted country, I think she began to see the monarchy as more of the way God wanted Russia to be ruled.  Alix was deeply religious, of course, and I think her understanding of the monarchy sort of came from her religious perspective, like, God gave the Tsar the right to rule over the peasants who are the soul of Russia, and the peasants (with the exception of the revolutionaries, of course) all loved the "little father" because he was meant by God to rule.

Alix definitely disliked the Russian aristocrats. She perceived them to be immoral and corrupt (and from what I have read about them, I would tend to agree with her) and she would not allow her children to be around them or their children. 

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RomanovsFan4Ever

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #579 on: April 10, 2009, 06:49:32 AM »

Alix definitely disliked the Russian aristocrats. She perceived them to be immoral and corrupt (and from what I have read about them, I would tend to agree with her) and she would not allow her children to be around them or their children. 

 

Indeed true...and I have to agree that from what I have read about some aristocrats I can say that I'm agree with Alexandra.

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #580 on: April 22, 2009, 09:22:34 PM »
Or, Why Being a Woman Is Harder, and Always Has Been Harder, than Being A Man.

Unless that's too controversial.  lol

While reading Vorres' The Last Grand Duchess (for the third time), a paradox occurred to me I found very interesting.

Empress Alexandra has been criticised (at the very least, if not outright vilified) for her wish to remain private and spend as much time with her family, and her family alone, as possible.  Much of the criticism has to do with "not doing her job" as Empress - hating the social scene, not wanting to appear in public, and all that.  To say nothing of the fact that she couldn't tolerate what she saw as Russian society's overindulgence and emptyheadedness.

In contrast, Empress Marie was touted for her finesse in this arena.  She was a brilliant entertainer, social butterfly, the It Girl, if you will.  She spent time with her children as well, but that was worked into her social schedule.

AF's children adored her, that fact is undisputed.  MF's children loved her, as well, but there was a rift between herself and her daughter Olga, a feeling that her approval was necessary even into adulthood, and a general lack of comfort with being their "true" selves around her.

So, basically, what stands today, is what stood for that time, in this family.  Working mothers are inferior parents, while dedicated mothers can't do a decent job outside the home.

This debate will never, ever be resolved, and I don't intend to turn this thread into a debate for which is better.  I suppose it's just yet another example of what women continue to face.

Euan

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #581 on: April 29, 2009, 04:51:40 PM »
I read Alexandra was shy and happy one time when she discovered others were shy so I guess it was confidence. Can anyone say why she was so determined that the state duma should be scrapped and return to Autocratic rule. I also guess she let Rasputin walk all over her and could probably not stand up to him

Offline Romanov_fan

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #582 on: April 29, 2009, 07:05:16 PM »
She didn't know what Rasputin was really like and refused to believe the bad things that were said of him because she had a great dependence on him when it came to healing Alexei. So it wasn't an issue of not standing up to Rasputin, but instead of her being so dependent on him as regards Alexei she was blind to the truth, she couldn't see it. As for why she wanted autocratic rule, she felt that Nicholas should pass down all the autocratic powers he recieved at his coronation to their son, intact. Also she believed the Russians needed strong goverment and she believed the peasants really loved her and Nicholas and it was only the middle and upper classes that had issues with autocratic goverment. She was wrong, but she believed that.

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #583 on: April 30, 2009, 10:34:14 PM »
Alexander would never have lived to see Alexandra become Empress.  It would be important for him to die before Nicholas could take over the throne.  The only thing he might have been able to judge was her competence as the wife of the Tsarevich.

He might have agreed with her privately about family life, but he knew his place and always did his duty.

Offline historylover

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Re: Alexandra's Personality Traits - Good & Bad
« Reply #584 on: May 02, 2009, 06:29:11 PM »

I agree with you, HistoryFan.  It must be hard to find a balance between work and children.

The Empress Marie was a much better Empress, I think, but she did force poor Olga to go to many balls and outings - this probably was not necessary.
She also approved of Olga marrying a gay man.