Author Topic: Alexandra's Personal World  (Read 238753 times)

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Offline BobAtchison

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #105 on: August 25, 2004, 09:42:27 AM »
Thomas - could you please tell us more????

Can we BEG for a translation?

Bob

Offline BobAtchison

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #106 on: August 25, 2004, 09:51:54 AM »
I am wondering if Alix could still smell the rose-oil scent from the ikon lamps in her bedroom after having it burning continuously for so many years.

I use rose-scented candles in my bedroom ikon lamp and I can't detect the scent anymore...

I have tried to convert to rose-scented oil using olive oil but I haven't gotten the use of floating and suspended rope wicks down right.  I am also making my own oil and don't know if there is a special receipe.

If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.

On another note - a few years ago I went my desk (a copy of the Karelian birch desk of Alexander I) and took out the cds and slides I had of pictures Kuchumov gave me of the Alexander Palace and there was a very strong scent of roses from the cabinet in the desk and the cases containing the images.  It lasted for several days and I have never been able to figure out where it came from.  I let several people check it out so it wasn't just me...

Bob

jfkhaos

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #107 on: October 07, 2004, 07:31:23 PM »
Did the Empress Alexandra augment her collection of jewels with any bequests from relatives, such as during the times of the deaths of Queen Victoria, the Empress Frederick, etc?  Did any of the Empress' jewelry come to her from her mother, Princess Alice?  Thanks in advance! ;D

Offline Martyn

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #108 on: October 15, 2004, 05:09:50 PM »
I don't know about bequests that Alix  may have received from other relatives;it is quite possible that she may have received something from her Grandmother Queen Victoria in 1901. As she was by then Empress, and presumably in possession of a collection that would have outshone that of the English Queen, it would probably have been something of a more sentimental nature.  Also Queen Victoria had many relatives to remember with a bequest.
Alix did keep a jewel book which listed mostly jewels that she had been given before her marriage and which she updated until the IF went into exile.  I think that this book still exists somewhere and that maybe Nick Nicholson may have seen it - I'm not sure.  
Alix was very attached to some bracelets that she had been given at Darmstadt by her Uncle Leopold and which she could not take off - even when she was obliged to give up her jewels in the Ipatiev house she retained these for this very reason; I think that she set great store by jewels that had this kind of sentimental attachment.
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Offline HerrKaiser

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #109 on: October 21, 2004, 09:20:29 AM »
Is it in fact true that the jewelry, both coronation and those used on othe occassions, owned by Alexandra and the Romanov royal family was more extensive, grand, and worth much more than any other royal House?
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elisa_1872

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #110 on: October 21, 2004, 12:06:19 PM »
Many thanks for this topic on Alexandra's jewels! :)

In a Lifelong Passion, a letter to Queen Victoria from Alix thanks her for "the pretty ring" - wonder which one it was! - she writes "the lovely ring i wore for the wedding.. and when i look at it i think of the beloved giver.." at one time i read, Alix gave Queen Victoria a pair of earrings for her birthday. It would be great to find out more about the jewels given by Queen Victoria to her Hessian grandchildren, in her lifetime. But as to bequests im not sure. This is fascinating Martyn about the jewel book of Alix' - do you or anyone know more about it? Is it similar to the jewel album of Nicholas, with drawings and descriptions?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by elisa_1872 »

Offline Martyn

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #111 on: October 22, 2004, 04:02:17 AM »
Elisa, I have seen a page from Alix's jewel book reproduced in several books but can't remember off the top of my head which ones.  It is usually the last page which has an entry about a bracelet set with an emerald that she had been given and which she had passed on to Marie.
I think that this has been discussed in an earlier thread and I am pretty sure that Nick Nicholson said that he had actually seen this book.  MY memory being what it is, I can't remember the thread and have not been able to find it again.....
'For a galant spirit there can never be defeat'....Wallis Windsor

'The important things is not what they think of me, but what I think of them.'......QV

Erichek

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #112 on: November 14, 2004, 02:22:53 PM »
Would the company of Alexandra, whether Empress of Russia or not, have been of any fun?
Looking at Anna Vyrubova's pictures, which do show Alexandra almost always from pensive to depressed, and this combined with her mental illnesses, physical challenges and dominating character, I wonder out loud what could have made spending an hour with Alexandra interesting, if even pleasurable...

Any thoughts any one?

Offline grandduchessella

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #113 on: November 14, 2004, 02:37:07 PM »
Quote
Would the company of Alexandra, whether Empress of Russia or not, have been of any fun?
Looking at Anna Vyrubova's pictures, which do show Alexandra almost always from pensive to depressed, and this combined with her mental illnesses, physical challenges and dominating character, I wonder out loud what could have made spending an hour with Alexandra interesting, if even pleasurable...

Any thoughts any one?


I guess it would depend on what one considered fun. If someone was content to be pretty stationary, maybe talking or doing needlework it could be enjoyable. If someone was more active it mightn't be so much since Alexandra's poor health precluded most physical activities that the rest of her family enjoyed (the water, walks, playing in the snow, etc....) I don't know how interesting Alexandra's conversation was but that would be a factor as well. Anna V. doesn't seem like the brightest bulb and was probably content to just sit with the Empress without demanding too much. If you were someone like Empress Frederick who was very intellectual and quick or someone vivacious and gossipy like other members of the family, it may have been a chore.
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Robert_Hall

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #114 on: November 14, 2004, 02:45:50 PM »
Did she also like having a reader ? I would suppose what was being read would also determine if it was any "fun".
I do not get the impression, although could be totally wrong, that she enjoyed old-fashioned "gossiping". There was certainly enough to gossip about though.
Also, music perhaps?
Best,
Robert

Elisabeth

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #115 on: November 14, 2004, 03:23:42 PM »
From what I gather, Alexandra loved music. I read once that Wagner's entire Ring Cycle was performed at Tsarskoe Selo every year. (I don't know much about opera - but is that actually possible? isn't each of these operas a huge production?)  

Robert_Hall

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #116 on: November 14, 2004, 03:38:02 PM »
It could be done "in concert", without staging. Pretty long to sit through, though.  Probably over a few days, not in one sitting !

Grand_Duke_Alexei

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #117 on: November 14, 2004, 03:40:36 PM »
I think that Alexandra would be fun to an extent.  I mean after a while knitting and talking would get kind of tiresome and you would want to walk or something, but I do bet that she could have put up a good conversation considering all of the important business that always surrounded her.

Robert_Hall

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #118 on: November 14, 2004, 04:18:14 PM »
The reason I mentioned a reader is that one of her ladies had the title "reader". Whether she actually read or not [while Alex. as doing needlework"] I could only guees. It is an old court title, could easily just been tradition with no function.
Best,
Robert

rskkiya

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Re: Alexandra's Personal World
« Reply #119 on: November 14, 2004, 05:15:52 PM »
   I always thought that Ms. Schneider's role would have been a bit like  a personal secretary --once Alixandra understood the alphabet and basic skills of reading Russian - no easy task for an adult- Ms S would be able to aid her with her personal corespondence.
I might well be wrong about this, though...

  Actually I don't think that by modern standards Alix would have been much fun to talk to... after all a century separates her interests and most of ours, and beyond "the weather" and "her children" what else would there be to duscuss?  Certainly not politics books, or movies!

rskkiya