Elizabeth (daughter of Ernie)

[edubs31]

I agree with Ann. If I'm not mistaken OTMA didn't really begin writing in their diaries until around the age of ten. And those early entries weren't exactly filled with the most interesting and elaborate depictions of their daily lives and their impressions of the world. And why would anyone expect the private diaries of pre-adolescent children to be?

[OctoberLily]

I agree with Ann and edubs31.  The most we'd likely get from an 8 year old's diary would be a wish list for Santa and what the child had for dessert! 

[Kalafrana]

Indeed. Daisy Ashford wrote The Young Visiterswhen she was nine, but she was most unusual. In any case she didn't intend it to be funny, and the reason it is hilarious to an adult is that it is the writing of a very intelligent girl who has got slightly the wrong end of the stick about the habits of Edwardian society.

Ann

[Eric_Lowe]

What I think Elizabeth wrote would be interesting thing to see how they (Ernie & Ducky) as parents. Ducky's son and daughters turned out unruly until they finally settled down to marry, while Ernie's sons were generally thought of as well behaved.

[OctoberLily]

I highly doubt the writings of an 8 year old child would be a true representation of EL and VM's capabilities as parents. 

[Eric_Lowe]

I think believe so since both parents were affected by her death and in Ducky's case maybe guilt too.

[Kalafrana]

While Elizabeth's parents may well have kept anything she wrote,, but I very much doubt whether they would have had them published - which was the originally query.

In any event, the preserved scribbling a of an eight- year-old are most unlikely to tell us much.

Ann

[grandduchessella]

I think a previous poster--perhaps Ilana or Thomas--mentioned that Elizabeth's lesson books, photo albums, etc...were preserved by her father and are still in existence. He didn't want anyone to have any of her jewelry though so it was melted down to make a chalice.

[Eric_Lowe]

I am sure that Ernie persevered the correspondence between him and his daughter. Ducky might have destroyed hers.

[OctoberLily]

Ducky might have destroyed hers.

Is this an opinion or do you have a factual reference for this statement?

[grandduchessella]

I can't speak for Eric but it is documented in several biographies that Ducky broke all her ties to Darmstadt after her daughter died. She laid her Hessian Order, a medallion, on her daughter's coffin as a final gesture "that she had made a final break with her old home." on her daughter's casket. No letters turned up for use in any of the bios on Ernie or Victoria Melita. And it was pretty common practice (unfortunately for historians and biographers) for royals to burn letters--Irene, Elizabeth Alix all burned correspondence as did their aunt Alexandra of Great Britain--who, along with Edward VII, burned tons of letters to/from.

[Thomas_Hesse]

I have never heard about her burning any letters from Princess Elisabeth - destroying papers was due to the revolution or due to contents which the writers thought too private/dangerous whatever (Princess Alice Grand Duchess of Hesse for instance had her diaries burned as well as the letters from her sister Victoria Prussia. All the others survive...) So there is certainly some sort of sorting out what can I keep and what not.
I do not see any reason to burn the scribblings from an eight year old - and we do not even know whether there were many letters... how many have you written at that age?!
There are only a couple of short notes to her father...

[Eric_Lowe]

That is exactly what I meant Grandduchessella. Ducky's last link with Hesse was her daughter, it would be consistent in her character to laid that to rest too, whereas Ernie held on to that memory more closely.

[Hikari]

I found other nice photos of Elisabeth in the Hesse archive
date : 1901
photograph : Levitzky St Peter



photo from the same session, this time with her Russian cousins Olga and Tatiana :

[Eric_Lowe]

Elisabeth did have fuzzy hair...