Louise, I agree with you--those photos posed around the table are extraordinary.
I remember reading somewhere (that's a frequently used phrase these days!)
about Tatiana drinking some lemonade or orangeade at a St. P party, which resulted in her bout with typoid. As a child she seemed a bit more fragile and vulnerable to illness than the other three girls--although contaminated water is going to bring just about anyone down!
(Hint to those visiting St. P: Watch out for the water! And don't do what I did, which was to order a soft drink, then unthinkingly pour it into a glass full of ice, i.e. possible frozen giardia[sp?]-contaminated water! I was very lucky, though--it
didn't contain giardia.)
I agree that Tatiana looks very elegant with her shorter hair--a bit of the long-limbed Audrey Hepburn gamine look.
OTMA seem a bit ahead of their time. I've read they kept their hair comparatively short during their house arrest and imprisonment--for ease, and it must have been far more comfortable during the stiffling days in Ekaterinberg. Also, as teenagers they perplexed Alexandra by wanting to lie out in the sun without hats, etc. And in fact used that same activity as subterfuge, on the occasion of the 1914 Romanian visit, so they'd be sunburned and curtail any thoughts of Romanian marriage.
Of course, Olga was the primary candidate at that time. But . . . all for one, and one for all!
