Discussions about the Imperial Family and European Royalty > Tatiana Nicholaievna

Tatiana Nikolaevna & Dmitri Malama

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Katharina:
What do you know about Dmitri Malama?
Was Dmitri Malama in any way related to Dr. B. Z. Malama, honorary physician to the Tsar?

A few months ago I found the following information:

Peter de Malama, Bournemouth: "I recently read a book about Group Captain Peter Townsend, best remembered for his ill-fated romance with Princess Margaret in the 1940s and 1950s. It put me in mind of an incident in my family which predates his by 30 or 40 years.
In 1914 at the start of World War One my cousin Dimitri de Malama was a young officer in the Imperial Russian Cavalry. In August he was decorated for gallantry and soon afterwards seriously wounded. In the autumn of 1914 the wounded hero found himself in a hospital in St Petersburg. There he was introduced to the Grand Duchess Tatiana, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, nursing as a sister of mercy.
In early 1915 when he had recovered Dimitri was appointed as an equerry to the Court of the Tsar at Tsarskoe Seloe near St Petersburg. (Thirty years later Group Capt Peter Townsend, a Battle of Britain hero would be appointed to the British Court also as an equerry.) There at Tsarskoe Seloe, during 1915, under the approving eye of the Empress Alexandra and to the amusement of the young Tsarevich and delight of royal observers, a romance blossomed.  Rather like the Townsend-Princess Margaret romance 35 years later there was however to be no fairytale ending. The Russian Revolution intervened in 1917 and the Grand Duchess was murdered along with her family in July 1918. As for Dimitri, he outlived his beloved Tatiana by little over a year. He was killed in the Ukraine while commanding a unit of the White Russians during the civil war in August 1919. He lies buried in the town of Krasnodar.“

Please compare this article with the following information from www.alexanderpalace.org
Extracts from the letters of Tatiana
Oct.12 "...Anya brought me from Malama (probably she speaks about Dmitry Malama, officer of the Life-Guards Uhlan Regiment) a small French bulldog (Ortino). It's a very cute little thing. I am so happy..."

Extracts from the letters of Anastasia to her Father
"...Ortino and Tatiana are running about the room now. Mother is going to receive Maklakov at 9 a.m. and Malama will come, too, which is very pleasant."

Letters of the Tsaritsa to the Tsar - November 1914
"Now Malama comes to tea to say quite goodbye. Goodbye my Angel huzzy. God bless and protect you"

Alexandra to Nicholas, March 17, 1916
"...Ortino had to be shown to his Father [the visiting Dmitri Malama, who had given the dog to Tatiana] of course..."

Joanna:
Hi Katharina & Elisa !

In the complete correspondence by Fuhrmann there is a Dimitri Yakovlevic Malama, officer in Alexandra's Life Guards Lancer Reg.  There are six references about him in Alexandra's letters particularly as Elisa writes of A's letter dated March 17, 1916:

"...My little Malama came for an hour yesterday evening, after dinner at Anias. We had not seen him for 1 1/2 years. Looks flourishing more of a man now, an adorable boy still. I must say, a perfect son in law he wld. have been - why are foreign Pces. [princes]  not as nice! - Oritpo [the dog] had to be shown to his "Father" of course..."

Joanna

Katharina:
Dear Joanna,

Thanks for posting this complete entry. I did not know the first part. I guess I should try to get hold of Joseph T. Fuhrman's book.

Katharina:
Dear Elisa,

What a surprising new information! Both Olga and Tatiana loved Dmitri?
So is it possible that "Mitya, the golden one" refers to Dmitri Malama?
Please have a look at the thread called "Olga Nikolaevna's first love" and let me know what you think!

A lot of further questions arise anyway:
Both sisters in platonic love with the same officer?
Did they realize each other's feelings?
Did Malama prefer Tatiana's presence ? (As far as I know, Ortino was a present for Tatiana only, not for both of them).

Janet Whitcomb:
Although it has been stated in several places that Dmitri Malama was the "Mitya" of Olga's affections, I wonder if she would be in love with someone who was the focus of Tatiana's affections.    :-/   From what I've read, the sisters had a close and harmonious relationship.  No signs of competition seem to have ever been noted, perhaps because each had strengths and abilities that the other did not have.  So a relationship of mutual respect and admiration would not, I don't think, have included a serious competition for the affections of one man.

Remember also that Dmitri was a fairly common name.

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