Julia P. Gelardi: From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women, 1847-1928

[Eddie_uk]

Thanks for the info grandduchessella! I hope my copy arrives soon!!! I agree the periods in exile are important & hope it's an interesting read!

[Alixz]

I ordered the book yesterday.

I also ordered Gelardi's other book Royal Mothers and Tragic Daughters.

I like her style and she always has something interesting to say.

[Gabriella]

Thanks for the infos, Grandduchessedlla. I'm looking forward to the arrival of my copy which was announced for march by amazon.de.

[Suzanne]

I stopped by my local independent bookstore today and they said the Canadian distributor for From Splendor to Revolution has gone bankrupt so distribution will be delayed. This does not make me happy . . .

[royaltybuff]

Just finished From Splendor to Revolution. It is a wonderfully well-written book. I too enjoyed Gelardi's readable style and the way she wove the stories together of each of these four women. I particularly liked the info on Queen Olga of Greece. Her relationship with King George V of Great Britain seemed to be so sweet.

Highly recommended book!

[blessOTMA]

The photos are great too , in  that there are a good number and not the usual found in books...though it has been noted , they can be found here certainly! The only thing  that bothers me enough to mention it is the retelling of Rasputin eating the poisoned cakes  and being unaffected etc. We know today he didn't eat them .The passage seems  from another time. She used alot of the old books and one should of course...but that was a part where their influence was particularly felt ( imo)  But that is all...it's very enjoyable  and well sourced book that sweeps one away to another time...a real page turner!...and that's a gift!

[LauraO]

i'm currently reading an excellent book by julia gelardi, called "born to rule" sorry if its previously been mentioned, but its excellently written. it follows the lives of alix, marie of romania, sophie of greece, maud of norway, and victoria eugenie of spain. when you read gelardi you get the impression that she cares about what shes writing.

[grandduchessella]

There's a whole thread devoted to the book--it was very popular! Just do a search by title in this section and it will pop up. 

Royaltybuff---I loved the sections dealing with George V and Queen Olga. I hope JG does justice to his relationship with Marie Alexandrovna as well. Despite the 'marrying Missy' debacle, they were very close. Based on readings, it seems these 2 disparate personalities were 2 of his favorite relations.

I'm early into the book (after some quick skimming) but feel that a bit of short shrift has been given to their early lives. That is a bit of a disappointment. That was one of my favorite parts of Pope-Hennessey's landmark bio on Queen Mary--that she actually had a life before she was Duchess of York, Princess of Wales, Queen. However, JG's strength lies in her storytelling ability--rather than straight historical facts, she really weaves you a story. It reads more like historical fiction--in a good way!

I would recommend the book to someone looking for this type of book, definitely.

[royaltybuff]

Grandduchessella, It seems Maria Alexandrovna disappears little over midway in the book, which was disappointing. Gelardi spent less time dealing with her than any of her other subjects. She is barely mentioned in the chapters dealing with the revolution, maybe because she was the only one not in Russia at the time. Toward the end, Gelardi dealt with her and the affects of WWI on her, then her death. If you hadn't known George V was fond of this Russian aunt, you would never know from reading the book.

I also agree that I wish there were more about each subject's younger years.

[Alixz]

I was just reading the part about George V and Marie Alexandrovna.  I think that the two "Tootsum's" were pretty well covered.

[royaltybuff]

I guess I wasn't paying attention then when I read that part if those letters where from Marie Alexandrovna. I was under the impression that the letters referring to George V as "Tootsums" came from Queen Olga of Greece. I distinctly remember one from Olga recounting her daughter Alexandra's death and calling George V "Tootsums."

[grandduchessella]

It did come Queen Olga--page 114. Page 113 had started talking about MA and George and then skipped quickly over to his relationship with QO which might have caused the confusion. QO wrote when GV was an adult "I kiss your tootsum head...my little adopted sunbeam child!" and also referred to him as 'darling Tootsum Georgie'. GV referred to QO in his diary as 'such a Tootsum dear' so it must have been an inside endearment between the 2.

I am finding the MA disappointing (though still enjoy the book overrall). I haven't really discovered anything new--I wonder if a lot of the letters John Wimbles was going to use were unavailable?

Overall, I haven't read much that I haven't read somewhere else--the real enjoyment comes, as I've mentioned, from the way the writer weaves the lives together and tells a story. It's not new ground but it's not a dry recitation of facts.

[Alixz]

Yes, you are both right.  It was Queen Olga that I confused with Marie Alexandrovna.  I don't know why, but I would guess that it is as grandduchessella said that the author kind of skipped over one to the other.

I was wondering if George's attitude toward Maria Alexandrovna came partially because he was so interested in Missy.  Was he as "attached" to his Aunt Marie after she said no to his marriage to Missy and hurried her off to Roumania?

[grandduchessella]

He seems to have been. He was still in contact with her after that and provided her financial support after she was left destitute after WW1--having lost her German AND Russian incomes to Revolution and her British allowance as an enemy combatant.

[Alixz]

George V helped so many of his relatives, although most of them were destitute women, it still seems strange that he would not help Nicholas and Alexandra in some way.