Author Topic: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?  (Read 5782 times)

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GrandDuchessAndrea

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What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« on: November 27, 2010, 05:05:51 PM »
What was Nicholas's title after he abdicated, I mean, like what would people call him? Not Your Majesty, of course, but they wouldn't just call him "Mr. Romanov" either. So what would, say, a servant loyal to the old regime call him in Tobolsk?

Alixz

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2010, 07:15:42 PM »
At some point he was called Comrade Romanov.

He was also still a Colonel as he never took a higher rank than that which his father gave him

He was called Colonel Romanov and I think Comrade Colonel. Also Gospodin Polkovnik (Mr. Colonel).

He was also called Nicholas Romanov and Nicholas Alexandrovich.

It depended on who was speaking to him.

GrandDuchessAndrea

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2010, 04:39:35 PM »
So, would a servant loyal to him but not on as familiar terms as Dr. Botkin or someone like that, call him "Colonel"?

Alixz

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2010, 06:15:53 PM »
After the abdication, all of the servants who were loyal and stayed in his service still called him Your Imperial Highness. 

I think it was hard for them to change how they had always behaved.  Those like Kerensky called him Nicholas Alexandrovich and it is the Russian way to address everyone by their given name and their patronymic.  Kerensky called the Empress by her name and patronymic as well.  He called her Alexandra Feodorovna.

Of course after the revolution men like Lenin were addressed as Comrade Lenin.  There were no titles or form of Mr. or Mrs. Very similar to the French Revolution where everyone became "Citizen".

GrandDuchessAndrea

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2010, 06:39:09 PM »
There were no titles or form of Mr. or Mrs. Very similar to the French Revolution where everyone became "Citizen".
But were there Russian forms of "Mrs." "Mr." "Miss" etc. in imperial Russia?

historyfan

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2010, 09:17:57 PM »
I don't know about the peasantry, but married women of noble birth were called "Madame".  I don't know about men.

Offline Sarushka

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2010, 07:59:25 AM »
After the abdication, all of the servants who were loyal and stayed in his service still called him Your Imperial Highness.

Actually, a monarch would be called Your Imperial Majesty.

To my knowledge, standard royal etiquette is to address a king/queen/tsar/empress as "Your Majesty" first, and then as "sir/ma'am" for the duration of the interaction. If you left the room and then returned, you would again begin with an initial "Your Majesty" before returning to sir/ma'am. I expect that the Romanovs' loyal servants would have continued to follow this protocol.


So, would a servant loyal to him but not on as familiar terms as Dr. Botkin or someone like that, call him "Colonel"?

I don't think so. I believe it's Anna Vyrubova's memoirs that mention how some of the guards at Tsarskoe Selo amused themselves by calling the deposed tsar "Gospodin Polkovnik" (Mr. Colonel) while bossing him around on his daily walks outdoors. Vyrubova found this highly insulting.
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GrandDuchessAndrea

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2010, 08:42:43 AM »
All right, thank you!  :)

Alixz

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Re: What was Nicholas called after he abdicated?
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2010, 08:56:00 AM »
Thanks, Sarushka - I knew it was Imperial Majesty but I wasn't thinking for some reason.

I was wondering myself about those not in the nobility and how one would address the old lady down the street or the parents of a friend.

We here would say Mr or Mrs or in some cultures "Miss" even though the lady was married.  In the deep South in the US ladies are called Miss Becky (or whatever) as a courtesy even when they are 90!! It is a sign of respect.  I have a dear friend who still calls my mom Miss Isabell even though my mom is 88 and has been a widow for over 38 years.

In Russia, if one didn't have a title (Highness) or position (professor) or military rank (Colonel) how would a younger person address them?  I know that those on fairly equal footing would use the given name and patronymic.

Dr Botkin, for example, called Nicholas Your Imperial Majesty, but Nicholas would call him Yevgeny Sergeivich.  But I think, and I could be wrong, that Dr. Botkin's other patients probably called him Dr. Botkin.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2010, 09:07:19 AM by Alixz »