I agree with you both to a certain extent . . . but when I think of a brat, I think of somebody who totally disobeys her/his parents and doesn't care one iota about what anybody, much less their family, thinks or feels. Whenever I think of Anastasia, I think of a clever young woman who, maybe *should* have been told no a few more times, but she let her personality show and wasn't afraid to. In the way of pranks and jokes, she was brilliant, and perhaps her parents saw this in her and liked to see what she would come up with next. Underneath, I think she was probably caring and sensitive, with all her pranks and smiles just a mask, especially during the revolution and all that happened then. I'd imagine it would have been a comfort to the family to have someone who they could laugh at and enjoy the silly antics of. THAT'S NOT TO SAY that she wasn't considered a brat or spoiled. But those are just my characterizations of her personality.
As for Maria, she was rather silly at times, IMO. But she wasn't nearly as clever as Anastasia or Olga was. She had crushes on officers, she loved romance, she daydreamed - all in all, Nicholas said that he almost considered her an angel. Of course she got in trouble some, but mostly because she was with Anastasia when they were scolded for her pranks. Maria was probably easily swayed, hence Anastasia taking her under her wing. According to most accounts, she was a well-doing person who tried her best to accomodate everyone and please everyone in her own way - indeed, she did not have the same knowledge of her family and mother as Tatiana did, but by being sweet and kind to EVERYONE, even the officers at Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg (the latter she tried to be kind, at least). The times she disobeyed her parents - whenever she ate all her mother's cookies, etc - have made anecdotes because IMO there weren't that many.
Alexei was a whole different ball game, IMO. He was the heir, the son of the Tsar and Empress of Russia, and he was *ill*. I do understand that anybody else with hemophilia would have been forced to live like any other boy - but Alexei suffered so many daily battles, and especially the tough ones - Spala, Stavka, and the one at Tobolsk (if I'm not mistaken - it might have been Ekaterinburg, but I'm pretty sure it was Tobolsk). IMO he had a gentle heart from all the pain he'd endured. He probably was spoiled - imagine Alexandra's heartache! The fate of the monarchy was resting on her shoulders (so it seemed) and she finally give birth to a son-and he was ill! - if I was in Alexandra's position, and had the money at my disposal, I'd probably spoil him too - not intentionally, of course, but just because of that - his illness! Especially since he was the heir.
Anyway, getting back to topic, thank you for your wonderful information, Alixz. I will most certainly check The Buckingham Palace Connection out further.
***All of the first 3 paragraphs up there were my opinion and my characterizations of the youngest Romanov children. Everybody may not agree with them, but I do!!!***
