What was Alexandra's Native Language and Maiden Name?

[AGRBear]

In 1992 the royal family made sure that everyone knew that Charles new son was shown to have his  royal background from both sides.  One of the books published was ROYAL HIGNESS, Ancestry of the ROYAL CHILD.

Charles lineage in Great Britain is linked to the Houses of Stuart, Hanover and Windsor..............

AGRBear, do you honestly believe that people don't know this already? It's basic facts about the most famous monarchy in the world! And has little directly to do with Alexandra Fyodorovna.

The thread is called:  "What was Alexandra's Native Language and Maiden Name?"  Therefore,  what you consider as "basic fact" shows you are well read and probably have a college degree.  There are many  people who read these threads and want to know what we already know. So you keep up your end and let me know what is  "basic facts"  and I will keep up my end and  answer any and all questions I can, no matter if they seem silly to you and others.

After Alexandra's mother died,  Alexandra lived with Queen Victoria.  While she lived with her father and mother she spoke German.  Once in the home of Victoria,  German was still spoken in the private rooms, but English was the major language.  Alexandra became more at ease with English....  Niky (the future Nicholas II) was not comfortable with German, so,  English became their source of communication.  Once they were married,  Niky's father, Alexander III, who was on an anti-German campaign,  would further influence Alexandra's use of German while in Russia.  So,  German was set aside in private as well as in public accept when visiting Germany.
AGRBear  

[AGRBear]

CORRECT ANSWER:

I do not know who "Rric Lowe" is?  

Like old times.  I show up and someone thinks I'm someone else. 

AGRBear

[AGRBear]

Yes,  AGRBear has been hanging around for a few days, and, maybe longer.

AGRBear

[Forum Admin]

Bear! Wonderful to see you back. She meant Eric Lowe, a more recent frequent poster.

Privyed you are free to disagree with Bear (Lord only knows how often I have!) however she is one of our earliest and senior members. You will please treat her with respect and courtesy at all times. Also please know she is quite knowledgeable on these topics.

[Превед]

Therefore,  what you consider as "basic fact" shows you are well read and probably have a college degree.

Most college graduates, most of them with degrees in quite other fields than the anthropology of royalty, are ignorant about what language the Hanoverians and Coburgs spoke in private. (Many would of course guess it was German, because they've heard that Elizabeth II's family are originally German. Some without college degrees (and some with!) will connect this to rumours of QEII's relatives all being Nazis.) Most would not suspect that they spoke a lot of French among themselves too. Almost all royalty buffs, no matter if they are cashiers or academics, know this, because they are well read about royalty. Those still leaning the basic facts will probably be more confused than helped by your hodgepodge of strangely expressed facts ('Albert of Saxony spoke German with great effort'?) and would be better served by being guided to starter ressources such as the relevant Wikipedia articles or the wonderful collection on the Alexander Palace Time Machine site, e.g. Buxhoeveden's biography of Alexandra Fyodorovna.

[AGRBear]

[/quote]
Privyed >>... be more confused than helped by your hodgepodge of strangely expressed facts ('Albert of Saxony spoke German with great effort'?) ...
[quote/]

I did write incorrectly that Albert of Saxony spoke German with great effort.  I meant to write "English" not "German".  

Thank you for pointing out my error.

And, yes,  most royals spoke more than two languages.  There are times when among family members who speak many languages family will  communicate using different languages that suits what they are trying to communicate.  Jokes cannot often be translated because it loses it's humor in the translation -- to use as an example.

Since my generation were often the first who attended college,  many of the smartest people I've known never had more than a sixth grade education, so I should have written "well read and / or attended college".

I hope we have many interesting conversations.

[AGRBear]

Bear! Wonderful to see you back. She meant Eric Lowe, a more recent frequent poster.

Privyed you are free to disagree with Bear (Lord only knows how often I have!) however she is one of our earliest and senior members. You will please treat her with respect and courtesy at all times. Also please know she is quite knowledgeable on these topics.

Wonderful to be back.  

Thank you for those nice words.

I'll  (CAL BEAR) try real hard not to be such a thorn in baby power blue  bear's (UCLA) side in our future.


AGRBear

[AGRBear]

....

[Превед]

Since my generation were often the first who attended college,  many of the smartest people I've known never had more than a sixth grade education, so I should have written "well read and / or attended college".

Indeed, one can say that the smartest people don't need much education, whereas others have to go to college to get smarter. That is smart as in thinking, expressing oneself and researching in a logical manner.

[Превед]

I thought it was simply "von Hesse".  Nicholas referred to her as "Alix H." in his diary in...what was it, 1892?  Where he confessed that his dream was one day to marry her?

The "von" is dropped in ordinary speech sometimes.

Anyone who knows or can check if this was written in Latin script in his Russian-language diary? Because in Russian it would have been "Аликс Г"., abbreviation for "Аликс Гессенская", Alix of Hesse / Alix (the) Hessian. So no need to use a preposition in Russian.

[Превед]

PS
Having checked his diary entries from some other years Дневники Николая II I'm pretty convinced he wrote "Аликс Г", because the diary abounds with "Аликс". He also writes her brother's name as Эрни, but Ducky, with an ø-sound that doesn't exist in Russian is left in Latin script. Strangely enough Ernie, pronounced in English, has the same ø-sound, so probably they pronounced Ernie à l'allemande.

[AGRBear]

Most letters written during that period didn't give last names.  In fact,  many just wrote initials like "AH".  The person receiving the letter would know who AH was  but but not necessarily people, like us,  reading their letters a hundred years later.

My grandmother, who knew seven languages,  would not be consistent in writing a name that could be spelled  differently in the languages she used.  I think it just depended upon her mood or something between her and the person to whom she wrote.

AGRBear

[Kalafrana]

In relation to German surnames, the seriously aristocratic didn't necessarily use  'von' all that much, at any rate among themselves,, so AH for Alix Hesse would be perfectly reasonable. As I don't read Cyrillic all that well, despite my college education, I'll not speculate on what Nicholas actually wrote in his diary.

Ann

[Превед]

As I don't read Cyrillic all that well, despite my college education, I'll not speculate on what Nicholas actually wrote in his diary.

Аликс Г. = Aliks G.
Аликс Гессенская = Aliks Gessenskaya.
Эрни - Erni, with an eh [ɛ] sound, not the uh [ɜ] sound in "Ernest" or "earn".

[Clemence]

Who knows who first called Alexandra Alicky, I believe her parents called her Alix, probably Queen Victoria in order to distinguish her from Alix the Princess of Wales?