Author Topic: Alexandra's Routine  (Read 17928 times)

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thelastimpofrussia

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Alexandra's Routine
« on: August 23, 2011, 07:10:09 PM »
I couldn't find a topic on this, so I started one.

What was Alexandra's daily routine? She seemed to be an early riser, and a creature of habit.

historyfan

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2011, 09:54:18 PM »
At what point?  Her routine changed at different stages of her life, depending on how many children she had, during the war, and while they were under arrest. 

I think you're right, though, in that no matter where she was or what conditions she was under, a common denominator was that she was a creature of habit.  When she could get up, she did, but when she had to stay in bed for whatever reason, she occupied her time by reading, writing, knitting, painting, or otherwise keeping the hands and mind working.

thelastimpofrussia

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2011, 02:21:02 AM »
Good point... I mean, like at Alexander Palace, with all children not during the war. Lili Dehn says she was an early riser, and much of time she would pray in the little chapel, or knit, sew etc etc. She used to supervise the lessons, did she not?

GrandDuchessAndrea

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2011, 12:06:17 PM »
I believe that there is a detailed description of Alexandra's routine in someone's memoirs. Sophie B. perhaps, Lili Dehn, or Ania V.

thelastimpofrussia

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2011, 04:51:23 PM »
Thats what I was thinking. I was at school, and so I couldn't check them, but I shall now.

Alixz

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2011, 08:39:36 AM »
Alexandra was of the generation who would have been taught that "idle hands are the tools of the Devil" and so would have kept busy all the time.  She also taught her daughters to stay busy.

I had never heard that she was an "early riser" as most of the books I have read say that she would get up much later than Nicholas or stay in her dressing gowns in her chaise until 11 AM or so.  During that time she did keep busy with the knitting and such, but to me to be an early riser is someone who gets up and gets dressed and deals with the day.  Not someone who lays about no matter what their hands are doing.

Offline Kalafrana

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2011, 09:02:39 AM »
Alixz

I agree. To me an early riser is up by 7 and active from then on!

So Alexander III, who was up early, made his own breakfast and then got on with work, was an early riser. Alexandra was not.

Ann

thelastimpofrussia

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2011, 09:13:28 AM »
I took my information from Lili Dehn, that says something along the lines of "Alexandra was an early riser" but I wasn't sure if this was true or not.

GrandDuchessAndrea

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2011, 11:10:43 AM »
The Empress was an early riser. She had six dressers, of whom the chief, Madeleine Zanoty, was an Italian by birth, whose family had long been in the service of the Hesses. Louise Toutelberg, known as "Toutel," the second in authority, came from the Baltic, and there were four others. The dressers had three days' service, but none of them ever saw the Empress undressed or in her bath. She rose and went to her bath unassisted, and slipped on a Japanese kimono of silk or printed cotton over her undergarments when she was ready to have her hair arranged. The Empress was extraordinarily modest in her disarray, and in this the Victorian influence was again discernible, as her conception of the bedroom was a-la-mode de Windsor and Buckingham Palace in 1840. She did not countenance the filmy and theatrical, either in her lingerie or in her sleeping apartment; her underwear was of the finest linen, beautifully embroidered, but otherwise plain. Her red-gold hair was never touched with curling irons, and it was usually very simply dressed, except when great State functions called for a more elaborate coiffure.

From Lili Dehn. That's probably where you got the "early riser" from, Talya, as it's the 1st sentence! 

The Empress never left her room before noon, it being her custom, since her illness, to read and write propped up on pillows on her bed. --Anna Vyrubova

I examined the online memiors of Sophie, Lili and Ania, and the above is all I found about Alexandra's routine, but I seem to recall having read something else somewhere...I'll look more later.

Offline Clemence

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2011, 03:44:35 PM »
it was zanotti I believe ...

gregg king said something about eating biscuits in bed which nicholas did not like much?

'' It used to be all girls without clothes. Now it’s all clothes with no girls. Pity.''

bestfriendsgirl

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2011, 05:24:27 PM »
Really? I didn't think he'd kick her out of bed for eating crackers!  ( :D Sorry! I couldn't resist!  ;))

thelastimpofrussia

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2011, 07:27:30 PM »
I wouldn't think it is so much as kicking out, as annoyed by crumbs. A servant used to set out a fresh plate of them every night, and Alexandra would nibble on them when she couldn't sleep. She reminds me of a mouse, quiet and contemplating. :)

DIANE

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2011, 08:37:22 AM »
The Empress was an early riser. She had six dressers, of whom the chief, Madeleine Zanoty, was an Italian by birth, whose family had long been in the service of the Hesses.
I examined the online memiors of Sophie, Lili and Ania, and the above is all I found about Alexandra's routine, but I seem to recall having read something else somewhere...I'll look more later.
an empress with six dresses..
when i saw Franz Joseph's bed in Hofburg i got almost ungry with him, it seems like a bed bought at Ikea.
For me, an emperor should ispire you impression, as you feel when you see Versailles  :-*
i can't stand emperor/empress who acts like normal/poor people

Alixz

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #13 on: September 29, 2011, 09:23:20 AM »
That was six "dressers" not "dresses".  Dressers mean a person who helps the Empress to dress.  Alexandra had six of them.  That seems to enough to encourage inspiration.

Also, many of the men in the Imperial and Royal families of Europe slept on "camp beds".  Somehow they thought that sleeping without luxury made them better men and better rulers.

DIANE

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Re: Alexandra's Routine
« Reply #14 on: September 29, 2011, 09:52:42 AM »
That was six "dressers" not "dresses".  Dressers mean a person who helps the Empress to dress.  Alexandra had six of them.  That seems to enough to encourage inspiration.

Also, many of the men in the Imperial and Royal families of Europe slept on "camp beds".  Somehow they thought that sleeping without luxury made them better men and better rulers.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh forgive me i was wrong with reading O_O
i can stand that men like Napoleon who lives  between soldiers and who never forgets that he was not an emperor by birth sleep in camp bed, but not others emperors.
if I think that Franz Joseph woke up at arounf 5 pm (almost like me) it destroy my idea of royality ^_^"
when I visited Hofburg and saw two body excercise rings from ceiling, put by Sissi i felt bad O_O what Maria Theresa should say?