Maria's "Saucers"

[Olga Bernice]

Maria Nicholaievna's "saucer" eyes are very well - known and mentioned quite frequently. However - Maria is the only one of her sisters to have these "saucer" eyes. Why is this? Does anybody know whether she inherited them, or . . . I know that she took after Alexander III in appearance and physical strength, so did she inherit her amazing eyes from a family member, also?


(Photo courtesy of GD Ally)

In this picture, you can clearly se Maria's saucers, but it is also quite obvious that neither Olga nor Tatiana have "saucers" either. Maria's saucers seem to be more apparent when she was a baby, I think. They weren't as . . . obvious when she got into her teen and preteen years.

Sincerely,
Olga Bernice

[Sunny]

She inherited her big eyes from her grandma and aunt - Marija Fedorovna and Xenia both had big eyes, just like maria's. But they had dark eyes, Maria, instead, had her father's deep blue eyes, that made them even more wonderful.

[Olga Bernice]

Yes, I agree, Tim - her eyes were beautiful.

Thanks for the info, Sunny! I never really paid attention to Xenia nor her grandmother's eyes. Yes, I agree, the deep blue color made tham even more beautiful!

[Sunny]

I read on Xenia's bio (Once a grand duchess) that a cousin of xenia'sm nicknamed her "owl" because of her large, beautful and dark eyes. In this moment i've not the book here around and can't search the exact page or quotation, but i'm sure about this because i remember i thought: "Oh! that's where marian took her saucers!"
Of course xenia could be called "owl" because her eyes were deeply dark; maria couldn't, having that wonderful cornflake colour!

[Selencia]

Actually in the above picture I had a hard time determining who was Olga and who was Maria, they both appeared to have big eyes. Maria's eyes are striking but I often find myself wondering where the heck Tatiana's eyes came from.