Pushing Olga in the Lake

[Lady Macduff]

I just came across one of Alexei's diary entries. According to him, the day before they left Tsarskoe Selo he "threw Olga fully clothed into the lake." Do any other sources document this aside from him? Any account of how Olga reacted?

[nena]

It's true. There is photo of them two near the water of the Chidren's Island taken in Tsarskoe in that summer. Is the date accurate, was it really taken in 1917? There's Aleksei's photo in the lake, swimming with the crest on his chests. As for Olga, she might have been very surprised or even frightened, since she was a bad swimmer, she hadn't learnt to swim well! She probably wasn't aware of what was going to happen to her.

[Neeosine]

To answer the question, yes, it was take in 1917. It was the last day before their exile began:


Translation:
"During the day I bathed. The water was 18° C. I threw Olga fully clothed into the lake from the gang plank. We said goodbye to people who are not coming with us. We showed Isa, Nastinka (Anastasia in other words), Trina (Catherine), papa's room. We have not slept all night and watched how the fusiliers loaded the baggage. We drank some tea with mama at midnight."
Next page:
"Kerensky came and said we must leave at 6:10 in the morning. Have left Tsarskoyé-Selo by train. As soon as the train got underway, went to bed and slept until lunch. Had lunch, drank some tea, and took the meal with mama in her compartment. Played at cards."

Hope I helped answer the question.

[EmmyLee]

[Lady Macduff]

I'm always heartened and a little saddened by shots of them looking so happy in captivity.