Alexandra’s Anecdotes

[Olga Maria]

I checked the pages of this subforum, and there is no thread dedicated solely for anecdotes about her.

So let’s start it with these stories after being engaged to her beloved Nicholas II ^^
From here:

Miss Shoesmith who was the Princess's bath attendant during the whole time she was at Harrogate, says she was far nicer to deal with than the generality of ladies who visit the Baths - so affable and unassuming, nothing stiff or formal about her, but still one could see that she had a good deal of character, and a strong will of her own.
At first it was her custom to go for her bath at twelve o'clock, but afterwards when crowds began to gather at that time she went at five o'clock. She generally came in a chair, and invariably went back in a cab, to prevent getting a chill. She never allowed anything to interfere with her baths. Even on the last day she was in Harrogate, although she left by the twelve a.m. train, she contrived to take her bath at eight o'clock rather than miss it. One day she had the Special Needle bath (invented by Mr. Burkinshaw), the next she had a Sulphur Bath. She had no ailment, except a little rheumatism or stiffness in her knees, for which she always had special applications.

The dressing room was made as comfortable as possible for her. The furniture was covered in dark green plush; Miss Shoesmith always managed to have a nice fresh bunch of flowers about, and Mr. Councillor Wilson very kindly sent a choice selection of toilet requisites, including the "Harrogate Bouquet" with all of which the Princess seemed much pleased. It seems the dressing rooms at the Victoria Baths are open a little at the top, so that it is possible to hear in one what is said in the next. As many ladies went to bathe purposely to see the Princess and quiz the attendants, Her Highness was often much amused by hearing a good deal said about herself. In one case, for instance, a broad spoken old Yorkshire lady occupied the adjoining dressing room.
Speaking very loudly, she said "they tell me t'Princess is here - is sher?" –
"Well, she does come here occasionally," said the attendant.
"They tell me she's varrv pretty - is sher now ?" –
 "Oh yes, she's very nice."What's matter wi her - they say she's in a consumption, or else she's gotten t' eezema" –
 "Oh," said the attendant (on pins and needles all the time), "that's perfect nonsense - she's very healthy - but see how dreadfully it is raining!"
All the time the Princess was laid upon the couch in the next dressing room, compelled to hear every word, and bursting with suppressed laughter.


Second from here:

Her Highness showed pretty plainly whilst at Harrogate that she was not a bigoted person, for she visited all sorts of places of worship, - Christ Church and the Baptist Church, St. Peter's and the Congregational, St. Mary's, the Presbyterian Church and Pannal Church. Coming back from the latter place she noticed a man leaning over the Bridge. In the course of conversation a day or two afterwards she learnt that he was a policeman in plain clothes, who had followed her all the way. "Why didn't he," she said, "come and help to push me up that hill," (remembering the bath chairman's tug up Homfray bank.)

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Isn’t she lovely?  ~~~ (singing to the tune of Stevie Wonder’s song ^^)

[rosieposie]

So she had stiff joints and muscles even as a young woman.   That is new info for me.   I knew she had bad joints hence why she was in a wheelchair or resting on her sofa during the last years of her life.  Just didn't know she suffered from it at a young age.   It also shows she was a sweet person but had to go by protocol to appear aloft.

[Sarushka]

So she had stiff joints and muscles even as a young woman.   That is new info for me. 

She also had sciatica very early — I think by her late teens.

[historyfan]

I wonder what she would've been diagnosed with if she were alive today - fibromyalgia? Arthritis? Neuropathy?

[Jen_94]

It's also new to me that she had stiff joints/muscles as a young woman!

I wonder what she would've been diagnosed with if she were alive today - fibromyalgia? Arthritis? Neuropathy?

Arthritis perhaps? I don't know, really....

[DNAgenie]

Alexandra was getting treatment for rheumatism at Harrogate from about 23 May - 19 June 1894. She wrote several letters to Ernie from Harrogate and she seemed to be in a lot of pain most of the time. There are several letters to her brother Ernie (in her Correspondance, 2010, ed Petra Kleinpenning) from Harrogate. On 2 June she wrote "As yet the baths of course have had no effect, & my leg aches very much."   I think she was already suffering from Porphyria.

[Olga Maria]

  Just didn't know she suffered from it at a young age.   It also shows she was a sweet person but had to go by protocol to appear aloft.

I think she didn’t want to look aloft. According to the article, she said she wanted to be treated like an ordinary person.
She went there to get treated and wanted a peaceful recuperating time like any ordinary person would. However the problem was at that time, she was not the unimportant Princess of Hesse anymore after news spread fast that she was the Tsarevich's betrothed. LOL, I think she thought she was still the 'mere' princess she used to be, and expected her visit would not cause a noise by a mouse. Also according to the part 2 of that Harrogate visit article, she secluded herself more because of the 'lamentable displays of curiosity' of the people there. She didn't know how to deal with such being an introvert, and didn't bother to do so possibly because it would just stress her to think about it. Had the people understood her want of quiet time there as an ordinary person , she could have gone out more, then the people could have been rewarded of seeing her without waiting for her in vain : )

Btw, this also caught my attention (from the same article Part 1):
"From all we heard, it is not enough to say the Princess was homely - tripping & singing about the house, like a happy English girl, just home from school. Now popping into her bedroom, and alarming the servant by helping her to make the bed; then startling Mrs. Allen by tapping at the kitchen door, with a pretty 'May I come in?', dandling the lucky twins, or standing with her back to the fire like a Yorkshire man, whilst she chatted as to the cooking operations, or held lengthy discussions along with the Baroness Fabrice as to the best way of dressing and training children."


P.S. Who else here has anecdotes of her when she was still young? I heard there were a lot.

Thanks for sharing those excerpts, DNAgenie! Clearly, the truth about her health was not discussed because it might be a fuel for rumors subject for exaggeration, or might worry people. Alix wouldn't want such.

[Olga Maria]

From The Real Tsaritsa by Lili Dehn (Chapter 3)

One day, during the Japanese war, she was busy at one of her working parties at the Winter Palace; the windows of the salon opened on to the Neva Quai, and from where she  sat the Empress could see the soldiers and officers passing to and fro. Suddenly she looked intently out of the window—an expression of distaste on her countenance—and she sighed impatiently.

An officer ventured to ask her what was the matter. The Empress pointed to the  Quai:"That is the matter," she said, indicating an officer who had just been saluted by some soldiers, but who had not returned the salute. "Why cannot an officer recognise  the men by whose side he may one day fall? I detest such snobbism," she added, coldly.

[Olga Maria]

I found a cute anecdote in her 1914 letters to her husband.

November 23, 1914
...Then off to a small hospital for officers (where Malama and Ellis had lain before). There one officer told Ania he had seen men 20 years ago* at Simferopol, had followed our carriage on a bicycle and I had reached him out an apple (I remember that episode very well). Such a pity he did not tell me. I remember his young face 20 years ago, so could not recognize him.

*1894

[Jen_94]

That is a cute anecdote and is new to me. Thanks for posting.

[Olga Maria]

You're very welcome, Jen! It's my pleasure to look for them being one of Alix's most devoted fans ^^

From Sonia Orbeliani's biography:

" ...She (Sophie Buxhoeveden) later recalled one particularly memorable occasion when they were joined by Princess Marie Golitsyn, who held the title of Ober-Gofmeisterina, or the Empress's Mistress of the Robes. An inveterate stickler for etiquette, the Princess was a chain smoker, though she was forced to indulge her habit by sneaking cigarettes or when off duty. On this particular evening, the three ladies, having finished dinner, sat in Sonia's room, ringed by a cloud of blue smoke as Princess Golitsyn diligently puffed away. In the midst of their conversation, Princess Golitsyn heard a noise beyond the closed door to the corridor; suspecting it was a servant listening through the keyhole, the elderly Princess jumped from her chair, rushed to the door, and pulled it open with an exclamation, only to find the Empress crouched on the floor, trying to work a gramophone she had brought as a present for Sonia. Horrified, Princess Golitsyn quickly thrust her lit cigarette into a fold of her gown as Alexandra entered the room with her surprise. Sonia was delighted, and the group was listening to a recording of Lohengrin when suddenly she noticed curls of smoke coming from Princess Golitsyn; in a few seconds, the elderly lady jumped to her feet and rushed to put out a smoldering fire that was slowly burning from one end of her hastily concealed cigarette through her expensive gown. The Empress collapsed in laughter, and Sonia and Baroness Buxhoeveden followed suit. "

I find Alix crouching on the floor very cute! I want to see it! Imagining it is not enough! I find it very lovely because a woman who has complaints on her limbs would find it painful to crouch yet she did it just to try to see if the gramophone works. I want to see and listen to her laugh,too!

[Olga Maria]

From Life & Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna:

"During the terrible time of her captivity at Tobolsk, she remembered that her faithful maid, Madeleine Zanotti, had been with her for 25 years. She contrived to have a little present made, and begged the commander to send it to her on that anniversary."