The prophecy about Olga

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

In 1896, in the French press, there was a story in which the Prince Charles of Denmark drew the horoscope of Olga . He told  that Olga's health would be critical at the age of 3 , 4 , 6 , 7 and 8 years old . And he wasn't sure she would reach eight years old but he said i" if she does , she will reach twenty ' but "that she will never live to be thirty ".

The newspaper article mentioned here not only appared in French press, but also in American one. I found the next photo of the article regarding the prophecy posted on romanovsonelastdance's tumblr:



I quote the post:
"New York Times, Jan 12, 1896; from the Westminster Gazette

Prince Charles of Denmark has been exercising his ingenuity in drawing the horoscope of the Czar’s infant daughter. The Grand Duchess Olga, if her life is preserved, will be of medium height. This, the Prince informs us, is clearly seen in the positions of Jupiter, the Bull, and Neptune at the moment of her birth. The same data, apparently, vouch for the prediction that he hair will be brown and slightly curled, that her eyes will be dark, and her face inclined to roundness. The rest of the horoscope is less satisfactory. At the age of one little Olga may suffer a very severe illness. This horoscope further discovers critical periods at her third, fourth, six, seventh and eighth years. He does not guarantee that she will even reach the last-named age, but if she does she will assuredly reach twenty. This is, at least, twelve years of peace to be thankful for. It is certain, however, that she will never live to be thirty. It is much more certain, if the report is true, that astrologers–even when Princes–may occasionally be guilty of exceedingly bad taste."

[Kalafrana]

I agree, this just doesn't sound like Haakon VII at all.

He and Nicholas were first cousins and seem to have been very friendly. In later years Xenia also seems to have been fond of Haakon. In the winter of 1939-40 she wrote a letter (quoted by John van dear Kiste) saying what a difficult time 'poor Carl' was having in maintaining Norwegian neutrality.

Ann

[Превед]

In the winter of 1939-40 she wrote a letter (quoted by John van dear Kiste) saying what a difficult time 'poor Carl' was having in maintaining Norwegian neutrality.

Yes, and that was not the first time Haakon VII had to tackle reigning over a small neutral country with powerful neighbours. In 1906, right after he became King of Norway, there was the interesting "Vardø affair". Vardø being an old Norwegian fortress, town, outpost and Norwegian-Russian trading centre far up north in the Arctic province of Finnmark, quite close to the Norwegian-Russian border. In 1906 the fiercely Socialist postmaster of the town and member of parliament, Adam Egede-Nissen, who was in regular contact with Russian oppositionists, had for a few years been printing anti-Tsarist propaganda which was smuggled into Russia. When Russian authorities protested this erupted into a diplomatic scandal, which ended with the royal Norwegian postmaster of Vardø being sentenced to cease printing anti-Tsarist propaganda!

But Norway not being Russia, Egede-Nissen was not exiled to Siberia, but continued as postmaster. Later he became postmaster of the much larger, southwestern city of Stavanger, where he, as Socialist mayor and postmaster, organized a one-day general strike in 1919 in support of the Bolshevik revolution and demanding that Norway resume diplomatic relations with the USSR! Again, this being Norway and not Russia, the most devastating outcome of Stavanger's Bolshevik Revolution Day was that the fishermen were obstructed in landing their fish at the fish market and not even the hospital wagon was allowed to buy fresh mackerel for the hospital patients' dinner!

Egede-Nissen had been to Russia in 1918, met Lenin and was one of the fiercest defenders of the Soviet Union, Lenin and Stalin in Norway, being head of the Norwegian Communist Party, the association "Friends of the Soviet Union" etc. It's hard to believe that King Haakon VII would dabble in astrology when he was straight-laced and objective enough to deal fairly with politicians and civil servants like Egede-Nissen, who not only was a republican leader opposed to Haakon VII's election as King of Norway, but also hailed the people who had murdered his Russian cousins, even going as far as declaring "I am also the [Norwegian] Communists' king" when right-wing politicians wanted him to take discriminate against left-wing parties.

[Превед]

In 1906 the fiercely Socialist postmaster of the town and member of parliament, Adam Egede-Nissen, who was in regular contact with Russian oppositionists, had for a few years been printing anti-Tsarist propaganda which was smuggled into Russia. When Russian authorities protested this erupted into a diplomatic scandal, which ended with the royal Norwegian postmaster of Vardø being sentenced to cease printing anti-Tsarist propaganda!

Correction:
Russian customs authorities confiscated the anti-Tsarist works smuggled in from Norway and the Norwegian authorities tried to stop the printing. But there erupted a huge debate in Norway, in the papers and in parliament, with the public rather divided, but most Norwegians leaning in favour of free speech. Egede-Nissen held fiery speeches against the government in every port where the famous Coastal Express stopped on its way southwards to Trondheim. (From where there was a rail link to Oslo.) He sued the government and in the court of appeal in Oslo he won and the government's ban on the printing of anti-Tsarist material was declared illegal.

[Превед]

I checked Tor Bomann-Larsen's excellent multi-volume biography of Haakon VII and Maud, but there was no mention of any of them being engaged in the early years of Olga Nicholayevna with a horoscope or anything else. Far more interesting are the following, true anecdotes:

As freshly installed monarchs, Haakon and Maud were expected to pay state visits to the neighbouring and great powers that guaranteed Norway's independence after 1905. In 1906 they visited Denmark, the UK and Germany and in 1907 France. They were also expected to pay a visit to Russia. (They were not welcome in Sweden untill 1918, for obvious reasons.) It was planned in 1909 that they would go to Russia the next summer. But then Edward VII died in May 1910 and the state visit had to be cancelled, due to their attendance being required at their father's / father-in-law's funeral, official court mourning and Maud being very reluctant to perform any official duties after this hard blow. Haakon wrote Nicholas about this and NII was very understanding.

But the Russian ambassador in Oslo, Anatoly Krupenskiy, was not understanding and complained about how Queen Maud shirked her duties, insulted Russia etc.! The man, described by Norwegian Prime Minister Christian Michelsen as "a great big-eater and ladies friend", by others as a terrible shot, but a big mouth during a society hunt, had also complained about the seating arrangements at state dinners at the Royal Palace. King Haakon had him shadowed by the Norwegian intelligence service and both he and Maud were quite fed up with his Moldovian operetta antics. Maud wrote to "dear Nicky" about how he should replace the unpleasant Krupenskiy with someone more agreeable, like the husband of Maud's friend, a certain Finn called de Krusenstern, legation secretary at the Russian embassy in Norway. The Krusensterns were popular in Norway and also spoke Norwegian (or rather Swedish?). But NII did not listen to Maud and instead promoted his ambassador in Montenegro to Norway.

Maud was also disappointed into weeping that her other dear diplomatic friends, the British ambassador Sir Arthur Herbert and his wife were called back to Britain in 1910, after the death of Edward VII. The reason was allegedly that there had been dancing (one-step and two-step) at the British embassy the night of the day Edward VII died. The news had not yet reached Norway, but the scandal was a fact and the consequences unavoidable.

[TimM]

I guess this is just another story.

[Kalafrana]

The one-step was considered rather improper in those days, along with the tango. Nicholas prohibited Russian officers from dancing either.

Ann

[Tguyqtnen]

I know that Njoy32 is the Mother-of-all, but I was thinking its being used by something like ZLink for combining devices.
Im interested in DIY and playing a bit with the software, could you direct me to some public places where these matters are being discussed? Im interested even if its in russian.