Marie Feodorovna, her youthful features & the ageing process

[dmitri]

The scalpel would have been an extremely dangerous option in the early 20th century. I have seen no evidence whatsoever that Maria Feodorovna underwent any form of plastic or cosmetic surgery. It should be remembered that in those days surgery quite often resulted in death. Edward VII for instance was one of the few success stories when he had an appendectomy.

[dolgoruky18]

No evidence ? Please look again at the works of Edvard Radzinsky  -  and other works, also.

[helenazar]

No evidence ? Please look again at the works of Edvard Radzinsky  -  and other works, also.

Well, Radzinsky tends to .... shall we say... exaggerate things a bit, so I wouldn't take his word as gospel. What other works?

[dolgoruky18]

The first translation into English of Radzinsky's first book was easily one of the worst I have ever tried to read and was riddled with errors. This was down to the dreadful translator, not to Radzinsky  -  who, I readily admit, has an idiosyncratic way of writing which is wholly Russian. But he improved a lot (or at least his publishers got a much better translator) and his work is regularly cited among sources in works by subsequent authors. He cannot simply be accused of 'exaggeration' without reason.

Radzinsky speaks of rumours still circulating in 'Leningrad' when he was a young man concerning the Empress Mother's facial surgery. He had personal confirmation of these from a centenarian actress who had somehow survived everything since the Revolution into his own time. She wished to appear young-looking at the Coronation festivities in 1896 when she knew she faced maximum public exposure. The same was true for her sister Alexandra.

The truth about Alexandra's surgery is touched upon in any number of half-decent recent biographies of her and memoirs of her circle. Incidentally, bographies of both Edward VII and Queen Alexandra have always suffered from the fact that both the king and queen gave specific orders that their personal papers were to be destroyed on their deaths. These orders were carried out.

[helenazar]

Did any historians (not actresses) confirm Radzinsky's "rumours"?

BTW, I have read Radzinksy in original Russian. Not much better, I daresay...

[dolgoruky18]

Dear Helen A. At the time of Radzinsky's first publication, the Soviet Union was still collapsing and whole generations of history books, papers and learned monographs written of necessity from a Marxist point of view became redundant overnight. The academics had to completely re-think their research methods  -  and face the mountains of documentary materials which had previouslt been closed to them. So, though I envy your ability to read Russian, the answer to your question is a provisional "No".

[helenazar]

Thanks. Once again, I must say that I take Radzinksy's information with a grain of salt...

[dmitri]

same here Helen .. plastic surgery as known in the latter half of the 20th century was not known during the time of Maria Feodorovna

[dolgoruky18]

Helen, I agree with you. Radzinsky has to be quoted because he was, after all, the first in the field for seventy years. However, it will be interesting to see how a new generation of Russian historians, those unblinkered by Marxist dialectic, deal with the interpretation of old documents and  -  even more  -  with the new discoveries tumbling out of old cupboards and abandoned vaults all the time.

[helenazar]

same here Helen .. plastic surgery as known in the latter half of the 20th century was not known during the time of Maria Feodorovna

Yes, I would be very surprised if she actually did do it, considering that. And other than Radzinsky, who admits his info is based on rumors and not any kind of documents, we have no evidence of this.

However, it will be interesting to see how a new generation of Russian historians, those unblinkered by Marxist dialectic, deal with the interpretation of old documents and  -  even more  -  with the new discoveries tumbling out of old cupboards and abandoned vaults all the time.

Well, some time has passed already and many documents have been accessible and have been tackled, but by far not all, not even close... So yes, we shall see.

[Eric_Lowe]

Well...It suited Dagmar's needs to feel young and revitalized. She had never accepted that she was middle-aged and behaved like someone much younger according to various sourses. I think if she would have done it...it would have been during the early reign of Nicholas II, when she was the chief consort (Alicky was mostly in the shade before the birth of Alexei). She felt she had a role to play and needed the confidence. It would not have been needed after her eself-imposed exile. 

[dmitri]

There is no evidence of any plastic surgery on Maria Feodorovna. Such procedures were not practiced at the time.

[dolgoruky18]

No-one has suggested that Marie Feodorovna underwent plastic surgery as it is now practiced. What is being put forward is some form of skin-scraping, or skin-peel. I intend to research this matter further.