Anastasia Anecdotes

[Abby]

A draught is like a gust of wind or air.

[Sarai_Porretta]

It can also be spelled DRAFT, like a draft of air.

DRAUGHT is the British spelling.

[Georgiy]

There's any number of annoying spelling differences between English and American English - most quite obvious like colour/color, but a lot of subtle ones too such as cheque/check (as in a bank cheque), plough/plow etc. One difference I like is that in English there is a distinction between metre (the measurement) and meter (as in a water meter). Living in Japan I got used to seeing American spellings, but one I could never get used to was liter for litre. Liter to me looks like it should be pronounced as 'lighter'.

Waaaaay off topic, so my apologies!

[RealAnastasia]

I laugh a lot when I read it. Poor Anastasia! She was not aware about what she was showing after she heard the laughs in the room...And even Alix laughed, that its odd enough. She was very depressed at the time.

RealAnastasia.

[Richard_Schweitzer]

One thing that has never had much mention is that she is likely to have been afflicted with Porfiria. Her mother and she both had the "blotching" symptoms, and A. had others.

RRS

[Holly]

All I know about this is that when she got angry, red  bloches would appear on her face and neck. Does anyone know anymore about this?

[RealAnastasia]

When she was angry or ashamed. It was a trouble that she shared with her mother.

RealAnastasia.

[Margarita Markovna]

Here's one from Gilliards memiors:

 I have just finished a lesson with Olga Nikolaievna; by myself again, I am expecting her sister Tatiana. The door opens and instead I see a very small girl coming towards me. She is carrying under her arm a big picture-book, which she ceremoniously put down on the table in front of me; then she gives me her hand and says in Russian: "I would like to learn French too."

And without waiting for my answer, she climbs on to a chair, kneels on it, opens her book, and asks me, putting her tiny forefinger on a huge elephant: "What's this called in French?"

 Then I am confronted with a whole succession of lions, tigers, and well, almost all the creatures in the Ark. I join her in the game, very pleased with her great seriousness about this first lesson. Then the door opens again, and this time Tatiana comes in. The little girl, whose finger has just lighted on the boa-constrictor, claps the picture-book shut and jumps up. She holds out her hand to me once more, and in a very low voice says: "I'll come again tomorrow." Then she runs out of the room, clasping the book to her chest.

That is soooooooooooo cute!!!!!

I heard about her having the hobby of taking pictures of herself in the mirror and also taking pictures of her sisters when they weren't expecting it. Not sure where I heard it tho...

[Holly]

Awww.... That is cute!

[ferngully]

there is a pic where she might be taking a photo of herself in the mirror
selina                 xxxxxxxxx

[Tati-Fan]

Anastasia, IMO, was a mean-spirited child.  Cousins called her "nasty to the point of being evil" since she would bite, scratch, kick and call others names (and very bad ones too!).  So she wasn't all fun and stuff.

Heh, I wonder if anyone called her "Nasty Nastya."

[matushka]

A very sweet anecdote about Anastasia, from the memories of captain I. V. Stepanov.
"In her pockets there were always a lot of rounds sweet things "creme brulee". She gave us a lot of them, and ate herself all the time. I saw her love for sweeties, but the wounded were not allowed to offer something to the Grand-Duchess. One day [someone] brought me a box of japanese cherries in sugar. I let the box opened on my table. Anastasia saw them and woth great pleasure ate some of them, and was looking around: can or not one of her sisters see her..."

[RealAnastasia]

Yes; I read somewhere (I can't remember exactly in which book) that she love sweets more than anything in the world.

Now , a question: I know very well what "creme brulée" mean in French...But which kind of candies are those of "creme brûlée"?   A kind of tofee or caramel?  

RealAnastasia.

[Sauer]

"Gleb Botkin (who claimed to know the Imperial Children well but really didn't)":

This isn't exactly true -- he "knew" them as well as anyone else who was on the "outside." In the case of the Botkin children, the empress made a special effort to pay attention, as both she -- and everyone -- were shocked and upset when their mother abandoned Dr. Botkin and ran off with an officer or something.  It's a sign of Alexandra's kindness that she did that.  I never knew Gleb, but I did know his sister, and even after decades, Tatiana would not speak of it.

My favorite A.N. quote also comes from Gleb, when Dr. B. told her that she was "made of gold" and she answered, "Not at all.  I am made of ordinary leather."

"Anastasia, IMO, was a mean-spirited child.  Cousins called her "nasty to the point of being evil" since she would bite, scratch, kick and call others names (and very bad ones too!).  So she wasn't all fun and stuff."

No -- but I need to take some responsibility for this impression.  It's true that a lot of the cousins didn't like her, but they never described her (at least to me) as "evil" in any way.  She was the youngest daughter and undoubtedly the "naughtiest" of them, but she had a good heart -- there is lots of testimony to this.  pk

[Sauer]

Richard Schweitzer writes:

"One thing that has never had much mention is that she is likely to have been afflicted with Porfiria. Her mother and she both had the "blotching" symptoms, and A. had others."

To which I can only answer, "Absolutely, and amen."  I saw the "blotching" many times in "AA."  pk