Tatiana Anecdotes

[blessOTMA]

This is a touching anecdote mentioned by Lili Dehn in her book “The Real Tsaritsa” :
[This was the time when Lili Dehn was asked to leave for Petrograd while she was staying with the IF at Alexander Palace in 1917.]

”Zanoty had packed my suitcase, and the Empress now sent her to fetch a sacred medal, which she hung round my neck, blessing me as she did so. At the last moment, Tatiana ran out of the room, and returned with a little leather case containing portraits of the Emperor and Empress which had stood on her special table ever since she was a tiny child.
“Lili,” she cried, “if Kerensky is going to take you away from us, you shall at least have Papa and Mama to console you”. […] We walked slowly towards the head of the great staircase…the moment for saying farewell had arrived…I tried to be brave… the silence was unbroken save by Tatiana’s stifled sobbing. Olga and the Empress were quite calm, but Tatiana, who has been described by most contemporary historians as proud and reserved, made no secret of her grief.”

I had never heard of this...very moving. One never knows when the usually emotional ones will stay calm but the usually  reserved ones break. Sometimes  in a highly chraged moment, the  emotional ones have a greater grip on themselves, because they must. Thank you for this story GD Shandroise! Such anecdotes awaken the past and  bring them closer. Today we lost electric power for a few hors...and it's very hot here now. As the house was getting stifling, I said to my husband, " At Ipatiev House, the IF couldn't even open a window in such weather. " He said " God help them! " Indeed. Just because something is in the past, that doesn't mean it's not current.

[TimM]

Yeah, talk about paranoia.  The Commies should have let them open a window when it got so hot.  They finally did, towards the end.

[Sarushka]

As the house was getting stifling, I said to my husband, " At Ipatiev House, the IF couldn't even open a window in such weather. "

This is probably nitpicking, but the IF was permitted to keep a small fortochka in Nicholas & Alexandra's bedroom open. It's visible in exterior photos of the Ipatiev house. It certainly didn't provide adequate ventilation, though.

[TimM]

A what!?

[blessOTMA]

A what!?   

Tim it's a panel above the windows. Sarushka  provids an excellent link. I H had windows frames shaped like a T.  Above the crossbar of the T was a panel called a fortochka...  one in N and A 's bedroom was opened. And yes, it if my experience of being in a house with wide open windows and it's still stifling is any guide, it would not provide adequate ventilation. 

[TimM]

Thanks for the info, BlessOTMA.  It seems those thugs wanted to make things as miserable as possible for the IF.

[blessOTMA]

Tim, I got a real in site in the physiological effects of excessive heat  and I wasn't subjected to the same level as they were by any means...I could open the windows,  there were no smokers ,no three dogs and it ended within hours. Again,  how the family and those with them  stood up to it all is ever awe inspiring.

[TimM]

Yeah, they were there for seventy-eight days.    I don't know why the Commies had to paint over the windows.  They had a high wooden barricade around the house, no one could get in or out.

[rosieposie]

Yeah, they were there for seventy-eight days.    I don't know why the Commies had to paint over the windows.  They had a high wooden barricade around the house, no one could get in or out.

To me with them painting the windows and even painting the thermometers was a way of could say "torture" or a way of showing they could control the family and the outside world.   Remember people could still see inside the house so another way was to paint over the windows.

[TimM]

Well, not all the guards were heartless b*stards.  There was Ivan S. (I'm not spelling his whole last name) who snuck that birthday cake in for Maria's 19th B-Day.  From what I understand, a lot of the first group of guards began to bond with the IF.  That is why they were moved out and Yurosky and his band of thugs (like Ermakov) were moved in.

[Sarushka]

Time to nudge us all back to topic...

[Veran]

I remember reading an extract of some book about Tatiana, when being a little girl. There was some kind of official ceremony and little grand duchesses took part of it. It was very windy day and they had to hold their hats with their hands so as them not to fly away from their heads. Finally, Tatiana got tired of this, put her hands down and started to make faces to the audience. People, seeing that, started to laugh.
Another one was about Tatiana, as a child, holding her hand out of the window of the train, and people coming to kiss her hand.
I remember these but can't remember where I saw them or who had originally written them. Do any of you have these extracts?

[Sarushka]

I remember reading an extract of some book about Tatiana, when being a little girl. There was some kind of official ceremony and little grand duchesses took part of it. It was very windy day and they had to hold their hats with their hands so as them not to fly away from their heads. Finally, Tatiana got tired of this, put her hands down and started to make faces to the audience. People, seeing that, started to laugh.
Another one was about Tatiana, as a child, holding her hand out of the window of the train, and people coming to kiss her hand.
I remember these but can't remember where I saw them or who had originally written them. Do any of you have these extracts?

Have you looked through Six Years at the Russian Court, by Margaret Eagar? A great many of the anecdotes about the GDss as small children come from Eagar.

[RealAnastasia]

I remember reading an extract of some book about Tatiana, when being a little girl. There was some kind of official ceremony and little grand duchesses took part of it. It was very windy day and they had to hold their hats with their hands so as them not to fly away from their heads. Finally, Tatiana got tired of this, put her hands down and started to make faces to the audience. People, seeing that, started to laugh.
Another one was about Tatiana, as a child, holding her hand out of the window of the train, and people coming to kiss her hand.
I remember these but can't remember where I saw them or who had originally written them. Do any of you have these extracts?

Great anecdote. It show a very different Tatiana from the one we know. She was a little girl like any other little girl, who liked to laugh, to make faces and to go rid of protocolar rules. Of course when she got older, she knew the reasons of all this and her behaviour was the one of a true Grand Duchess. I liked your ancdote a big deal, for Tatiana was almost shown as "the perfect one", as if she hasn't any human side, wich is completely fake.

RealAnastasia.

[Veran]

Have you looked through Six Years at the Russian Court, by Margaret Eagar? A great many of the anecdotes about the GDss as small children come from Eagar.

No, they weren't from Eagar's book. Thank you anyway.