Tatiana Anecdotes

[aussiechick12]

I've heard that one and always laugh when I hear it. It was in a letter to one of her old teachers.

[anna11]

I dont know if this is the same thing as the one above but I read somewhere that Anastasia once threw a snowball at Tatiana and it hit her in the head an knocked her out.

Also didnt she often come into her mothers room at night and brush her hair out?

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, we are keeping the Romanovs alive through our rememberance of them, that is how I feel exactly. These ancedotes are certainly interesting, and the dog one is funny..

[Tsaritsa_of_Wolves]

Ha, I seem to be on an old-topic hunt, but this seemed the place to ask this.

Does anyone have the full section Mr. Gibbes wrote on Tatiana?   And does anyone have anything from M. Gilliard's memoirs regarding her?

And I agree-sites like this keeps their memory alive.

[Sarushka]

And does anyone have anything from M. Gilliard's memoirs regarding her?

Gilliard on his first meeting with Tatiana in autumn 1905:
"The second girl, Tatiana, was eight and a half. She had auburn hair and was prettier than her sister, but gave one the impression of being less transparent, frank, and spontaneous."


Gilliard on Tatiana's character (chapter 6):
"Tatiana Nicolaievna was rather reserved, essentially well-balanced, and had a will of her own, though she was less frank and spontaneous than her elder sister. She was not so gifted, either, but this inferiority was compensated by more perseverance and balance. She was very pretty, though she had not quite Olga Nicolaievna's charm.

If the Tsarina made any difference between her children, Tatiana Nicolaievna was her favorite. It was not that her sisters loved their mother any less, but Tatiana knew how to surround her with unwearying attentions and never gave way to her own capricious impulses. Through her good looks and her art of self-assertion she put her sister in the shade in public, as the latter, thoughtless about herself, seemed to take a back seat. Yet the two sisters were passionately devoted to each other. There was only eighteen months between them, and that in itself was a bond of union."


You can read the full text of his memoirs, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court, here:
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/2006pierre/

[Rosie]

I'm sorry to be posting this when the last post was made in December last year, but I recall that there might have been some anecdotes of Tatiana when she and her parents and sisters were visiting their cousin, Ella. I couldn't exactly find them. Would anyone happen to know what they are?

[Sarushka]

I'm pretty darn sure there are some in Margaret Eagar's book, Six Years at the Russian Court.

[Rodney_G.]

 Tatiana Botkine told an interesting and typical little bit about Tatiana in her memoirs of the early 20th century. She too contracted typhoid in 1911 I believe and had to have her head shaved. When Tatiana N. found out about this she immediately knitted a pretty blue wool bonnet for T. Botkine. T.B. wore it often, even after her hair had grown back.

 This , ironically, was two years before the same illness and resultant head shaving occurred to Tatiana N. in 1913 during Tricentennial  celebrations. 

[rosieposie]

Awww. How sweet.  Did TB knit Tatiana a bonnet to?

[Rodney_G.]

   I don't recall TB making other significant references to Tatiana in her book.

[stacey]

I was just thinking about the same incident Anna described--Anastasia throwing a snowball at Tatiana.

I remember reading somewhere that actually Anastasia had put a small rock inside the snowball before throwing it at Tatiana--and yes, Tatiana was knocked, stunned, to the ground. Luckily she wasn't seriously injured, but once Anastasia realized how close she had come to seriously injuring her sister, she broke into floods of tears (one of the few instances I can think of Anastasia crying!)

Does anyone know if it's really true that there was a rock inside the snowball??

I can understand Tatiana's brief collapse if she was struck by a rock--I can't ever recall anyone ever being felled by a mere snowball!!

[grandduchess_42]

I was just thinking about the same incident Anna described--Anastasia throwing a snowball at Tatiana.

I remember reading somewhere that actually Anastasia had put a small rock inside the snowball before throwing it at Tatiana--and yes, Tatiana was knocked, stunned, to the ground. Luckily she wasn't seriously injured, but once Anastasia realized how close she had come to seriously injuring her sister, she broke into floods of tears (one of the few instances I can think of Anastasia crying!)

Does anyone know if it's really true that there was a rock inside the snowball??

I can understand Tatiana's brief collapse if she was struck by a rock--I can't ever recall anyone ever being felled by a mere snowball!!

no.. that was an acctual event!
if i did that i would burst into tears.. but its rather hard to image i agree! haha.. little nastya.
does anybody know what year this happened in?

[I am_Tatianochka]

"One day the children and I were walking in the garden of the Winter Palace. The Emperor has some really beautiful collie dogs, and these were taking exercise in the garden at the same time. One of them, a young untrained creature, jumped on Tatiana Nicolaivna's back, and threw her down. The child was frightened and cried most bitterly. I lifted her up and said: 'Poor Sheilka! she did not mean to hurt you; she only wanted to say 'Good-morning' to you.' The child looked at me and said, 'Was that all? I don't think she is very polite; she could have said it to my face, not to my back.' "

In this it says the word, Sheilka. What does Sheilka mean?

[rosieposie]

"One day the children and I were walking in the garden of the Winter Palace. The Emperor has some really beautiful collie dogs, and these were taking exercise in the garden at the same time. One of them, a young untrained creature, jumped on Tatiana Nicolaivna's back, and threw her down. The child was frightened and cried most bitterly. I lifted her up and said: 'Poor Sheilka! she did not mean to hurt you; she only wanted to say 'Good-morning' to you.' The child looked at me and said, 'Was that all? I don't think she is very polite; she could have said it to my face, not to my back.' "

In this it says the word, Sheilka. What does Sheilka mean?

It might be a pet name.  I call a friend Strudel or lemon drop.  LOL but I'm like that with everyone.

[Olga Maria]

In this it says the word, Sheilka. What does Sheilka mean?

Rosieposie's right. Sheilka is the name of the dog that climbed Tatiana’s back. I learned it just yesterday when I was reading Nicholas’ Diary: Perhaps 1896 entry…
Jan.22. "...At about 6 my dog Shilka whelped 2 puppies whose father was Iman. It caused a lot of fuss in the house..."
Maybe Ms. Eagar made her own spelling of the dog’s name and wrote it down when she was making her memoirs. (Or maybe I’m wrong, too. You decide).