I’ve read through this thread and run a quick search and couldn’t find any mention of GD Sergei Alexandrovich’s and GD Elizaveta Feodorovna’s family pets, so here’s a bit of information. The translations from Russian are my own so bare with me. All the quotes are from the 4 volume biography of GD Sergei Alexandrovich “Великий Князь Сергей Александрович Романов. Биографические материалы.”
As far as I’ve been able to find out, there were at least 2 dogs (later more) and 2 cats in the family.
The only mention of the cats so far I could find in a letter GD Sergei wrote to his brother GD Paul from 15 Feb 1893 (“we [GD Sergei and GD Elizabeth] spent the evening alone in my study, we read, surrounded by both cats, who bow to you”).
The names of the dogs were Shpunia [Шпуня] and Sitch [Сыч].
When GD Sergei went to Darmstadt in February 1884 for the official engagement to GD Elizabeth, in one of his letters home to his brother Paul he says: “I forgot to mention that Shpunia is with me”.
Shpunia is also mentioned in a funny poem written by GD Sergei’s adjutant M.P. Stepanov in 1880s that was left in the guestbook of GD Sergei’s country estate Ilinsoke. Since the poem is in Russian and I am officially awful at translating poetry, bare with me.
[original:
С последним ударом восми на часах
Великий Князь Сергий уже на ногах
Спешит он прогулку свою совершить,
За ним, хвост поджавши, собачка бежит!
Собака та – Шпуня, ее нет милей,
Резвее и краше, нежней и умней!!]
With the last beat of 8 o’clock
Grand Duke Sergei is already up
He’s is a hurry to finish his walk
A dog, tail tucked, after him runs,
This doggy is Shpunia, you’ll find none kinder
Faster or fairer, tenderer or smarter [..]
13 June 1892 GD Sergei writes to Paul: “Shpunia and Sitch found a little rabbit, which we caught right away. Wife took it for herself”.
V. Dzhunkovsky, who served as GD Sergei’s adjutant at the time, writes to him on 22 Jul 1893: “Today, when I went for a swim with Forbiher, I met Paul with Shpunia and Sitch, who ran with me and was so excited to swim. It was so funny – Sitchy climbed on my back while I was swimming and scratched me awfully.”
Unfortunately Sitch died some time in January 1894, on 21 Jan GD Sergei writes to GD Paul “I was sure, You would be sorry for dear Sitch. I miss him so much, I can’t even express; I feel his absence on every step. Yesterday he was taken to Ilinskoe and buried in the birch alley.
On 13th December 1894, right after returning to Moscow after the death of Alexander III and marriage of Nicky and Alix, GD Sergei writes in his diary “Unfortunately Shpunia is feeling very bad – he’s very weak.” On 30th December he writes in his diary again “everybody went to skate, I went for a walk with the dogs. Shpunia is feeling very bad, he’ll have a surgery!!!”. For now I do not know what happened to Spunia afterwards.
I believe that the little black dog may be Shpunia. I think these are the pictures from the time of engagement in Darmstadt.
Here at Ilinskoe on Ernie
From GD Sergei’s letters and diaries we also find out about a monkey who was the family pet of his nephew Alexei Belevsky-Zhukovsky (son of GD Alexei Alexandrovich) and his first wife.
On 16 Feb 1894 GD Sergei writes to GD Paul : “Yesterday we drank tea at the Belevsky’s – it’s cosy and beautiful at theirs. They’ve got themselves a monkey and amuse themselves like children.” On 15th Feb he states the same in his diary: “at 5 with wife to Belevsky’s [..] drank tea and looked at everything [GD Sergei had acquired a house for his nephew and his wife (who was GD Elisabeth’s lady in waiting) in Moscow and helped to arrange everything.]- humorous monkey.” A few days later on 22nd Feb he writes in his diary again that they went to Belevskys for tea and “played with the monkey”.
