Author Topic: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List  (Read 295903 times)

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Offline AGRBear

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #465 on: October 21, 2016, 07:40:37 PM »
AP tells us:
>>The old horses are allowed to walk about in the meadow during summer. On the other side of the stable is a burial ground where a row of marble slabs mark the resting places of the favorite horses. Here lies "Ami" the horse that was with the Emperor Alexander I in Paris; "Flora", the horse that carried the Emperor Nicholas at Varna; and "Cob" the horse, which the late Tsar Alexander III used to ride, when he reviewed his troops.<<
"What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight."

Joubert, Pensees, No. 152

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #466 on: October 22, 2016, 01:00:08 AM »
BEAR!!!!! Welcome home!


Offline AGRBear

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #467 on: October 24, 2016, 03:44:46 PM »
Thank you.

I finally have a little extra time and hope to pop in once in awhile.

AGRBear
"What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight."

Joubert, Pensees, No. 152

Offline Nictionary

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #468 on: March 31, 2017, 10:00:45 PM »
I have been reading The Snow Mountain by Catherine Gavin and it depicts Vanka as being slaughtered by the guards after the Revolution.  Is there any factual basis to this?  Was Vanka still alive by that point, anyway?
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #469 on: April 06, 2017, 01:55:22 PM »
Kindly shared on http://judicialinvestigator.tumblr.com/

Maria Nikolaevna


And this actually looks like a bear cub to me (though I guess it isn´t) :-D

Anastasia Nikolaevna

Offline edubs31

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #470 on: April 06, 2017, 10:49:56 PM »
I'm with you Ally and I'd like to know what breed of dog this is. Lovely photos too I might add particularly the one of AN which is a little clearer. 1915 or '16 I'm assuming?
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

Offline Maria the Beautiful

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #471 on: April 07, 2017, 09:26:17 AM »
That's an adorable little dog.  With some white fur applied here and there in the right places it could be a baby panda.

Offline Ally Kumari

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #472 on: April 13, 2017, 06:49:43 AM »
Olga Nikolaevna petting a horse


Offline Grandoffsky

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #473 on: January 22, 2018, 01:44:58 PM »
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”.

Offline Kalafrana

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #474 on: January 23, 2018, 02:05:22 AM »
All this shows a different side to Sergei!

Looks like a nice friendly dog with favourite snoozing spots!

Ann

Offline Grandoffsky

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #475 on: January 23, 2018, 02:50:47 AM »
A few more pictures of the doggy that I think might be Shpunia:

Here on the table :)

Withe Ernie

And I believe that this doggy is also pictured (under the table) in this 1886 portrait of GD Sergei at Ilinskoe by Lemoh


And here is Ella at Ilinskoe with a different doggy:
« Last Edit: January 23, 2018, 03:01:40 AM by Grandoffsky »

Offline Kalafrana

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #476 on: January 23, 2018, 06:13:09 AM »
Whichever dog it was in all these pictures, Sergei was certainly very devoted to it.

He can't have been such a bad chap!

Ann

Offline Grandoffsky

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #477 on: January 23, 2018, 10:30:01 AM »
Whichever dog it was in all these pictures, Sergei was certainly very devoted to it.

He can't have been such a bad chap!

Ann

I wish more people would be able to read GD Sergei's biographipcal materials and see for themselves what kind of person he was. It would be great if people could form their opinions from reliable sources rather than draw information from biased, badly researched opinions of others. But I guess that is a bit off topic here.

As for pets...

In 1892 DG Sergei and GDss Elizabeth also brought a dog from abroad for GD Paul. On 12 Nov 1892 he writes to his brother from Windsor "Found the dog for you. I think, it's suitable - small with yellow spots" and then later on 27 Nov from Darmstadt "the dog is with us - male, friendly."

Offline Grandoffsky

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #478 on: February 04, 2018, 11:38:08 AM »
GD Sergei Alexandrovich’s diary 27 July 1877: “Mama let him [GD Paul] have a poodle – he’s delighted and smoked a little.”



source: Великий Князь Сергей Александрович Романов. Биографические материалы. Книга 2. 1877-1880
« Last Edit: February 04, 2018, 11:40:31 AM by Grandoffsky »

Offline Grandoffsky

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Re: Imp. Family/Romanov's Family's Pets Links List
« Reply #479 on: May 16, 2018, 11:00:24 AM »

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.

Unfortunately this is what I found out about Shpunia - (24 July 1895 while GD Seregi and Gdss Elizabeth were abroad in Franzensbad GD Sergei writes in his diary)

"Kornilov writes that Shpunia, my dear, loyal friend died! Such an enormous, genuine sorrow! 15 years we have been inseparable. 15 years - such a large part of my life and holds so many memories! It is sad and painful for me."