Favorites and Least Favorites

[Thomas_A.]

Who is your personal favorite family-member and why?

[Janet Whitcomb]

That's a great question, Thomas.

I've long felt a kinship with Olga Nicholievna. (Not literally, Valmont and Rodger--figuratively!)  

Certain aspects of Olga's life and personality seem to match up with mine. Not the wealth and priviledge, of course! But from the time I read Massie's description, I was intrigued . . . and as I continued to read about the Romanovs in general, and Olga specifically, I felt that I knew her very well.  It's an odd feeling to connect across time with someone--but a feeling that I'm sure many of us share.

[Louise]

I'm not sure if favorite would be the right word, but I have been intriqued with Sergei Alexandrovitch since I first read Hessian Tapestry many years ago. Since then I try to find out any information on him.  I guess being gay myself, I am drawn to how gay people reacted to their sexuality when it was not discusses in polite society so many years ago. However there is more to Sergei that draws me other than his sexuality. It's the entire contridication of the man. So loved or hated, so gentle and kind at times with Ella, stern and unforgiving if a protocol of etiquitte was transgressed. Respected by some in his family and disrespected by others. What or who was the true man?

Louise

[sushismom]

I'm intrigued the most by Alexandra, so I guess she'd be my favorite.  I'm not totally sympathetic to her, but on the other hand I'm not unsympathetic either. I often wonder if things would have been different had she removed herself entirely from Russian politics.  

[RobMoshein]

My vote goes for Grand Duke Nicholas Michaelovich, "Uncle Bimbo". A big bear of a man, with a brilliant mind, sharp wit, and huge sense of humor. He was never caught up in the "Grand Duke" thing, treated the men in his regiment as total equals, and drove Alexander III nuts by driving around Petersburg and even to the Palace in a simple old "izovtchick" drawn by one old nag horse while chomping on a cigar.

He was a brilliant and serious historian, who was granted unlimited access to the Romanov family archives and who wrote several highly important history books on the reign of Alexander I. He was never afraid to speak his mind openly, and did so often. He drove Nicholas II nuts with his anti-war and anti governent speaches in Petersburg during WWI.  He was also an expert on French history, and earned honorary university degrees. Sadly, he was trapped by being a GD, and so could not really "work".  I like the guy, alot.
PS. He was madly in love with his first cousin,  Victoria of Baden, but (despite MMR's claims of such practices) this marriage was forbidden because the Russian Orthodox Church forbade first cousin marriages (see pg. 83 "A Romanov Diary" by Grand Duchess George)

[Arleen_Ristau]

There you go Rob, you have the beginnings of a BOOK!!!  I am really intrigued by your answer.  The one who always comes to mind first for me is K.R.  Grand Duke Konstantin Konstanovich.  I think it is his diary that has gotten to me so much,  His agony over his gay episodes and his love for his wife and children...and Lord wern't there a lot of children!  He just seems so vulnerable and kind and basically good.  I really like him a lot.
Now if someone wants to put up favorites outside of the Romanovs that will be another matter. ..Arleen

[Lisa]

I am fascinated by Alix! I have a small preference for Olga, among her daughters. Moreover I am veryyyy intrigued by Ella (moreover I am
called like her: Elisabeth!)

[anna]

I'm also fascinated by Alexandra. I feel attracted to her, but she can also pull me of. She's complicated, looking cool on the outside but a vulcano on the inside. Something that intrigue me.

Her daughter Anastasia is definitely my favourite. When you look at her pictures, always a different expression on her face. The naughty twinkling in her eyes. She's like an open book. She's showing you exactly what she
feels at that moment.
I wonder, If she had the change to live and grow up, would she become a devoted wife to some GD or some sort of rebellious Grandduchess who became af famous actress in the end?

Anna

[Jmentanko]

Alix and Ella are my favourites. I like Alix's pride and I find her to be complicated and therefore interesting. Ella had an interesting life and I just like her personality.

I'm also interested in Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich and Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna.

[M_Breheny]

For some reason, my favorite Romanov is the less-written-about Grand Duchess Maria.  Although she always seemed so happy and out-going, her letters and diary entries portray her as rather needy and essentially sad.  It appears that the two older girls did not take her very seriously, and Anastasia, though very close to Maria, probably saw Alexei as her favorite sibling.  This left poor Maria as a sort of fifth wheel.  Many contemporaries considered Tatiana the beauty of the family but, to me, the photographs of Maria indicate that she was the prettiest of the four girls.  

[sara]

Nicholas. Everything I read makes me want to know even more about him. Even in paintings in and pictures, those eyes of his make me wonder what was beneath that surface. (hmm, I sound like a schoolgirl with a crush..hehe

[Janet Whitcomb]

Some really fascinating answers here!  One of the best of the "nonscholarly" questions.  Everyone makes excellent arguments for their choices.

A couple of quick observations re: the last two: I agree that there's more to Marie than one would initially think.  That anecdote in M. Eager's book is one example--of how she learned to stand up for her rights against Olga and Tatiana--plus her father's comment about her wings growing so long, plus various comments in the King/Wilson book. It would seem, in fact, that Marie and the late Princess Diana had more than a few things in common: Both were third daughters; both sensed they had been disappointments at birth due to their gender; both were essentially romantics and "people persons"; both went through gauche periods; both had an affinity for children and small animals; both were physically preposing, despite their feminity; both longed for their mother's love, but often felt shortchanged; and both, of course, were very, very beautiful.

As for Nicholas, I confess, Sara, that I have also fallen under the spell of his eyes.  And we aren't alone; a number of reminiscences mention the quality of his gaze!

[_Rodger_]

Stephanie.






For the way she keeps Angel on his toes.







*ducks for cover*

[Pravoslavnaya]

   Alexei.  

I revere this dear little Sunbeam of a Tsarevich very highly, for his patience, his bravery and his good humor.  He may have had his ornery episodes, and what little boy doesn't?  (So he's a very human passion-bearer.)  But there are anecdotes in which he absolutely shines.  Here's an example, and I beg forgiveness for  my bad Russian translation skills.

It came to the ears of the Tsar, while a very young Alexei was in earshot, that a railroad worker and his family had fallen on hard times.  The Emperor pledged 'I will give him thirty rubles a month.'  Then the little Tsarevich piped up enthusiastically, 'And I will give him forty!'

[Greg_King]

Departing somewhat from the usual suspects:

Nicholas I, who has generally had a bad rap, loved his wife and family as much as N II did, and managed to be both a successful sovereign with a mind that understood problems and the need for reform (hence his specific instructions on the training of Alexander II-I think the freeing of the Serfs was born with NI), but also a man with considerable taste and talent.  He was, at least to me, the last of the "great" Russian sovereigns.

Greg King