Favorites and Least Favorites

[edubs31]

I'm going to have to disagree with you as I find Anastasia quite the reverse of adorable!

Ann

The reverse? Yikes...I hope that only extends to the point where you consider her to be a bit of a brat. Perhaps overly indulged and selfish? I probably agree with you so much as that I wouldn't ever accuse the post-adolescent Anastasia of being "sweet", lol. Elaborate please...

[Kalafrana]

Spoilt, silly and a dreadful show-off! And loud - can anyone imagine Anastasia doing anything quietly?

Now I was a definite tomboy as a girl (still am really!). Liked climbing trees, playing football, had a train set. But in other respects I was quiet and quite shy - definitely a bookworm. It's not at all Anastasia's tomboy tendencies that make me dislike her, but everything else.

Ann

[edubs31]

Spoilt, silly and a dreadful show-off! And loud - can anyone imagine Anastasia doing anything quietly?

Now I was a definite tomboy as a girl (still am really!). Liked climbing trees, playing football, had a train set. But in other respects I was quiet and quite shy - definitely a bookworm. It's not at all Anastasia's tomboy tendencies that make me dislike her, but everything else.

Ann

Like I said then, kind of a modern girl...so many of them think they're practically royalty, lol! Clearly not as "sweet" as my Tarah though who never the less has her cute little flaws. Men/boys are rarely the humble chivalrous debutantes we read about from yesteryear these days either. On the bright side far fewer of us are as smug, bigoted and chauvinistic either...

[TimM]

Tatiana is my favourite.

[Sunny]

I've always had a soft spot for Anastasia, because she was just like i'd like to be: rebel, strong, and most of all knew how answer back!
But i'm defintevely a Maria - type, and this time (i mean: this time i'm writing about them) i realized how much i've always liked maria, and now her chapters are the easiest - even easier than Anastasia's!

[Kalafrana]

One of the things that puts me off Anastasia is that I can't imagine her doing anything quietly.

Ann

[Sunny]

One of the things that puts me off Anastasia is that I can't imagine her doing anything quietly.

Ann

Lol it's one of the things i love the most in her. Writing her chapters is such a fun - when i write of her and alexej together, i have to stop now and then because i found myself bent on the keyborad laughing madly.

[GrandDuchessIzabella]

If I may add to this discussion, Anastasia has always been my favourite, because she is so different to me. I like to think that opposites attract, so we could have been good friends and may even have been good for each other. Also, I think that she was beautiful in her own way; not as obvious as Maria or Tatiana, nor as gentle as Olga but still a very attractive and 'fresh' looking girl.
Olga is possibly most like me, so I have a soft spot for her too, and nobody could dislike darling Maria and Tatiana is so gorgeous that she is one of my favourite royals to colour, so I love all of them.
Otherwise, Princess Beatrice is my favourite (of course) and I am fascinated by Alix and her sister Irene too.

[Kalafrana]

Life with Anastasia would be exhausting because she was so loud!

[Sunny]

Life with Anastasia would be exhausting because she was so loud!

Uh, maybe it's better if we don't meet each other in real life... i could exhaust you LOL (now i'm grown up of course, since i'm 25, but i used to be a veeeeery noisy child)

I have to admit i have problems with Tatiana. It's not that i dislike her - on the contrary i find her so fascinating - but i can't understand her. I only see thr queenly and pretty girl, always trying to fix things and to make her mother be ok, but i'm sure there's something more beneath, that this one is only the façade, but still - i can really see beneath, like i manage to do with OMA and this makes me quite mad. I really CAN'T write T chapters. I skip them hiping fot better times, but till now, they all are blank.

[Brassov]

Least favorites..............Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson, Beatrice and Eugenie. Why ? Lack of taste, bad and inappropriate behaviour ( that hat etc etc ! ). Everything about the whole family is wrong, wrong and embarassing, and they relentlessly continue to fail at every opportunity they have. The whole lot of them. Those girls are really the end product of being brought up by Sarah Ferguson. Living cartoons.   
 
Favourite.........Queen Margarethe of Denmark and Queen Elizabeth II.  For their great sense of duty, impeccable delivery, lifelong sacrifice, and respect for traditional values.  Lets hope it continues into the next generation.   

[Kalafrana]

Maybe it's because one of my abiding memories of my youth is of constantly being told to be quiet, though I really don't think I was more than averagely noisy, if that. Uusually, the times when I was noisy was when I was trying to be quiet, and, being somewhat clumsy, fell over something.

Apart from Anastasia, Tatiana is my least favfourite of the girls because she was too much of a goody-goody for my tastes.

My favourite Romanov lady has to be Olga Alexandrovna - down-to-earth, unpretentious, and made a success of exile.

Other royal ladies - Alice of Athlone and Princess Marie Louise. The latter would make me smile, with her gin and tonic and calling everybody dear. But she was another who was hard-working and unpretentious.

Ann

[Sunny]

Maybe it's because one of my abiding memories of my youth is of constantly being told to be quiet, though I really don't think I was more than averagely noisy, if that. Uusually, the times when I was noisy was when I was trying to be quiet, and, being somewhat clumsy, fell over something.

I know something about being clusmy... maybe that's why my favourite's Maria?

Apart from Anastasia, Tatiana is my least favfourite of the girls because she was too much of a goody-goody for my tastes.

My problem is, i'm sure that there was something beneath that appearance of a goody-goody but it's so hard to see it really.

I can't tell about other royals - i've always been focused on OTMA, and didn't pay attention to others. But i like Olga A; i read her book and loved it.  - on the contrary i do not like her sister Xenia. She tried to appear a goody - goody too (mama's favourite, the first one to marry in the family, so many children, she was the one who could have males, and all) but beneath she wasn't at all. So many lvoers, her daughter married to such a man (nothing against Yusupov, but i wouldn't marry my daughter to someone who has such a reputation) and even defended him after he killed Rasputin. Oh, i think Rasputin needed to be eliminated, but murder is murder.

[Kalafrana]

I'm not keen on Xenia either, but for different reasons. Unlike Olga Alexandrovna, she expected others to provide for her during her exile and really didn't do anything to help herself.

[edubs31]

Life with Anastasia would be exhausting because she was so loud!

I'm not sure Alexei minded so much...Nastya doted on and loved him. Not that the others didn't, but the bond here I think was stronger, owing in some part to their relative closeness in age of course. I always admire Anastasia for being something as uplifting spirit to her family in the worst of times...towards the end in particular. I guess I feel like she turned some of those personal foibles into strengths when it mattered most.

Though there is so much I adore about Olga her nerves seem to get the best of her in times of stress, which is essentially all there was for the family during their imprisonment. Admittedly Tatiana was probably the family MVP, acting as something of a liaison during this critical time period and really developing into the role of a family matriarch. But I think the best of Anastasia would becoming apparent as well.

It's also worth noting that, being a mere 17 where she was taken from us, that there was probably a considerable amount of personal growth that was still taking place in her. Agreed the 17-year old Anastasia was far "louder" then the 17-year old OTMs but never the less I think a different young lady could have emerged should she had lived to the age of Olga or even Tatiana.