Ella and her Siblings

[Grand_Duke_Alexei]

I am currently reading the book, "The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna", by the Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, which is a really great book.  But I came across something odd in the book.  A chapter of the book titled "Childhood, 1879-1888", and this was written:

"The elder Princesses were fast growing into womanhood.  Princess Victoria and Princess Elizabeth (Ella) came out in 1881, but Princess Alix only heard echoes of their gay doings."

I think that when it says that they came out in 1881, that it is referring to their coming of age ball.  But with the use of the words, "...echoes of their gay doings", I began to wonder.  I have never heard of either of them to be gay.  Does anyone know what they mean by this and/or what years their coming of age balls where?

[Merrique]

"The elder Princesses were fast growing into womanhood.  Princess Victoria and Princess Elizabeth (Ella) came out in 1881, but Princess Alix only heard echoes of their gay doings."

I believe the use of the word gay in that sentence is supposed to mean happy,not homosexual.

[ashanti01]

Gay was used to express happy, only until recently ( last 30-40 years) has it been used towards homesexuals

[olga]

[Grand_Duke_Alexei]

Okay, that is what I thought that it had meant.  The usage of words in the book confused me.  And that is a really great picture Olga.

[TampaBay]

Which sister was Ella closest to?

I know from reading VMH's letters/correspondence  that Ella & Serge wanted Alix in Russia.

TampaBay

[bluetoria]

Which sister was Ella closest to?

Victoria, I'm sure. They were closest in age & shared a bedroom as children. Princess Alice's leterrs often describe their closeness to one another.  

[pinklady]

Does anybody have that photo of Ella and Victoria standing either side of their mother? It is a lovely one of all 3 of them, I dont think I have seen it on the boards.

[grandduchessella]

I think it's on here somewhere but

[grandduchessella]

I have to agree with BT--Ella and Victoria were the closest. They were the Big Pair to Irene & Alix's Little Pair. You see photos of Victoria visiting Ella and Irene visiting Alix but not really vice-versa.

[Lanie]

Isn't that picture, that is supposedly of Ella and Alice and Victoria, of Irene and Alice and Victoria?  "Ella" doesn't look much like herself...!

[pinklady]

Thanks for posting that beautiful photo!
And yes, I had never thought about it before, but now that I look at it "Ella " looks a lot like Irene!
I have always seen and read it identified as "Ella".

[bluetoria]

Oh, I think it's Ella.  

[grandduchessella]

It's Ella--Irene would've been much younger in comparison to Victoria.

[bell_the_cat]

Does anyone know about what date Alexandra and Ella began to drift apart?

My own view.. for what it's worth... they were never really close! They really drifted apart during the early years of Nicholas' reign. Nicholas and Alexandra never really understood Ella's vocation - in fact they were quite sceptical about it. The difference of opinion over Rasputin was a symptom of this distance between the sisters, not a cause. When Ella went to Alix in 1916 to "talk about it" it was already much too late, which was why she was shown the door.