Tsarina Olga!?!?

[Olga Maria]

Oh thank you for sharing that, blessOTMA!
Unfortunately, that prophecy didn't come true.

[blessOTMA]

Oh thank you for sharing that, blessOTMA!
Unfortunately, that prophecy didn't come true.

Unfortunately indeed. However it seems to me, Olga's  mother  Alexandra,  would be
one of those to strongly  oppose such an idea. Baby was to the Czar. Period.
If anyone but Rasputin had made that remark, I think they would have been
tossed  out into the snow lol!

[Kalafrana]

I think the most likely situation in which Olga could have found herself heir would have been if Alexei had died at Spala. If Nicholas was going to change the succession at all, that would have been the moment. She was then not quite 17, and could then have continued her education and general development as the future monarch.

However, we have a further 'what if'. If Olga became heir in the autumn of 1912, when would she have succeeded? Nicholas was 44 in 1912. Romaov men were not long lived, but he could have expected to live another 15 years or so before dying from natural causes. If Alexei had died in 1912, Rasputin's role would have been much diminished (and, I think, Alexandra's as well). Of course, the war would still have happened, but would the REvolutions have happened when and as they did? Of course, we don't know.

Would Olga have made a good ruler? Of course, Alexander III only succeeded because of the death of his elder brother, and in Britain both George V and George VI were second sons who made excellent rulers. However, I don't think Olga was 'autocrat material'. If she and her advisers had managed a transition to constitutional monarchy, she could have made an excellent monarch, but Olga as autocrat would not have worked. Perhaps the tragedy of Nicholas was that he tried to be an autocrat while being totally ill-equipped for it, and failing to see the need for managed change.

[Rodion_Felix]

The revolution would most likely still happen. But on a later time maby 5-6 years later. If Olga did become a tsarina she would need to do some serious reforms do not get a revolution on her hand. 

But i do belive that a revolution would still happend. But not in 1917. But it would probebly happend before 1940.

[blessOTMA]

The problems for Tsarina Olga  would not just be those forces that were against tsar and tsarism,
but by 1917,  imo, the system of tsarism itself. For example I can't see soft hearted Olga being okay with child labor
and the retched  living conditions factory workers had to endure. Yet would the owners allow her to change them?
Olga  would have to battle those on the  left AND right to made it work. But  by 1916  Olga  told fellow nurse  Valentina Ivanovna Chebotareva, her simple dream was to marry and live in a village.

We know Olga was perceptive and we think about that in terms of her being aware of the forces angist her father and Tsarism.

But when did she learn about what was done by her father and others  in order to keep Tsarism going? That would make me even more depressed and dream of that village.  Because it would be very difficult to deal with that  the wonderful  father you  knew  was  also " Bloody Nicholas"  whose botched reign lurched from disaster to more disaster.


 

[Romanov_fan]

Nicholas did make a lot of mistakes in his reign. But he too was struggling with a archaic system of tsarism in Russia, and mistakes that been made before his time. In his case, he believed in autocracry and never wavered really, although there was a Duma after 1905. He never considered another point of view. I really wouldn't call him Nicholas the Bloody though. Olga may have considered another point of view, or may have had to, considering the rapidly changing times had she come to the throne.

[Sarushka]

However, I don't think Olga was 'autocrat material'. If she and her advisers had managed a transition to constitutional monarchy, she could have made an excellent monarch, but Olga as autocrat would not have worked.

I agree. IMO Olga Nikolaevna had neither the education nor the temperament to become a successful autocrat.

[aleksandr pavlovich]

I agree totally with the tenor of your post #81, "Sarushka."  Further, IMO, it truly is a waste of time and effort to speculate on this subject.  As it stood, none----I repeat-------NONE of these granduchesses were ever within "shouting distance" of succession to the throne.  We all are aware of how the inheritance laws permitted a female to legally succeed and with that still in place, these highly unfortunate and under-prepared girls would NEVER have been able to sit on the Russian throne.  Hopefully, this topic will die out (pun intended), as, IMO, it only serves to feed the fantasizing egos of their respective "admirers."  AP

[RealAnastasia]

I think she could have been a good Tsaritza...HOwver, it's true we can't speculate about what what COULD have happened if it didn't happened at all. I DO admire Olga - I'm very much like her, I like to read, I'm too sensitive and people could think I'm proud when I can't always said what I want to say without seeming pedantic - , but she wouldn't have been an Empress. She wasn't and that's all.

RealAnastasia.

[aleksandr pavlovich]

Thank you for your kind and perceptive response, "RealAnastasia":  Your last sentence "says it all" (for all of them).  Best regards,  AP

[blessOTMA]

 

 As it stood, none----I repeat-------NONE of these granduchesses were ever within "shouting distance" of succession to the throne. 

Well that's true for sure. Even if legal, the throne had become  too hot for even Micheal to remain on it over 24 hours,
much less the girls. And they were not raised in the least for this role, but to be passive always.

[Suzanne]

That's very interesting forum admin. Where do Mossolov and Spiridovich make these statements about Nicholas's conversations with the justice minister regarding the succession. I'm curious to learn more about this.

[Suzanne]

I've tracked down Spiridovich's comments in Volume 1 of his memoirs but I'm still unable to find Mossolov's discussion of this issue in his memoirs. Does anyone have the page numbers?

[RomaFan96]

Here's an article about Olga's possible succession. In it, it suggests that Nicholas himself may have considered Olga as a viable successor to the throne! https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/csparxiv/members/Issues/2012_54_1_2/2012_54_1-2_61_Harris.pdf

[TimM]

We touched upon this in Days, in which the Pauline Laws were repealed and Olga found herself at the head of the line.  At first, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but gradually came to accept it.

I wonder what would have happened in real life...