Attention: "lilianna" and your Reply # 21 : Your mention of the samovar at the Alexander Palace caught my eye. May I quote from King and Wilson's most recent book, "The Resurrection of the Romanovs," the chapter "A Tale of Two Books," page 197: " It was Aucleres, too, who tried to take Gilliard to task over the issue of a samovar. "The park at home (Anna) Anderson said, "was so beautiful: it was like a forest. When it rained and the weather was bad, I liked the chimney corner, the samovar on the table, and drinking tea with good things to eat." This Gilliard attacked as "all very poetical" but untrue, writing that NO SAMOVAR WAS EVER USED IN THE ALEXANDER PALACE (Emphasis mine - AP). "It might seem curious, but it is nontheless true," he said. Aucleres found a photograph showing a samovar in use at MOGILEV (emphasis mine -- AP) when Nicholas II lived there during the First World War, proof --- or so the theory ran --- that Gilliard had lied. Yet Anderson hadn't been discussing Mogilev at all, but TSARSKOE SELO (emphasis mine -- AP), a point that seems to have escaped the notice of the French journalist."
Perhaps your reference as to "1st entrance of the Alexander Palace", "lilianna," is to a samovar that was not within the exclusive perimeter of the Imperial "dwelling" side of the Palace? I, personally, DO find it a bit odd that there was not a samovar at all within the confines of the (entire) palace. Regards, AP.
