From Spiridovitch "Les Dernieres Annees..." my translation from the French:
May 14 they held a charity bazaar with the white flower festival on the jetty. This had been organized by the Empress who chose the location herself, despite the fact that it did not seem to convenient for such a use. However, the Standardt was anchored in front of the jetty, so if the Empress was not well she could leave the festival at any time and retire to her cabin. It was also equally convenient for the children.
The authorities on land did everything possible in their power to disrupt the festival from taking place on the jetty, believing that the navy already played too predominant a role. However all of their intrigues ran up against the wishes of the Empress.
They decided that the children would take part in a scavenger hunt. Uri Alexandrovitch Kovako, a fat country landowner, and father of a large family enjoyed the friendship of Their Majesties, was charged with organizing ceremony of the scavenger hunt. An old officer of the Grodnenski Hussars, he still always wore the uniform. Kovako possessed some of the talents of society: he danced the mazurka admirably well and painted handsome oil portraits of the Emperor. He succeeded particularly well in reproducing the kind face of the Sovereign.
Kovako had built a huge wicker basket on wheels, into which he put his seven children, my little girl Xenia, the daughters of Count Kapnist, the grand daughter of Dyedyuline and the little Spendyarov children. Two sailors from the yacht were charged by the Empress to pull the vehicle along the quay. The children did the scavenger hunt, which was very fruitful. The Empress distributed to the children ribbons carrying the date of the festival, post cards signed with her name and she herself acted really quite kindly toward the children while they could only revere her.
The public was admitted, without any restriction, onto the jetty, where dense crowds were unending. Each person wanted to receive something from the hand of the Empress. More than one among us was struck by the stark contrast existing between the enthusiasm of those crowds and the malevolence of the high society of Petersburg.
