In the "Host of White Duchesses" documentary on FrozenTears - http://www.frozentears.org/Sasha/Spikes/White.Duchesses.01.m4v
Part 1 - 23:30-23:50
Is that Wilhelm on Ella? At first I thought it was Alix but how he is doting on her makes me think it must be Ella. Grin
If anyone watches it who speaks Russian could you tell what it says right in that part please?
The narrator is simply reading the entries from Tsar Nicholas' diary and letters concerning Wilhelm's visit.
My command of the Russian language is not good enough to understand the text, so I hope the following makes sense.
To the footage at 23:00-23:25:
On 26 September, 1903 (O.S.), during his stay in Darmstadt, Tsar Nicholas wrote in his diary that “a very beautiful carousel took place in the manege” of the Hessian Dragoon Regiment of which he was the regimental proprietor.
To the footage at 23:30-23:45:
Nicholas visited his Dragoon Regiment again on October 14, 1903 (O.S.). Manfred Knodt’s biography of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse includes a picture of a
Reiterfest of the Tsar's Hessian Dragoons in their barracks area. The photo shows a setting very similar to the one seen in the footage at 23:30-23:50. According to its caption, Empress Alexandra , Princess Irene of Prussia and Princess Alice of Greece attended the event. Ella was not mentioned, as she and Sergei had already left Darmstadt. Kaiser Wilhelm wasn't present either. The gentleman ‘doting’ on Alexandra probably was not Kaiser Wilhelm but may have been the regimental commander, Lt. Col. Werner
Freiherr von Waldenfels; neither the footage nor the picture is clear enough to establish the identity of the gentleman.
