Everyday life of NAOTMAA - your quick questions

[GDSophie]

Hello! I'm new to this forum, only officially talking on threads since last week, and I need some help!

It's like the subject title says: I have been tasked by my history teacher in 6th form (another form of school in the UK) to write about any point of history. Luck has been bestowed on me and I picked out 'The Romanovs' from a hat! (Thank you, luck!)

After asking my teacher for what he specifically wants, he told me I need to write about:

1. Each member of the family-anecdotes, quotes from people who personally knew the family etc (it is about the Romanovs generally after all!)

2. Imprisonment.

3. Execution.

4. Claimants (not just Anna Anderson).

5. Bodies from the 1991 search.

6. Bodies from the 2007 search.

7. Conclusion.

I have already written about Alexandra and Nicholas, but it's the rest of it I'm confused about. I have been 'stalking' this forum for months and (no offence) but the arguments and always going off topic (usually about AA) has confused me quiet a bit.

I would appreciate any help given. I want to ace this assessment, being the growing Romanov nerd I am!

To not confuse me and my teacher, I would like to talk about Olga firstly then Tatiana, then Maria, Anastasia and then Alexei. Then Imprisonment followed by execution, claimants and the findings of the bodies from both years.

I can show snippets of the draft paper as I write (can't show my final piece until it's done!) to show you all how it's going.

Thank you!

~Sophie

[Forum Admin]

All of your information can be found by searching this Forum and by going to the Main APTM page alexanderpalace.org/palace.

[Romanov_Fan19]

Which Grand Dukes  escorted The Tsars  Daughters 

[edubs31]

Try looking at some videos online showing the family's procession. You get a pretty good look at the Tsar, Empress and OTMA. If memory serves I feel like Anastasia was being escorted by Dmitri Pavlovich but I could be wrong. I couldn't seem to find any clear footage doing a quick YouTube search of my own but I'm pretty certain its available...perhaps video links on here as well.

[Ally Kumari]

Which Grand Dukes  escorted The Tsars  Daughters 

Olga by Mikhail Alexandrovich, Tatiana by Kyril Vladimirovich, Maria by Boris Vladimirovich, Anastasia by Dmitri Pavlovich. You can see them in processsion side by side in this video if you skip to 2:40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyv4TAoevdc

[Romanov_Fan19]

Thanks  everyone

[Rodney_G.]

Ally is quite right. And that video, though brief, is well worth seeing. Also, OTMA's escorts are by proximity of relation  to the Emperor  after his uncles, as was customary in formal occasions of the monarchy. Thus: Olga/Mikhail (Nicholas' brother); Tatiana/Kyril V.(oldest uncle's eldest son; Maria/ Boris V. , second Vladimirovich  after Kyril V.;and Anastasia/ Dmitry Pavlovich, youngest uncle's only son.

I'm not sure if Andrei Vladimirovich was younger than Dimitry. I suspect so or there may have been some other reason for him not escorting.

[Kalafrana]

Andrei Vladimirovich was born in 1879, Dimitri in 1891. On the basis of seniority, Andrei would be the obvious person, but perhaps his liaison with Nicholas's former mistress, Mathilde Kschessinska ruled him out. That said, Boris's liaisons were notorious, and Nicholas had exiled both Mikhail and Kirill for unsuitable marriages.

Ann

[edubs31]

I always get a kick out of wondering what Dmitri Pavlovich's mood must have been escorting around Anastasia. I'm guessing she was excited to be led around by her dashing cousin. He on the other hand I'm not so sure..."Ugh I get stuck with this little brat?" comes to mind, lol. Perhaps he was flattered and grateful to even get to take part however, especially given his lower standing in the family as a young Grand Duke not yet 22-years of age.

No chance Olga would have been paired with him. Even had the order and pairings been arbitrary I'm quite certain Alexandra would not have permitted the young man of "questionable character" to walk arm in arm with her eldest daughter. Wasn't it around this time Alix shot down any possibility of Dmitri as a marriage prospect for Olga?

[GDSophie]

The recent birth of the Prince and how they announce the name has got me thinking on how the Romanovs, especially the Tsar, announced the name of their children.

I know they announce the birth with a number of cannon shots from Peter and Paul Fortress depending on the gender, but how did they inform the public of the baby name before it hit the newspapers?

[TimM]

That's a good question.  No such thing as radio or television back then.

[Превед]

I know they announce the birth with a number of cannon shots from Peter and Paul Fortress depending on the gender, but how did they inform the public of the baby name before it hit the newspapers?

The Ministry of the Imperial Court probably issued some proclamation, but perhaps not untill the actual baptism? It's unlikely there was much demand to know before it was in the papers. The choice of names was much more limited than in modern, Western monarchies, so you could quite safely bet that the newborn royal would be called Alexander, Nikolay, Pavel, Maria, Alexandra or Olga.

[Превед]

I'm looking into Greg King's "The Court of the Last Tsar" regarding royal births and he describes the ceremonies surrounding Alexey Nikolayevich's birth and baptism as an example: No mention is made of a gun salute at the birth; only salutes of 301 shots from Kronstadt and the Fortress of Saints Peter and Paul at the end of the baptism (11 days after the birth). He doesn't say anything about the announcement of the name, but it sounds like it must have been known straight at the birth, as the newborn infant immediately was awarded various imperial orders, enrolled in the Imperial Guards, appointed Ataman of all Cossacks and it was announced that all soldiers in the Imperial Army fighting in the ongoing war against Japan would be named honorary godfathers. It's hard to imagine these honorary, but official acts being performed if the subject of them had no name or the soldiers didn't know what name they sponsored as godfathers.

[Превед]

I see that my local provincial Norwegian newspaper announced the birth of the heir on the day following the birth (13th of August 1904), but did not name him. The paper noted that his birth would be welcomed by everyone, except those who wished for revolution! and hoped that NII would keep his promise of granting Russia a constitution when a male heir was born.

The name ("prins Alexius"!) was mentioned (in an exposition of the new heir's genealogy) in this Norwegian paper 13 days later, on the 26th of August, a week before the baptism on the 3rd of September.  (Greg King is mistaken about the baptism being 11 days after the birth, he has probably mixed up Old and New Style.)

[Превед]

From Alexey Nikolayevich's Russian Wikipedia article:

Из телеграммы Барона Фредрикса
Петербург 30 июля. Её Величество Государыня Императрица Александра Федоровна благополучно разрешилась от бремени Сыном, наследником-Цесаревичем и Великим Князем, нареченным при святой молитве Алексеем, 30 июля сего года, в 1 час 15 мин. пополудни в Петергофе.
Подписал: Министр Императорского Двора генерал-адъютант барон Фредерикс.
=
From a telegramm by Baron Freedericksz
Petersburg, 30 July [OS]. Her Majesty Sovereign Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna was safely delivered of the burden of a son, the Heir-Tsesarevich and Grand Duke, named by? / at? holy prayer Alexey, on July 30 this year, at 1:15. PM in Peterhof.
Signed: Minister of the Imperial Court General-Adjutant Baron Freedericksz.

So yes, the name was known from the birth. The telegramm was probably sent to different authorities and soon spread to the media.