Grand Duke Konstantin (KR) and his family- discussion and pictures, Part I

[grandduchessella]

When I was combing through the Times archives looking for godparents for the Imperial children (not that it helped me!), I came across a small notice stating that there'd been a reported attempt on Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna's life by a fanatical Orthodox because of her refusal to convert. Now, try as I might I CANNOT find that citation for further details or even any follow up. Has anyone else heard this and knows whether or not it's true?

[ChristineM]

Mavra, the Grand Duchess Constantine was Lutheran.   She worshipped at the Lutheran Church in Tsarskoe Selo.   I knew the late Rene Beerman (born 1904) whose father was Lutheran Pastor there until shortly after the revolution.  

When KR died, Rene's father was invited to Pavlovsk to comfort the new widow.  

On the day KR's body was being taken from Pavlovsk to St Petersburg, Rene pled with his father to allow him to accompany him to Pavlovsk.   The boy was left outside in the courtyard.   Along with a gathering of the staff, he stood at the foot of the steps leading to the main door of the Palace.  He recalled the first of the notables to exit the house was Nicholas II.   The young lad stood transfixed staring into the eyes of his Emperor.   Nicholas responded, looking straight into Rene's eyes with a gentle smile.   Rene told me he 'never saw such blue eyes again'.  

tsaria

[Svetabel]

Hi!

I read in some books that  Oleg Konstantinovicth,the most talented son of Grand Duke Konstantin ,was engaged with daughter of Grand Duke Petr Nikolaevich,Nadejda..What year  engagement take place? In 1914? And I`ve never seen pictures of Princess Nadejda...Could anyone help me in such searching?

[Annie]

Lisa just posted this on another thread, thanks Lisa! This is when she escaped on the Marlborough. She must have been so sad to know that her finacee did not survive the war

[Svetabel]

Thanks you all!
Really a sad picture....

[grandduchessella]

Thanks you all!
Really a sad picture....

This was on the Marlborough wasn't it? I know it was as they sailed away from Russia (in the background). Makes it even sadder when you think it's the last sight they also had of Russia.

[Greg_King]

For a detailed account of Oleg's life, there's "Kniaz Oleg," originally published in Petersburg in 1915 after his death, and republished in Kiev about 7-8 years ago-it has a lot of material-letters, diary entries, and photos.

Greg King

[Penny_Wilson]

Knyaz Oleg was originally published privately by Oleg's parents, KR and Elizabeth Mavrikievna.  It was a collection of essays by and about Oleg, with contributions from family members, tutors, friends, fellow solders, etc.  Each copy had two original watercolors and a poem or two by Oleg bound into them, so each copy was different.  In his 1915 diary, Grand Duke Andrei writes about going to the Marble Palace to visit Mavra after KR's death, and being given his copy at that time.

I believe that there was a limited edition print run made available to the public in 1915/1916 with proceeds of sales going to support war/refugee efforst.

I have seen the copies of this book that belonged to Princesses Vera and Tatiana Konstantinovna, so it's possible to say that this book was important enough to each of them that they brought them out of the country when they escaped.  Greg and I have a copy of the book, and a facsimile of the one that belonged to Vera Konstantinovna -- in cooperation with the Jordanville Monastery, a limited number of facsimiles were produced, complete with an inscription from Vera.  If I can figure out my current scanner difficulties, I will scan in one of the watercolors and send them to the FA for posting here.

On the subject of Oleg's engagement, I can't remember where I read it (maybe in In The Marble Palace, maybe in Gabriel K's unpublished memoirs(from which ITMP was taken), or maybe in Andrei's 1915 diary), but it seems that Nadezhda's mother, GDss Militza, was something less than pleased with the match, because she believed that the Konstantinovichi branch of the family was beneath hers.  Gabriel recalled an uncomfortable visit to the Peter Nikolaieviches after Oleg's death where Militza was not as consoling as she might have been...

In any case, now that the current issue of Atlantis (Summer 2004) is completed and being printed and bound for mailing this week, Greg and I are hard at work on the next issue (Winter 2005 -- Januaryish), which will be devoted to the Konstantinovichi.  We want this to be the largest publication thus far on the Konstantinovichi, and it will contain the latest research on all these subjects and more...  

[Hellfire]

I am facinated with K.R., his family and i was wondering if he and his  family were close to the Imperial family and with Ella and Sergei?

Are there pictures of K.R. with the family and the family with K.R.'s children.  

I also recently read that K.R. was becoming attached with Prince Felix jr. and when Ella came to find out she put a stop to it.  there is also a picture of Felix with K.R. lying together in each others arms.  in those times men were more affectionate but still i would guess that some members of the family knew or suspected or K.R.'s tendencies.  becasue why would Ella put a stop to a friendly frindship between felix and K.R.  and i would also guess that Ella knew of Felix's tendencies.  what intrigued me as well was that when Dimitri was becoming attached to Felix no one said anything except Alix.

 Does anyone have the said pictures of K.R. and Felix?

[Annie]

I don't have the pic, I heard about it on this site, if anyone has it please post it. But are you sure it was KR himself and not one of his sons? His sons were the age of Felix, KR was older than Felix's mother and had been a suitor of hers.

[grandduchessella]

I don't have the pic, I heard about it on this site, if anyone has it please post it. But are you sure it was KR himself and not one of his sons? His sons were the age of Felix, KR was older than Felix's mother and had been a suitor of hers.

I have heard of the photo too, but never seen it anywhere. I don't know if, feeling as conflicted as he did, KR would've become involved, even somewhat, with someone so close to family (in proximity and friendship). I know Ella & Mavra were close for at least a time before Ella's conversion as they came in relatively close to one another and neither converted (though Ella did of course) from Lutheranism. KR was one of only 2 Grand Dukes (Paul being the other) who attended Serge's funeral. Most of the others hid out afraid of the terrorists and KR even got some criticism from the family for making them look bad. GDss Marie A also attended her brother's funeral--no shrinking violet she! Also, Tatiana K, after the deaths of both her husbands while she was still young, eventually entered the convent of St Mary Magadalene in Jerusalem where Ella was interred and served as the Mother Superior until her death in 1970. She used the name Mother Tamara, I believe. I'm not sure if she's buried there, but I believe so which would make Ella, Alice Battenberg and Tatiana.

[Hellfire]

In a lot of pictures i have seen K.R. and Sergei seem to always be together.  were they close?  i have always heard that Sergei and Paul were close but hat can be expected from brothers but I have seldom heard about K.R. and Sergei being very close.

i have read that K.R and an other GD were the only ones who attended the funeral of Sergei and even helped out Ella with the funeral arrangements but that is it.  was Alix not there for her sister?   A lot of people in the Romanov circle seemed to put down or talk bad about Sergei especially Sandro other memenbers as well.  K.R is the only one who remained silent.  maybe because he and Sergei were very close?  then why isin't it mentioned?  what did Nicholas say about his uncle/brother-in-law?  what did Alix have to say about him as well?

[LisaDavidson]

As to people attending Serge's funeral - the Imperial Family was strongly advised against attending. Security was a very real issue and no one knew how far reaching the plots were. To insist on going in spite of this advise would have meant also potentially putting the lives of others in danger. After the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, all of them realized they were sitting ducks.

[Teddy]

Who haves pictures of K.R. or his family with the IF?

[ashanti01]

In a lot of pictures i have seen K.R. and Sergei seem to always be together.  were they close?  i have always heard that Sergei and Paul were close but hat can be expected from brothers but I have seldom heard about K.R. and Sergei being very close.

i have read that K.R and an other GD were the only ones who attended the funeral of Sergei and even helped out Ella with the funeral arrangements but that is it.  was Alix not there for her sister?   A lot of people in the Romanov circle seemed to put down or talk bad about Sergei especially Sandro other memenbers as well.  K.R is the only one who remained silent.  maybe because he and Sergei were very close?  then why isin't it mentioned?  what did Nicholas say about his uncle/brother-in-law?  what did Alix have to say about him as well?

Many family members were asking in tears to attend the funeral but because of security reasons, Nicholas II forbade it.

KR was in truth basically one of the few close members of the family there to support Ella for the first couple of days, which would have been in my mind the hardest