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

[Romanov_fan]

Thanks for the information about him, everyone! I think he was a very intelligent man, and I can see him being destroyed by his son's death. He could never have survived the tragedies that beset his family, in later years. I think he married and had children because it was expected of Romanov men to do that, and he seems to have been quite attached to his wife, although perhaps it was intellectual as much as anything else, they obviously had no problems with fertility as Sergei and Ella might have had. He may have been bisexual, that's possible. I think his most important role was as poet, myself.

[grandduchessella]

[Yseult]

Oh...he looks so handsome and she looks very gentle, a delightful creature!

[grandduchessella]

Mavra in court dress

[grandduchessella]

KR at the piano

[Yseult]

Mavra was one of the few Romanov brides to be photographed. There are a couple pictures of her in her wedding dress, here is a colored one courtesy of the New York Public Library.

¡Qué bonita! What a pretty thing!!

She seems so sweet and lovable! Has she a good relationship with her Romanov relatives? With Ella?

[grandduchessella]

She seems to have been well-liked. I think because of her gentle personality she didn't run into conflicts with the more forceful personalities in the family. She and Ella were close, especially in the early days since both were young princesses who remained Lutheran in a very Orthodox family. I think there was a little distancing when Ella converted as Mavra felt a little betrayed but there was no breach and both of them were very supportive of Ella when Serge was assassinated.

[Yseult]

I am thinking that at this time had a lot of fascinating ladies into de Romanov circle...

It must have been great to be present and see in the same moment at the same place Minnie, Miechen, Ella, Mavra, old Alexandra Iosiofna, Xenia and Olga Alexandrovna, Alix...

[Romanov_fan]

I think KR and Mavra had a very happy marriage actually, more than some other Romanovs I could think of. She made a lovely bride. This was indeed a time of interesting Romanov Women.

[Linnea]

Princess Vera, his sister, did not say much about either on this subject.

Svetabel, did Vera write memoires too or was she interviewed or something like that?

btw, Princess Elena Petrovna forbade her children speaking Russian!  

That´s sad, but one can understand it in a way, I think.

[Svetabel]

Princess Vera, his sister, did not say much about either on this subject.

Svetabel, did Vera write memoires too or was she interviewed or something like that?

Vera did not write memoires  , I think her reminiscences could be quite interesting..She was interviewed by some historians and journalists, for example, by Staffan Scott, who wrote the famous book "The Romanovs".

[Teddy]

Svetabel, You have so many photo's about this branch of the Romanov family. I like the one, with tatiana who looks like a peasant girl.

Where did you got that one? Which book?

[grandduchessella]

Tatiana as Mother Tamara at the convent in Jerusalem where she was Mother Superior. She, Ella and Alice Battenberg are all buried here.

[Svetabel]

What was Vera's life like, she was pretty young when the revolution happened.

Well, as for Princess Vera I think her life was quite interesting after the Revolution. After 1918 year she lived in Sweden (where she became friends with Princess Astrid, future Queen of Belgium), then in Belguim and after all Vera and her mother settled in Germany, in Altenburg. Vera was a sportswoman and a member of German yacht-club "Hansa" (I guess her grandfather GD KN would have been delighted if he only lived ), she lead a high life and once second spouse of Kaiser Wilhelm II even made an attempt marrying  Vera to a son of Crownprince Wilhelm. Vera refused to be a Prussian Princess --she never married. During WW II she lived in Germany and only in 1945 Vera with some of her relatives left Altenburg (as the Soviet Army was coming near to Leipzig), moving towards the West. She settled in Hamburg and worked as an interpeter in the Red Cross. Only in 1951 she moved to the USA. Staffan Scott, a Swedish journalist, who interviewed Vera in the end of the 1980s, was simply fascinated with her energy,liveliness and tenacous memory. So pity she did not write memoires...

[Romanov_fan]

Thanks for that information on Vera's life! It does sound like she had an interesting life. It would have been hard to find that information myself, so thanks. It is a pity that she did not write her memoirs. Of this branch of the Romanov family, she was perhaps the happiest, and had the best life of KR's children.