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

[Svetabel]

Lady Mary looked very glamourous in the photo. When was it taken ?

1938.

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks !  Was her life recorded in any published book ?

[katmaxoz]

A poem by KR, copied by Grand Duchess Olga.



The page is typographically printed colour letterhead with a coloured illumination. Dated July 22nd 1903

To my darling, dear Grandmother
I'll pick a bunch of flowers for your name day,
Lots of motley fragrant flowers,
Wild roses and sweet-smelling jasmine,
And some wide maple leaves too...

This poem of KR's was copied by Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna for her Grandmother Tsarina Maria Feodorovna

[Eric_Lowe]

Lovely poem and illustration.

[Margot]

Lovely poem and illustration.

'Indeed! Olga N's handwriting is very nice too!!!!


My post contribution like that 'quoted' above is I feel, worthy of deletion as inane pollution!

Except that I would never post something.....without some relevance or at least some thought!

Did KR and the family ever visit Dimitri at Kichkine? If he did so, are there any photographs that may be shared here?

[Eric_Lowe]

I personally never seen one yet. maybe one would pop up in some Russian book.

[Svetabel]

Did KR and the family ever visit Dimitri at Kichkine? If he did so, are there any photographs that may be shared here?

Kichkine was built in 1913, there was a home for Princess Tatiana Kosntantinovna and her family. GD KR spent 1913-1914 years mostly abroad , in Egypt and Europe, as his health was very weak. In 1915 he was very ill till his death in June.
So he didn't visit Kichkine.

[Teddy]

Are there also photo's of his trips during this perioud in Egypt and Europe. Such as GD KR at the phynx. I did not know that he was long periods away during these times from Russia.

[Svetabel]

Are there also photo's of his trips during this perioud in Egypt and Europe. Such as GD KR at the phynx. I did not know that he was long periods away during these times from Russia.

Yes, he had to go abroad for cure and in 1914 had much trouble returning back to Russia as the WW I had began. His daughter Princess Vera decsribed that return very colourfully.

As for the photos I guess they did exist in family albums, but who knows where are they now...In the Archives or scattered around the World in private collections.

[Inok Nikolai]

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

I would like to clear up a slight misconception.

Mother Tamara (née Princess Tatiana Constantinovna) was Abbess of the Holy Ascension Convent, which is located on the very top of the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem.
It is there that she is buried.

The (more well known) Church of St. Mary Magdalene, erected in memory of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, is located on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, above the Garden of Gethsemane.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the Nun Barbara, and Princess Alice of Greece are buried in that convent.

Attached here is an account of the repose and burial of Abbess Tamara.
(In Russian — sorry, no time to translate it now, but at least it's available.)

Quite fittingly, Abbess Tamara reposed on the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Assumption), August 15/27 (1979), at the age of 89.

Her sister, Princess Vera Constantinovna, and her son, Teimuraz Bagration and his spouse were present for her repose and funeral.

(Sorry, but we still can't get the new scanner to do multiple pages as a one-page jpg.)

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks for the info. Not too much of that on Mother Tamara. (Princess Tatiana of Russia).

[Inok Nikolai]

Here's what wikipedia (cited Paul Theroff's site) had to say:

"Georgi, who never married, became a successful interior designer. He died of complications following surgery in New York City at the age of 35."

Mavra did manage to bring out some jewels and other items which she gave to a Swedish diplomat to carry--good thing, since their luggage was repeatedly searched while on board the Angermanland. George lived at first with his mother in Sweden (also in Belgium and Germany) then Great Britain and later the US. He worked as a clerk at Saks Fifth Ave. in NYC during the day and had an active nightlife amongst NY society. He apparently delighted in getting covered dishes from automatic lunch dispensers. He developed appendicitis in 1938 and, while the operation itself was successful, he developed pneumonia, then peritonitis. He died in the hospital and was initially buried in Long Island. His sister, Vera, later had him moved to a Russian Orthodox cemetery in Nanuet, NY. [information from Gilded Prism, the book on the Constantinovichi]

Since many might not know it, I would like to point out that that cemetery in Nanuet, NY, is the one located at the Novo Diveevo Convent mentioned in other postings.

(The nearest local town used to be Spring Valley, so that is how many Russians still refer to it. Often "Nanuet" doesn't register with them.)

Princess Vera Constantinovna herself was later buried in the same cemetery, as was her nephew, Prince Teimuraz Bagration.

BTW: That is also where Marguarita Khitrovo-Erdeli, Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna's good friend, is buried.

[Inok Nikolai]

Did she look back in anger or sadness ?

Well, obviously, she grieved over what had happened to her immediate family, and to the Imperial family, and her Russian homeland, but she was not a sad or gloomy person, dwelling in the past.
She was quite a forward-looking individual, involved in all sorts of organizations, especially considering what she had been through.

The post No. 277 above sums it up pretty well (except for the part concerning her views on the glorification of the New Martyrs of Russia — more on that another time).

Did she ever wanted to go back to Russia ? 

No.

Princess Vera Constantinovna reposed on January 11, 2001, at the age of 94, at the Tolstoy Foundation facilities.
The funeral was held on January 15, at the Convent of the Dormition in Nanuet / Spring Valley, NY.
She was buried in the cemetery there, next to her brother George, whose body she had had reburied there years before.

An obituary appeared in the English-language journal Orthodox Life, Vol. 51, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2001, pp. 17-21.