Grand Duchess Ksenia and Grand Duke Alexander

[Svetabel]

A little older, again with her mother. Probably in Anichkov palace

[Eddie_uk]

I have become interested in Hampton Court lately and especially Wilderness House where the GD Ksenia died.  Are there any good links to pictures of the Wilderness House?  Does anyone know who lived there with her? 
Thank you,
Sara

Apparently in the earlier days of her exile she had a lot of female retainers according to Marie Pavlovna the younger. I belive I read that following a survey at either Frogmore Cottage or Wilderness House over 20 people were in residence!! Queen Maud once complained of her "large useless family" and i think a lot of her sons lived with her. Xenia was looked after by a nun, Mother Marta (?), in her final years. Apparently they often had trouble with Cooks. I belive this is all documented in Coryne Hall & John van der Kistes book. I don't have it to hand.

[ashdean]

I have become interested in Hampton Court lately and especially Wilderness House where the GD Ksenia died.  Are there any good links to pictures of the Wilderness House?  Does anyone know who lived there with her? 
Thank you,
Sara

Apart from servants there was the formidable mother Martha (a nun of aristocratic background) and for many years her grandson Prince Alexander...

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

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click on the image for larger version

Sandro & Ksenia in their costumes
for the 1903 Winter palace costume
(boyars) Ball



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[Svetabel]

Thanks, Brian, for the picture! Curiously that I've never seen that sitting from the 1903 Ball, I mean exactly that sitting with Sandro on the floor 

[lori_c]

Forgive my ignorance, but does the costume of GD Xenia w/headdress exist today?  Is it on display?  perhaps in the Kremlin?

[Valmont]

I really don't think so, besides, if it is, it would be without the jewells, and I believe, she was wearing some of MF's jewells, at leat in her headpiece.

Arturo Vega-Llausás

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

Forgive my ignorance, but does the costume of GD Xenia w/headdress exist today?  Is it on display?  perhaps in the Kremlin?

actually, the dress does still exist (in the costume collection of the Hermitage museum in St.Petersburg), minus the jewels, of course.   as far as i know, the headress no longer exists.   since it was made of some type of cardboard, it probably wouldn't have been retained, once the jewels had been removed from it.   



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[Eric_Lowe]

Very different without the jewels...

[dmitri]

Don't forget Eric that the original photo was black and white. I think the colour photo of the garment is rather beautiful. Apart from portraits we have no real way of knowing what these people looked like in the flesh. I know most people look much better in colour than black and white.

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes...however without the sparkle of the gems. the dress dress is just gold and silver thread ? I think they should put imiitation stones on it and recreate the headdress. That will be prefect. 

[dmitri]

yes but paste never glitters .. it gives an idea but it never glitters ... I remember seeing the crown of Queen Alexandra on display at the National Army Museum in London and all the diamonds had been replaced by paste. It simply did not glitter at all. The same museum has the orders and decorations of the late Duke of Windsor. It's well worth a visit.

[lori_c]

Forgive my ignorance, but does the costume of GD Xenia w/headdress exist today?  Is it on display?  perhaps in the Kremlin?

actually, the dress does still exist (in the costume collection of the Hermitage museum in St.Petersburg), minus the jewels, of course.   as far as i know, the headress no longer exists.   since it was made of some type of cardboard, it probably wouldn't have been retained, once the jewels had been removed from it.   



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During this costume ball, did those who attended wear replicas or was their surviving regalia from the period?  It doesn't seem feasible but I was wondering......  It would seem the originals could not have survived the ravages of time.
Also, were the jewels pilfered or are they part of the State's collection now?

[ashanti01]

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/ashanti01/youssoupov/?action=view&current=1954IRINAXENIA.jpg

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/ashanti01/youssoupov/?action=view&current=irinaxenia1950s.jpg

Xenia and Irina in 1954

[Valmont]

If I wouldn't have known who they were I would probably had asked who was the older lady next to Ksenia.  Irina looks older than her mother in this pictures

Arturo Vega-Llausás