Dear Joanna,
This is the bedroom belonging to one of Empress Marie's suites on the Standart. They were located on port side on the main deck. The suites for Nicholas and Alexandra were located on the same deck on starboard. Remember that "my" pictures were taken in 1896 when Standart was delivered to the Imperial Navy and hence give an impression of the ship as how she looked initially. Obviously Nicholas and Alexandra made a lot of changes, alterations and modifications to Standart to:
- suit their own taste
- accomodate their expanding family
- keep Standart technically advanced and up-to-date
The suites for Empress Marie were, approximately 1912, refurbished to accomodate the four Grand Duchesses, as to provide each of them an own cabin. Alexei had his own suites from birth onwards.
No non-member of the Imperial Family would be accomodated in the Imperial Suites. Guest rooms, rooms for staff and officers were located on the main deck before the engine room. The Imperial Suites were located behind the engine room.
Dear Joanna,
I could not open the link to Beinecke and hence can not help to identify the picture; Alexandra's suites were however quite quickly redecorated in her "own" style (chintz in her favourite colours, etc.).
Nicholas and Alexandra did officially NOT share the same bedroom on board the Standart; their set of private suites had separate beds. Their suites were however adjacent to each other and had connecting doors .......
Dear Douglas,
I consider it less elegant that you replace a picture that I removed from the board; when quoting please quote correctly.
Dear All,
I have been watching over your shoulders over the last year and still consider this forum to be an exceptional opportunity to exchange our knowledge on all aspects of Imperial Russia.
H A R A L D
