Why did OTMA never have their own rooms?

[clockworkgirl21]

I remember a letter Maria wrote to her father, and she mentioned wanting to have her own room. Maybe Nikolai and Alix thought that would be spoiling them too much? I've also wondered what would have happened if Anastasia had been a boy, and they would have had only three girls. Would OT have their own room, and M her own room? Or would they all three have shared one? I know we don't have any real answers, but it's interesting to think about.

[ferngully]

i thought that too. they could each have had their own room. but i also got the impression they liked each others company as well, so sharing a room wasn't too much of a chore in a way. if anastaisa was a boy, i think maybe all 3 would have had a room, or olga might have had her own room as the oldest while tatiana and marie could have shared
selina                                      xxxxxxxxxx

[Romanov_fan]

I think they liked sharing a room, and I think that Nicholas and Alexandra didn't want to spoil them too much or anything, and seeing as they got along so well, may not have wanted to change that by putting them in different rooms. Both pairs of sisters were very united, and I am not sure they would have wanted separate rooms.

[ferngully]

when they got older i'm sure they did

[clockworkgirl21]

It may not have mattered very much when they were little kids. When I was little, I didn't mind sharing a room with my sister. But when they got older, I'm sure there were times when they wished they had a room all to themselves. I'll look for Maria's letter...

[Romanov_fan]

I am sure they had their moments of not wanting to share a room. I think, though, they took it better than some other sisters would have, as they got older, which is saying something. But thanks for reminding me that it's only human not to want to share a room with your sister as you get older. I never wanted to share a room with my sister, even when I was little as we are complete opposites. We are long past the days of sharing a room, now. Otma no doubt had moments they didn't want to share.

[Forum Admin]

Been meaning to jump in here for a while. First, you guys are judging the situation by modern ideas.  In Late Victorian times siblings NEVER had their own individual rooms. A child, even a grand duchess would not  recieve their "own rooms" until they were considered adults.  Had WWI and the Revolution not intervened, Olga, on reaching her 18th birthday would have been given her own apartments in a Palace along with a stipend for expenses and her own staff.  Each GD would have gotten the same on reaching 18.  

For a good example of this, read the first chapters of Volkov, where he describes life with the young and single Grand Duke Paul.

It simply NEVER would have occurred to the GDs to WANT their own rooms, nor to Alexandra to have given it to them. The notion of children having their own rooms is a luxury of the late 20th and 21st century.

[Romanov_fan]

Well, yes, that is true. I think wasn't it also part of how Imperial children were supposed to be raised, in a spartan, no nonsense way, with camp beds, and cold showers,etc. I believe that's true, and I think it's from Nicholas and Alexandra. It was the kind of ''military'' upbringing that Nicholas himself had. That's what I meant when I said Nicholas and Alexandra woudn't have wanted to spoil them, as separate rooms, was not part of this upbringing that Imperial children traditionally had. Correct me if I'm error. You are correct, it's too much of a modern mindset, saying that they would have wanted their own rooms. Thanks for your post.

[Sophia_Skymind]

Hi!

I agree with the idea that having your "own room" his kind of a modern way of seing youth's lives. But how come Olga wasn't given hers? She reached eighteen years of age before the war. Maybe the Big Pair didn't felt like being split up. I mean, Nicholas and Alexandra weren't the kind of parents who simply rule their children. I think that when it came to "big" decisions like these, they were concerned by their kids' opinions on the matter.

OTMA weren't spoiled, but I think that in a way, they were raised in a much more modern way of seing life then other people of their age in royal families about the same time. Alexandra was strict, but she was a much more democratic mother than other women of the early century.

[Margarita Markovna]

I was reading Tatiana's diary/letter page again on the APTM main site, and found this:

February 23, 1917, p.226
"... We are so sad now. Everyone burst into tears as soon as you left. We spend almost all our time upstairs. Olga is lying in bed in her bedroom. Aleksey is in the playing-room. We take turns to visit them.

Wouldn't she have said "our bedroom"? Maybe by then they had their own rooms?

[Darkness_tillXx]

Wow, thats very puzzling....at first I thought it must've been Maria's letter..but if it's labelled as Tatiyana's..wait, where was the letter written? During the house arrest, right? So they weren't out of the palace yet? Wait, they must've still been in it if Aleksei had a playing room. Nevermind.   maybe they did have their own rooms..I mean, Olga was already over 18, and she's the one that's mentioned as lying in her bedroom, so maybe it was such a little event for her to have her own bedroom (little because they were in midst of a war, house arrest, revolution, etc. they had more important things to worry/write about) that it wasnt mentioned in any other place.
Another idea popped into my head..bt I'm sure I'm wrnog since I don't remember exact dates or anything..maybe Olga was still under illness from..typhoid, was it? The illness that OTAA contracted..um..I can't believe I forget the name. Anyway, maybe olga was separated from the res tof TMAA for a while and so Tatiyana referred to wherever Olga was lying as her bedroom..for the moment.
Just a wild thought.

[Margarita Markovna]

I think it was measles they had.

[clockworkgirl21]

It would be lucky for Tatiana and Anastasia that they were the youngest of their pairs. When Olga moved out, Tatiana would have her own room before she was 18, and the same for Anastasia.   But why would the war have stopped it anyway? Moving into another room isn't exactly a huge deal.  :-/

[Darkness_tillXx]

Well maybe it depends on how many things Olga had..especdially being the oldest and all.  Like FA said, we have to look at it the standards of their time..not ours.