Anastasia:
I am in the final stages of a translation of At the Court of Two Emperors by AF Tiutcheva, who was a lady-in-waiting to Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, from the time that she was Tsesarevna and in the first few years of A II's reign, she was then governess for GD Maria Aleksandrovna and Sergei Aleksandrovich.
Family connections were a large part of who was chosen as a lady-in-waiting. In the case of Tiutcheva, it was certainly her father's connections that helped her with this appointment, but surprisingly, MA chose her over her more attractive sisters, precisely because she was less attractive, older, and well-educated (she went to school in Munich).
I will let you know once I have completed this and found a suitable publisher.