Sunburned

[Mir_Maria]

one of the MANY books written about the romanovs desreibed that Alex also didt like that marie didnt protected her skin from getting sun burned then was fair skin fashion i dont know if this was true (they write all kinds of things you know ?) but if anyone have some knowlegde about this plz share it

[ferngully]

well you said it, it was the fashion to have fair skin to distinguish you from the working class, so alix didn't like it that marie didn't protect her skin
selina                         xxxxxxxxxxx

[Margarita Markovna]

When the family went to Rumania in 1914 to visit Prince Carol and see if he and Olga would be suited for each other, Olga had already decided she didn't want to marry him so OTMA went "tanning" and had sunburns on arrival. I can only imagine Alix's displeasure.

[Ivan Komarov]

Oh dear...I live in a completely different country in a different century, and yet I still would fear the wrath of Alexandra.
 

[grandduchess_42]

really? i can just see alix now!

there was a picture where she did look sunburned. i'll try to find it.

[observer]

That's hilarious about the tanning standoff. What a fabulous idea. Although nowadays if you're pale people think you're a martian or something.
It seems like I also read that because Olga had already eschewed Prince Carol the sisters also acted somewhat unruly. Well, that may be too strong a word but they may have acted as disinterested and blase as they possibly could get away with.
Is there truth to that or did I hallucinate?

[Janet_W.]

I don't think Alexandra was quite the virago about her daughter's sunbathing that is being portrayed here.  From what I've read, she was baffled, but not furious.

Re: the three day venture to Romania, Alexandra was undoubtedly displeased to find that her daughters were all uniformly sunburned, and not just because of the pain and peeling skin that would follow, but because her daughters would be on public view during the visit. Overall, however, Alexandra would not have been promoting an alliance via her daughter: she was not fond of her cousin Marie and was not ready to let go of her daughters, especially to a Machiavellian court as existed in Romania.  

As for Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia, they had joined their sister in the sunbathing conspiracy and found hilarity in the idea of their sister marrying Carol. I'm sure they also felt threatened by the prospect, but since Olga didn't like Carol, Carol didn't like Olga, and their parents were against any marriage without love, the hilarity predominated, and winks, nudgings, kicks under the table, etc., were undoubtedly present, in contrast to the sober posings for the camera.

[OlgaNRomanovaFan]

I agree with the notion that Alexandra was more baffled than angry. In Greg King's The Last Empress there is a quote from one of Alix's letters to the Tsar during the war that says:

"On the train, the girls are sprawling on the floor with the sun shining full upon them to get brown. From where have they got that craze?"

Also in The Private World of the Last Tsar Count Grabbe says the Grand Duchesses used to 'lie like lizards' in the sun by the Imperial Train. Alexandra would have been present yet doesn't seem to have objected.

[RealAnastasia]

I agree with the notion that Alexandra was more baffled than angry. In Greg King's The Last Empress there is a quote from one of Alix's letters to the Tsar during the war that says:

"On the train, the girls are sprawling on the floor with the sun shining full upon them to get brown. From where have they got that craze?"

Also in The Private World of the Last Tsar Count Grabbe says the Grand Duchesses used to 'lie like lizards' in the sun by the Imperial Train. Alexandra would have been present yet doesn't seem to have objected.

This quote may be found in "Nicholas and Alexandra", by Robert K. Massie too. It may be that fashion was changing and people would start to lie before the sun, and do sports out of heir houses...Yes, I think that Alix could have been more baffled than angry. She couldn't understand the whole thing...that's all.  

RealAnastasia.

[imperial angel]

I have always loved the story about otma doing that in Roumania. It makes for a funny story, and makes them seem very contemporary, although the sitiuation they did it because isn't. It makes them seem human, not just young women in old black and white photos.

[Sarastasia]

There is one where she looks a little sunburnt... but I can't make up my mind if it is just the light.
I don't have the photo on the computer, but I'll descrieb it from a book: OTMA are standing with Alix: MOAlixTAnastasia. It is at the Lower Dacha, Alexandria. I guess it is c.1908 (after 1906 formals, before 1910 and they're all wearing short, white dresses)
Looking at it now, it does look like the shadow on Maria's face... but worth a mention.

Sarastasia

[M_Breheny]

In the photograph of the four girls on the cover of "Royal Russia" you will see that they obviously had recently been in the sun.  Their low-necked dresses reveal definite tanned areas -- as if they had sat in the sun in v-necked blouses. It is quite visible and rather unattractive.  I am sure that Alexandra was not pleased with that particular picture.

Mary

[Raegan]

Their low-necked dresses reveal definite tanned areas -- as if they had sat in the sun in v-necked blouses. It is quite visible and rather unattractive.  I am sure that Alexandra was not pleased with that particular picture.

Mary

I seriously doubt Alexandra would give such a trivial issue much thought. She certainly never cared when they got sunburned on other occasions.

[imperial angel]

She was a proper Victorian; and proper Victorian ladies were not tan, nor Edwardian ladies. But I think to be concerned this far, would be indeed a bit much.

[Sarastasia]

In the photograph of the four girls on the cover of "Royal Russia" you will see that they obviously had recently been in the sun.  Their low-necked dresses reveal definite tanned areas -- as if they had sat in the sun in v-necked blouses. It is quite visible and rather unattractive.  I am sure that Alexandra was not pleased with that particular picture.

Mary

Do you mean on this book: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1857825039.02._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V53766023_.jpg? One of the family's formal tricentenry shots?

Hmmm, on first impression, I'd say that Alix didn't like the girls being suburnt - for the obvious reasons about class, but they never appear really pale in the photographs. Perhaps Alix really cared when OTMA had to be formal, i.e. when the visited Romania - I'm sure I've read that got sunburnt on purpose for that trip to put Carol off, even though they don't seem so in the photos...