Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna-younger, her life and relations

[Mia]

saw a great picture that Mia posted on another forum and I thought I'd share it here as I hadn't seen it before



Does anyone know if any of these jewels are Ella's? She gave a good amount, including her emeralds, to Marie. If not, does anyone know the provenance or where they are now?

I would assume that almost all, if not all, the jewels are from Russia. The short "curb link necklace" is definitely from Ella, but I don't know about the rest.

The tiara looks quite "new" in design with the wreath motifs. Could it have been made around 1880-1900. But the HUGE bow brooch on the front is perhaps a bit older.

I don't know about envy in the Swedish court but there is this anecdote of the stern Q Victoria who was just before the beginning of a ball sending a message to her daughter-in-law (in one version it is Margaret Connaught in other Maria Pavlovna telling not to wear too much jewellery ("att inte hänga på sig så mycket smycken").

The princess's answer was: tell that ******** that she should be glad to have half of the amount of jewels I have". The answer wasn't forwarded...

[grandduchessella]

I imagine that was probably directed at Queen Victoria of Sweden. I think Margaret was one of the few she actually got along with there--but then who didn't?

That's true about the link necklace--I can't believe I didn't spot that.


I would love to see more photos of Ella in her jewels since she apparently had such a great collection. Yet, in many photos she's dressed pretty simply. I still haven't seen her in the aquamarine tiara she gave to Ernie.

[TampaBay]

If and when they make a movie of her life Drew Barrymore must play Maria Pavlovna.  I cannot get over the resemblance.  The picture of the young Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece also reminds me of Drew Barrymore.

TampaBay

[PrinceEddy1864]

saw a great picture that Mia posted on another forum and I thought I'd share it here as I hadn't seen it before

ella (and Mia) this picture is lovely. Where did you find it ella? If you can remember, what forum? I really love it. She looked lovely at this age, I think.

I agree Drew Barrymore would be a great choice to play her in a movie.  .

[grandduchessella]

I think it was the Glittering Royal Events forum

[Angie_H]

I am currenly reading "A Romanov Diary" by Grand Duchess George. She was the sister of Grand Duchess Paul. What struck me was her description of Marie. She describes her niece as being "full of life & very jolly, but inclined to to be self-willed, selfish, & rather difficult to deal with." After Serge was killed, I wondered why they didn't spend more time with their mother's sister. From what I read, Grand Duchess George thought highly of Ella but from the sounds of it she saw Marie & Dmitri occasionally, not all that close to them. So how could she know what Marie felt from being brought up by Ella, whom she describes as not very maternal towards her? Wasn't Marie & Dmitri's great-grandmother still alive also? I never read about them seeing her.

[Mia]

Oh, PrinceEddy1864, sorry for not answering earlier to your question about the origin of the picture showing Marie in Swedish court dress.

The photo is from a Swedish book about royal fashion. I can't recall from which book it was. The photo was from the Royal Armoury Museum collection. And I still regret that I scanned only half of the cdv photo.

[Angie_H]

I have a question about Marie Pavlovna Jr. Nicholas made the decision about Serge raising Marie & her brother after their father made a morgantic marriage, of which he disapproved. But why after Serge was murdered was Ella given permission to raise his children & make decisions regarding Marie's marriage? Their aunt (their sister's mother) had married into the Imperial family, their grandmother (Queen Olga of Greece) was a Grand Duchess from the Russian Imperial Family, and their great-grandmother was still alive (also having married into the Imperial family). Were they consulted regarding the children's upbringing? Grand Duchess George (their aunt) seemed to admire Ella, but then again she did not live in a close capacity as Marie Jr. did.  It wasn't like  they had no other close relatives. I wonder if their opinions were asked for?

[grandduchessella]

Didn't they technically become wards of Nicholas and Alexandra after that? I thought they just continued to live with Ella so their life wouldn't suffer any more disruption but that ultimately decisions were in the hands of Nicholas as head of the family.

[lexi4]

That is what I thought too. I thought Ella just saw to their daily needs and cared for them. What does "given permission" mean exactly? Is it a document or like an adoption? Just curious.

[Angie_H]

That is what I thought too. I thought Ella just saw to their daily needs and cared for them. What does "given permission" mean exactly? Is it a document or like an adoption? Just curious.

Maybe given permission is the wrong phrase.

[hikaru]

Under the will of the GD Sergey , the 2 children should inherite all his property exclude the jewelery which he gave to Ella.
I think that this is the main reason why they stayed with Ella.
As for Maria Pavlovna, I have just saw a number of wonderful documentary films about the White Army made by Mikhalokov.
In the film dedicated to Wrangel ( his daughter is still living in the State New York) there was intresting cuts with Maria Pavlovna making dalls ( when she was in Paris). Did somebody see it?

[Maria_Pavlovna]

G D Ella, GD Marie, P Christopher of Greece, GD Dmitri and Victoria of Battenburg with others 1904-5.

[Finelly]

I just read this entire section.  Although the title "Passion of a Princess" sounds nice, it doesn't really apply to Marie.  She was not a particularly passionate person and not passionate about much in her life.  She divorced two or three times.  She had difficulties maintaining nurturing relationships.  She spent her life after the Revolution searching for meaning and something to do, not really succeeding.
I happen to like her a lot, and have read the two memoirs she wrote, as well as other information from Sweden about her.  The only wild time in her life came when she married William and lived in Sweden - apparently she was quite fun-loving and flamboyant.  This was probably the only time in her life when she had the financial freedom AND the lack of restraints from superiors/elder relatives to explore that side of herself.
She was EXTREMELY close to her brother Dmitri.  Some claimed that it was "too close", but I don't think there's any evidence of that at all.  Very simply, they were raised together in a very isolated household without a lot of warmth and suffered a lot during their lives.

[hikaru]

I do not think that she was not successful.
Her fashion house "Kitmir" was quite a famouse one . She made a lot of work for Chanel.  
SHe just tried to be not a  Romanov. She wanted to be contemporaine and idependent. She worked a lot .
I  think that Alexandr Mikhaylovich ( husband of Xenia) thought  in the same way as her.