Just to put this out there...Romanov style!

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Thanks. If I, like Collegiate Assessor aka Major Kovalyov in Gogol's rank-obsessed short story "The Nose", should insist on using the military equivalent of my rank, I would now be Sub-Lieutenant (instead of Ensign). BTW Rank 12 is the lowest rank that also has corresponding court ranks, so you might also adress me as Камердинер (Chamber Valet), Мундшенк (Cup-Bearer), Тафельдекер (Table Layer) or Кондитер (Pastry Maker) to His Imperial Majesty! :-)

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Gosh, turns out I'm already a Граф, Graf, Count. (Although going by the Table of Ranks I'm not yet even a (hereditary) noble!) If I lived in Imperial Russia I'd order myself a nine-spiked Russian heraldic comital crown from Fabergé:



Seriously, I wonder if any of the opulence-loving Russian nobles ever had any such coronets made, like the British peers?

[abbigail]

or Кондитер (Pastry Maker) to His Imperial Majesty! :-)

LOL! Pastry maker.
I do like that crown, actually.

[Tasia]

or Кондитер (Pastry Maker) to His Imperial Majesty! :-)

LOL! Pastry maker.
I do like that crown, actually.

Lol!!! XD

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

I do like that crown, actually.

I've always found the high-spiked pearl-studded coronets not really to my liking. (Despite growing up by a stream that once supplied freshwater pearls to Their Royal Majesties the Queens of Denmark and Norway!) Perhaps it's because I'm a guy that I'm not really into pearls. I like the coronet of untitled nobles (in Russia and most of Central and Northern Europe) with trefoils much better:



For anyone interested in the various coronets of rank, take a look here: Wikipedia: Heraldic Crowns. Lots of pictures!

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Hʉ'd þåt Ai'd meik it tʉ knyaz, prins, såu faast! Wel, æt liist ðæt miins it's iven måår æpproupriiæt tʉ displei ðe Nårwiidʒen Hereditæri Prinse's Craun in mai siŋnatʃøh:
Clous-øp:

[abbigail]

This is directed to anyone...I'm not sure if this has been asked before but what kind of makeup did the Grand Duchesses and their mother Alix wear on a day-to-day basis? And on more formal occasions? Did they wear any at all? Was it similar to today's type of makeup or was it just powders and things like that?

[Sarushka]

Try here:

Did the grand duchesses wear makeup?

[abbigail]

Muchas gracias!!

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Speaking of the need for make-up and/or retouching, whatever happened to OTMA here? OTM look like peasants who have been out in the sun all day and Anastasia looks like Rasputin's daughter, freshly arrived from Siberia!

[GrandDuchessAndrea]

I really like OTMA's dresses in that picture, all of that rich brocade and embroidery!

[nena]

Good question, Fyodor Petrovich! I noticed too their maturing in that photo , and when I saw the photo for the first time, I was surprised by their outlook and expression. They indeed look bit older, could it be  a consequence of war/possible stress or just simply development?

[blessOTMA]

Speaking of the need for make-up and/or retouching, whatever happened to OTMA here? OTM look like peasants who have been out in the sun all day and Anastasia looks like Rasputin's daughter, freshly arrived from Siberia!

Lol! The girls love to sunbathe. Alexandra nocticed this and wondered to Nicholas in a letter,  " where did they pick up that craze?"  Also courtiers said OTMA  liked to lay  out in the sun "like lizards".  Being suntanned as an adult is more noticeable than in a child. Because they are often  suntanned as children during their vacations on the  Standart. The small pair had grown so much since the war's beginning, they felt the need for these 1916 formals to be taken.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Lol! The girls love to sunbathe. Alexandra nocticed this and wondered to Nicholas in a letter,  " where did they pick up that craze?"

That's very interesting, considering how shielded they were from the mainstream social trends.

[blessOTMA]

Lol! The girls love to sunbathe. Alexandra noticed this and wondered to Nicholas in a letter,  " where did they pick up that craze?"

That's very interesting, considering how shielded they were from the mainstream social trends.

Really and when did sunbathing and being tanned become popular? They were indeed shielded...however they met other young women at the hospital and so were exposed to new ideas about things...and I believe Alexandra's letter and the courtier's remark came during the war years.