Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, Queen of Wuerttemberg

[Dru]

Photograph of Olga.

[Dru]

Olga as Crown Princess of Wuerttemberg.  Courtesy of the Royal Collection.

[Marie Valerie]

She looks sad in both pictures...

[Dru]

She looks sad in both pictures...

Especially in the second picture.  I know it wasn't customary for people to smile much in photographs back then, but I don't think Olga had a very happy life, and that seems to be reflected in her facial expressions.

[Marie Valerie]

I read in a german book that König Karl was in his old age bitter about Olga and became very anti-russian..

I feel sorry for Olga, she was so generous and did so much for the people of Württemberg.

Her lady-in-waiting Eveline von Massenbach (the photo below shows her) said about Olga: She was a Queen from head to toe.

[Eric_Lowe]

What's the story on the lady in waiting...

[Marie Valerie]

Eveline von Massenbach wrote her memoirs "Das Tagebuch der Baronin Eveline von Massenbach" (The diary of Baroness Eveline von Massenbach).
She was very devoted to Olga. Her diary mentions Olga and the Württemberg Royal family almost daily.
There is much information about the life of Königin Olga in the book.
She wrote how sad Olga was (in private) when Princess Katharina presented her child (later König Wilhelm II.) proudly at court and she had no children of her own.

[Eric_Lowe]

You have the jacket of the book ?

[Marie Valerie]

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks.

[Marie Valerie]

"Das Tagebuch der Baronin Eveline von Massenbach" is a very interesting book.

Eveline was called "Eva" by the royal family, she accompanied Olga often to Russia and met her parents Nicholas I. and Alexandra (Charlotte).
Olga's mother liked Eva and begged her to stay with Olga. Shortly before her death the Empress Alexandra asks where Eva was. (She didn't make it in time, Olga departed earlier.)

In the book are many russian names and people mentioned who met Eva, in Stuttgart, the rest of Germany and Russia.

When Olga's niece Wera arrived in Stuttgart, she behaved very badly.
Eva wrote in her dairy that it is not good to keep the girl in the dark why she is brought here (to Württemberg).
If Karl and Olga didn't take care of Wera - she would have been given to a hospital or institution.

But no one told Wera and she felt betrayed by her parents who gave her away and her childless aunt who she made responsible for the seperation from her family.

[Dru]

Olga.

[Dru]

Olga with Vera Konstantinovna.

[Marie Valerie]

Olga was once visited in Stuttgart by the Duchess of Orleans.

The Duchess asked if Olgas children were with her - Olga said she had no children..

Later Olga wrote that in a letter to her mother: "If she makes a visit to us, she should have been looking in the Gotha before..."

[Dru]

Olga was once visited in Stuttgart by the Duchess of Orleans.

The Duchess asked if Olgas children were with her - Olga said she had no children..

Later Olga wrote that in a letter to her mother: "If she makes a visit to us, she should have been looking in the Gotha before..."

I feel so much sympathy for Olga.  People say she was bitter and mean, but who can blame her?  She never had children of her own, and it seems she really wanted them.  Her marriage was obviously less than idyllic, and it just seems like she was very lonely much of the time.