Author Topic: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1  (Read 120424 times)

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Katharina

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Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« on: March 09, 2004, 09:23:05 AM »
I know that all of the girls had fillings. Probably this was due to the fact that they liked to eat chocolate and sweets late at night, just before falling asleep.
So I guess the toothbrushes found at Ipatiev House were rather unused presents from one of their dentists.

Anyway, there is one detail I would like to know: Is it possible that Olga's teeth were not exactly beautiful? Did she have a gash?

There are hardly any photos showing her teeth. So far I have found only two or three digital images of fair quality. If you open them and zoom in you can see a small dark area between her incisors - just like a tooth space.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2009, 07:14:55 PM by Alixz »

Sarai_Porretta

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2004, 09:28:11 AM »
Katharina,
I haven't seen many pictures of open-mouthed smiles on the Grand Duchesses either; most of their pictures show them smiling with their mouths closed. However, I do remember seeing a few pictures of Olga showing her teeth and she does seem to have a gap between her two front top teeth. I have seen pictures of Maria that show a gap as well.

Penny_Wilson

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2004, 09:37:33 AM »
Olga had a space between her front teeth -- it was probably a lot more usual in the days before braces and space-maintainers were common.

But having a gap didn't hurt Lauren Hutton!

Penny

Offline BobAtchison

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2004, 10:33:02 AM »
I suspect Nicholas's teeth were bad in part because of his habit of drinking his tea through a cube of sugar held in his mouth and his chain smoking.

It's odd considering how often he met with his dentist that his teeth were as horrible as they were.  Nicholas's dentist remarks that the Tsar used to talk to him a lot - perhaps he didn't allow him to look at his teeth much!  Nicholas hated being touched or examined by others, perhaps this is another reason.

The girls's teeth were beautifully maintained until their exile.  They had doctor and dentist examinations constantly.  Alexandra's teeth were the same.

Sarai_Porretta

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2004, 12:01:54 PM »
Bob,
You mention that the children were seen by doctors constantly. I recall reading somewhere that they were seen at least once a week, and if I'm not mistaken possibly even more than that - as much as every few days! I wonder why there was such a frequency in doctor's visits? I can certainly understand regular visits to check on Alexei, as he was a child with a serious illness, but the girls were usually quite hardy and healthy, and yet despite the precautionary measures taken, they did get sick with such serious things as whooping cough, typhoid fever, measles, etc.

The children also led a relatively sheltered existence as far as socializing with other children their age, although I know that they were not completely isolated and did visit relatives as well as necessarily having daily interaction with the palace staff, all of which exposed them to illnesses.

Still, some may view these frequent, if not excessive, doctor's visits as the product of a well-meaning but very overprotective mother. They may also say that not even the most overprotective mother today who could afford regular medical care for her children would subject them to weekly doctor's visits if they are normal and healthy. Then again, child mortality was high during that time and diseases were rampant, so I can understand Alexandra's concern in keeping her children healthy. And I also think that these weren't lengthy exams but probably quick checkups. I imagine the children may have been annoyed having their time interrupted for these checkups, as most children hate doctor's visits, but then again they probably appreciated their mother's concern for their wellbeing.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Sarai_Porretta »

nerdycool

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2004, 06:36:31 PM »
Sarai-

I recall reading something about how Anastasia had a weekly visit by a doctor because she had something wrong with her foot (at least I think it was her foot). It was mentioned that she did not like these visits because it caused her great pain, and she would run and hide. So I'm assuming this was when she was a small child. Maybe this was what you read?

Janet Whitcomb

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2004, 10:14:25 PM »
In the photo that Gilliard took of the four Grand Duchesses during their imprisonment at the Alexander Palace, with hats or scarves removed, showing their shaved heads, Olga is grinning quite broadly.  

BeenaBobba

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2004, 05:10:09 AM »
Hi all,

From the pictures I've seen of them smiling with their teeth showing, all of the children had gaps apart from Tatiana.

You can see for yourself in the picture of Olga at the beach at Peterhoff with Rita K. and the picture Gilliard took of them with their bald heads.

Maria's can be seen in a picture in the family album by Prince Michael of Greece, where a group picture has been taken after tennis (with Grand Duke Dimitry laying across a row of sitting people).  Olga's gap can be seen in this picture as well.  Another picture of Maria smiling with her teeth is in The Romanovs: Love, Power, Tragedy, in the picture of Anastasia pretending to fall asleep on Grand Duchess Olga A.

I've seen pictures of Alexei's gap as well in pictures of their visit to Romania.  I don't know if Anastasia had one when she grew up, but she certainly did as a child.  I mention that only because having a gap as a child doesn't necessarily mean there'll be a gap as an adult.  I had a gap as a child between my two front teeth, but this corrected itself on its own when my adult teeth came in.

This was probably a genetic trait in their family, and it probably wasn't uncommon prior to the widespread popularity of braces.  Had OTMAA been alive today, they'd probably have braces or have opted get their gaps filled (unless they liked having them; if so, more power to them).

Take care,

Jen

Katharina

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2004, 06:33:21 AM »
At first thanks to all for your posts.


Dear Sarai,

in Tatiana Botkina's memoirs there are a few sentences about her father's daily visits in the palace (due to etiquette / tradition ?)

Again I will try a translation from German, so forgive me if there are variations to an English edition of her book. Please do also accept my apologies for any mistakes in grammar etc.

My father started his daily task at 9:00 a.m. with a ward round in Alexander Palace where he was received by the Tsarina in her private appartments.
Because of AF's heart disease he had to assemble an extensive daily schedule together with his patient and practically forbade any physical effort. In the evening he made a second visit around 6:30 p.m. If the results of this examination were not satisfying he begged the Empress to stay inside the rooms and sometimes even forbade her to attend dinner.
After having paid his morning visit to the Empress he went to the Imperial children. Each day he enquired about their physical health even if they had felt brilliant the day before.
Then he went to see the tsarevich whose haemophilia deserved constant care. There he stayed much longer. Little Alexei often refused to have breakfast but when father told him funny stories he drank his chocolate and ate a piece of toast with honey or bread and butter with caviar.

Sarai_Porretta

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2004, 07:39:52 AM »
nerdycool,
In her memoirs, the Grand Duchess Olga stated that her niece had what she called a "weak spine," for which her doctors prescribed massage about twice a week. She says that a hospital sister came to the palace for this and Anastasia would hide from her to postpone the treatment.

Anastasia also had something wrong with her feet as you mentioned. She had on both feet a congenital deformity of the foot called "Hallux Vulgus," in which the large toe turns inwards towards the other toes. This was discovered when she was thirteen years old. However, the doctors did not prescribe any treatment for this, as they judged the deformity not to be severe enough to warrant surgery.

Nick_Nicholson

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #10 on: March 10, 2004, 08:31:50 AM »
Could Anastasia have had Scoliosis?

Nick

Annie

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2004, 10:50:24 AM »
Quote
nerdycool,
In her memoirs, the Grand Duchess Olga stated that her niece had what she called a "weak spine," for which her doctors prescribed massage about twice a week. She says that a hospital sister came to the palace for this and Anastasia would hide from her to postpone the treatment.

Anastasia also had something wrong with her feet as you mentioned. She had on both feet a congenital deformity of the foot called "Hallux Vulgus," in which the large toe turns inwards towards the other toes. This was discovered when she was thirteen years old. However, the doctors did not prescribe any treatment for this, as they judged the deformity not to be severe enough to warrant surgery.


Then wouldn't these things be very helpful in both proving if it was her body or not in the grave, and also that if Anna A. didn't have these things she wasn't her?

Alexa

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2004, 11:27:32 AM »
Quote

Then wouldn't these things be very helpful in both proving if it was her body or not in the grave, and also that if Anna A. didn't have these things she wasn't her?


AA supposidly had the same foot deformity as AN, pushing the arguement that AA was indeed AN.

Alexa

BeenaBobba

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2004, 09:57:42 PM »
The family probably didn't have great teeth compared to today's standards simply because fluoride wasn't used in toothpaste (or was it?).  I'm guessing the toothpaste used back then was sort of primitive.  Either way, they probably had pretty nice teeth by the standards of the day.

God bless,

Jennifer

BeenaBobba

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Re: Personal Habits and Personal Style - Hair - Body #1
« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2004, 10:01:48 PM »
Quote

There is a picture where it appears that Alix had a gap as well. It is the one where she is walking up a flight of stairs and is smiling at the camera. It's in "The Romanov Family Albums," I believe. Perhaps the kids got it from her?


I've seen that photo.  I'm not sure she had a gap.  To me, it looked like her two front teeth pushed inwards, with a tiny space near the top.  If she did have one, it's possible that the kids got it from her.

I think Maria had the worst gap in the family.  Her gap was kind of wide, and one of her front teeth was crooked.  She was still pretty, though.