Ella and Sergei 2

[Svetabel]

Well, just an amusing fact. Seems there is a new speculation on GD Sergei that some historians offer to us.
This is a version that Sergei was a FATHER of GDss Maria Pavlovna-younger and GD Dmitri ....due to the fact that he loved them deeply. I've heard this version from a guide in a museum, and she had no exact answer about an author of such "epoch-making" discovery on Maria and Dmitri's father. IMHO, what stuff.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think the guide would be horrified if you tell him that Serge was accused of molesting Dimitri. 

[Svetabel]

I think the guide would be horrified if you tell him that Serge was accused of molesting Dimitri. 

You can joke but the guide told such stuff - (that  Sergei is alleged to be father of Pavel's children )- to the tourists who listened to her open-mouthed. And when I began to beset the guide with the questions she even had no answer who and on what reason "made" Sergei the father of 2 children of his brother.

[Eric_Lowe]

Is that the general quailty of the guides there...? 

[Svetabel]

Is that the general quailty of the guides there...? 

That is a general attention-getting "mechanism" - tidbits for absent-minded tourists.

[lori_c]

This seems to me an anethma to what everything Sergei stood for.  He loved his brother Paul and was extremely close to him.  The whole family love his wife and for Sergei to betray his brother and commit adultery of the worst kind involving a beloved sister-in-law seems unlikely to me.

[Eric_Lowe]

No...certainly not ture. Although it seemed that serge detected a kind of closeness between Ella & Paul and sought to stop that from developing. 

[ashanti01]

From what I've read, it doesn't seem that Serge tried to stop the closeness between Ella and Paul. If anything he seemed to encourage it. The three of them seemed very comfortable together and didn't seem to care about what people said or thought. Even when rumors where flying about a possible affair between Ella and Paul, Serge seemed to ignore or brush them off.

Serge seemed to be very devoted and loyal to his brother and the same could be said about Paul, so I doubt Paul would have ever even considered something outside of a deep friendship with Ella. It's rather sad to see how the closeness between Ella and Paul fell apart in later years. Even in later years when they were on speaking terms again, they just didn't seem to be as close as they had once been. 

[Eric_Lowe]

I read that Serge was quite pocessive of Ella. While he encourged her to stand with officers during parties (instead of chatting with the ladies), he made sure that she and Paul were not overly close. However Ella and Paul did became close and when he married Alexandra of Greece, she accepted her as a sister. However Ella was very disapointed in Paul over his later mistress Olga (later Princess Paley).

[ashanti01]

 

I read that Serge was quite pocessive of Ella. While he encourged her to stand with officers during parties (instead of chatting with the ladies), he made sure that she and Paul were not overly close. However Ella and Paul did became close and when he married Alexandra of Greece, she accepted her as a sister. However Ella was very disapointed in Paul over his later mistress Olga (later Princess Paley).

I too have read that Serge was possessive of Ella but he seemed to be very comfortable with the idea of Paul and her being close. It seemed he knew nothing would  ever have happened between them, therefore he was not worried.

Yes, Paul's marriage to Olga did do a number on his relationship with Ella. I haven't read much about Serge's feelings on Paul marriage, but I can imagine he must not have been too thrilled to hear the news. 

[Eric_Lowe]

"Not thrilled" was an understatement. The Romaovs felt betrayed by him (Paul). The motion to deny him of the cusdoty of his children was a means to "punish" him in which Serge led the charge. 

[Svetabel]

Charlotte Zeepvat's Camera & the Tsar's suggests that new things on GD Sergei are coming to light and may make it to some sort of publication.  One can only hope.

Yes, the new things are beginning to come into light as a new gorgeous publication has been recently issued. Our Forum's member Hikaru mentioned a new book on GD Sergei (In Russian) somewhere in the threads. I've got the book and now up-to-the-ears in reading of GD Sergei's diaries of 1873-1876 years...It's really captivating - one can see "other" Sergei, his thoughts and interests when he was a young naive boy. The style of his writings is very simple, he describes his life and relations without any affectation, but one can easily understand that he was VERY religious, his faith was strong and inflexible - every day records are always ended by word "AMEN!"...Also he constantly writes about his beloved Mama - Empress - and brother Pavel and sister Maria - these 3 siblings were very closed to each other for many years...The wedding day of Maria and Duke Alfred of Edinburgh was a "nightmare" for sensible and loving brother Sergei.

Well, I highly recommend the publication to all who can read Russian (and the photos in the book are just exclusive). "Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovitch Romanov. Volume N.1. 1857-1877". the ISBN is 5-87389-036-6.

[Eric_Lowe]

if only we can get it...

Anything abvout Ella yet ? 

[Svetabel]

Anything abvout Ella yet ? 

In the Volume 2 I think.

[Eric_Lowe]

If only we are as lucky as you...