Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, discussion and pictures Part 2

[historyfan]

I don't think she wore what she liked for occasions....she barely tolerated the occasions!

[Eric_Lowe]

She had her duty to her family.

[historyfan]

And she performed it. I'm saying her clothing tastes ran away from the elaborate, bejewelled and ornate.

[Carolath Habsburg]

Ohh yes, of course, but seeing images of her, she was always on fashion...sober style, but in fashion in the end, in special during the "edwardian" period and late victorian.

[Ally Kumari]

So Olga Alexandrovna did not wear the traditional court dress and jewellery at her wedding? Why? She was a Grand Duchess..... was it because she was not marrying into a ruling house?

[Превед]

So Olga Alexandrovna did not wear the traditional court dress and jewellery at her wedding? Why? She was a Grand Duchess..... was it because she was not marrying into a ruling house?

Pluss wartime austerity, it was her second marriage and the venue was Kiev. All good reasons for a discreet, low-key wedding.

[Ally Kumari]

No I actually meant her first wedding. I do not recall ever seeing a picture of her in a wedding dress, apart from a photo from 25 Chapter of my life, which is labeled as "wedding day" (which can of course mean she changed during the day).

[Kalafrana]

In the picture of Olga's first weeding day, who is the tall bearded man with her?

On the second wedding day, Olga is. Wearing an outfit which suits her, and she and Nikolai look happy (as they undoubtedly were!)

Ann

[Превед]

No I actually meant her first wedding.

Ah, OK, I see.

was it because she was not marrying into a ruling house?

A non-reigning line, but the Russian Oldenburgs were members of the ruling grand-ducal house of Oldenburg. When you start to think about it, it's confusing: They were foreign royals, the equals of the IF, but at the same time Russian subjects? Because they were not treated as foreigners / aliens.

[historyfan]

In the picture of Olga's first weeding day, who is the tall bearded man with her?

On the second wedding day, Olga is. Wearing an outfit which suits her, and she and Nikolai look happy (as they undoubtedly were!)

Ann

Is that not Sandro? I believe I have seen this photo with a caption that identifies him as Sandro.

Nikolai always looks very stoic to me in photos. I'm sure he was happy, though it's not outwardly obvious to me. ; )

[Kalafrana]

Yes, now I think of it, that is Sandro.

Nikolai comes across as a rather serious-minded man. He looks content in his pictures with Olga and the boys, rather than beaming.

Ann

[Eric_Lowe]

It would be nice to know Nicholai's feelings.

[historyfan]

Sometimes Nikolai Kulikovsky is referred to as "captain", sometimes as "colonel". It's been impossible for me to find dates of his promotions, or what ranks he was promoted to at those times. I can't even tell if he was a captain or a colonel at the time of his marriage to Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. If he was a captain, when was there time for him to attain the rank of colonel between November 1916 (when the marriage took place) and March/April of 1917 (when the Revolution began and he went with his wife and her family to the Crimea)?

Can anyone help me with that? (Even if it's approximate.)

Thanks!

[Maria Sisi]

Olga was such a fascinating person despite only being a witness and not much of a player to history.  

I recently purchased a 1965 copy of "The Last Grand Duchess" and while I'm only half way though it I find myself really enjoying it and admiring her a lot. So far its really living up to its hype! She really comes off as the complete opposite of what everyone thinks a Romanov is like yet there is no mistaking she is one if that makes any sense. The mini antidotes are fantastic and its the little things she remembers that makes the book so precious. I especially love the story of George's parrot and how it would always attack the boys tutor, Mr. Heath, and mock his accent or the inside joke the siblings shared about Nicky's sacrilege and any good food being 'immorally good'. She really put a human face on everyone that you wouldn't get in a history book.

Despite so much terrible things happening in her life she really did pick herself up and survive. Sometimes when you look at a photograph of someone and their smiling you can tell the smile doesn't always reach their eyes yet with Olga you can tell they do. She was a proud yet humble woman who accepted what was handed to her and make the best out of it when others would have fallen.    

It was very sad to me that she wasn't told about her sister's death. I know Olga herself was in poor health and it was probably for the best but it still feels terrible. Considering they were the last two of their family and after everything they had been though for them to die so far apart and not know is to me tragic.

It's also amazing thinking about where she died. I know she didn't want to accept any charity but does anyone know if her sons did for anything her? I get the impression that once they grew up they moved out and after her husband died Olga was all on her own. I know she had her friends and support from the Russian émigré community but it seems shocking to me that they would let their mother spend her last days above a beauty salon.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think Olga had very complex relationships with her family. Her relationship with her mother was loving but based upon approval. I do not like the way she threw Misha to the lions when his affair with Madame Olga Welfret was discovered. Olga had a less complicated relationship with her brother Nicky and gained the approval of even Alicky.