Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, discussion and pictures Part 2

[Maria Sisi]

I do think she was kind of hypocritical in her treatment of Michael and his affair considering her own situation. If she had gotten the divorce from Peter when she first wanted it she would most certainly have married Nikolai Kulikovsky sooner then she did and that probably would have hurt the Romanov prestige pretty badly too. The sister of the Tsar marrying a commoner and a man in her husband's regiment doesn't look very good.

I remember reading somewhere that she said she never met Natalia before the scandal yet there is clear evidence in picture that she did. So I guess Olga proved she was human and not a saint. Does anyone know if Olga met Natalia and her nephew outside that one time Maria Feodorovna did? I'm guessing Olga was there when they met her mother but were there other times they met?

I think Olga kind of worshiped Nicholas and viewed him like a father due to the big age gap whereas Michael was closer in age and her playmate through childhood so she seem to have different standards for them. I also think Alexandra's shyness and desire for quietness fit better with Olga's personality and that's why unlike other Romanovs she was able to connect with her. Olga didn't like large gatherings and preferred more simple things too so they connected.

It's interesting in her book she seems to almost absolve all blame from Nicholas and Alexandra and instead blames everyone else. It's true the other Romanovs could have done more to help and the advisors could have been a little less reactionary and Russia's allies could have helped more to avoid WWI but Nicholas and Alexandra themselves did cause a lot of the problems too. Many times family members and advisors were reacting to Nicholas and Alexandra's own actions so they share a huge part of the blame too yet Olga seems to portray them as complete innocents.

[Eric_Lowe]

I don't think she knew much about the business of ruling. Her opinion is only those of a loyal subject and sister. Miechen or Ducky would have volumes more to say on that subject though.

[Maria Sisi]

Has anyone ever visited Olga's grave in Toronto? There's a plaque at the base of the gravesite that tells the story of her life. Maybe someone could at least summarize what it says.



This is the plaque I'm talking about which unfortunately is too small to read.

[Maria Sisi]

This is a very pretty photo of Olga in the last years of her life. It was taken in 1959 when Queen Elizabeth visited Toronto and Olga was invited to a luncheon on Britannia.

[Inok Nikolai]

Has anyone ever visited Olga's grave in Toronto? There's a plaque at the base of the gravesite that tells the story of her life. Maybe someone could at least summarize what it says.



This is the plaque I'm talking about which unfortunately is too small to read.

See:

http://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101olga2.jpg

The text reads as follows:

Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess
Olga Alexandrovna of Russia

June 14, 1882 – November 24 1960

Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna
 was born at Peterhof Palace in Russia. She was the youngest
 daughter of Their Majesties Emperor Alexander III and
 Empress Maria Feodorovna, Princess Dagmar of Denmark,
 a sister of Tsar Nicholas II, a niece of Their Majesties
 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Great Britain,
 a cousin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and
 closely related to all Royal Houses in Europe. She
 survived the revolutionary slaughter of the Royal Family
 in 1918 and escaped in 1920 from Russia to Denmark.
 In 1948 she moved to Cooksville, Ontario, Canada.
 Colonel Nicholas Kulikovsky was the beloved husband of
 Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

“The Last Grand Duchess of Russia”

[Maria Sisi]

Thank you very much Inok Nikolai!

The whole cousin thing kind of confuses me once we get past first ones but what cousins are Olga and Elizabeth?

Christian IX - Alexandra - George V - George VI - Elizabeth

Christian IX - Maria - Olga

I think first cousins twice removed or something like that, I don't know. Is there any other bloodline connection between them?

[Maria Sisi]

Olga with Alexei, Maria and Anastasia during the war.



I wonder if this was the last time she ever saw them.

[Maria Sisi]

Olga with her Danish cousins Princes Aage, Erik  and Axel

[Arkhimago]

Maria:

HIH Grand Duchess Olga and HM Queen Elizabeth II are cousins though the formers mother.

The Dowager Empress Marie of Russia was the sister of Queen Alexandra, (consort of King Edward VII of Great Britain) and was thusly the great grandmother of QEII.
When the Queen was in Canada for the 1959 opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, GD Olga was invited to a luncheon aboard Britannia. There was concern that she might be overlooked. However HM greeted her immediately and spent more time chatting with her over lunch than to anyone else.
 
Grand Duchess Olga later sent one of her oil landscapes to the Queen as a memento, and they corresponded by mail both before and after.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The whole cousin thing kind of confuses me once we get past first ones but what cousins are Olga and Elizabeth?

Christian IX - Alexandra - George V - George VI - Elizabeth

Christian IX - Maria - Olga

I think first cousins twice removed or something like that, I don't know. Is there any other bloodline connection between them?


[/quote]

[Kalafrana]

There will doubtless be several other connections between the Queen and Olga A, but that via Queen Alexandra and Marie F is the most direct.

The Duke of Edinburgh is also related to Olga A in the same degree through his grandfather, George I of Greece, who was a brother of both Alexandra and Marie F. Plus his grandmother, Olga of Greece, was a Romanov.

Ann

[Maria Sisi]

Yes, I remember reading in "The Last Grand Duchess", that once when Queen Olga visited Maria Feodorovna at Hvidøre she brought Prince Philip with her, and Olga gave him cookies.

It's tiny little stories like that, that make you realize just how closely these people are related, even if it isn't as direct.

[grandduchessella]

Thank you very much Inok Nikolai!

The whole cousin thing kind of confuses me once we get past first ones but what cousins are Olga and Elizabeth?

Christian IX - Alexandra - George V - George VI - Elizabeth

Christian IX - Maria - Olga

I think first cousins twice removed or something like that, I don't know. Is there any other bloodline connection between them?

Maria--Olga was first cousin to George V (the Queen's grandfather) which makes her a first cousin twice removed to Elizabeth II. You can look at the direct cousin relationship (Olga & George) and the count the 'removes'--two in this case--to figure it out if that makes sense. Her sons would have been second cousins (the direct relationship) to George VI and Elizabeth would be their second cousin, once removed, for instance. And the Kulikovsky grandchildren would be Elizabeth's direct cousinship--so third cousins. Hope that provides some clarity.


Other than that, there is probably only a very removed blood relationship as the Romanovs and British royals rarely intermarried. There's probably some 6, 7 or 8th cousin relationship somewhere back in the Hesse line or something though.

[Maria Sisi]

Thank you grandduchessella. It clears things up a lot

[historyfan]

Well, here I am with Helen Rappaport's "Romanov Sisters", which I just got today! As is my (perhaps odd) custom when I get a new book, I flipped it open and read random pages. Sort of my "warm up". Anyway, I came across this rather uncharitable view of GD Olga, from pages 212-213:

"...[OTMA] are only granted a Sunday afternoon at Olga [Alexandrovna]'s where they play des petits jeux [little games] with officers: now why this is considered convenable [appropriate] is a real puzzle to us all as Olga is a tomboy without any manners and her surroundings always second rate. She never sees the real society because it bores her to put on better manners." (quoted from letter from Marie, Duchess of Coburg, to her daughter Crown Princess Marie of Romania) (bold font denotes my additions, as opposed to those in the book)

"Indeed the duchess talked of how offended Maria Feodorovna was that her granddaughters spent so little time with her when in St Petersburg, preferring to pass their Sundays 'under the sole chaperonage of that madcap [aunt] Olga...for dinner and romps with the officers.'"

My reaction: Humph! Tomboy? Madcap? : /

[Svetabel]

"...[OTMA] are only granted a Sunday afternoon at Olga [Alexandrovna]'s where they play des petits jeux [little games] with officers: now why this is considered convenable [appropriate] is a real puzzle to us all as Olga is a tomboy without any manners and her surroundings always second rate. She never sees the real society because it bores her to put on better manners." (quoted from letter from Marie, Duchess of Coburg, to her daughter Crown Princess Marie of Romania) (bold font denotes my additions, as opposed to those in the book)

"Indeed the duchess talked of how offended Maria Feodorovna was that her granddaughters spent so little time with her when in St Petersburg, preferring to pass their Sundays 'under the sole chaperonage of that madcap [aunt] Olga...for dinner and romps with the officers.'"

My reaction: Humph! Tomboy? Madcap? : /

Duchess Marie of Coburg was a snob first of all. She was too much well-bred, educated and even sophisticated to understand sometimes simple human desires such as to be free from conventions of "real society" life. Yes, Olga was a wild child in her eyes but not a madcap definitely : just a woman with a big heart and understanding what is like a life in the palace "cell"...Also The main boss of OTMA's actions was their mother - it was definitely her permission where to go: to grandmother and her "real society" or to Aunt Olga with her childish games. BTW, the society at Olga was not that second rate - the same nobles from 1st rate families.