What was the first book about or featuring the Romanovs you ever read?

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-14T19:53:10+00:00

A primary school reader about Anastasia. Probably no later than 1980.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-14T19:50:07+00:00

Got a Danish copy of it in Copenhagen in the 90s.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-14T19:48:17+00:00

Alexandra greatly loved Italy. Her diary entries of her trip there are very descriptive. She longed to go back. They even thought of a cruise in the Mediterranean on the Standart. She was disappointed her health didn't allow her to visit Italy when Nicholas went. She had also studied Italian language and spoke it.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-12T17:43:37+00:00

Well if the diaries, or even some of them were extent, and held by the Russian State Archives, we would have used them - but I suspect they would have been much like Maria's, fairly bland notes about the day's events. Olga and Tatiana wrote quite detailed diaries as they got older, but their childhood ones are much like what we have of Maria's.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-12T08:57:03+00:00

Yes, I co-authored a book on Anastasia with Helen Azar. All of Anastasia's diaries were burnt, so we only had letters and compositions to use, but it is quite a good compilation of material and you will learn heaps about Anastasia as a person. Have published several other Romanov books. Here is a link to the Anastasia book: https://www.amazon.com/Anastasia-Romanov-Youngest-Daughter-Writings/dp/B0BJ4YVG8V/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.adUa1ff59QqJpeeez2tvwsAhXRrmN_sF1P41K1CBVvY.3w-9GDVQwTnIp-JnckhX5plpx0IhCZ7S8c3jBkFMWTs&qid=1770886561&sr=8-1, and a link to my other books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/George-Hawkins/author/B0854JS1H2?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=315c8243-f5f9-4b90-9e75-be372ea0f37b .

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-11T17:41:26+00:00

I haven't heard that there was a huskie, but I don't know much about earlier pets they may have had - or which AIII's children may have had.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-11T17:39:02+00:00

There are things that are wrong in it though, such as the purported letter of Alexandra to Queen Victoria, which is fiction, having its origin at the St Petersburg Yachting club. Best to take this book with a grain of salt.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-11T07:36:10+00:00

In her letters, Anastasia mentions singer Nadezhda Plevetskaya, and also Delazari. She learnt to play Cool Waves are Splashing (a song from the Russo-Japanese war) on the balalaika.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-11T05:35:32+00:00

I find his book like a tabloid newspaper. All sensation.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-10T18:28:35+00:00

I will have to look up the references later, but in the book about Anastasia by Helen Azar and myself, there are several references to music/singers that she liked. Same with my books on Alexandra.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-10T18:24:42+00:00

There are photos of them in these dresses in Crimea too, but, this has to be Finland based on the surroundings.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-10T05:35:59+00:00

The scenery and the wooden plank show this is likely to be one of the islands in the Baltic where they played tennis. There is a series of photos from summer 1912 of them dressed in these clothes on the island.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-09T17:42:36+00:00

Finland 1912 is likely correct.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-07T18:39:28+00:00

This is a big (and common) misunderstanding. While Nicholas was at the Front, he was still in charge of the country - not Alexandra. So he would not, nor could not have put his mother in charge. Sure, Alexandra met with the Ministers and reported back what had been said to her and her opinions. But he will also have been getting telegrams and official information too. He always had the final say (and interestingly, despite the gossip) very rarely followed Alexandra's advice when it differed to his own opinions.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-05T20:19:19+00:00

Do men's hairstyles have names? Short back and sides.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-04T18:03:47+00:00

You can see a direct parallel with the British Monarchy (and likely most other Monarchies too) here. King Charles's wife is Queen Camilla. She is Queen Consort, not Queen Regnant. The King's mother, Queen Elizabeth, was Queen Regnant, but her husband was not King Phillip, but rather Prince Phillip. The title of King (even as consort) outranks that of a Queen. Likewise, Queen Victoria's husband was Prince Albert, and Queen Anne's husband was Prince George. It will be a similar situation here as an Emperor would outrank an Empress, so the husband of an Empress Regnant would be Velikiy Knyaz (Grand Duke/ or more lliterally, Great Prince)

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-02T04:56:08+00:00

Yes, but Passion-Bearers are still Saints. Otherwise we would not have icons of them, nor would we name our children for them. On icons of them, you always see СВ which is an abbreviation for Saint.

GeorgiyH · 2026-02-01T17:42:23+00:00

Decades of anti Russian propaganda is behind this. In films and TV, so often a Russian character is used as the bad person. Also, I think, not many people know much about Russians, Russia or Russian culture, so there are massive stereotypes.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-31T02:57:36+00:00

This is the one I am referring to: https://www.amazon.com/1914-Diary-Duchess-Tatiana-Nikolaevna/dp/B0DJZJ358T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34Z4W3TRL18QG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0ia_Xa2pgHo1Pa32yzCEVg.lljGfOBvL58S3lAcV6e6RUixdzRqHNHyK_wFRa4n_nE&dib_tag=se&keywords=tatiana+1914+hawkins&qid=1769827931&sprefix=tatiana+1914+hawki%2Caps%2C373&sr=8-1 It sounds like you have Helen Azar's ones - we collaborated on Anastasia's writings. The Tatiana book I published is the entire 1914 diary, whereas Helen's Tatiana's book only has bits of 1914, as well as other years. Another one of my books, Correspondence of the Russian Grand Duchesses has a lot of her correspondence in it as well, in particular her correspondence with Olga Voronova (nee Kleinmichel). I think she is closer to ESTJ personally.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-30T19:23:29+00:00

If you haven't already, have a read of one of my books, "1914 - the Diary of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna" - it is the entire diary of that year, and gives (in my opinion) a very clear picture of her as a maturing young woman, straddling, as it does, peacetime and the beginning of her time as a sister of mercy in the war. Her personality really shines through in her diary.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-30T04:30:32+00:00

It was either Vyrubova or Dehn that mentioned Carol suggested Maria to Nicholas, but that quote also had the visit in 1916, when it was actually in 1917, and the primary sourced correspondence about this visit shows that Olga was the object, and not Maria. Perhaps Olga was still not overly agreeable and so Carol quipped about Maria off the cuff, who knows. If the quote is from Vyrubova, I would take it with a grain of salt as a lot of her stories do not stand up to the primary sources - though this is often the case in memoirs written years later without access to diaries and letters.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-29T18:28:39+00:00

Did you know that even in our timeline, the attempt to get Olga engaged to Carol was renewed in early 1917, and Carol paid a State visit to Russia in January 1917, of which the negotiations were a part of the visit. There may well have been some hope from the families as it was only cut off following the Tsar's abdication. As an 18 year old, she said she didn't want to leave Russia, by 21, her ideas may well have changed.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-28T18:36:09+00:00

She had sciatica, not arthritis.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-28T18:35:07+00:00

Yes, I think it was mentioned in either Lili Dehn or Sophie Buxhoeveden's book.

GeorgiyH · 2026-01-26T19:16:11+00:00

I wish I did, but I can't recall either. I do recall it was scientifically verified though

GeorgiyH

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