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You are filled with anguish
For the suffering of others.
And no one's grief
Has ever passed you by.
You are relentless
Only toward yourself,
Forever cold and pitiless.
But if only you could look upon
Your own sadness from a distance,
Just once with a loving soul -
Oh, how you would pity yourself,
How sadly you would weep.
A prayer Olga wrote in April 1917 to her Mama
The eldest, Olga, possessed a remarkably quick brain. She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee. She gave me a certain amount of trouble at first, but our early skirmishes were soon succeeded by relations of frank cordiality. She picked up everything extremely quickly, and always managed to give an original turn to what she learnt. I well remember how, in one of our first grammar lessons, when I was explaining the formation of verbs and the use of the auxiliaries, she suddenly interrupted me with: "I see, Monsieur. the auxiliaries are the servants of the verbs. It's only poor 'avoir' which has to serve itself.
~ Pierre Gillard (tutor) on Olga.
Grand Duchess Olga Nicholiaevna was born on 3rd of November 1895 (Old Calender).
She was artistic and loved to read, she grasped concepts quickly and soon became her tutors favourite pupil. She loved charity work, just like her mother and grandmother and had the closest relationship with her father than her other siblings. Olga was an accomplished rider and dancer and sometimes enjoyed singing.
Olga was the only daughter to recieve a coming of age ball because the war. It was at the Livadia palace 1911 and she wore a pink chiffon and silk dress.
In 1913 there was rumors that Olga was engaged to Crown Prince Carol of Romania. The family visited Romania to see if the pair would be united but Olga would not hear of it, declairing that "I'm a Russian, and mean to remian in Russia."
In 1915 Olga, her sister Tatiana and her mother Alexandra became nurses and seeing people in pain and reading newspapers that portrayed her parents wrongly, she became nervous and it took it's toll on her emotionally. Olga is said to be the only one who really knew the danger her family was in.
Olga had blue eyes and blonde hair, considered strange in a family of dark haired people. She referred to her nose as "her humble stub".
Maria
Grand Duchess Maria Nicholiaevna was born on June 14 1899 (Old Calander).
Maria was a robust child and always smiling and cheerful to others. Grand Duke Vladimir, seeing her for the first time, remarked that she was one of Botticelli's angels.
She had light brown hair and large blue beautiful eyes that her family called "Maria's saucers" with long, dark lashes. She was rather tall for her age and her weight was a worry for her mother, but eventually she grew out of her baby fat which her elder sisters joked about, calling her "fat little bow wow".
She had a warm heart, her tutor Sydney Gibbes said she was "the most affectionate and friendly member of the family." She liked to talk to the servants and asked them about their family and rarley did she forget a name or a birthday. One of her wishes in life was to marry a soldier and have twenty children, which seemed to fit her personality perfectly as she was known to love little children, picking up and kissing babies and spending hours at a time with them.
She had real artistic talent and loved to sketch, Maria was also a flirt and developed a relationship with Nicholas Dmitrievich Demenkov, or “Kolya,” who was an officer at the Tsar's headquarters. Sadly, it wasn't to be.
Maria was nineteen when she died along with her parents and siblings.
Maria was a fine girl, tall for her age, and a picture of glowing health and colour. She had large and beautiful gray eyes. Her tastes were very simple, and with her warm heart she was kindness itself. Her sisters took advantage somewhat of good nature, and called her "fat little bow-wow'" (Le Bon Gros Tou-tou). She certainly had the benevolent and somewhat gauche devotion of a dog.
~ Pierre Gillard's Memiors
Anastasia
My favorite goddaughter was she indeed! I liked her fearlessness. She never whimpered or cried, even when hurt. She was a fearful tomboy. Goodness only knows which of the young cousins had taught her how to climb trees, but climb them she did, even when she was quite small. It was not generally known that she had a weak back and the doctors ordered massage. Anastasia or "Shvibzik," as I used to call her, hated what she labeled "fuss." A hospital nurse, Tatiana Gromova, used to come to the palace twice a week, and my naughty little niece would hide in a cupboard or under her bed, just to put off the massage by another five minutes or so. I suppose the doctors were right about the defective muscle, but nobody, seeing Anastasia at play, would have believed it, so quick and energetic was she. And what a bundle of mischief!
~ Olga Alexandrovna, Anastasia's Aunt and Godmother
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholiaevna was born on 5 June 1901, just after her father recovered from typhiod fever.
Anastasia, the youngest of the four daughters Alexandra and Nicholas had was intelligent, quick, had a sense of humor and always filled with energy. She was nicknamed Malenkaya meaning "little one" by her father which she didn't like because she was very short and wasn't proud of seeing younger people taller than her.
Her tutors found she learnt quicker than her others sisters because of her memory and the fact that she could learn anything by heart if she was willing to. Grammer was her weakness and because the classroom laked excitment she longed for Anastasia became bored and she had trouble focusing on her school work. She played three musical instruments; piano, balalaika and the guitar. Her French accent was excellent. She was a very good actress not only in comedies but in any production.
She had two dogs during her life, Shvybzik and Jemmy. Shvybzik and Anastasia were very close and one day he suddenly died of a brain disorder, Anastasia was inconsolable for weeks after his death. Anna Vyrubova felt sorry and gave her Jemmy, a King Charles spaniel who died in her arms during the execution.
Anastasia was close to both Alexei and Maria ("little pair"). She knew just how to cheer Alexei up when he was ill.
