GMZ Tsarskoe Selo
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Monday, December 6, 2021
Queen Victoria's letter to Alix's sister Victoria, dated February 2, 1887
Source:
Advice to my grand-daughter: Letters from Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse, edited by Richard Hough, 1975
The letter:
Osborne Feb 2 1887
Darling Victoria
It is impossible for me to tell you what a shock your letter gave me! Indeed I felt quite ill — for I am so deeply hurt at Irene's conduct towards me which is neither kind grateful or straightforward. I spoke to her on the subject not long before she left, and she said "I don't say it is never to be, only don't bind yourself before he goes away on a long voyage — but say you cannot as yet give a promise." And she assured me again and again that she would never do that! How can I trust her again after such conduct? Loving her as I do, treating her and you all as my own children and having to a great extent acting a mother's part to you all and been so very intimate with her, this want of openness has hurt me deeply. The least she could have done would be to telegraph at once to me: 'Henry is coming after all'. But to learn it from the papers first is too much........ It reminds me of Ella's and Serge's marriage (which I grieve over as much as ever) and that you were made to announce it to me as (I suspect) no one else liked to do it, just as she had declared she would not accept him!! ........ It is too bad to act in that way. I dare hardly hope for better things for lovely Alicky tho' I still have lingering hopes left there!
Above: Alix.
Above: Queen Victoria.
Above: Victoria.
Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick's description of Alexandra
Source:
Discretions, by Frances "Daisy" Greville, Countess of Warwick, 1931
The description:
(More thoughts on a Princess who married into a foreign country...)
The unhappy Czarina, whom I knew as a girl, found herself in the same situation, only in far more trying circumstances. I remember her faintly as Princess Alix of Hesse. She was then a wholesome, thoroughly normal person. Indeed one might have met scores of educated and agreeable girls in Germany of her type. She loved to laugh and joke, and there were certainly no indications of any mystic leanings in her character. Years later my son went to Russia with Lord Milner, and was there entertained by the Czar. The Czarina was there, but he was unable to recognise in her the woman I had described. Court life had turned her into a nervous wreck, submissive to all manner of influences. Despite the fact that I knew her as a thoroughly rational girl, I cannot help wondering whether her faith in Rasputin was not a matter of belief in his mystic power rather than his political worth........
It should be remembered that there were many contributory causes to the sad mistakes made by the Czarina, and the overwrought state of her nerves was certainly not incomprehensible. For long years she had above all things desired to have a son, forgetting the terrible curse that in her case was likely to accompany the gift. The little heir to the Russian throne was afflicted with a terrible disease from birth. It is not difficult to picture the anguish of the mother who realised that the son she had desired with all her soul was destined to a life of wretchedness almost from the cradle. He could not live like other children and dared not run the risk of playing even an ordinary game with those who would have been his playmates in the normal course of things, for fear of an injury that to any other child would have been of no importance, but to him might prove fatal. It is scarcely to be wondered that her mental balance was so disturbed, and that her behaviour appeared eccentric.
Above: Alexandra with Alexei.
Above: Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Original chairs from the Formal Reception Room restored and returned
Source:
GMZ Tsarskoe Selo, Miroslava Piskaryova and Andrey Zeest
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)