Over 17 years now of researching the Romanovs for my novel, The Passion of Marie Romanov, I have found some rare images of the usually unsmiling Tatiana and close-lipped Alexandra. The other girls smiled but also usually with sealed lips- The reason may have been simple: They all inherited a space between their front teeth. Alexandra probably coached them not to open their mouths when they smiled but sometimes - a smile escaped - even from the serious Alexandra Feodorvna . Here Tatiana gives a very rare full smile and in 1914, she smiles up at her mother and her mother returns with a deep maternal smile.