September 20, 2015

Vicki Raley, one of my FB correspondents mentioned that she too saw a haunting sadness deep in the eyes of the adolescent Romanov girls...and I have been considering the reasons this is so- even long before the Revolution. I do believe their collective trauma began with Alexei's birth and the foreshadowing of his likely death by hemophilia. They were not only responsible for guarding him, they had to keep a secret that could damage the dynasty. Life was never carefree after his birth and their mother, Alexandra, always brooding and high-strung, became obsessive and hysterical, and ultimately gave herself over to the mysterious alleged powers of Rasputin. Olga and Tatiana witnessed the assassination of President Stolypin at the opera. They never knew when tragedy or violence would strike. Their own father had viewed his disemboweled, dying grandfather after he had been struck by a terrorist bomb. Terror and dread came with all the glory and privilege, beauty and style. From the time WW I began,all the girls were involved with badly wounded soldiers who were nursed at the Palace-turned-hospitals in St.Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. Olga and Tatiana assisted at amputations and the younger girls did not go to surgery but were often beside the wounded men, to offer comfort.Despite so many outwardly bucolic and romantic outings, waltzes on yacht decks, parties and picnics, at its core, the Romanov family was a traumatized one- Today, they would be in intensive treatment. Then, they were heading-fast toward their ultimate tragedy.Marie and Anastasia with hospitalized cossacks Olga sad in black kneeling