The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

495 Pages·2016·4.3 MB·English

by  Helen Rappaport

THE ROMANOV SISTERS
HELEN RAPPAPORT

THE ROMANOV SISTERS
The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS NEW YORK
In memory
of Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanova
four extraordinary young women
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Contents
List of Illustrations x
Glossary of Names xi
Author’s Note xvii
Prologue – The Room of the First and Last Door 1
One – Mother Love 9
Two – La Petite Duchesse 26
Three – My God! What a Disappointment! . . . A Fourth Girl 44
Four – The Hope of Russia 63
Five – The Big Pair and The Little Pair 82
Six – The Shtandart 97
Seven – Our Friend 109
Eight – Royal Cousins 123
Nine – In St Petersburg We Work; But at Livadia We Live 141
Ten – Cupid by the Thrones 160
Eleven – The Little One Will Not Die 176
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Twelve – Lord Send Happiness to Him, My Beloved One 189
Thirteen – God Save the Tsar 207
Fourteen – Sisters of Mercy 229
Fifteen – We Cannot Drop Our Work in the Hospitals 243
Sixteen – The Outside Life 255
Seventeen – Terrible Things Are Going on in St Petersburg 275
Eighteen – Goodbye. Don’t Forget Me 298
Nineteen – On Freedom Street 322
Twenty – Thank God We Are Still in Russia and
Still Together 339
Tweny-one – They Knew It Was the End When I Was
With Them 356
Twenty-two – Prisoners of the Ural Regional Soviet 370
Epilogue – Victims of Repression 377
Acknowledgements 382
Notes 386
Bibliography 448
Index 465
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List of Illustrations
ix
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
x
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Glossary of Names
Listed below are the most frequently occurring names in the text, in
the form in which they are generally cited.
OTMA = the sisters’ own acronym for Olga, Tatiana, Maria and
Anastasia
AKSH: acronym of Alexander Konstantinovich Shvedov, one of
Olga’s favourite officers in the Tsar’s Escort
Alexandra (Shura) Tegleva: OTMA’s nurse and later general
maid; married Pierre Gilliard
Alice: Princess Alice of Great Britain, later Grand Duchess of
Hesse and by Rhine, Alexandra’s mother
Alicky: Queen Victoria’s pet name for Alexandra, used to
distinguish her from Alix, who in the British royal family was
Alexandra, Princess of Wales
Alix: Nicholas’s pet name for his wife Alexandra
Anna (Nyuta) Demidova: Alexandra’s maid in waiting
Anna Vyrubova: Alexandra’s close friend and confidante; later
appointed a maid of honour
Bibi: pet name for Varvara Vilchikovskaya, OT’s friend and nurse at
the annexe.
Chemodurov: Terenty Chemodurov, Nicholas’s valet.
Count Benkendorf: Pavel Benkendorf, chief marshal and master
of ceremonies at the imperial court
Count Frederiksz: Vladimir Frederiksz, head of the imperial
household
Count Grabbe: Nikolay Grabbe, commander of the Tsar’s Escort
Derevenko: Andrey Derevenko, Alexey’s sailor dyadka
Dickie: Louis of Battenburg, later Lord Mountbatten, OTMA’s
cousin
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