Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913–1918 Hardcover – December 15, 2015

The Preface to “Tatiana Romanov: Daughter of the Last Tsar, Diaries and Letters 1913-1918,” begins with a diary entry from her father, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, written on the day his second daughter Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna of Russia was born. And so Azar and Nicholson comfortably ease the reader right into this book.Tatiana was born in 1897, the year of the Diamond Jubilee of her maternal great-grandmother Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland 1837-1901, Empress of India 1877-1901. That is, Queen Victoria’s sixtieth anniversary of reigning on the British throne. Although their lives crossed, Queen Victoria was not destined to meet Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna. (The Queen had met Tatiana’s older sister Olga as a baby when Tsar Nicholas II and his wife the Tsaritsa Alexandra---the Queen’s maternal granddaughter “Alicky”---visited Balmoral Castle in the ScottishHighlands, one of the Queen’s personally owned homes, during Their Imperial Majesties Coronation Tour in 1896.)Azar’s goal for the reader is to “. . . be able to interpret personalities and characters of the [Romanov] family members for themselves without having to rely on the interpretations of a historian or an author with a subjective point of view, who has “cherry picked” the material for quotes that support their opinions rather than presenting all of the material objectively” (p. viii).Azar accomplishes this goal by presenting newly released primary sources from the Russian State Archives, herself translating the material from Russian to English. Such material has never before been published in Russian or in English. And so we have a freshly mined perspective on Tatiana, whose words speak for herself.As co-author, Nicholson provides meticulous footnotes that showcase his extensive knowledge and cultural expertise on Imperial Russia, thereby contextualizing Tatiana’s diaries and letters. Nicolson’s notes take the reader deeper into the vanished world whose curtain was raised to us at the start of the Preface with the birth of Tatiana.My interest in the subject of Tatiana was and remains high. This was the sort of book that I read last thing at night, first thing in the morning, during meals throughout the day, and sometimes for hours at a time just by myself.Several dimensions emerge in this book.Immediately apparent is Tatiana as a faithful daughter of the Russian Orthodox Church. She writes of attending obednya (Divine Liturgy), moleben (an intercessory prayer service), vsenoshaya (all night vigils), and panikhida (funeral services for the dead.) I may have left out mention of other Church services.Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna is part of an immediate family and a large extended family. For readers who have grown up with, or still have, lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins: it will be easier for such readers to keep track of who’s who.In her immediate family, Tatiana is the second of four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. Her older sister, Olga, is mentioned above as the only Russian great-grandchild that Queen Victoria met as an infant. There are two younger sisters, Maria and Anastasia. Together the four sign themselves OTMA, for Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Whenever the Grand Duchesses want something from their father, Tsar Nicholas II, it is always Tatiana who is sent to ask it of him. The baby of the family and fifth child is the Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Alexei Nicholaievich of Russia. In fact, Alexei is called “Baby.” He suffers from hemophilia, a bleeding disorder where the blood does not clot. The disease was passed down over the generations from Queen Victoria. Alexandra’s mother was the Queen’s late third child, Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland (1843-1878), Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine 1877-1878. Victoria passed the defective gene to her daughter Alice, who passed it on to her daughter “Alicky,” the Tsaritsa, who gave the disease to Alexei. Not one word is spoken against Alexei by Tatiana in her diaries and letters. His four sisters adored their little brother the Tsesarevich. Tatiana’s letters to Alexei are loving and affectionate. Alexei’s hemophilia is a state secret and known to only the closest family members.Nicholas and Alexandra are still a passionate, romantic couple. However, health-wise, Alexandra has good days and bad days, with palpitations and headaches, among other ailments.Parents and children form a solid family system of their own.Tatiana did not grow up in an isolated, out-of-touch environment, removed as the imperial family was from St. Petersburgh, living in a wing of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, approximately 16 miles/28 kilometers by rail south of the capital. On the contrary, Tatiana’s diaries and letters mention time spent with many extended family members. She knew several of her aunts and uncles and cousins. There were also courtiers who were more or less always present. Among a sampling of visitors to the imperial family during January and February 1913 alone, Tatiana saw and interacted with the following:1. Prince Sergei Romanovsky-Leuchtenberg (1890-1974), 8th Duke of Leuchtenberg. His paternal grandmother was a Romanov Grand Duchess who managed to marry and remain in Russia by taking as her spouse the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg. The Leuchtenbergs are more remotely descended from Emperor Napoleon I’s stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg, son of the first marriage of the Empress Joséphine. Eugène married Princess Augusta of Bavaria; their children married into the princely family of Hohenzollern-Hechingen; ducal/royal family of Urach/Württemberg; the royal families of Sweden and Portugal; and the imperial families of Brazil and Russia. Prince Sergei is a second cousin Tatiana’s late grandfather Tsar Alexander III. Sergei is a real distant relative of Tatiana. He and his family enjoy the rank of Imperial Highness, just like the siblings, children, and grandchildren of the tsar in the male line. Prince Sergei is five years older than Tatiana’s older sister Olga, and seven years older than Tatiana herself.2. Countess Anastasya Vasil’yevna Gendrikova [Hendrikova] (1887-1918). Countess Hendrikovna has been a Freilina, or lady-in-waiting, to the Tsaritsa since 1910 and is an unofficial companion of Tatiana and her sisters.3. Princess Evgenia Maksimilianovna Romanovskaya (1845-1925), is one of the children of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nicholaievna of Russia, eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, whom Maria Nicholaievna had had wrapped around her finger. To Tatiana she is “Aunt Evgenia.” She is married to Duke Alexander of the Russian branch of the Oldenburg dynasty.I found myself wondering if Tatiana and her sister Olga ever reflect on Tsar Nicholas I’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nicholaievna, and if the two eldest sisters ponder a way to remain in Russia when they married.4. When we first hear mention of Tatiana’s paternal grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (1847-1928), Nicholas II is gone to see her at the Anichkov Palace, her Petersburgh home.5. “Aunt Olga” is Nicholas II's youngest sister, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. She is unhappily married to “Uncle Petya,” Duke Peter of Oldenburg, son of Aunt Evgenia. Petya has no interest in women and Olga’s nieces have no awareness of her misery. The Tsaritsa allows Aunt Olga to have time alone entertaining OTMA and taking them to see their grandmother the Dowager Empress. Olga has been visiting the imperial family since after New Year’s.6. “Aunt Ksenia [Xenia]” is Nicholas II’s elder sister, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna of Russia (1875-1960).7. “Irina” is Tatiana’s paternal first cousin Princess Irina of Russia (1895-1960), daughter of Aunt Ksenia and her husband “Uncle Sandro,” Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, a paternal first cousin of his wife’s father the late Tsar Alexander III. Ksenia remained in Russia when she married.Aunt Ksenia and Irina are guests for meals and tea with the imperial family.Irina is the only sister among five brothers (8. through 12.), somewhat ill-disciplined boys who are also periodic guests at Tsarskoye Selo. Tatiana and Olga like Irina, but seem to tolerate her five boisterous brothers.13. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (1891-1942) visits the imperial family in mid-January 1913. Dmitri is the much younger paternal first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II. But Tatiana and her siblings do not call him “Uncle,” as they do their father’s older paternal first cousins and their grandfather Alexander III’s brothers and male first cousins. Dmitri is Dmitri. He comes and goes among the imperial family. He is six years senior to Tatiana, four years senior to Tatiana’s older sister Olga. Dmitri makes the Tsar and Tsaritsa laugh with his stories and jokes. He amuses them. In his early years of military training, Dmitri spends much of his free time with the imperial family. Dmitri’s mother died at his birth, and after his father Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich made an unequal second marriage, his nephew Nicholas II sent him and his wife into exile. Dmitri and his sister were made wards of “Uncle Sergei” and “Aunt Ella,” who then reared them. Uncle Sergei is that late Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the fifth of the sixth sons of Tsar Alexander III. Sergei was assassinated by a terrorist anarchist bomb outside the Kremlin in Moscow in 1905, just after resigning a controversial term as Governor-General of Moscow.14. Aunt Ella is the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna of Russia (1865-1918), widow of Grand Duke Sergei, and now the Mother Superior of the Community of Martha and Mary in Moscow. After her husband’s murder she reared Dmitri and his older sister, [15.] Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger. Aunt Ella is a regular visitor to the Alexander Palace from her convent in a Moscow. She wears a nun’s habit. As the elder sister of the Tsaritsa Alexandra, she joins the imperial family for meals and tea.16. “Uncle Pavel” is Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860-1919), Dmitri’s father and Nicholas II’s young uncle. Pavel has been rehabilitated from his unequal second marriage, and he and his second wife and their family no longer live in exile. During the course of Tatiana’s diary her mother visits Pavel, his second wife, and second family at their home in Tsarskoye Selo. Pavel is also a frequent guest for meals and tea with the imperial family.Beyond those first two months of 1913, other guests that Tatiana mentions as visitors to her family circle are Dmitri’s sister, the above mentioned [15.] Grand Duchess Maria Pavolvna the Younger---seven years senior to Tatiana Nicholaievna, five years senior to Olga Nicholaievna. [17.] “Aunt Miechen,” Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Elder, widow of Nicholas II’s paternal uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, is an occasional visitor. So is Miechen’s daughter-in-law, [18.] “Aunt Ducky,” Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia. Ducky is a paternal first cousin of Nicholas II and a maternal first cousin of Alexandra. Ducky is the divorced ex-wife of Alexandra’s brother, and is now the wife of Miechen’s son [.19] Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. “Uncle Kirill” and his brothers [20.] “Uncle Boris” and [21.] “Uncle Andrei,” are occasional visitors to the imperial family at the Alexander Palace. Tsaritsa Alexandra maintains a more civil relationship to Miechen and Ducky than I have been led to believe. [22.] “Uncle Konstantine” [the poet K.R.] and [23.] “Aunt Mavra,” Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Marvrikievna of Russia, are likewise occasional visitors, as are their eldest sons, [24.] “Ioannchik,” Prince Ioann [pronounced: yoh-on] Konstantinovich and his three immediate younger brothers [25.] Princes [26.] Gavril, [27.] Konstantin, and [28.] Oleg Konstantinovich of Russia. Ioannchik’s wife, [29.] “Elena,” born a Princess of Serbia, also visits the imperial family.A regularly mentioned visitor to the imperial family is [30.] “Grigori”---Grigori Efimovich Rasputin.Rasputin’s sometime go-between is [31.] “Anya,” Anna Vyrubova, a close friend of the Tsaritsa Alexandra. [32.] Lili Dehn is another of Alexandra’s close women friends.Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna makes regular visits to her relative, [33.] Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna, eldest daughter of Uncle Konstantine and Aunt Mavra. Princess Tatiana is married to [34.] Prince Konstantine Bagration-Mukhrani. The young couple are parents to two small children, [35.] Prince Teymuraz Konstantinovich Bagration-Mukhrani, and [36.] Princess Natalia Konstantinovna Bagration-Mukhrani. Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna loves playing with Teymuraz and Natalia. The Grand Duchess later makes less occasional visits to play with Ioannchik and Elena’s eldest child [37.] Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia.Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna Romanova of Russia had an affection for young children.While by no means intended to be an exhaustive list of the relatives and courtiers with whom Tatiana maintains contact, the fact is that Nicholas II and Alexandra cut themselves off from most of the above mentioned relatives only after Rasputin was murdered in December 1916 by Irina’s husband, Prince Felix Yusupov, with the complicity of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, among others. For someone as family-oriented as our Tatiana, the cut off had to be emotionally trying. But this is getting ahead of myself.From 1913 on, we learn that Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna loves the opera and Russian classical ballet. She frequently attends live performances in the capital, traveling by train with her father and older sister. Tatiana is also an accomplished pianist, with apparently flawless technique. I was curious about her level of accomplishment on the classical keyboard.It was traditional for the Tsar and almost all of the imperial family to travel to Moscow for religious services in the Kremlin at the start of any war, and the beginning of World War I in August 1914 is no exception. At one point, several regiments march past the Kremlin on their way to battle. Tatiana describes them as “Terribly appetizing cadets” (p. 41).My own response was a delicious, “Ooh, Tatiana! Seventeen-years-old and experiencing the feelings of a natural young woman. Who knew?”Within months of the start of War, Tsaritsa Alexandra and her two eldest daughters Olga and Tatiana become certified Red Cross War Nurses. They open an infirmary at both the Alexander Palace and at the nearby, larger Catherine Palace. (Aunt Olga, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger, also became certified Red Cross War Nurses and served at the War front. Miechen and Ducky established their own infirmaries, medicine dispensaries, and efficient supply delivery services during the War.) Alexandra’s health eventually leads her to curtail her nursing activities. Olga persists but is squeamish at difficult moments in the surgery theatre and while changing bandages of wounded soldiers on the infirmary wards. Tatiana impresses experienced surgeons and fully trained nurses by her finesse, whether it is as a surgical nurse, a changer of bandages on soldier’s wounds, and her down-to-earth warmth, awareness and compassion to the physical pain experienced by her patients.Tatiana also heads a committee that requires her presence at meetings in the Winter Palace in Petrograd, renamed from the German-sounding St. Petersburg by Nicholas II at the start of the War. She has to deal more than once with an insufferable blowhard on her committee, which makes for humorous reading.After the murder of Rasputin in December 1916, and upon the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917, it is Tatiana among the five children who provides both her father and mother with consistent, steady companionship and consolation afterwards. During the imperial family’s subsequent imprisonments, Tatiana did her best to write and keep in touch with relatives, former courtiers, and former colleagues and patients of the infirmaries where she worked long hours.The Tatiana that emerges from Azar and Nicholson’s book is a multidimensional person. (1) Spiritual and religious; (2) devoted daughter; (3) the leader among her siblings; (4) substantially connected to her extended family; (5) a deeply cultured person, knowledgeable of both opera and classical ballet; (6) an outstanding classical pianist; (7) a lover of young children; (8) a young woman of hetero-sensual feelings; (9) a highly competent and natural nurse; (10) a respected administrator; (11) attempts to maintain contact with family and friends despite her imprisonments; and (12) unmistakably an emperor’s daughter.Bravo, Helen Azar and Nicholas B. A. Nicholson, for presenting Tatiana in all her human complexity!

Excellent insightful diaries recounting the day to day lives of the Russia's last Royal children during World War One somewhat putting to rest the myth that the Tsar's daughters existed in a vacuum in seclusion isolated from the real world and the Russian people. Unfortunately, the Grand Duchess Tatiana's letters are not included which are far more emotional, observant & entertaining.In real time Grand Duchess Tatiana was less reserved and more socially extroverted and engaged than her diaries and reputed reputation by way of historians would have readers believe.For an idea of the Russian Royal Children's myriad social activities and their unique personalities as they circulated about Russian society with artless charm and perfect ease source:--You Tube: "OTMA--Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia." The Last Tsar. Nov 11 2016.--You Tube: "OTMA Romanovs in Filmen (Teil 1 von 3)Very Interesting.

I read this remarkable book in one sitting. I literally could not put it down. From reading the fascinating diary entries and letters written by Grand Duchess Tatiana, I was swept into her world and felt a true connection to her personality and spirit. I feel as if I have always known her, a bright, witty, compassionate, warm young woman who, in my opinion, would have been a force to reckon with on an international scale, had she not been a victim of her family's fate. Kudos to the superbly talented Helen Azar for bringing Tatiana to life so vividly. This book is a must-read for every Romanov aficionado!

Although interesting to a historian, the diary written in that clipped style that these Diaries are, gives little away and what it does is by intriguing snippets that leave us wondering?To be honest, and I am a Romanov enthousiast, the diary gives little way or adds little. A causal ready would quickly get bored I think.Certainly the diary does enable us to say that Tatiana Romanova was a thoughful young lady who cared for people and her country and could have contributed much. That is the tragedy of knowing her end.One minor point, the book is called Tatiana Romanov. Of course the Russian female form is Romanova

The media could not be loaded. Helen Azar's marvelous series of books bringing to the West translations of the actual diaries and letters of the Last Russian Imperial family continues with another fine publication , " Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar:" The Last Tsar's second daughterThis time Ms. Azar has as co-author; the noted Romanov expert Nicholas B. A. Nicholson. Mr.Nicholson's comprehensivefoot notes add immeasurable to the passages and are a kind if translation themselves, adding even more to our understandingof Grands Duchess Tatiana's words.Azar and Nicholson are truly a dream team for the Romanov / Imperial Russian history enthusiast .The book is handsomely published by Westholme Publishing Press with many photos ...Not to be missed !

A beautiful collection of entries and letters from Tatiana. I truly appreciated having this translated content all in one place to get a broad scope interaction with the Grand Duchess’ past expressions.