Empress Alexandra and Grand Duchess Elizabeth: the last meeting of two sisters.
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- čas přidán 1. 12. 2021
- Countess Alexandra Olsufyeva, who served as the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's lady in waiting for some years and was extremely loyal to her, wrote in her memoir, about the last time Elizabeth Feodorovna saw her sister:
"The Grand Duchess was fully in favour of the unity between the Emperor and the Duma, strictly following the constitutional law of 1905... She also insisted that the infamous Rasputin would be sent home to Siberia.
The grand Duchess touched upon the sensitive subject of Rasputin; however, even though she talked about the scandalous antics which the latter was able to hide from Her Majesty, she was not able to convince the empress, who was certain of his saintliness.
The Empress was in such deep denial regarding his character, that she responded to it all only with "we know that saints have always been slandered". The Grand Duchess seemed to see the future: "Remember the fate of Louis XVI", she said.
From the Guard Journal at the Alexander Palace:
"Tsarskoe Selo . 30 November, 1916.
3:20pm - the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna arrives from Moscow and stays at the Alexander Palace, in the English rooms (first floor).
8pm - dinner - the grand Duchess has dinner together with nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. No other family members were present.
1 December, 1916.
1pm- Breakfast (lunch). Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna has breakfast with the entire imperial family- the Emperor, Empress and all their children.
2:40pm- 3:40pm - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna rides in a carriage around the park along with her sister.
5pm- Tea. Present are: the Grand Duchess, the Emperor and Empress
7:30pm - Dinner. Present are: the grand Duchess, the Emperor and Empress and all 4 of their daughters.
8:30pm- The Empress, along with her daughters Olga and Tatiana, took the grand Duchess to the railroad station (Imperial Pavilion) and she left for Moscow. "
The next day, on 2 December, 1916, the imperial couple met with Rasputin.
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I absolutely cannot get enough of this royal family. Thanks so much.
I’ve never heard this story in this way before! I wonder why even the servants around them like Gilliard and Baroness Buxhoeveden said in their memoirs that this last meeting was chilly and resulted in Alexandra cutting contact with Elisabeth?
They did cut contact for a while, but that was also because of the revolution. We don't know how long it would have lasted if not for that. Gilliard et al, didn't always get things right, he often repeated what others said, who didn't necessarily get it right. Besides, he wrote his memoir years later, and people tend to remember things differently through the prism of time. I trust objective sources like the AP journal a lot more.
Thankyou Helen still to this day I wonder why they murdered Ella and her apprentice who were both Nun's and helped the poor...and why/how did Anya survive ?...did she strike a deal with the Bolsheviks or was it luck ?
The Bolsheviks wanted to kill the people who could be an obstacle to their power, especially the educated and intelligent people. This is why they killed Elizabeth. And this is why they didn’t kill Aniya (please read the book from Pierre Gilliard).
@@GoldForAnna I haven't read that one as yet but thankyou I will do 🙂
They killed all the Romanovs who didn't get the chance to escape
Yes, and the Bolsheviks also killed thousands of other entire families.
@@inthestepsoftheromanovs5750 it didn't have to be that way. Nicholas was told in January 1917 to send his wife and family to the Crimea. He stupidly refused and sealed their fate. He always got it wrong.
Hi Helen,
This video is very interesting! I was wondering how you found out about the Guard Journal at the Alexander Palace and where could I get access to it? The reason is I have been a Romanov history buff for the past 6 years and I would like to read it because I find first-hand accounts on the Romanovs very interesting.
It would be very appreciated if you could please get back to me.
Thank you,
Ella
Had Alix heeded Ella's warnings about Rasputin the future of the Romanov dynasty might have been different. Another of history's many, "what ifs."
I think they were doomed anyway. Rasputin was just used a pretence, there were so many factors to what happened.
@@inthestepsoftheromanovs5750 they certainly were doomed due to their rampant stupidity. They refused to listen to highly intelligent advice and took the whole empire down with them.
That’s genuinely interesting. I had always read in accounts of the final meeting between the Tsarina and her sister GD Elizaveta Fyodorovna (‘Elisabeth’ / ‘Ella’) that it was chilly and that the Tsarina saw her sister off at the station at Tsarskoye Selo alone, suggesting that words had passed between the two sisters and that their parting was awkward, to say the least. However, the palace record does not really support that account of events. Instead, it indicates that the visit was at least partly warm and convivial, with family dinners and at least one intimate dinner with just the two sisters and the Tsar himself. I doubt that that would have happened if, as the general view has long portrayed it, the relationship between the two sisters at the time were indeed at breaking point. I am not saying that everything was entirely at ease between the two sisters at the time - in particular, GD Elizaveta seems to have been much more perspicacious than either the Tsar and the Tsarina in terms of recognising the danger that they were all in and may have communicated that to the Imperial Couple - but not to the point of not being able to visit the Imperial Family at Tsarskoye Selo in familial surroundings. The fact that the Tsarina’s daughters were alongside their mother and present at the station to see their aunt off on her departure back to Moscow is news to me, and paints a quite different picture to the one that historians and authors have often painted of the scene (frosty / chilly, the two sisters on their own, few or no word spoken at the moment of final departure). In any event, many thanks to you, Helen, for having brought the records of the palace and the diary of GD Elizaveta’s lady-in-waiting to our attention in connection with the final meeting between the Tsarina and the Grand Duchess. One of the great problems in Russian and, later, Soviet history is that the Revolution and its aftermath were a period of such turmoil, and thereafter the archives in the Soviet Union were closed for so many decades, so that a huge amount of the historical record was destroyed, lost or simply became inaccessible for a long, long time. As a result, the account of many historical events around the Revolution is based on rumour, hearsay or sometimes just outright fantasy or fabrication. Many authors in the West, although they find the story of the Romanovs interesting and appealing, do not know Russian and hence do not access what remains in Russia of the primary sources about the Revolution. Hence, accounts of events that are at best distorted or at worst are basically fiction get published and re-published endlessly. Myth becomes reality. You, on the other hand, consult the original sources in Russian and it makes such a difference., it really does. After over 100 years, we may not ever know exactly what happened during the final meeting of the Tsarina and her elder sister in November / December 1916, but your research provides some tangible evidence that it was not the wordless, frosty encounter that the popular view has often brought down to us. Personally, I have always found the popular view of a wordless, frosty farewell between the two sisters to be rather at odds with the nature of their mutual relationship. The final meeting between the two women may not be the most significant event in the lead-up to the Revolution, but it is of great interest to historians because it is one of the final examples of contact of the Imperial Couple with one of their closest relatives. To this end, it deserves a better historical account that what has often been given in books about the Romanovs and / or the Revolution. Спасибо, Елена.
Thank you!
Alexandra Feodorovna was clearly mentally ill and highly delusional. She was obsessed with and manipulated by Rasputin. Nicholas was too feeble to stand up to her and face reality. It was a miracle the whole empire did not come crashing down much sooner. Nicholas was repeatedly warned and stupidly did nothing. He was told in January 1917 to send his wife and daughters to the Crimea. He stupidly refused thus sealing their fate when revolution broke out not long after.
I always wonder if the short nun that is in the videos with Ella is Vavara, who died with her.
It is either Varvara or one of the other novices
Interesting. Is this a personal guard's journal or is it part of guard's duty to make such detail journal about events on the palace?
The latter 🙂
I'm wondering, the meeting between Rasputin, the Tsar & Tsaritsa, mentioned at the end, did it take place in Vrubova's house in Tsarskoe Selo?
So no shouting match between them about it....or would a lady in waiting report that?
I've always read they parted angry with each other and whilst in captivity they didn't correspond with each other at all...hopefully Helen can help us both out here 🙂
@@carltongirl95 After Rasputin 's murder , when Ella signed the family letter asking for clemency for Grand Duke Dmitri , I would think there would be no communication between the sisters indeed.
@@blessOTMA yes of course that makes sense 🙂
@@carltongirl95 I don't think they communicated directly, but Ella would send them gifts to Tobosk, and coffee for Alexandra; when Maria wrote to Ella, she said that "Mama thanks you for the coffee". I think they had forgiven each other.
@@inthestepsoftheromanovs5750 there is no evidence to support that.
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Hello. I am great-grandchildren of Anastasia.
Anastasia never married and had children.