♕ Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia II I’ll never know

Olga Nikolaevna Romanova joined the Romanov family on November 15 (Old Style: November 3) 1895, in St Petersburg, Russia. On that day her father, Tsar Nicholas II, wrote in his diary: “A day I will remember forever . . . at exactly 9 o’clock a baby’s cry was heard and we all breathed a sigh of relief! With prayer we named the daughter sent to us by God ‘Olga’!” Baby Olga’s aunt, the Grand Duchess Ksenia’s diary entry for 3 November was a bit more cynical: “The birth of a daughter to Nicky and Alix! A great joy, although it’s a great pity it’s not a son! . . . The baby is huge – weighing 10 pounds – and had to be pulled out with forceps!” Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanov was the first of Tsar Nicholas II’s and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna’s five children. Born at the Anichkov Palace where the newlywed Russian imperial couple initially settled, the first of four daughters, Olga Romanov was born “in the purple” – during the imperial reign of her parents. Her Russian title “Velikaya Knyazhna” is most precisely translated as “the Grand Princess”, which means that Olga Romanov, as an “Imperial Highness”, was higher in rank than other princesses in Europe who were merely “Royal Highnesses”. “Grand Duchess” is the more common English translation. Olga’s mother Empress Alexandra startled her own grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, by insisting on breastfeeding her firstborn, which was quite unusual for aristocratic, let alone royal, women in the 19th century. Olga was the only one of her siblings to meet in person her formidable English great-grandmother, who was also one of her godmothers. The tiny grand duchess was probably too young to remember her visit to the British court since it occurred during the family’s trip abroad when she was just an infant. Empress Alexandra, known to her family as Alix, was one of Queen Victoria’s favorite granddaughters. Victoria was delighted to meet her new great-granddaughter and spend time with her, posing for numerous photos. According to her governess, Olga was taught by masters of music as well as Russian and mathematics. Once her arithmetic master, who was a professor of algebra from one of the universities, assigned Olga to write something; she asked his permission to go see the Russian master, who was teaching the Grand Duchess Tatiana in the next room. When asked why she needed to see him, Olga told him that she wanted to ask him how to spell “arithmetic.” The math teacher then spelled this difficult word for her, to which she declared with great admiration, “How clever you are! And how hard you must have studied to be able not only to count so well but to spell such very long words!” Olga Romanov was always described as the most intelligent and studious of all the imperial siblings, but at the same time the most prone to deep reflection and self-analysis, even melancholy.