Olga Nikolaevna, Grand Duchess

NEW BOOK – ‘Ladies of the Russian Court’

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English. Large format 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″. 164 pages. Illustrated

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NOTE: this book was originally published in 2021. This NEW 2026 edition features a FULL-COLOUR cover and is available in a hard cover edition for the first time.

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The stories which make up these six portraits are drawn from Meriel Buchanan’s own memories, stories of six remarkable women at the Russian Imperial Court, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II.

In this gallery of portraits are included the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, wife of Emperor Alexander III and mother of Emperor Nicholas II; the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich; the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the wife of the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; the Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, the wife of the Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich; the Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna, eldest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II; and Princess Zenaide Yousoupoff, the mother of the infamous Prince Felix Yousoupoff.

In dealing with these ladies of the Russian Court, the author evokes all the mystery, fascination, splendour, and elegance of Tsarist Russia. Ms Buchanan writes with a charm and ease most fitting to the characters she describes.

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Meriel Buchanan (1886-1959) was the daughter of Sir George Buchanan (1854-1924), British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, from 1910 until the end of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917. She grew up in the Courts of Europe and Imperial Russia, amid the fading glories of an age now past.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna’s photo album on display in St. Petersburg

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Paul Gilbert

CLICK HERE TO BROWSE THE 1907-1908 PHOTO ALBUM
OF GRAND DUCHESS OLGA NIKOLAEVNA

A photograph album belonging to the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1895-1918) from the collection of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (Moscow) is currently on display at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg.

The photographs are dated 1907-1908. The cover of the album is decorated with the Imperial Crown, and in the upper right corner is Olga’s monogram O. N.

In total, the album contains 294 photographs, of the Romanov family during the early 20th century. The pictures depict the day to day life of the Imperial Family: Olga and her siblings playing games, picnics, snowball fights and walks in the Alexander Park at Tsarskoye Selo, sailing on the Imperial Yacht Shtandart, New Year’s celebrations, and the Romanov family at home.

It also depicts photos of the Imperial Family: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna at Tsarskoye Selo with her children, with maids of honour, Emperor Nicholas II with his family and entourage.

Olga was the eldest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She was the favorite of her father, and was considered the most gifted of the August children. Olga had a philosophical mind, loved to read and wrote poetry. According to Anna Vyrubova, Olga was ‘extremely pretty, with brilliant blue eyes and a lovely complexion, and resembled her father in the fineness of her features, especially in her delicate, slightly tipped nose’.

All the photos in the album are cheerful and serene. During the First World War, Grand Duchesses Olga and her sister Tatiana, together with their mother, completed Red Cross training, passed an exam, and swapped their Imperial dress for nurses uniforms and began to help wounded soldiers in a special hospital set up not far from the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo.

Next year, will mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of the Grand Duchess, on 16th (O.S. 3rd) November 2025.