Best AI Website MakerThe words of those who knew Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanova.
On this page you will find the words of: Vyrubova, Dehn, Mossolov, Bitner, Kobylinsky, Buxhoeveden, Gilliard, Gibbes, Yurovsky.
Anna Vyrubova
Tatiana was almost a perfect reincarnation of her mother. Taller and slenderer than her sisters, she had the soft, refined features and the gentle, reserved manners of her English ancestry. Kindly and sympathetic of disposition, she displayed towards her younger sisters and her brother such a protecting spirit that they, in fun, nicknamed her "the governess." Of all the Grand Duchesses Tatiana was with the people the most popular, and I suspect in their hearts she was the most dearly loved of her parents. Certainly she was a different type from the others even in appearance, her hair being a rich brown and her eyes so darkly gray that in the evening they seemed quite black. Of all the girls Tatiana was most social in her tastes. She liked society and she longed pathetically for friends. But friends for these high born but unfortunate girls were very difficult to find. The Empress dreaded for her daughters the companionship of oversophisticated young women of the aristocracy, whose minds, even in the schoolroom, were fed with the foolish and often vicious gossip of a decadent society.
Lili Dehn
The Grand Duchess Tatiana was as charming as her sister Olga, but in a different way. She has been described as proud, but I never knew anyone less so. With her, as with her mother, shyness and reserve were accounted as pride, but, once you knew her and had gained her affection, this reserve disappeared, and the real Tatiana became apparent. She was a poetical creature, always yearning for the ideal, and dreaming of great friendships which might be hers. The Emperor loved her devotedly, they had much in common, and the sisters used to laugh, and say that, if a favour were required, "Tatiana must ask Papa to grant it." She was very tall, and excessively thin, with a cameolike profile, deep blue eyes, and dark chestnut hair... a lovely Rose maiden, fragile and pure as a flower.
A.A. Mossolov
Tatiana (fifteen) was a little taller, more delicate and slender [than Olga], her face was rather longer and her whole appearance was more aristocratic and well-bred, her hair was darker than her older sister’s, but she did not smile as often. She was, to my mind, the most beautiful of the sisters. ... Tatiana, on the other hand, had a difficult character, more reserved, but with perhaps deeper spiritual qualities than her sister.
Klavdia Bitner
[Tatiana] inherited her mother's nature. She had many maternal traits: an imperious character, a tendency to establish order in life, a sense of duty. She was in charge of the household. She took care of Alexei Nikolaevich. She always walked with the Tsar in the courtyard. She was the closest person to the Empress. They were two friends.
That is why the Empress did not take her when she left Tobolsk, because Alexei Nikolaevich was left with her. She was, of course, the most necessary person in the family for my parents. But it seemed to me that she was not as cheerful as her mother. I do not know why this happened, but I had nothing to talk about with her and did not want to. I do not know whether she was developed and well-read. She always read with Hendrikova [Countess Anastasia Hendrikova]. She loved to be a housewife. She loved to embroider and iron linen.
Eugene Kobylinsky
The Grand Duchess Tatiana was about twenty. She was quite different from her sisters. You recognised in her the same features that were in her mother—the same nature and the same character. You felt that she was the daughter of an emperor. She had no liking for art. Maybe it would have been better for her had she been a man. When the emperor and empress left Tobolsk nobody would ever have thought that the Grand Duchess Olga was the senior of the remaining members of the imperial family. If any questions arose it was always Tatiana who was appealed to. She was nearer to her mother than the other children; and it seemed that she loved her mother more than her father.
Sophie Buxhoeveden
[Olga] was generous, and an appeal to her met with immediate response. “Oh, one must help poor so-and-so. I must do it somehow,” she would say. Her more careful sister, Tatiana, would suggest practical measures, would note names and details, and come back to the subject later, out of duty. ...
... Tatiana Nicolaevna was to my mind prettier than her sisters. She was taller even than the Empress, but she was so slight and well–proportioned that her great height was not remarkable. She had fine, regular features, recalling pictures of ancestresses who had been famous beauties. She had dark hair, a rather pale complexion, and wide-apart, light-brown eyes that gave her a poetic far-away look not quite in keeping with her character. This was a mixture of exactness, thoroughness and perseverance, with leanings towards poetic and abstract ideas. She was closest in sympathy to her mother, and was the definite favorite of both her parents. She was completely unselfish, always ready to give up her own plans to go for a walk with her father, to read to her mother, to do anything that was wanted. It was Tatiana Nicolaevna who took care of the little ones, and who was a constant help to the Household, always willing to help them in arranging that their official duties should not clash with their private engagements. She had the Empress’s practical mind and love of detail. She planned and arranged everything in the ‘Children’s Quarters’ as it was called. She had a less strong character than Olga Nicolaevna, whose lead she would always follow, but she could make up her mind in an emergency quicker than her elder sister, and never lost her head.
When her brother was ill, Tatiana Nicolaevna could take her mother’s place, following the doctor’s directions and playing with the sick boy for hours. Out of a sense of public duty, she took more than her share of public appearances. She was shy, like all her sisters, but her natural friendliness made her want to say friendly things to other people. She became much better known than her cleverer elder sister, as she took more trouble about the people she met.
Tatiana Nikolaevna loved dress. Any frock, no matter how old, looked well on her. She knew how to put on her clothes, was admired and liked admiration. She was sociable, and friends would have been welcome, but no young girls were ever asked to the Palace.
Pierre Gilliard
Tatiana Nicolaievna was rather reserved, essentially well balanced, and had a will of her own, though she was less frank and spontaneous than her elder sister. She was not so gifted, either, but this inferiority was compensated by more perseverance and balance. She was very pretty, though she had not quite Olga Nicolaïevna's charm.
If the Czarina made any difference between her children, Tatiana Nicolaïevna was her favourite. It was not that her sisters loved their mother any less, but Tatiana knew how to surround her with unwearying attentions and never gave way to her own capricious impulses. Through her good looks and her art of self-assertion she put her sister in the shade in public, as the latter, thoughtless about herself, seemed to take a back seat. Yet the two sisters were passionately devoted to each other. There was only eighteen months between them, and that in itself was a bond of union.
Sydney Gibbes
Of the persons left behind [in Tobolsk] Tatischeff was the senior; and of the remaining part of the imperial family, Tatiana was considered senior in the place of the Grand Duchess Olga. ...
... The Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna was very thin. You could hardly imagine anybody as thin as she was. She was twenty-one years of age, was tall, darker than the rest of the family, and elegant. The colour of her eyes was dark grey. Her eyes made her look different from all of her sisters, who showed their souls through their eyes. She was reserved, haughty, and not open hearted, but she was the most positive. She was also religious, but the motive back of her religion was: “It is my duty,” while Olga Nicholaevna had it in her heart. She was always preoccupied and pensive and it was impossible to guess her thoughts. She played the piano and played it better than anyone else in the family. However, she had only a better technique and did not show feeling in her music. She painted and embroidered well. She was her mother’s favourite and the one in whom, of all the daughters, she confided the most. If any favours were to be obtained they had to be gotten through Tatiana Nicholaevna.
Yakov Yurovsky
Tatiana and Olga, or Maria - most often Tatiana - came to ask can [we] soon go for a walk. ...
... The daughters, especially Tatiana, often opened doors where a sentry permanently stood. Tried to exchange pleasantries with them, evidently hoping to win over the Konvoi [military escort]. It must be said that the lads were rather tough and certainly [they] were unable to influence them with such niceties.
... The most intelligent of them were Tatiana, the second – could consider Olga, who resembled Tatiana very much, including facial expressions.
(From the Private Presidential Archives of the Russian Federation, APRF f.3 op 58 d. 280)
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