The Last of the Romanovs | Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna

Hmmm, in Toronto, Canada, in a small room above a beauty salon, a woman dies, the year is 1960. Only those at the funeral know the story of the woman in the open coffin. She is the sister of the

last

Russian tsar. She was born with unimaginable wealth. and splendor her life was set against the backdrop of an entire century it was a life full of forbidden love

last

ing passion and revolution such is the story of

olga

the last

grand

duchess

of russia it was another time when the countries of europe were ruled by kings and queens and they were all related to each other Olga's family portrait Uncle Edward and Aunt Alexandra the future rulers of England her uncle the king of Greece her aunt the queen of Greece her father the Tsar of Russia her mother Princess Dagmar of Denmark her

grand

father Christine IX, the King of Denmark and her grandmother, the Queen of Denmark, Grand Duchess Olga was related by blood to practically all the royal families of Europe.

On June 1, 1882, in the city of Saint Petersburg, a daughter was born to the Grand Duchess.

olga

imperial highness the sovereign emperor alexander iii from his peterhof palace nearson petersburg in russia olga's father the tsar ruled a sith of the world when olga was born in honor of the grand

duchess

the cannons saluted in saint petersburg there were cannon shots from the squadron ships in Peterhof, where the squadron was based, it was the cannon fire that informed the people that a child was born into the tsar's family. Colossal changes have occurred over the past 100 years in Russia, but we keep everything in our archive.

We are the memory of the people. We are from Russia. In memory we keep all the documents that remain in Russia and about the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, these are the documents of her birth, baptism, marriage, what does it mean to be the daughter of a tsar since her birth? Each and every step of the Grand Duchess was regulated by the protocol for the holy baptism of Grand Duchess Olga. The Romanov dynasty had been in power for 300 years. The Tsar's power was absolute. Olga's father ruled the country. Mother ruled the family There were five children The eldest Nicholas was destined to be the last Tsar of Russia The youngest Olga was her father's favorite My dear dad I miss you very much I hope you are well Alexander and the baby are born today Mrs.

Franklin the nanny Olga's British wife gave her porridge for breakfast and taught her to write and speak English, dear dad, I congratulate you on your name day today we had tea Olga and her father shared a special informal relationship but even a simple visit to her mother was protocol now they are 11 minutes past nine and I have to go to mom's room like every morning in 1888 young Olga realized the danger to which the members of the Russian royalty were exposed on a trip to the Crimea the royal train skidded on the tracks and crashed most likely the accident was an act of terrorism by Russia's first revolutionaries the Tsar's family miraculously survived little Olga ran out of the rubble screaming they are coming to kill us all she was only six years old the Romanovs fear it is a traditional fear passed down from generation to generation olga's grandfather was murdered her father was constantly threatened with murder attempts against him this is a real fear a real tragedy that constantly towered over the family in response to the dangers that surrounded them.

Lazar moved his family to the Gachina palace. He was far from the capital and, most importantly, easy to protect. It was a lonely life for young Olga in the 500-room palace she occupied. the hours in gachina drawing and painting recording her life I don't remember a time when she didn't have a brush in her hand Olga's brothers were much older only her brother Misha was still in the palace I grew up with Misha and without comrades The two children did not They had common playmates but we didn't miss them because the sailors and soldiers who guarded us in the palace were always ready to play with us and there were always flowers waiting for me in the garden.

Summers were a special time for Olga. It was when she and her family visited Olga's grandfather, the king of Denmark. The visits were a semblance of normal life for the Russian royal family. Mom dearest told me this morning that she could go to Copenhagen with Nikki and Alex while they went shopping. I'm so happy that it was the summer residence of the Danish royal family and members of the different European royal houses used to gather there every summer. It was a tradition because the Danish king Christian Ix had so many beautiful daughters who were married to the English. royal house the family of the Russian tsar and with different European princes when these royal people were in freddensborg they were much more humane in the way they related to others when they were freed from the rigid rituals of home in fredensburg olga could observe how they behaved the royal families as well as the common people the future kings and queens of europe would make fun of each other by olga it was a revelation christmas book 1893 now we are in petersburg and new year's eve has already passed 1894 that year the father of olga succumbed to a long illness supremely sanctioned protocol for the internment of the emperor the pious alexander the third who died in the grace of god throwing dad at last passed away very peacefully to another much happier world we are so terribly miserable what will life be without him a pass to enter the peter and paul fortress in some kind of petersburg during the internment of tsar alexander iii i walked in procession behind the coffin carried by six horses in the morning i went to the fortress with the others and we stood for two hours and then We kissed daddy dear for the last time and they laid him on the floor next to his mother and then we returned home it's all too horrible without him two years later August brother Nicholas became Russian tsar it was the last coronation in the history of Russia supremely sanctioned protocol for the holy coronation of his majesty emperor nicholas ii the ruler of russia olga was 14 years old.

Finally we got to the kremlin we got off the golden carriages and walked in a long procession on boards covered with red cloth until we got to the church I couldn't see Nicki for a while but I saw mom sitting there on a throne with a diamond crown on the head and many knights holding their long tail with urban mantle. Nikki stood and read the creed, then a large cloak was placed on her. They gave him his shoulders and gave him a crown, he put it on himself since no one was taller than him when we left the church, the crowd shouted hurray and we had to bow and pretend to be happy that we had been standing for hours, I I laughed the whole time.

And it had nothing to do with the exhausting ceremonies. When Grand Duchess Olga was 19, her mother decided it was time to get married. Romanov girls usually left Russia to find a suitable noble partner, but her mother wanted Olga to remain in Russia and a marriage was arranged. I never thought for a moment that my life would change today. I found myself alone in a room with Peter. He came up to me, took my hand and said that he loved me. I consented to marry him. I don't even know if he was happy. I was just afraid that someone would love me.

Prince Peter of Oldenburg lived in Russia. He was an old friend of the family, much older and homosexual in 1901. Olga married Prince Peter of Oldenburg. What does the wedding of a grand duchess mean? It means luxury. and splendor dowry of the Grand Duchess Olga pink velvet train pink skirt with silk lining blue skirt with silk lining four crepe skirts brooch with sapphires and diamonds necklace with sapphires and diamonds tiara with sapphires and diamonds total 339,400 rubles the dress was worth 50,000 rubles, which at that time was a tremendous sum, a farmer could buy a cow for only four rubles.

The sovereign emperor, in the exercise of his supreme will, has ordered that the sum of one million be granted as a dowry to her imperial highness, the Grand Duchess Olga. of rubles that I had to sit before a gold mirror while Monsieur de la Croix placed the diamond veil and the crown on my head oh the weight of every protocol supremely sanctioned for the natives by his imperial highness the grand duchess Olga and his highness the prince Peter the Duke of Oldenburg After the ceremony we went to the station on the train. Peter and I slept in the same cabin.

It's all very strange. The couple moved to his palace in St. Petersburg, where they lived separate lives. Peter continued his life of gambling and young men. Olga returned to her royal duties she did charity work and was a lady-in-waiting for her mother the dowager empress also spent a lot of time with her nieces the tsar's daughters one of her favorites was the youngest little Anastasia in 1903 olga went to a magazine military man her eyes fell on a tall blond man, he was nikolai kulikovsky, an officer the two fell in love the daughter of the russian tsar had fallen in love with a commoner the family did not approve of him olga told her husband immediately that she did not she loved him and that she would like to get divorced and marry another man she loved.

Prince Peter said no, but Peter made a concession: he would hire Kulkovsky since his assistant Olga and Kulikovsky could be close to each other and wait for the possibility. from a divorce they waited for 13 years in 1914 the first world war began kulikovsky and his regiment were sent to the front the women of the royal family were expected to contribute to the war effort olga chose to be a nurse and traveled to the war front and I don't think there was followed Kulikovsky, she went to the front as her heart told her, she organized hospitals there, she was a grand duchess and had all the means for this, the organization of the hospitals required a lot directly from the grand duchess.

Olga, because one had to provide dressing material, equipment, find staff, pay the staff some money, honey, I greet you for Christmas, I am full of my own thoughts and I work at the hospital, we have about seven or eight operations every day. days, I love my job, just what I always do. I still wanted to find time to paint it was great to be with you it's strange to think that it will be Christmas when we are all together you and I are separated everything in this life is the other way around for example we would like to get married and it is impossible we would like to have our own children and it is impossible in the end we would like to be together always and it is always impossible kiss you god bless you and protect you olga only your brother the tsar could give you permission to divorce dear nikki tell me once what you really think, don't you think it would be better to end with a divorce now during war while all eyes and minds are occupied elsewhere, darling?

It was great to have seen you twice, but I'm sorry. It was only a few minutes, you have my permission and all my blessing, I embrace you affectionately, your older brother Nikki, one of the last decrees signed by Emperor Nicholas II to the ruling Senate, The marriage between Olga and Prince Peter of Oldenburg is Arnold, extract from the Marriages of the year 1916 On November 5, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga married Captain Nikolai Kulikovsky. From that moment on, Olga and her husband were always together and the Grand Duchess insisted on being called simply Mrs. Kulikovsky three months after her marriage. wedding the russian revolution broke out it would alter the course of the entire world changes such that I thought about going crazy and I can't sleep and when I do all the events happen in my dreams olga's brother lazar was forced to abdicate life became dangerous for members of the entire royal family olga her husband and her mother fled to the family estates in Crimea it was a bitter night I was wearing nothing but my nurse uniform I remember the moment when looking at my small briefcase I realized that I had nothing more in the world in the house in crimea alger gave birth to a son she was 35 years old it was very difficult to get supplies none of us had money and the only reason they didn't kill us was because they couldn't decide who could kill us Olga She was pregnant again and she made a decision, she left her mother and went with her husband and son to hide in the Caucasus, an area that is not yet in Bolshevik hands, the future was uncertain, the air is full of rumors that we do not know where they are. my nieces and their parents Olga never knew about her brother Nicholas his wife and nieces again in 1918 the entire tsar's family was imprisoned and only those who left Russia or were abroad at the time were spared in 1919 the civil war of Russia was in At its peak, the king of England sent a ship to pick up Olga's mother abandoned in another part of the country.

Olga and her husband managed to escape a year later, she had given birth to a second child and never saw Russia again from the Danish consulate in Novorossiysk. grand duchess olga has left russia from the danish embassy in belgrade we have been informed that grand duchess olga sister of tsar mata is on her way grand duchess olga left today thursday morning we will arrive in copenhagen on friday afternoon please inform your mother the dowager empress when the dowager empress and olga were rescued from the civil war in russia, then they came to denmark, first they stayed at emmalienborg castle, which is the official residence of the danish royal family, the empress and her entourage soon moved to Vidorei Olga's villa and her family moved in with them, one must remember the extreme contrast between coming here while they were the reigning royal house in Russiaand when they came for the second time when they were expelled and expelled from their country having lost everything they had and being political refugees next to their mother Olga they had become prisoners of protocol they were soldiers of the guard and they were watching everything time so you could say it was still a palace and that's what Grand Duchess Olga did.

I don't like some things, uh, what tortured Grand Duchess Olga was that her husband Kulikovsky was never really accepted by her mother. and it was difficult for her daughter who takes care of her. husband that is why they could never have an ideal and happy life with the mother there so for her mother Olga I fulfilled the various tasks of companion and secretary I live so much in the past that sometimes I'm afraid maybe I'm missing out on my life now so between my fingers people in Denmark expected the royal family to behave like royalty Olga didn't fit the mold it was disappointing for the Russian immigration that had arrived here that Grand Duchess Olga didn't take the position they would take I would have liked it to be split into 10.

It was difficult for Grand Duchess Olga to escape the past, especially when it came back to haunt her in 1920. The news traveled like wildfire around the world. A woman had been caught in a Berlin canal. She claimed to be Anastasia, the tsar's youngest daughter. I guess she really was the girl who had the long nose, regardless of whether she is one or not. She wasn't my niece at all. She's just a poor wayward woman. Olga's mother, the Russian Empress Dowager, died in Vidari in 1928. Her funeral was in the Russian Orthodox Church in Copenhagen. It was the end of an era in European history with the death of Empress Olga and her husband were finally able to begin living her own life Olga was 46 years old.

She changed a lot after her mother died she was freer yesterday she was happier so in the small Danish town of Balarup there is a museum dedicated to Grand Duchess Olga who lived there from 1930 to 1948. I would like to talk about how it all started with Grand Duchess Olga Grand Duchess Olga and her husband bought a large farm at Balorup and when they arrived there in 1930, Ballarap was a small mini-society, you could say, and was strongly divided into classes. C2 to come and see that he was a very peculiar guy, he could come. One day she got up in her long rubber boots and put on her Romanov brooch.

She sat in her horse-drawn taxi and drove to the market and delivered potatoes or anything else from her farm. the 30s because there were many trees that could be painted she always wanted to drink coffee but our family was very poor so they only had metal cups olga was very close to her goddaughter's family alfred her father became one of her closest friends close I remember my godmother as a very happy person during the 30's and that was when I was a very very lively little girl very very happy when she had to go to the royal dinners she was not very happy maybe a little affected by all her time of growth where everything had to be formal and she could not be herself in bala olga and nikolai were farming and raising their two children when the second world war broke out denmark was occupied by the germans olga's life continued apparently unchanged her two children were growing up and in 1942 her eldest son wanted to get married, she had also given her children the freedom to choose to marry whoever they wanted and one of them fell in love with a farmer's daughter, the other with the daughter of a newsstand owner. , him in Kyoto and, of course, There was always something when a poor girl could take her eldest son.

We got to the church and there were so many people outside. I was surprised, but you know, it's because like this, a poor girl mayor should have met a princess. There haven't been that many but he only wanted me. It was very difficult under the wall because now I remember that the Duchess of Arms didn't want to eat because she felt that it was better for us young people to eat but I felt very bad about that. because I didn't like the idea of ​​seeing one sitting on the table and not eating it it should have been the same for everyone and we added so many rabbits here so I was so tired of eating beats I would never do it it was never like that but we got through it somehow during the occupation the germans brought soviet prisoners of war to denmark their presence would create a major turning point in olga's life in may 1945 with the collapse of germany denmark was liberated by the british a part of denmark the island of bornholm however It was liberated by the Soviet Army.

The Soviets refused to leave. We must remember that Denmark was and is located very close to the Soviet Union and Denmark had also felt in 1945-46 that the Red Army liberated it and one could say that it occupied it. home island where they stayed for a year Olga's nephew, the crown prince of Denmark, greeted the Soviet army, so it is easy to imagine that Olga was terrified at the thought of the Danish government giving in to Soviet pressure and handing her over to the Soviets. union the soviet union demands the return of all soviet citizens of denmark some soviet citizens who had been prisoners of war did not want to return to the soviet union anyone who did not want to return was considered a war criminal wherever the grand duchess was She lived one day that a man came and asked His Royal Highness if there was any chance for me to work in his house because I don't want to go back to the Soviet Union and he stayed there for a month and helped on the farm on June 19. 1947. there is someone who protects war criminals in denmark the former grand duchess olga helps war criminals in the soviet union they had not forgotten that there was one last Romanov left in denmark the archives in denmark reveal the concerns of the danish government confidential of top secret Grand Duchess Olga is accused of harboring Soviet war criminals and providing them with documents supporting them financially and otherwise to allow them to travel to countries other than the police department of the Soviet Union.

Our investigation has revealed that the Grand Duchess did not hand over any prisoners. false documents or help to leave Denmark, the only support she gave them was perhaps a meal, but Olga could not afford to wait for the result. The whole house was kind of a packing department with big boxes and there she would sit and paint, I think. The way out of all her worries was painted at the age of 66 Grand Duchess Olga was once again a Danish Consul General taking refuge in Montreal Grand Duchess Olga and her family are arriving from Denmark to Canada this morning at 7 am I walked to board the SS empress of canada to greet grand duchess olga and her family and offer my assistance regarding their arrival in canada what i met was a family of immigrants the grand duchess was certainly the one who was expected to carry all the load we come We arrived in Canada on the Empress of Canada in June 1948, after we had been sick for about a day, she came down to the cabin, picked me up and took me to the deck so I could get some fresh air and then I he made the rest of the trip almost sitting on the deck of the empress of canada empress of canada the king of england made Olga's flight to canada possible canada needed agricultural workers a farm in campbellville was the solution dear alfred here you see the house where we now live In Toronto, seen from the garden, our photographs have appeared in the magazines here and now everyone knows my face when I go out to do my shopping in the morning, everyone in the stores has become so friendly it baffles me why, what am I? with the people here? my grandmother was different from other people she was just a grandmother and I didn't think of her as a grand duchess she was a slightly peculiar version of a grandmother because she didn't know how to cook she had two dishes in her repertoire one was chicken and the other was fish when the family He came for dinner, that's what they gave us, and dessert was ice cream because he didn't need to.

My grandmother was an active person, she was very sociable, she had a large circle of people she knew. from where we lived and friends she made in Canada the Russian community in Toronto was part of Olga's social circle when she was well we would visit her and she would come visit us and cook with her mother, she was not the grandfather, she was just a mutual friend and ordinary and she was very, very often in our house for my father granddaughters were granddaughters for him he was a piece of Russian min my grandfather loved my grandmother even when they were older they held hands I very often entered the living room of being and he was holding her hand while his two sons were working on their own jobs, it was very difficult for olga and nikolai to work on the farm and once again they were forced to move dear alfred now we are in our little house in cooksville , it is difficult to unpack everything because my husband is so sick and so weak that he can no longer walk so they refer to the best father the day my grandfather died my grandmother took me to my grandfather and showed him to me and told me that he was dead and she he took him by the hands.

I crossed them and kissed him. I just remember that my grandmother was very quiet and she sat down and started painting after grandfather died. Life was very slow, but the world would not let the ogre forget who she had been in the last year of her life. He had to do it. She continued to perform royal duties when the English Queen Elizabeth II was traveling to Canada in 1959, she came to Toronto and invited my grandmother to visit her for lunch on her royal ship, the Britannia. A lucky few were able to have lunch with the queen aboard the Britannia.

Thousands will see the queen when she comes to Toronto, some will meet her and a very lucky group of less than 50 people will be invited to the queen's party what to wear is the question that bothers most of the women invited because my grandmother doesn't She was particularly interested in the clothes, but the family insisted that she should have a new dress and hat, of course, you should wear them to lunch, so they took my grandmother to town, she got a nice blue floral print, a hat and a dress, oh, enjoy the pasta line that same year, Olga had a more difficult duty to fulfill. make the world wanted to believe that Anastasia the Tsar's youngest daughter had survived Olga was called to testify once again the problem comes before a court the Hamburg district court that is trying to decide between the woman who claims to be the daughter of the last of The tsars and relatives of the Romanovs who claimed that the real Anastasia died with him in the massacre 40 years ago I am 77 years old I am the daughter of Tsar Alexander III I am the sister of Tsar Nicholas II I hereby declare that the woman say that I am Anastasia is not my niece dear Alfred I am a skeleton but I continue to paint I have been sick I have been lying down and painting I have done 20 watercolors and I sold two of them during a few years we knew it was the Grand Duchess like an ordinary person, but at the end of her life she was looking at the cooksville doctor when she went to see the grand duchess and she found her very sick, very sick and then she asked us if she could bring the grand duchess to our house and I just arrived at our house or am I ready to stay until the end.

The last two hours of Gan Dutch's life were terrible. She was probably completely going over her life. She was so excited that her life was passing by. Olga, the last Grand Duchess, died in Toronto in November. 24, 1960. you