Lillian Mo (10) | EDITOR
We all know that person. Yes, that person. The hard worker, the teacher’s pet, the most beautiful, the smartest, the most organized. They effortlessly charm the room with their reserved mystique. If you don’t know this person, chances are you are this person. Lucky you. You’re the Tatiana of your world. I like to think of myself as the Maria—obedient but naive, and—especially—a little pudgy. Still not you? Maybe you’re the resident Olga, the sulky bookworm. Or perhaps the infamous Anastasia (who, spoiler alert, did not survive, despite what the countless adaptations want you to believe): mischievous, inattentive, but incredibly charming. Regardless, all of the sisters were peculiar and dazzling in their own special ways, and I for one think it’s about time to stop looking at them as unfortunate members of the Romanov family but as some of the people you may know in your daily life.
Disclaimer: Nicholas II and his wife were not especially good people. I am not an absolute monarchist. However, I think it is interesting to look at the fall of an empire through the perspective of the children caught in the middle.
Before we continue with the story, I would like to personally remind everyone that Russian is different from English. With that in mind, I need to set some groundwork for this story.
The tsar of Russia, or czar, named after Julius Caesar, was essentially the ruler of the country. His wife, Empress, was known as the tsarina. Their son was the tsarevich, or the heir apparent, because only men could ascend to the throne (which would prove to be quite the ordeal later on). Daughters were called Velikaya Knyazhna, which is best translated as “Grand Princess”, but for general usage sake, I’ll refer to them as “Grand Duchesses”. Middle names were the name of the father, which -vna attached for a girl, and -vich attached for a boy.
If we’re going to talk about OTMA—the initialism of the girls’ names (or acronym. I must confess I don’t know how they would have pronounced it)—we’re going to have to dial the clock back a few decades to their parents.
Tsar Nicholas II, tsarevich at the time, was born in 1868. Unlike his father, Alexander III, he was not physically strong or large. A mere 5’7 (full disclosure: still 5 inches taller than I am), Nicholas did not have the commanding power of his father. In fact, his family made fun of him for being shorter than the object of his love, the 5’9 Alix of Hesse (later Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia), granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was notorious for being a matchmaker back in the day, strategically gaining allies through marriage.
NICHOLAS II: I want to marry Alix
ALEXANDER III: Wow, what a small boy you are
NICHOLAS II: Hey
NICHOLAS II: I didn’t even say anything about that
ALEXANDER III: Lol
ALEXANDER III: You’re distant relatives
ALEXANDER III: But I don’t got a problem with that
ALEXANDER III: But she’s German
ALEXANDER III: I got a problem with that
Nicholas was also very shy and not as commanding as his father. For that matter, he had almost nothing in common with his father. Let’s just make this clear: Nicholas II was NOT his father. Got it? Perfect. Moving along with the story.
Nicholas and Alix met at the wedding of the former’s uncle, Sergei Alexandrovich, and Princess Elizabeth, who was the latter’s sister.
YOU, RIGHT NOW: Wait…what? Her sister married his uncle?!!
Yeah, and you also forgot the part where they share a cousin.
YOU AGAIN: Wait, which one?
Marie of Edinburgh, whose son will be important later.
I DON’T KNOW YOU BUT THIS IS DEFINITELY YOU RIGHT NOW: …………………what
That’s right. Nicholas and Alix were actually related by multiple family lines, which made them both second cousins and third cousins once-removed (not via Marie of Edinburgh, but via Nicholas’s paternal grandmother, who was Alix’s paternal great aunt). Don’t question royal family lines. Just don’t.
The key constituent of the buy tadalafil cialis is Sildenafil that improves the sexual execution of guys if the individual is experiencing erectile brokenness. Contemporary research has resulted in the discovery of uk cialis sales is one of the significant invention in medical science, and its popularity soars high because of it a man is not ready to erect penis. Inhibiting these enzymes, tadalafil 20mg india kamagra helps in healthy erection of the penis while having an intercourse. No one can force their viewpoints on you, and you always have the option of walking away. sildenafil bulkNote: Incest has consequences.
Anyways, at the time, Nicholas was only 16 and Alexandra 12 so nothing came out of it (although if something did, it wouldn’t be surprising). In 1889, 5 years later, they eventually fell in love. Despite being in love, Nicholas was busy. He visited many different countries as distinguished guests, nearly getting assassinated in Japan. Meanwhile…SCANDAL!! He had an affair with…wait for it…Mathilde Kschessinska!
Okay, unless you are a ballet aficionado, and perhaps even if you are, that name doesn’t ring a bell for you. Kschessinska was a Russian ballerina who was later the mistress of two more Grand Dukes. I guess she had a type. It should be noted that this affair wasn’t necessarily philanderous. Nicholas had not yet been betrothed to Alix at the time, considering everything else that was going on.
However, even after this ordeal, there were some issues to resolve before they got married.
ALIX: I’m Lutheran
NICHOLAS II: Plz convert to Orthodox
ALIX: But I like being Lutheran
NICHOLAS II: Plz
ALIX: Idk bro why should I
NICHOLAS II: Because we’re in love…
ALIX: Umm
ALIX: Are we
QUEEN VICTORIA: It’s your duty
PRINCESS ELIZABETH: Lutheran and Orthodox are like samesies
ALIX: Ok fair enough
After Alix converted to Orthodox, which she later became a strict adherent to, Nicholas II proposed in 1984. Later that year, Alexander III died and at 26 years old, Nicholas became Tsar of Russia. Unlike his father before him (you’ll find that this is a common theme), Nicholas II was not venerated or feared by the Russian people. They found him weak and submissive, which are not very good qualities for one of the most powerful people in the world at the time.
A lot of stuff happened from that time until their first child but this article is about the sisters, so I’m going to skip forward a good 9 years. In 1895, Alix popped out Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, the oldest grand duchess. Now, due to the brazenly misogynistic decorum of the time, women could not rule Russia. Olga was a girl. No big deal, they thought. There’s plenty more time for Nicholas and Alexandra to produce a suitable heir right?
Right?
They had 3 more daughters after this. Every. Other. Year. After the most famous (and last) daughter, Anastasia was born, Nicholas II is said to have walked around the palace and cried. Talk about tough love.
Finally, in 1904, Tsarevich Alexei was born. Let’s celebrate the new heir, right? Wrong. A few weeks later, it was discovered that he had hemophilia B, an autoimmune disease that prevents blood from clotting. He inherited this gene from his great-grandmother, none other than Queen Victoria.
…I mean, with all that inbreeding, it’s really your fault if you’re surprised at this.
While females cannot get this disease, they can be carriers of it and exhibit difficulty with clotting blood. Their aunt was always convinced that the girls always had more trouble clotting blood than most normal children, and she did have a point. When Maria got her tonsils taken out, she started hemorrhaging so badly that Alexandra had to convince the horrified doctor to keep going. In fact, after autopsies were performed on the family’s remains, it was discovered that one of the girls was indeed a carrier of the disease.
Pfft? Family issues, right?
Anyways, that’s about all you need to know before we dive into the fascinating and oddly common story of OTMA.
