Once a grand duchess : Xenia, sister of Nicholas II / John Van der Kiste & Coryne Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van der Kiste, John.

Contributor:

Hall, Coryne.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ksenii︠a︡ Aleksandrovna, Grand Duchess, daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, 1875-1960.

Ksenii︠a︡ Aleksandrovna.

Ksenii͡a Aleksandrovna, Grand Duchess, daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, 1875-1960.

Nobility--Russia--Biography.

Nobility.

Russia.

Russia--History--1801-1917.

History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xx, 268 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Sutton Pub., 2002.

Summary:

Born into the wealth and splendour of the Russian imperial family as the shy fourth child of the Tsarevich, Xenia might well have expected to play only a minor role in the Romanov story. Yet when she was just five years old, the assassination of her grandfather, Alexander II, moved her father and his family into the centre. She became a key witness to the events of the years that followed, seeing her brother Nicholas crowned as Emperor; the murder of Rasputin, in which her son-in-law Felix Youssoupov was implicated; the Revolution; and the 'terrible horror'as the first rumours of the imperial family's capture and death began to circulate. She endured her own, and her family's, exile to Europe.

After marriage to her cousin, Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovich (Sandro) in 1894, Xenia lived close to the rest of the family in St Petersburg. With her husband in the Navy, she watched with dismay as Russia suffered disastrous losses in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. During the First World War she worked with the wounded, and equipped a hospital train for use at the Front, then experienced the terrible sadness of the country's descent into chaos at the war's end. Escaping to the Crimea, it was only after Nicholas's abdication and assassination that the repeated pleas of relatives abroad persuaded Xenia to leave her homeland. As she, her mother and children, embarked on one of the last ships to depart, she was forced to leave many prized possessions behind. Penniless as she arrived in England, Xenia was given a grace and favour cottage in Windsor by the British royal family.

John Van der Kiste and Coryne Hall draw on important previously unpublished correspondence and photographs to reveal the intimate private life of the sister of the last Tsar, including her somewhat stormy relationships with her husband Sandro, as well as her sister-in-law Alexandra whom she blamed for the loss of her brother and his family. The book provides new insights into the Anna Anderson/Anastasia affair, and the sale of Xenia's family jewels. This compelling new biography of a previously overlooked member of the last Tsar's family, with its vivid first-hand accounts of the tragedy, wealth, deaths and exile of the Romanovs, will absorb anyone interested in Russian history.

Contents:

1. 'A sense of happiness seemed to linger' (1864-90) 1

2. 'A seventh heaven of bliss' (1890-4) 26

3. 'Of one thing she certainly is not shy' (1894-1900) 40

4. 'Why are we being punished by God?' (1901-5) 52

5. 'A great woman and a wonderful mother' (1906-13) 63

6. '... if dear Papa were still alive?' (1914-17) 85

7. 'Poor little Xenia' (1917) 97

8. 'It all seems like a terrible nightmare' (1918-19) 123

9. 'Any mark of sympathy in times like these' (1919-24) 148

10. 'The light of our life is gone' (1925-8) 171

11. 'As the Grand Duchess is very poor ...' (1928-36) 182

12. 'The Grand Old Lady of the North' (1936-45) 206

13. 'Always a Grand Duchess' (1945-60) 224.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 256-260) and index.

ISBN:

0750927496 :

OCLC:

49593798