It was a cool night in Tsarskoe Selo; only a couple of days into the month of November, 1895. It got dark fairly early at this time of year, and the snow season had just arrived. A soothing calm had settled over the Alexander Palace as Nicholas and Alexandra retired to bed. The young Imperial Couple were expecting their first child. Alix knew it was to be soon. In fact only an hour had passed into the third day of the month when a pain went through her stomach. It was so intense it forced her eyes open from her rest. She knew it was time to wake Nicky, and the Empress Mother was called.

Alicky is having pains which won't allow her to sleep!

After a night of torment in birthing pains, the next morning brought with it glorious news. A baby had been born to Their Majesties, a little girl. In prayer she was given the name Olga, Slavic for "Holy." It was indeed a time for celebration. The National Mourning Period for Tsar Alexander III was over. St. Petersburg brimmed with excitement for the winter ball season was at hand, and in the centre of it all were Nicky and Alix, but nothing seemed to matter to the new Mama and Papa. They had a little one all their own to care for and were engulfed in the bliss of a new family.

Friday. A day forever memorable for me, during which I suffered much! At 1 in the morning dear Alix began having pains that would not let her sleep. All day she lay in bed in great torment, poor thing. I could not watch her calmly. At about 2 in the morning dear Mama arrived from Gatchina. The three of us- she, Ella, and I- were with Alix constantly. At exactly 9 we heard a child's squawk, and we all breathed freely! A daughter sent by God, in prayer we named her Olga. When all anxiety was over, and the terrors had ceased, there was simply a blessed feeling at what had come to pass! Thank God, Alix came through the birth well, and felt quite alert in the evening. I ate late at night with Mama, and when I went to bed, I fell asleep at once!
~Nicky's Diary, 3 November, 1895~

The birth of a daughter (Olga) to Nicky and Alix! A great joy, although it's a pity it's not a son! The birth pains began already last night.

At 10 o'clock we went to Tsarskoe. Poor Nicky and Mama were quite weak with exhaustion. The baby is huge - weighing ten pounds - and had to be pulled out with forceps! A terrible thing to witness. But thank God everything ended well. I saw dear Alix, she looks well; little Olga lay next to her on the bed!
~Xenia's Diary, 3 November~

 
Although Alix slept very little at night, she felt well. Of course I was present for our daughter's bath. She is a big baby weighing 10 pounds and measuring 55 centimetres. I can hardly believe it's really our child! God what happiness!!! At 12 o'clock the whole family arrived for a service of thanksgiving. Lunched alone with Mama. Alix spent the whole day lying in the mauve room, for a change of air. She felt well, so did the little darling. There was a mountain of telegrams.
~Nicky's Diary, 4 November~

In the morning I admired our delightful little daughter; she does not look at all like a newborn, because she is such a big baby with a full head of hair. Went for a short walk alone. Returned to my darling wife at 3 o'clock. Thank God all is well; but the baby does not want to take her breast, so we had to call the wet-nurse again.
~Nicky's Diary, 6 November~

Alix refused to be separated from her daughter, Olga slept in her Mama's chambers. Like other newborns Olga spent most of her time sleeping, waking seldomly to feed, though for the first couple of weeks she refused to take to Alix's breast. Their first attempt at breast feeding ended up with Alix feeding the wet-nurse's son while the wet-nurse fed Olga!

12 November, 1895 ~ Tsarskoe Selo

Darling Grandmama,

I thank you for your kind letter which your special messenger just brought - and for the kind things you say. Dearest Alicky, who is lying near me in bed, begs to thank you most tenderly for your letter and good wishes. Thank God everything went off happily and both she and the little child are progressing most satisfactorily. She finds such a pleasure in nursing our sweet baby herself. For my part I consider it is the most natural thing a mother can do and I think the example an excellent one!

We are both so pleased that you accepted to be Godmother of our first child, because I am sure it will prove a happiness to her after your constant signs of kindness and of motherly affection towards us. The name of Olga we chose as it has as it has already been several times in our family and is an ancient Russian name.

You don't know, dearest Grandmama, the state of utter happiness I am in. It seems so strange to be a father!

Baby is going to be christened so early, so as that event can take place on our wedding-day and Mama's birthday. Dear Mama remained with us the whole time since the event and was such a comfort during the hours of expectation. We shall certainly send you some of baby's long hair; she is a wonderfully big child and promises to have large eyes. We both kiss you very tenderly and I remain ever your most loving and faithful grandson,

Nicky

The morning was bright and suitably festive. At 10:45 our daughter was taken in the golden carriage to the Great Palace. The procession to church began in the silver hall; I walked with Mama - Prince M. M. Golitsyn carried the baby. I sat alone in the room behind the church while the christening took place. Everything went well, and it seems that the darling little one behaved perfectly. The service finished at 1:30. After embracing Alix, I sat down to a family luncheon.
~Nicky's Diary, 14 November, Olga's Christening~

 

14 November, 1895 ~ Tsarskoe Selo

You are surely aware that Alix is herself feeding our dear little daughter, and has turned herself into a veritable "goat." Feeding was quite difficult for the first few days, but now happily the baby has got used to it. Today she behaved herself perfectly at her christening, at least that is what I am told, for of course as the father, I was invited to leave the church during the ceremony, and returned only for the beginning of the mass - all together it lasted two hours.
~An excerpt from Nicky's letter to his brother Georgy~

 

Our daughter keeps growing sweeter, today she smiled at us the whole time, what a delight!
~Nicky's Diary, 27 November~

Dear Alix was in a state, because the arrival of the new English nanny will entail some changes in our family life; our daughter will have to be moved upstairs, which is a pity and rather a bore!
~Nicky's Diary, 17 December~

I myself washed our daughter in her bath.
~Nicky's Diary, 18 December~

18 December, 1895 ~ St. Petersburg

Yesterday a nanny arrived from England, whom we do not particularly like the look of - she has something hard and unpleasant in her face and looks like a stubborn woman. In general she's going to be a lot of trouble and I am ready to bet that things are not going to go smoothly. For instance, she has already decided that our daughter does not have enough rooms, and that, in her opinion, Alix pops into the nursery too often. How do you like that?
~Excerpt of a letter from Nicky to his brother George~

Today our daughter was moved upstairs to the nursery - May God bless her!
~Nicky's Diary, 19 December~

An official trip had been scheduled for France, and Alix could not bare to leave Olga at home so the baby made her first trip. Crowds cheered her: "Vive la Grande Duchesse!" Not even a year old, the Grand Duchess Olga Nicolaievna was a star.

The charming baby grew up into an enchanting little girl with a bright mind. But like any other child, she had to be reminded to behave. Her Governess, M. Eager, remembered driving down the Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg. Olga was excited and bouncing all over the carriage. Miss Eager tried to entice the Grand Duchess into behaving, but Olga was stubborn and strong willed. Without reason suddenly Olga sat down quietly and folded her arms in front of her. She looked up at her Governess.

Did you see that policeman?

Miss Eager replied that that was not unusual, and assured her charge that that he would not touch her, but it didn't calm Olya.

But he was writing something, Olga insisted, I am afraid he might be writing, 'I saw Olga, and she was very naughty.'

Again Miss Eager tried to calm Olga, but still she was not satisfied, and simply reminded her Governess that she had been witness to the arrest of a drunken woman. Olishka had, at the time, asked Miss Eager to tell the policeman not to hurt the woman, but Miss Eager refused. She replied that the woman was very naughty and the police were right to take her.

Seeing where this was going Miss Eager reassured Olga that one has to be big and very naughty to be taken away by the police. They went home.

Still the scene was caught in Olga's mind. In the nursery she asked if a policeman had come while she was out. That afternoon she was taken to see her parents. Olga told her father the day's events, and how Miss Eager had told her that it was "quite possible to live without going to prison." Olga looked up and asked her Papa if he had ever been to prison. Nicky replied that he had never been quite that naughty. Olga's face lit up.

Oh! How very good you must have been, too.

When Miss Eager came to Russia Olga had taken a rather defiant attitude towards the new authority, but the governess saw right away how bright Olya was and decided to use that to the best of her advantage. She told Olga one day:

I am afraid you got out of bed with the wrong foot foremost this morning.

Olga was puzzled, but remained silent. The next morning before getting up she called her Governess to her bedside. A tiny inquiry came as to which was her right foot.

Miss Eager told her, and Olishka stepped on the floor, taking great care that her left foot did not touch the ground yet. Proud, Olga smiled,

Now that bad left foot won't be able to make me naughty today; I got out on the right.

  For the rest of the day Miss Eager only had to remind Olga of this scene to get her to behave.

Olya was guided with a strict religious upbringing. She learned to behave herself in church since she was a baby. In the Russian Orthodox Church the rite of Confirmation is administered after baptism, and children until they turn seven can receive communion once a month. After that they are expected to attend church regularly and make confessions. In 1903 at the proper age of seven, Olga made her first confession in Moscow during Lent. Olya had slowly begun to realise what was being said in the church. One day after service she reported to her Governess,

The priest prayed for mama and papa, and Tatiana and me, the soldiers and the sailors, the poor sick people, and the apples and pears, and Madame G.

Miss Eager was surprised and questioned Olish about Madame G.

But I heard them say Marie Feodorovna..

The Governess smiled and explained they meant her Grandmother, the Empress Mother.

No, Amama is called Amama, and Your Majesty, but not Marie Feodorovna.

Miss Eager patiently added the name Marie Feodorovna to the list, but Olga still wouldn't have it.

No one has more than two names, and I am quite sure Madame G. would be very much pleased if she knew that the priests prayed for her in church.

The little girl grew up into a stunning young woman. She was thoughtful, sensitive, sincere, moody, and extremely intelligent.

Pierre Gilliard knew Olishka very well, as he was her tutor from 1905.

The eldest, Olga, possessed a remarkably quick brain. She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee. She gave me a certain amount of trouble at first, but our early skirmishes were soon succeeded by relations of frank cordiality. She picked up everything extremely quickly, and always managed to give an original turn to what she learnt. I well remember how, in one of our first grammar lessons, when I was explaining the formation of verbs and the use of the auxiliaries, she suddenly interrupted me with: "I see, Monsieur. the auxiliaries are the servants of the verbs. It's only poor 'avoir' which has to serve itself.
~Tutor Pierre Gilliard on Olga~

 
She was hot-tempered but did not bear grudges. She had her father's heart, but lacked his consistency. Her manners were harsh. She was well-educated and mature intellectually. One sensed in her a "good Russian young lady" who loved solitude, reading poetry, who was impractical and disliked everyday matters. She was very musical and would improvise on the piano. Straightforward and sincere, she was unable to conceal her feelings and was evidently closer to her father than to her mother.
~Tutor Gibbes on Olga~