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When they were young Tatiana's sister fell ill with typhoid fever. The family was supposed to be moving along to Peterhof as was scheduled. Olga had not been well for a few days and the weather was unusually hot for that time of year. Everyone felt that the cool air of the seaside would benefit her, so they left for Peterhof. When they arrived Olya was very ill and had to be put right to bed. There she laid for the next five weeks. Her Governess, Miss Eager, nursed her day and night, and at one time she was so ill it was feared she would not recover. Olga longed to see Tatiana, as Tanya longed to see her Olishka. Both girls were very pleased when the doctor told them Tatiana might spend five minutes with Olga. Miss Eager fetched Tatia from the nursery at once to see her sister. Tatia stood by the sick bed and spoke softly to the poor one laying in it. Soon the five minutes were up, and Miss Eager had to lead her small charge back to the nursery. With the door closed behind them Tatiana looked up at her Governess. You told me you were bringing me to see Olga and I have not seen her.
That little pale thin child is my dear sister Olga! Oh no, no! I cannot believe it! Tatiana couldn't believe how bad
her sister looked, how much she changed. Miss Eager had the difficult
task of convincing Tatiana that her sister would soon be normal again. The Grand Duchesses were brought up to live their lives as normal as possible. They met their French Tutor together in the late fall of 1905. Olga was almost 10, and Tatiana had turned 8 that summer. The Swiss Pierre Gilliard waited to meet his future pupils in the Farm Palace at Peterhof. The meeting went nothing like Gilliard (whose pupils called him Zhillie or Zhilik) expected. He was supposed to carry on as if this were their first French lesson. Alix followed every word he spoke, and Zhillie soon knew it was not a lesson so much as it was his own audition. He was surprised that Olya and Tanya were not very advanced in their studies yet. The exercises he had chosen for them were far too difficult. Relying on impulse and spontaneity Zhillie stumbled through the first lesson. Finally the clock struck the top of the hour and the first lesson was over. Zhilik was to get used to Alix's presence. She oversaw her daughters' education personally, conferring with their tutors about the best lesson plan, and methods of teaching. She might have seemed overprotective of her girls, but her instincts served her well. The tutors were impressed with her good sense. After a few months of faithfully overseeing her daughters' lessons Alix's presence was replaced by one of her ladies-in-waiting, Princess Obolensky. Tanya soon gained an independent manner that set her ahead of her sister in public. She was more confident of herself and how she looked to others. Tatiana didn't argue, though she was sure of her own opinions and expressed herself fluidly. Olga gladly stepped into the shadows of her little sister. Tatiana 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 pretty, though she had not quite Olga Nicolaievna's charm.
If the Tsarina made any difference between her children, Tatiana Nicolaievna
was her favourite. It was not that her sisters loved their mother
any less, but Tatiana knew how to surround her with unwearing attentions
and she never gave way to her own capricious impulses. Through her
good looks and her art of self-assertion she put her sister Olga 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.
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The
second bright happy day in our family: at 10:40 in the morning
the Lord blessed us with a daughter - Tatiana. Poor Alix suffered
all night without shutting her eyes for a moment, and at 8 o'clock
went downstairs to Amama's bedroom. Thank God this time it all
went quickly and safely, and I did not feel nervously exhausted.
Towards one o'clock the little one was bathed and Yanyshev read
some prayers. Mama arrived with Xenia; we lunched together. At
4 o'clock there was a Te Deum. Tatiana weighs 8¾ pounds and
is 54 centimetres long. Our eldest is very funny with her.
From
the very start of their relationship, Olga and Tatiana were inseparable
sisters. They played together, went for walks together, and posed
for pictures together. Both were beautiful, bright children, tenderly
devoted to one another.
I
was taken up to a small room, soberly furnished in the English style,
on the second storey. The door opened and the Tsarina came in, holding
her daughters Olga and Tatiana by the hand. After a few pleasant remarks
she sat down at the table and invited me to take a place opposite
her. The children sat at each end.
Tatiana
was highly religious, and had a special spiritual connection with
her mother. She believed faithfully in Rasputin's prophetic gift
and miracles, keeping two notebooks which she copied his letters
and telegrams and recorded his maxims into. She took an interest
in theology and from an early age pondered the Eternal Struggle
between the forces of Good and Evil, also Man's Destiny on Earth,
Life.
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. The Empress even discouraged association
with cousins and near relatives, many of whom were unwholesomely
precocious in their outlook on life.