Queen Olga (1851-1926), consort of King George I

[jonnydep]

hehe....i enjoyed that story too.
this reminds of a similar story, but as it is off topic i will keep it short ...

the celebrated author E M Forster, when a old man attended a wedding at st james palace. a friend asked the badly sighted Forster, if he would like to meet the Queen Mother and when the friend motioned him towards her, the old man is reputed to have said ..."oh i thought that was the wedding cake".....

[snowflower]

She was terribly sort -sighted and in old age when she didn't have her longuettes with her, she was almost blind. She passed her short sightness to Andrew, Marie and Christopher. I think that Christopher once jokingly complained that at least Marie was cute and pretty and Andrew a dashing blond man, while the only trait he managed get in addition to his Mother's bad eyesight was his Father's baldness....

[snowflower]

I found today( in a online NY Times column) that in early 1890 Olga nearly had a fatal accident. She was in Faliron, returning from the Russian Hospital to the Palace when she passed from a road where the electrical wires were repaired. As she was passing , a wire was cut off, fell to the ground and was wrapped around Olga's neck and arms very tightly like a snake. She couldn't get it off, the ladies in waiting couldn't get it off so the workers ran to rescue her. It was very dangerous as the current was coming and leaving. Finaly after about 10 minutes they managed to unwrap her and a second after that the current came and one of the workers holding the wire was hurt . Olga returned very tired and anxious from this adventure and someone ( I think a lady from Sophie's suite) commented for udingified it would be for a Queen and a Grand Duchess to die from a electric shock..... ( I suppose that would have been the family's biggest worry if a tragedy happened, certainly, that lady must have hit the nail in the head)

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Thanks Snowflower!
What a great story and, I am sure, a "shocking" experience for a Royal (or anyone).

[Vasillisos Markos]

Olga was probably grateful that the current was not steady at the time, otherwise . . . I imagine that in the 1890s electrical service was probably non-existent in Greece and this undoubtedly accounted for the current not being active at the time she was wrapped in the wire.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I can imagine Queen Olga bearing it all in style.......

[snowflower]

Here's is a nice (but also a little sad) picture (from Flickr): Alexandra Iosifovna holding baby Lennart, Olga and Marie Pavlova holding a miniature portrait of her mother Alexandra. It is so sad because Alexandra is missing while here they are the rest, but it is also very unique because as far as I am concerned, I ve never seen another picture of a royal lady holding her great - great - grandchild.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Great picture, as always. Thanks for posting. Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna looks very old, of course.. she is holding, like you said, her great-great grandson.
It is sad that Grand Duchess Alexandra wasn't alive for the picture - what a treasure it would be (and is) for Lenart!!

[snowflower]

Indeed, so sad Alexandra was dead long before that picture was taken. Olga was delighted she had lived to see a great grandson being born and she spent a few times in Russia with Marie after Lennart was born, when Marie returned home. Olga loved her, because she was a link to her dead daughter and unfortunately Marie had been the only sore point taht ever existed between Olga and Ella.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Grand Duke Paul and Queen Olga were first cousins, correct....?

[snowflower]

Yes , they were cousins but since he was one of the youngests of that generation she would treat him more as a nephew. Olga has excellent relationships with her cousins (although she would occasionally be irritated by Tsar Alexander), and liked Ella but she always held her responsible for not making Marie and Dimitri develop a more close relationship with their Greek grandparents and family. She thought that Ella and Serge should emphasize more on that , but they didn't bother enough.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I see.
It almost seems that Dmitri and Marie should have gone to Greece and be raised by King George and Queen Olga... rather than by their Aunt Elle and Uncle Sergei.... IMO.
Esp since Grand Duke Paul seemed to be kinda flighty......

[snowflower]

Well, if they were raised by their Greek relatives they might have turned out differently, but I really doubt that the Tsar would have considered the court of a " freshly baked king" (that's how King George was often called by others snobbish royals) appropriate for a Grand Duke and a Grand Duchess. And I don't think that Alexander or Nicholas would like to take away these children from the childless Sergei....
The one thing concerning their granddaughter Marie that really irritated George and Olga beyond any border was the fact that Marie was engaged without their prior knowlegde. George said to Minnie :" Ella ought to have at least asked us on the matter, if not for our consent then for our mere opinion, before orchestrating the whole arrangement"

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I've always been puzzled and upset by Ella's handling of the engagement, too. And totally understand George and Olga's aggravation with Ella. And they have a very valid point.... they being Marie's closest "next of kin"

[snowflower]

I believe that Ella had really good intentions when she tried for that match(to be fair she always had good intentions concening Marie and her brother), but Olga and George didn't view it that way. They sensed that Marie was pushed to a clearly arranged marriage and they didn't like the idea of a " totally" arranged marriage for their children or grandchildren ( Their children all married in free will, expect prince George - whose marriage was arranged but it was a peculiar situation -and Marie - who wasn't dragged to her marriage, but just got tired of refusing Grand Duke George's advances and since there were no other suitors , she decided to do it - .) Marie Feodorovna supported her brother and sister in law telling that she knew personally that Ella would act as a matchmaker while completely disregarding the relatives' opinion on the match . Only Marie ( George and Olga 's daughter -so many Maries in that family!) said that her parents (who were overloving grandparents) couldn't see that her niece was a difficult person and that Ella was only trying to do her best from the beginning.

[BELTRANEJA]

thank you by picture, I have not saw it.
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...canear0006.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...canear0008.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/a...e-Children.jpg

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Oh Snowflower... I didn't mean to sound like I didn't think Ella was a good person, I think she was probably one of the most sincere and genuine Royals of her time.
But it just seems that sometimes, in my opinion, when dealing with Marie -she was almost cold.

[snowflower]

To tell the truth, I don't know many things about her personality or her relationships with her niece and nephew because I haven't done much personal reshearch on her - although from what I gather she had some wonderful sides in her character (that certainly doens't mean she was a perfect human ) Nevertheless, her relationship with Marie appears to be a very complexed story ( well, if the relatives felt the need to take sides, what else can we say....). I wished to show Olga's preception of Ella as Marie's " foster" mother: Olga did respect her for taking over her grandchildren, but would sometimes feel embittered because they didn't maintain a very close relationship with their Greek relatives because Ella and Sergei were keeping them " selfishly" on their side always, and she felt that she was deliberately excluded from Ella's matchmaking efforts , not to mention that her granddaugher was "dragged" to her marriage. Naturally for Olga the blame for all these would fall upon the woman who raised Marie. I said that Ella had good intentions because it seems that ,like in most cases , the truth is probably somewher in the middle - Olga was a bit right, Marie Pavlova was a bit right, Ella was a bit right....

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Well stated! I will say "Here, here" to that that!!
I read the book on Ella and she, to me, seemed to be very kindly and just and genuinely wanting to do what is right...... but sometimes the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...
And I can see her character as thinking she was doing what was best for Marie - although to me it seems cold... and I can see where Queen Olga would also interpret it as "being left out" of the raising of her grandchildren.....
Again - it's a complex situation and I guess all involved did the best they could.

[Vasillisos Markos]

Without going off thread, what was Olga's view of her granddaughter's marriage and who did Marie marry? Why was Marie "dragged" to the marriage?