Grand Duchesses Xenia (1875-1960) and Olga (1882-1960), sisters of Nicholas II

[Vasillisos Markos]

I thought they exhumed poor Georgy's bones in order to verify the Tsar's remains? Am I mistaken?

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

They tried but it was too much trouble. Identifying poor Nicholas was freakin hard. I think they eventually used his sister's, Xenia's, granddaughter.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Do you know which granddaughter gave a DNA sample? I had never read this, I thought all along that it was George's bones which provided evidence that the skeletal remains were indeed the late Tsar's.

Poor George, such a sad life and to die so young. From the Massie book, it was said that he was the funniest of the children and years later the Tsar could be heard laughing while he read jokes made by George and written down years before.

 

[MAfan]

The granddaughter was Xenia Sfiris, née Countess Sheremeteva, the only daughter of Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev and Princess Irina Yusupova. Most likely Xenia was chosen because she shared the mitochondrial DNA with Nicholas II.

 

[Russophile]

Do you know which granddaughter gave a DNA sample? I had never read this, I thought all along that it was George's bones which provided evidence that the skeletal remains were indeed the late Tsar's.

Poor George, such a sad life and to die so young. From the Massie book, it was said that he was the funniest of the children and years later the Tsar could be heard laughing while he read jokes made by George and written down years before.

I think massie's book has the list of those who contributed DNA. The Romanovs teh final Chapter book.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

I think massie's book has the list of those who contributed DNA. The Romanovs teh final Chapter book.

Russo my dear,

I read this book (I think) but it has been so long ago. Could it be that DNA was donated by Xenia's granddaughter and also taken from George's bones? I could swear I read that the authorities exhumed his remains to take a sample.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Massie's book says only Xenia S and another relative in Scotland gave DNA to identify Nicholas. He mentioned George being considered but that it never came to fruition.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Has anyone read the book about Olga? I am currently reading the book on Michael and Natasha and the authors write that Olga never spoke to Natasha after Michael married her. Strange, as Olga was in love with a commoner and eventually married him. Anyone know why Olga turned her back on Natasha, especially after Michael and the rest of the Romanovs were slaughtered by the Bolsheviks?

 

[AristoCat]

I read the book about Olga. It was enjoyable and I am still shocked that she never had a passionate relationship for so many years and how the Oldenbergs basically used her as a cipher to claim a direct relation to the Imperial Family.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

In the Massie book, "The Final Chapter" it is mentioned that one of Olga's sons was contacted to give DNA to identify Nicholas II, but he refused. Which is why they eventually went to Xenia S.
I admit I haven't really been interested in the Olga and Xenia for some reason; despite the fact that through them Romanovs continue to survive despite the attempts by the Soviets.

 

[Cory]

Why Grand Duchess Olga lived such a retreat life in the last years?

 

[AristoCat]

It was probably smart of her since the Communists were likely still afoot, ready to kill every Romanov they could get their hands on. Second, Olga apparently never liked court life since her husband wasn't accepted by her mother, plus Olga had been stuck serving as a companion of her mother, following her around on her travels. If I were Olga I would be more than happy to get away and live my own life.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Why Grand Duchess Olga lived such a retreat life in the last years?

My dear Cory,

Olga helped a number of Russian expatriates during World War II while she lived in Denmark. Olga would have been very happy to continue living in Denmark after the war but being so close to the Soviet Union and with the Soviets making noises about her helping people flee that country. she decided to leave and move to Canada.

The poster above is quite right that Olga was not enamored of court life. I read that shortly before Olga died in 1960, Queen Elizabeth II visited Canada and Olga was invited to a luncheon aboard the royal yacht Britannia. Protocol required that she buy a hat but Olga hated wearing hats. However, Olga purchased a hat to go with her new dress but her first action after disembarking from the yacht was to fling the new hat into the water. Olga must have been quite the character.

 

[AristoCat]

Olga must have been quite the character.

All the Romanovs were when you think about it.

 

[Cory]

I suppose Grand Duchess Olga was very different from her sister Xenia.Mr Koulikovsky's wife did not really enjoyed the public life.

 

[CarolynHarris]

From St. Petersburg to Toronto: The Life of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882-1960) | Carolyn Harris: Royal Historian

 

[AristoCat]

I suppose Grand Duchess Olga was very different from her sister Xenia.Mr Koulikovsky's wife did not really enjoyed the public life.

Perhaps everything had traumatized her os badly that she couldn't cope with public life or the lifestyle she used to have. Too many memories and after all that, it would have been a horrific burden to end up living a prominent life in society. She would have been a leading figure and she would surely have ended up having a lot of pressure on her with people asking her about her feelings all the time about the death of her brother and his family/her nieces.

 

[EmpressRouge]

Perhaps everything had traumatized her os badly that she couldn't cope with public life or the lifestyle she used to have. Too many memories and after all that, it would have been a horrific burden to end up living a prominent life in society. She would have been a leading figure and she would surely have ended up having a lot of pressure on her with people asking her about her feelings all the time about the death of her brother and his family/her nieces.

I believe Olga had always been weary of royal life and preferred a more carefree lifestyle without royal trappings even from childhood. Olga was to her father, who liked a simpler lifestyle, and had difficult relationship with her mother, who was the queen bee of court life and St. Petersburg society.

 

[AristoCat]

BEing her mother's companion probably wasn't easy either.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I wonder if Xenia or her sister will be re-buried in their native Russia?

As far as I'm aware Olga is buried in Canada and Xenia in the south of France.

 

[AristoCat]

That would be interesting.

 

[Alexey 1904]

Isn't Olga buried next to her husband?

 

[kell]

and son n 1st daughter in law in toronto

 

[Alexey 1904]

Thank you, Kell, for letting me know.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Isn't Olga buried next to her husband?

Yes indeed both are interred at the York Cemetery, Toronto.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

When the Grand Duchess Xenia moved to England, King George V gave her Frogmore Cottage and a pension of 2,400 pounds.
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[tim57]

It seems to me Olga was far more in the public eye in her later years than Xenia (1940 - 1960). I take it they were not close?.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Tim57 had previously expressed Why was Grand Duchess Xenia treated with a grace and favor at Hampton Court?
This may have been due to several reasons:
1. Xenia was the eldest daughter of Tsar Alexander III and the eldest sister of Tsar Nicholas II.
2. She was the wife of a Russian Grand Duke, Alexander.
3. She was the mother-in-law of Felix Yusupov, who killed Rasputin.

 

[tim57]

Thank you.

 

[MAfan]

As for Olga, I've always understood that she spent the last period of her life very privately, especially after she settled in Canada. This doesn't mean that she was totally forgotten (on the contrary: consider as an example the invitation to gave lunch with Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on board of the royal yacht Britannia during a visit they paid to Canada in the 1950s), but I don't think that she lived at all in the public eye.

As for Xenia, I believe that the most likely reason for George V giving her a grace-and-favour home was that she was a cousin of him, exiled from her country and who had lost nearly everything due to the revolution in Russia.
Very similarly, Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, his wife Militza (née Princess of Montenegro) and their family, as well as the exiled royal family of Montenegro, in the 1920s and 1930s have been hosted in Italy by the King and Queen (who herself was born as a Princess of Montenegro).

However, personally I'd exclude that the fact that Xenia was the mother-in-law of Felix Yussupov, who killed Rasputin, has played a part in George V deciding to gave her a house where to live.