Romanovs and Russian History

[Annie]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to good books about the various Russian royal families and or rulers?

 

[ariadne]

Hi, Annie,

I would recommend "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert Massie. I believe he also wrote a book about Peter the Great. "The Land of the Firebird" by Suzanne Massie is excellent about Russian history and culture--not strictly royalty. I am not sure if it is still in print.

I have a book entitled "The Romanov Family Album" which consists mainly of family photographs taken by Anna Vyrubova. I love looking at pictures of this beautiful and tragic family. Those beautiful girls are just frozen in time.

"A Short History of Byzantium" by John Julian Norwich is supposed to excellent. Barnes and Noble has quite a lot of titles dealing with Byzantium. I think that is a fascinating topic.

 

[Mary Anne]

Nicholas and Alexandra
by Robert K. Massie

The Last Empress: The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia
by Greg King

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter
by Robert K. Massie


A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra
by Nicholas, Sergei Mironenko (Editor), Andrei Maylunas, Alexandra (Translator), Nicholas Romanov



Romanov Autumn: Stories from the Last Century of Imperial Russia
by Charlotte Zeepvat


Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra
by Peter Kurth

These are some more books, I am trying to find the name of the book written by the lady who said she was anastashia.

 

[Mary Anne]

Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson
by Peter Kurth


This isn't the one i was looking for but it doesn't look too bad. If you go to Amazon and type in russia or romanovs it will give you a nice long list of books to try.

 

[Katie]

Hi , here's a book :

" The Last Tsar " by Edvard Radzinsky .

It's by the acclaimed Russian playwright and historian Edvard Radzinsky .

 

[LLaura]

Recently I read

"The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga" by John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov

I liked it because it wasn't only about Nicholas and Alexandra (like most Romanov books seem to be). It was the history of the family from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Very interesting but horribly tragic though you can't expect the ending to be upbeat considering the subject.

It talks a little about how the Russian royal jewels got into the hands of the British Royal Family I believe Queen Mary's tiara, the one that Diana wore with the pearl drops, was part of the Russian royal jewels.

 

[Julia]

Hi LLaura!

I read William Clarke's "The Lost Fortune of the Tsars" and there were some fairly unbelieveable stories about Queen Mary coveting the Russian jewels and basically ripping off the Romanovs at the auction block.

If you have a chance to pick up the book you should. It does not, however, paint a pretty picture of the House of Windsor.

 

[LLaura]

Ooh thanks Julia! That sounds like a good read! I'll check it out on amazon

 

[Julia]

Hi LLaura. Here is the tiara that you spoke of...the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara.

The tiara of the Grand Duchess Vladimir, Nicholas's aunt, was rescued from the Bolsheviks in her palace in St. Petersburg by the Hon "Bertie" Stopford and taken to a safe deposit box in London in 1919. Following the Grand Duchess's death the following year, her tiara was bought by Queen Mary, who often wore it as does Queen Elizabeth, to whom she bequeathed it on her death in 1953. From William Clarke's "The Lost Fortune of the Tsars".

Picture of the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara with Cabochon emeralds instead of the pearls (they look like Peridots to me because they are so "lime" colored).

 

[Julia]

You are most welcome! I highly recommend it. It starts off a little slow but picks up and is really well written.

 

[Julia]

A picture of the Grand Duchess Vladimir wearing the tiara....

 

[Julia]

Queen Mary wearing Grand Duchess Vladimir's tiara...

 

[Julia]

Queen Elizabeth wearing Grand Duchess Vladimir's tiara with cabochon emeralds....

pics from: Royal Jewels of the World

 

[Julia]

Apparently Queen Mary had quite an obsession with the Royal Russian jewels.

From The Lost Fortune of the Tsars...

Having experienced embarrassing insecurity in her teens through the unnecessary debts of her parents, the queen had slowly acquired fascination for precious jewellery and the pleasure and security it brought. Her place in the British royal family provided her with opportunities to acquire jewels of all kinds and to develop an expertise to match her passion for them....[M]arie's jewels, from what she had just seen, had produced yet another opportunity to add further lustre to it [her collection of jewels]...

[W]hat happened at this first valuation (Hennell & Sons -- Bond Street jewellers -- evaluated the jewels at Windsor), how much the collection was valued at, how much was eventually raised from the sale of the jewels and finally given to Grand Duchess Xenia and Olga; and, above all, how many jewels Queen Mary acquired and how much she paid for them, have been the subject of much speculation. Facts about the affair came out so slowly, even painfully for the Grand Duchess Olga and her family, that the suspicion that Queen Mary allowed her acquisitive instinct ample rein has lingered for well over sixty years.

Juicy tidbits if rather sad. For anyone interested in the fate of the Russian jewels this book tells all.

 

[LLaura]

Oooh thank you for posting those pictures Julia!

 

[Julia]

You are most welcome, LLaura!

 

[Alexandra]

Here is a list of books of Russian Royals. You can read those books in Internet.
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/alexandra/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/realtsaritsa/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/gilliard/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/russiancourt/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/lastdays/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/letters/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/letterstsaritsa/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/valse/
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/hanbury/

:flower: Here is a link to a site containing many subjects of late Russian Royals. I hope you´ll enjoy it as much as I did. :flower:
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/

 

[thissal]

Interesting about what Queen Mary reportedly did. If it's true, I'd be a little embarrassed to wear the tiara. Who was it that refused the tsar and his family refuge in England, was that George V, Queen Mary's husband?

 

[Alexandra]

Originally posted by Mary Anne@Dec 4th, 2002 - 1:53 pm
Nicholas and Alexandra
by Robert K. Massie

The Last Empress: The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia
by Greg King

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter
by Robert K. Massie


A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra
by Nicholas, Sergei Mironenko (Editor), Andrei Maylunas, Alexandra (Translator), Nicholas Romanov



Romanov Autumn: Stories from the Last Century of Imperial Russia
by Charlotte Zeepvat


Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra
by Peter Kurth

These are some more books, I am trying to find the name of the book written by the lady who said she was anastashia.

The book about Anastasia you mentioned, could it have been: "Ich Anastasia erzähle"? In English, I think, its name is "I Anastasia". I have read both of them, quite a thick book. Very interesting, but, so sad, not true. But who was the woman, she really knew so much about Russian royal court. Very much of things that no one outside the court could have known.
Then there is another book about Anastasia, written by Peter Kurth. The name of which is: "Anastasia, the Riddle of Anna Anderson".

 

[moody]

There is also a very good book (semi-historical)called"The White Night of the Saint-Petersbourg"by Michel de Grece

As about Byzantium,there is another one under the title "Andronicus"also by Michel de Grece!There you may read all what my people suffered (Montenegrins)of the sudden attacs of the Southern slavonic troops!!!

 

[mknyazev]

Books on Royalty are needed in Russia

I live in Russia still somewhat pro-Communist country. Royal books are quite unavailable here.
I'd appreciate if anybody could send me any books on royalty (Almanach Gota, on the Bourbons, the Bonapartes, the Habsburgs, the

 

[victoria_89]

Picture books

Can anyone recommended any good books about the roamnovs that are either completly picture or otherwise has a vast amount of photos?

 

[KatieLouise]

The Camera and the Tsars by Charlotte Zeepvat, if you don't have it already, is excellent. Not only does it cover Nicholas II, Alix and their children, it also has many of the lesser known branches of the Romanov family. It's basically all pictures.

 

[KatieLouise]

I just had a look on Amazon, and there are two other books that might have some nice pictures: Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra (but it does have a lot of writing too) by Peter Kurth; and The Court of the Last Tsar: Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II byGreg King. Zeepvat's book is probably your best bet for photos of the Romanovs themselves, though.

 

[Saragli]

I think I looked through Tsar:The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra. It has a pic of the emporers bum. Apparently he liked to swim in the nude on his vacations.

 

[photofan]

Romanov books

Does anyone have any info about any good Romanov books?
Cause' I really have no idea

 

[tdarlene]

I read one a few time ago called The Kitchen Boy it's about the last days os the Imperial Family it's was a really interesting book based on veridic facts but the novel was made up but it was fine to imagine what could had really happen in those final days of their lifes

 

[juliamontague]

"The Camera and the Tsars" is very nice. It's a photo book about the whole Romanov Family. Very nice especially for people who are not just interested in NAOTMAA.

 

[karla64]

i don't know any book of the romanov..... you can find at...... look the title.. i hope that help you.. smile...


http://www.majestymagazine.com/shop/php

http://www.royalty-magazine.com/store/

 

[photofan]

Thanks! that really help