can’t walk even a single step. Papa is determined that he’ll appear tomorrow anyway.
5/18 August 1914
Everybody is going absolutely wild, so happy to be Russian and so happy to have a tsar like Papa to lead us to victory. When we arrived here yesterday, Papa made an impressive speech at the Kremlin. We were all wearing our best dresses and hats and jewels, except Mama’s sister Ella, who is the abbess of a convent here in Moscow and wore a plain gray habit. A Cossack soldier carried Alexei.
Then we all went to Assumption Cathedral, where Mama and Papa were crowned a long time ago, to pray before the icons and the tombs of important dead Russians. There was always much excitement and deep emotion.
I can hardly wait to see old Cousin Willy beaten!
9/22 August 1914
Ts. S.
We’re happy to be back home, because a scary thing happened to Alexei while we were in Moscow. He and M. Gilliard decided to go for a drive in the country in a motorcar. But hundreds of people recognized the tsarevitch and tried to get close enough to touch him. Finally some policemen rescued them from the jostling crowds, but Alexei was terrified, and Mama was angry at M. Gilliard for sneaking off like that.
13/26 August 1914
Papa has made a big decision: He’s changing the name of St. Petersburg, which sounds German, to Petrograd. It means the same thing in Russian.
Everyone is very patriotic, and no one more than Papa. That’s why the telegram from Father Grigory made him so angry. Father Grigory, who is still recovering from the assassin’s attack, sent Papa a wire, which Anya delivered to him. I was there when Anya rushed into Mama’s boudoir. “Father Grigory urged Nicky not to go to war,” Anya cried. Then she said Papa was so angry, he tore the telegram into a dozen pieces.
Mama tried to calm Anya down until she could find out from Papa what was going on. Usually Papa and Mama agree with everything Father Grigory says, but not this time. Papa says Father Grigory has no business giving such advice and should stick to being a holy man.
23 August/5 September 1914
St. Petersburg Petrograd
It’s hard to remember that the name has been changed.
I was afraid I’d miss everything, being out at Tsarskoe Selo, because I heard from Gleb Botkin that every day here is filled with the sound of men marching off to war. But dear Aunt Olga proposed that OTMA should observe this stirring sight. She brought us into the city in her carriage so that we could witness the spectacle of our brave soldiers marching down Nevsky Prospect to the railway station, where they board trains headed for the front. There were lots of wives and children weeping and waving and cheering as their husbands and fathers went off to war. It was sad but thrilling.
24 August/6 September 1914
Luncheon at Grandmother’s at Gatchina Palace. She forbade all talk about the war and instead turned her bright eyes in my direction and asked me to tell her about my study of French poetry.
That was a disaster, of course. But after luncheon, when we went back to Aunt Olga’s, it was a different story. All the young men talked of nothing but the war. Lieutenant Boris plans to take his dress uniform with him when he leaves for the front, so he’ll be ready for the victorious parade through the streets of Berlin. No one seems to give the least thought that he might get wounded or even killed. They expect to be home by Christmas.
28 August/10 September 1914
Ts. S.
Papa left this morning for
Stavka
, the headquarters of the army. He’s going there to consult with Grandfather’s cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, the commander-in-chief of the armies. Papa says it’s important to keep up the morale of the men with visits from the tsar, and also to make sure that all is going well. So far we have lost one big battle but won a bigger one.
30 August/12 September 1914
Mama has shocked us all. Three weeks ago she ordered the Catherine Palace to be turned into a hospital
5/18 August 1914
Everybody is going absolutely wild, so happy to be Russian and so happy to have a tsar like Papa to lead us to victory. When we arrived here yesterday, Papa made an impressive speech at the Kremlin. We were all wearing our best dresses and hats and jewels, except Mama’s sister Ella, who is the abbess of a convent here in Moscow and wore a plain gray habit. A Cossack soldier carried Alexei.
Then we all went to Assumption Cathedral, where Mama and Papa were crowned a long time ago, to pray before the icons and the tombs of important dead Russians. There was always much excitement and deep emotion.
I can hardly wait to see old Cousin Willy beaten!
9/22 August 1914
Ts. S.
We’re happy to be back home, because a scary thing happened to Alexei while we were in Moscow. He and M. Gilliard decided to go for a drive in the country in a motorcar. But hundreds of people recognized the tsarevitch and tried to get close enough to touch him. Finally some policemen rescued them from the jostling crowds, but Alexei was terrified, and Mama was angry at M. Gilliard for sneaking off like that.
13/26 August 1914
Papa has made a big decision: He’s changing the name of St. Petersburg, which sounds German, to Petrograd. It means the same thing in Russian.
Everyone is very patriotic, and no one more than Papa. That’s why the telegram from Father Grigory made him so angry. Father Grigory, who is still recovering from the assassin’s attack, sent Papa a wire, which Anya delivered to him. I was there when Anya rushed into Mama’s boudoir. “Father Grigory urged Nicky not to go to war,” Anya cried. Then she said Papa was so angry, he tore the telegram into a dozen pieces.
Mama tried to calm Anya down until she could find out from Papa what was going on. Usually Papa and Mama agree with everything Father Grigory says, but not this time. Papa says Father Grigory has no business giving such advice and should stick to being a holy man.
23 August/5 September 1914
St. Petersburg Petrograd
It’s hard to remember that the name has been changed.
I was afraid I’d miss everything, being out at Tsarskoe Selo, because I heard from Gleb Botkin that every day here is filled with the sound of men marching off to war. But dear Aunt Olga proposed that OTMA should observe this stirring sight. She brought us into the city in her carriage so that we could witness the spectacle of our brave soldiers marching down Nevsky Prospect to the railway station, where they board trains headed for the front. There were lots of wives and children weeping and waving and cheering as their husbands and fathers went off to war. It was sad but thrilling.
24 August/6 September 1914
Luncheon at Grandmother’s at Gatchina Palace. She forbade all talk about the war and instead turned her bright eyes in my direction and asked me to tell her about my study of French poetry.
That was a disaster, of course. But after luncheon, when we went back to Aunt Olga’s, it was a different story. All the young men talked of nothing but the war. Lieutenant Boris plans to take his dress uniform with him when he leaves for the front, so he’ll be ready for the victorious parade through the streets of Berlin. No one seems to give the least thought that he might get wounded or even killed. They expect to be home by Christmas.
28 August/10 September 1914
Ts. S.
Papa left this morning for
Stavka
, the headquarters of the army. He’s going there to consult with Grandfather’s cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, the commander-in-chief of the armies. Papa says it’s important to keep up the morale of the men with visits from the tsar, and also to make sure that all is going well. So far we have lost one big battle but won a bigger one.
30 August/12 September 1914
Mama has shocked us all. Three weeks ago she ordered the Catherine Palace to be turned into a hospital
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