Tea at Trianon: The Romanovs at Christmas

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, December 22, 2007

The Romanovs at Christmas

Terry Nelson has a post about the family of the last Tsar. Share

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: I ‘m sure that tree was brought in from the forest.; December 22, 2007 at 12:02:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Maybe. Or from the park at Tsarskoe Seloe.; December 22, 2007 at 2:54:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: I think the picture is mis-dated, to judge by the size of the little girls. There is a fascinating description of a Romanov Christmas in THE LAST GRAND DUCHESS, the "memoirs" of Nicholas II's sister Olga Alexandrovna, authored by Ian Vorres.; December 22, 2007 at 3:35:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Simon, it is definitely NOT in 1902, since the Grand Duchess Anastasia was born in 1901, and she is one of the girls in the photo. It says the upstairs playroom 'after 1902,' which I assume means it could have been anytime after 1902. I would guess the photo was taken around 1908.; December 22, 2007 at 4:08:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: I've seen countless pictures of the Romanov family but not this one. It's lovely! By the way, where's Alexis?! (He's not in the photo); December 23, 2007 at 3:34:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, it's just the girls.; December 23, 2007 at 4:16:00 PM EST