olga
Olga Nikolaevna Romanova was born November 15, 1895.
Olga was named after Nicholas II's younger sister Olga. It is an ancient Russian name, meaning "holy." All the Romanov daughters were named after saints, meaning that they would celebrate a birthday and their saint's namesake's birthday on the Russian calendar.
When Olga was born her great grandmother Victoria remarked that the baby had "an immense head" and weighed 10 pounds at birth.
In Nicholas' diary he wrote:
"She does not at all look new-born because she is such a big baby with a full head of hair."
When Margaret Eagar, the nurse, came to the palace in 1898 she remarked about 3-year-old Olga:"She was a very fine child and had large blue-grey eyes and long golden curls."
Olga was named after Nicholas II's younger sister Olga. It is an ancient Russian name, meaning "holy." All the Romanov daughters were named after saints, meaning that they would celebrate a birthday and their saint's namesake's birthday on the Russian calendar.
When Olga was born her great grandmother Victoria remarked that the baby had "an immense head" and weighed 10 pounds at birth.
In Nicholas' diary he wrote:
"She does not at all look new-born because she is such a big baby with a full head of hair."
When Margaret Eagar, the nurse, came to the palace in 1898 she remarked about 3-year-old Olga:"She was a very fine child and had large blue-grey eyes and long golden curls."
Lily Dehn met Olga when Olga was still a child. She said Olga had "a fresh complexion, deep blue eyes, quantities of light chestnut hair and pretty hands and feet. She took life seriously and she was a clever girl with a sweet disposition," (olga nickolaevna-romanov sisters-webs).
When Olga learned how to read, she became more clever in her schoolwork and could speak both English and Russian fluently, (163, Beeche). Unlike her younger sister, Anastasia, Olga enjoyed schoolwork and was clever. Olga's French tutor Pierre Gilliard remembered:
"The eldest, Olga Nikolaievna, possessed a remarkably quick brain She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee. She gave me a certain amount of trouble at first, but our early skirmishes were soon succeeded by relations of frank cordiality. She picked up everything extremely quickly, and always managed to give an original turn to what she learned. I well remember how, in one of our first grammar lessons, when I was explaining the formation of the verbs and the use of the auxiliaries, she suddenly interrupted me with: 'I see, monsieur. The auxiliaries are the servants of the verbs. It's only poor "avoir" which has to shift for itself.'" (www.livadia.org/olishka)
Although intelligent, Olga had periods of moodiness, especially with her mother Alexandra. She also inherited her mother's "quickness of tongue," (171, Beeche). Alexandra said, "Olga is always most unamiable about every proposition, though she may end by doing what I wish. And when I am severe...sulks me," (89, Kurth).
One of Alexandra's friends, Anna Vyrubova, remarked that as Olga grew more clever, she also grew more opinionated and stubborn:
"Olga was perhaps the cleverest of them all, her mind being so quick to grasp ideas, so absorbent of knowledge that she learned almost without application or close study. Her chief characteristics, I should say, were a strong will and a singularly straightforward habit of thought and action. Admirable qualities in a woman, these same characteristics are often trying in childhood, and Olga as a little girl sometimes showed herself willful and even disobedient. She had a hot temper which, however, she early learned to keep under control, and had she been allowed to live her natural life she would, I believe, have become a woman of influence and distinction." (www.livadia.org/olishka)
At seventeen, Olga blossomed as Court Chancellory Head Mossolov put it:
"She was blonde; with a face typically Russian in its curve, and a charming complexion and teeth that made her very pretty." (171, Beeche).
She was only 22 years old when she was murdered with her family on July 17, 1918.
When Olga learned how to read, she became more clever in her schoolwork and could speak both English and Russian fluently, (163, Beeche). Unlike her younger sister, Anastasia, Olga enjoyed schoolwork and was clever. Olga's French tutor Pierre Gilliard remembered:
"The eldest, Olga Nikolaievna, possessed a remarkably quick brain She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee. She gave me a certain amount of trouble at first, but our early skirmishes were soon succeeded by relations of frank cordiality. She picked up everything extremely quickly, and always managed to give an original turn to what she learned. I well remember how, in one of our first grammar lessons, when I was explaining the formation of the verbs and the use of the auxiliaries, she suddenly interrupted me with: 'I see, monsieur. The auxiliaries are the servants of the verbs. It's only poor "avoir" which has to shift for itself.'" (www.livadia.org/olishka)
Although intelligent, Olga had periods of moodiness, especially with her mother Alexandra. She also inherited her mother's "quickness of tongue," (171, Beeche). Alexandra said, "Olga is always most unamiable about every proposition, though she may end by doing what I wish. And when I am severe...sulks me," (89, Kurth).
One of Alexandra's friends, Anna Vyrubova, remarked that as Olga grew more clever, she also grew more opinionated and stubborn:
"Olga was perhaps the cleverest of them all, her mind being so quick to grasp ideas, so absorbent of knowledge that she learned almost without application or close study. Her chief characteristics, I should say, were a strong will and a singularly straightforward habit of thought and action. Admirable qualities in a woman, these same characteristics are often trying in childhood, and Olga as a little girl sometimes showed herself willful and even disobedient. She had a hot temper which, however, she early learned to keep under control, and had she been allowed to live her natural life she would, I believe, have become a woman of influence and distinction." (www.livadia.org/olishka)
At seventeen, Olga blossomed as Court Chancellory Head Mossolov put it:
"She was blonde; with a face typically Russian in its curve, and a charming complexion and teeth that made her very pretty." (171, Beeche).
She was only 22 years old when she was murdered with her family on July 17, 1918.