Im Not Your Prince, Anya.

“I’m not your prince, Anya.”

“The Grand Duchess Anastasia would beg to disagree, Dima.”

I imagine this happened frequently 

Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Maria, 1904

“It [whooping cough] speedily spread to the nurseries and to the four children. The Russian nurse and I contracted it. I had told the children that they were to be most careful not to cough on anyone, or that person might take the disease from them, and they were very obedient.

One day the little Grand Duchess Anastasie was sitting on my lap, coughing and choking away, when the Grand Duchess Marie came up to her and putting her face close up to her said, ‘Baby, darling, cough on me.’ Greatly amazed, I asked her what she meant, and the dear child said, ‘I am so sorry to see my dear little sister so ill, and I thought if I could take it from her she would be better.’ Was it not touching?”

- Margaretta Eagar

women’s history meme: tragic women [1/5] :: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia

Alix Viktoria Helene Luise Beatrix (6 June 1872 in Darmstadt - 17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg)

daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Alice of the United Kingdom

wife of Nicholas II of Russia

mother of Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei

“All is in God’s will. The deeper you look, the more you understand that this is so. All sorrows are sent us to free us from our sins or as a test of our faith, an example to others. It requires good food to make plants grow properly and the gardener, walking through His garden, wants to be pleased with His flowers. If they do not grow properly, he takes His pruning knife, and cuts, waiting for the sunshine to coax them into growth again”

“Mashka, dorogaya, you must go with Mama and Papa,” I tell her as I smooth back her hair from her face and straighten her collar. Behind me, Anastasia bites back a sob. […] I have no choice but to be the knife that splits the Little Pair in two. “Alone?” Maria whispers, looking first at Anastasia, then all of us with her wide, wide eyes. | Tatiana Nikolaevna

Anastasia barely makes a sound. She clings to me like a forlorn little puppy. I could hardly pack without bumping into her. Now we grip each other’s hands until I don’t know whose fingers are whose anymore. 

There’s only Anastasia left. How can I say good-bye to my Nastya? Instead we nestle our faces against each other’s shoulders and hold tight together until my arms ache. […] Anastasia and I hardly even breathe until it’s her turn to say good-bye to him. It’s too soon to let go, but I won’t make our Papa peel us away from each other. There’s so much I want to say, but all I can quaver into her collar is, “Christ be with you, precious Nastya.” “You too, my Mashka.” | Maria Nikolaevna

[Maria] blushes like a rose. I missed her so much. The pair of us are like salt and sugar: such different flavors, but so close in every other way you could never sort us apart once we’re together. | Anastasia Nikolaevna

Sarah Miller, The Lost Crown