Once, When Discussing Portraits Of Her Children With A Visiting Artist, The Empress Declared It Is Anastasia

Once, when discussing portraits of her children with a visiting artist, the Empress declared “It is Anastasia who will give you trouble.”

“I’m not your prince, Anya.”

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

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

Once in 1906, Nicholas was swimming in the surf with his four daughters when a large wave swept over them. The Tsar and the three older daughters rose to the crest of the wave, but Anastasia, then five, disappeared. “Little Alexei [aged two] and I saw it happen from the beach,“ wrote the Tsar’s sister Olga Alexandrovna. ”The child, of course, didn’t realize the danger, and kept clapping his hands at the tidal wave. Then Nicky dived again, grabbed Anastasia by her long hair, and swan back with her to the beach. I had gone cold with terror.”

Robert K. Massie, Nicholas & Alexandra

Olga, Tatiana, Maria: Sit in chair like a normal person. Anastasia: Sits on table

OTMA on the balcony at Livadia.

i think the thing that sticks out to me about cats in hogwarts is that we have no idea where they go when their owners are studying. there’s an owlry, but no cattery. 

do they just wander the corridors? do they disrupt lessons? are there always at least six sitting in front of the fireplace in the great hall?