Growing up, I loved anything that had to do with princesses (stop the presses, this is groundbreaking news). It was the time of The Royal Diaries series, which featured fictional diaries of famous girls such as Elizabeth I, Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette. I tried to maintain a diary myself, just in case I became famous or married a prince and The Royal Diaries wanted to record my life for posterity. Thankfully now I have a blog, which pretty much serves the same purpose.
I read all of The Royal Diaries books, but kept going back to one in particular- Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess. I don't know if it was the particularly chilling tale or the 1997 animated move that caught my attention, but I could never get this story out of my head, despite the other historical fiction I have read since. So, when I began reading my way through Russian literature, I was excited to learn the real story of Anastasia and her family. I devoured The Romanov Sisters, The Romanovs- The Final Chapter and The Last Days of the Romanovs in an effort to learn as much as possible about my childhood fascination.
And what exactly did I learn? These books covered everything from the family's early life to their deaths and the impostors who came years after them. I learned that royalty doesn't necessarily mean fancy palaces and showy wealth. It is defined more by your demeanor and class. Scroll down to see my notable quotables from all three books. I encourage you to read up on the Romanovs. You won't regret it.
Notable Quotables
"'Life is also meaningful without being married,' she had once told her mother, and marrying merely for the sake of it was, in her view, 'one of the greatest mistakes a woman can make,'" (The Romanov Sisters p.15).
"All useless, heavy etiquette and luxury are forbidden," (The Romanov Sisters p.58).
"Be sure to be very good and remember, elbows off the table, sit straight and eat your meat nicely," (The Romanov Sisters p.90). Good to know that mothers of all generations teach this timeless etiquette rule.
"Skirt hemlines drop and hair goes up when they reach the age of 16- how time flies," (The Romanov Sisters p. 148). Good to know the comfort bun is keeping with my age.
"That last evening everyone sat down to dinner, at a properly laid table complete with menu cards, just as they had always done," (The Romanov Sisters p.360).
"Noble, high-minded, conscientious, courteous, selfless, chivalrous towards women- in every possible way the Tsar had once been viewed as a true gentleman," (The Last Days of the Romanovs, p. 52).
"It is also the worst kind of bad manners to come to someone else's press conference and distribute his own self-glorifying press release, which, incidentally, is riddled with factual errors." (The Romanovs- The Final Chapter, p.241)- Sorry, the PR major in me couldn't resist this one.
"A great lady is not necessarily a woman of ancient pedigree and expensive schooling; she can be someone accustomed to a certain milieu for a long time and confident of her position," (The Romanovs- The Final Chapter p.250).
Manners Moral: No matter what you are going through in life, it is imperative that you mind your manners. Also, books about royalty are great sources for entertainment and etiquette advice.