Time And Chance

My cousin [Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich], who was then a young man of twenty-two, was a very keen soldier and a real sportsman; his jovial nature endeared him to all. [...] Misha hated oysters more than anything. One day for lunch Emperor Nicholas's chef prepared what he imagined to be a particularly savoury dish, consisting of boiled oysters covered with jelly. It looked "murderous". Misha was nearly sick when he looked at them. The Emperor asked him if he would eat three of these oysters for a wager. His brother hesitated; but the Emperor repeated his challenge, adding, "You can ask for whatever you like." Misha closed his eyes, and with disgust written all over his face, gulped down three oysters, one by one. After he had successfully performed the operation, and recovered, he declared that he wished to have a motor-boat as a reward for his feat. The Emperor, of course, kept his promise.

"Young girls, especially princesses, at marriageable age are to be pitied, poor creatures! The Almanach de Gotha lists your year of birth, and people come to see you like a horse being sold. If you don't give your consent immediately, you're accused of coldness, coquetry, or else they conjecture about you as if you were some kind of secret".

At the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, one of the windowpanes in what was once the private study of Alexandra Feodorovna, still carries a delicate diamond-etched inscription made on 7 March 1902 by the empress herself.

It reads, “Nicky looking at the Hussars,” referring affectionately to her husband, Nicholas II, as he watched a regiment of the Imperial Guard’s hussars, the elite light cavalry known for their brilliant uniforms and ceremonial presence.

Review of the Yelisavetgrad Hussars on August 5, 1913, led by Tsar Nicholas II and Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana.

On August 5, 1913, Tsar Nicholas II reviewed the 8th Voznesensky Uhlan Regiment and the 3rd Yelisavetgrad Hussar Regiment in Peterhof. Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was the Chief of the Hussar Regiment, while Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna was Chief of the Uhlan Regiment.

Nicholas II called it a "memorable day" for Olga and Tatiana in his diary:

"The Voznesensky Uhlans and Yelisavetgrad Hussars presented themselves smartly and superbly in their winter parade uniforms. Both Chieftains walked gallantly at the head of their regiments and executed the ride around excellently. We had breakfast with the officers and ladies in the palace and then took a group photo. Around 4 o'clock, both regiments entered Alexandria on foot, I led them to our house, where the singers sang a few songs with Alix sitting in a pram. I walked them with my daughters along the sea to the gates and bade them farewell."

It was on this very day that photographs of the tsar's daughters as the heads of their patronized regiments were taken.