Previous Message

the older girls had already entered the marriage market. Olga turned down the crown prince of Romania and her mother would not even consider grand duke Boris for her daughter when his mother suggested a match.

I'm surprised that the Grand Duchess Vladimir ("Aunt Miechen") suggested a match, when she (as an insider in the imperial family) would have known about the condition of the Czarevich Alexis. By then, the pattern of hemophilia would have been well-known, and people would have had a good idea of how it got transmitted.

As for Crown Prince Carol of Romania: that was the whole reason why his mother, the future Queen Marie, opposed the match. Of course, it would have otherwise been a good dynastic union (equally born royals of the Orthodox faith). And if he and Olga fell in love, perhaps the Romanian royal family would have been willing to overlook the risk of hemophilia.

As it was, the young people were not attracted; and I'm not sure if there's any record of Carol even proposing to Olga. And it doesn't appear that any of her younger sisters was anymore drawn to him than she was.


Until the murder of Rasputin grand duke Dimitri was seen as a potential son in law by the Imperial couple. He himself was in love with princess Irina, the daughter of Grand Duchess Xenia.