I love the fact that they make the children speak Russian when in fact the children spoke fluent English. It just keeps up the romantic notion the Russian Imperial children only seemed to speak Russian when they spoke three languages.
+Rosie Summer I agree in a documentary about the Romanov princesses the 'experts' said the girl spoke very broken English. As you say their parents spoke English perfectly. They spoke 3 languages fluently In fact Nicholas spoke English so well he passed as an English Gentleman. Nobody even knew who he was or the fact he was Russian according to the book by Robert K Massie.
BARBARA LUCAS Yes, that is right :) I was being sarcarstic in my reply ;). The childrens nannies were Irish/English so their English was perfect. I think tv producers like to think the imperial family sounded/spoke Russian. When it was recorded by many memiors the imperial family spoke with upper class English accents.
The daughters were fluent in Russian, good English, and conversational French. They likely knew a spot of German. They would often talk to their mother in English and Russian with their father. Surviving documents shows they wrote strongest in Russian. Nicholas spoke Russian, English, and French fluently. He also knew German and a spot of Danish.
Alexandra/Alix spend a big amount of time in the UK during her youth and spoke perfect English(she was queen Victoria's favourite grandchild) . She and Nicholas chose the Alexander Palace cause it was smaller and more homely, so her being snobbish about the place being small is ridicilous.
There is also a reason why she is saying what she is saying. She is being a bit snobbish, she is the Empress of all the Russias, and is a wife to the richest man in the world, with the most opulent court in entire world. So her comments are intended to be a bit arrogant in the manner of " I'm the Empress of Russia not a Queen, my Court is bigger then yours, etc..." and truth be told she was a bit snobbish in real life, as people have written about her later. However, she had a good heart and was generous.
@@alexs7097 Snobbish? Empress Alexandra was very down to earth and had furniture from Mable's a middle class furniture store. Also she used to make her own bed as a young girl and her dressed were hand made by her mother
@@iicourtneybear3916 Yes, she did. However, she was also very arrogant and snobbish at times and courtiers often talked behind her back. In later years she was also a bit neurotic and hard to deal with. But in general sense she was a generous Empress and tried to do well for Russia. Russian nobles did not like her attitude because she was not open and warm like the previous Empress, Nicholas II's mother who the court and nobles adored as she was very sociable and pleasant to be around.
@@alexs7097 Well Alexandra was very shy and her health began to spiral leading in her dependence on Rasputin who trusted the Tsar and Tsarina take drugs
The Romanov family also visited in 1909. I don’t know which year this movie scene portrays. But the girls are definitely not young women or late teenagers at the time. If it’s 1908 Olga would be 12 (because she is born in November), Tatiana would be 11, Maria 9, Anastasia 7 and Alexei 4. If it’s 1909 Olga would be 13, Tatiana 12, Maria 10, Anastasia 8 and Alexei 5.
starquant, you are correct that the language used at the Russian court was French. However, among the immediate Imperial Family, they spoke English to each other. Alexandra and Nicholas spoke and corresponded in English. Alexandra spoke English to the children almost exclusively. She never mastered the Russian language and could not write in Russian without assistance from her ladies.
While being certainly not a documentary I found some oddities with this movie. The first one would be the fact that though OTMA all look around twenty, an age which two of them never hit, their hair is down. Their hair would be up once they reached sixteen and became “adults”. I understand why they’d age up the cast since really OTMA, if we assume this is 1909 which I will because they met the English Royal family that year and it’s arguably the more well known of their meetings, would be 14, 12, 10, and 8 respectively. Their dresses would be shorter as well as they’d not yet reached sixteen. The second thing is OTMA speaking in Russian. Because their mother was quite English in nature, though being born in Hesse she was taken under Queen Victoria’s wing after the death of Alexandra’s mother, Alice. It would be rude of OTMA to speak Russian in front of their cousins and make little logical sense, they want to communicate, no? Alexandra should also not have an accent, as she spent much of her childhood in England. Alexandra also being so haughty goes against most accounts of her. Being painfully she appeared aloof in grand ceremonies, but with her family she was open and kind. Alexandra should also not at all be surprised by the houses, nor call them miniature, as, once again, she grew up in England. When she said she couldn’t walk more I thought maybe it’s be a reference to her sciatica, which was so very painful for her, but alas. Overall lovely little film but dreadfully inaccurate!
Actually the meeting was in 1908 when olga and Tatiana were still young teenagers and from the photographs of their visit to England their hair was down. I was surprised by the Russian but they did in fact speak Russian all the the time amongst themselves and Olga does talk in perfect English here - saying that they will bring back a bear or Siberian tiger next time. I think that’s accurate because while olga and Tatiana were fluent I don’t think the little pair really were
Although the footage of the daughters speaking Russian is largely inaccurate since they would have spoken English while in England, bare in mind that for people watching the film who aren't up to scratch with history, that detail was probably added just to remind viewers who they were.
They spoke Russian with each other, however, when they wrote letters to their mother the Empress, they did so in English. Tsar Nicholas and his future wife Alix, conversed in English as he spoke no German, and she spoke very little to none of Russian. The official language was Russian, however, at the court official language (court orders) were issued in French. So they spoke Russian, French and English.
With all due respect, I am not sure I agree with you. While the Princesses would certainly speak English to other English speakers [or to their mother, whose Russian was rather spotty], I do not believe they would have necessarily spoken English when conversing just among themselves. In these scenes, the girls are chatting to each other, with no English speaker present. It would have been perfectly natural and normal for them to be speaking Russian with each other, irrespective of location.
@@davidjonathangudlaugson4768 But one of the Duchesses does speak Russian to Johnny towards the end of the clip, which does seem like a strange thing to do as she's basically just repeating what her sister said: "мы обязательно привезём тебе мишку из России" which just means "We'll definitely bring you a teddy bear from Russia". But hey, artistic license ☺️
The film is for entertainment and not actually education. This clip shows many flaws. The Russian children are speaking in Russian which would not have happened in England while in the presence of non-Russian speakers. Aside from them being taught it was bad manners to speak in front of others in an unknown language, the children were fluent in English and spoke both English and Russian to each other. It would not have been unnatural to them to converse with each other in English. Their mother spoke to them in English and they had English nannies. Alexandra is speaking with an accent of some sort. Unlike her Prussian cousins, the Hessian children spoke English with barely a trace of a German accent. Alexandra would have spoken with a near perfect upper class British accent. She never fully learned Russian, so her English would not have been affected by speaking Russian. French was spoken at Court and within the Family, English was spoken.
The British royal family that is the children of Victoria, historically spoke with a heavy German accent... Alexi was also considerd historically the "breath of English rose" that is to say she has no pretensions a fact her mother inlaw found to common... The loving relationship between Alexi and Nicolas is fabled to be unparalleled. This depiction is filled with flaws! There are many images of Alexi barefoot in the gardens at peaterhoff and wading in the sea. This seems to be much more like empress dagmar then like Alexi.
+L. Blacklock Also, Alix is acting sooooo rude.. That's not the way Alix would have behaved. She was a firm believer in discharging duties uncomplainingly and in doing things yourself rather than asking other people to do it for you. That whole business with the shoes?... just doesnt seem like something Alix would have said... EVER
The Empress Marie (Dagmar) was imperious, but she was also very sociable, and popular with the Russian aristocracy. Alexandra was not. She was very shy, and also regarded as unsophisticated and inept. It's been said that she was very down-to-earth on her own turf, surrounded by her family and the (very) few servants and friends she trusted, but outside of that small circle she was stiff and uncomfortable. I think she must have been very different in private from the way she appeared in public.
I was shocked to see this. In Real life The Empress Alexandra has a thick English accent and her Englishness is her most profound characteristics. She almost had her life in England as she was “the most favorite” Grand daughter of Queen Vistoria. Queen Victoria invisioned Alix as the Queen of UK. She had no Russian Accents. And her kids were not allowed to talk in Russians or french in the presence of English nobles. That is the protocol.
+Martin D Clearly bent against her, portraying her as an overbearing wife and overrall unpleasant person. And what accent is that? Alix didn't have an accent. Her natural language was English and she spoke it to her family all the time. This movie is not very accurate. Those lines just dont sound anything like something Alix would have said... EVER. . It just seems so foreign to her nature to act so rude. Alix was described as very prim and put together.
But she was often misunderstood, because she was very uncomfortable on public display, and people tended to interpret her shyness as haughtiness. If you watch some of the old film clips of her and her husband, she always looks stiff and uncomfortable in crowds. She also seldom smiled. In most of her pictures she looks dead serious or downright miserable, which is understandable, given some of the problems in her life, but it often didn't endear her to others.
I find the subtlety of Alexei's presence really quite profound. He and Prince John were around the same age and both suffered from very complex health issues, however Alexei was revered as a result. He was never hidden away and was treasured by the whole family. Poor little Johnny was such a contrast.
I think it might be because John wasn’t an Heir to the throne, well he was but he had elder brothers and it would’ve been impossible for him to become king
Prince John was NOT hidden away. He was put live in a comfortable cottage in the village as advised by the doctors of that time, because Buckingham palace was not fit for a child in his conditions to live in. In the cottage he could roam free, play outside and even make friends. In Buckingham palace he could not do that
This scene is inaccurate, why on earth is Alix speaking in a Russian accent to whom she is a German princess who spoke English with a British/ German accent?
Agreed this scene is totally inaccurate because in 1908 Olga Tatiana Maria and Anastasia were only kids when they visited their British family at the time
@@Mashka14 Artistic license. It makes more sense thematically for Johnny to see the Grand Duchesses as beautiful young women than children, as he's supposed to find them enchanting and almost be in love with them.
This is from "The Lost Prince" about Prince John the youngest child of King George V who had Epilepsy. I'm told that in real life when the Romanovs came in 1908 their English cousins later complained about how much security their Russian cousins brought with them and they couldn't get near them most of the time.
When the girls are speaking to Johnny they say: A young boy! He is like our small Alyosha. We will bring you a bear from Russia. This may be slightly inaccurate as Russian is not my strongest language but it is very much along the lines. Edit: The exact translation is A little boy! He is like our little Alyosha. We will bring you a bear from Russia or a Tiger from Siberia They then go on to repeat the last phrase and say We will bring you a bear from Russia or a tiger from Siberia. They say a bear but they mean something like a Teddy bear not an actual bear. Edit: They could of got ages right. Alexei looks around a decade younger than Anastasia, there was only three years between them.
At that time it was very confusing. Victoria was kind of European royalty's grandmother. Nicky was George V's first cousin. Alix was Edward VII's first cousin. Edward VII was Nicky's uncle. I like studying the Romanovs.
Where are George's children, Edward, Albert and Mary. Edward would of only been about 13. It is kinf of inaccurate a bit with the childrens ages to the actors playing them. Johnny would of be around 3 and Georgie would of been around 6.
You can see who I’m assuming are Edward and Albert at 1:38 sitting with their mother and young George. It’s not Henry, as he would’ve been only 9 and he eventually joined the army. So process of elimination says it’s the two older sons. There’s another scene also where Edward and Albert are shown standing together and he makes a comment like “That’s the way you behave when you’re an emperor, is it.” or something like that. No idea where Mary is, which makes even less sense as she was photographed in the actual family photo they all took together, whereas none of the other child aside from Edward were included.
I wonder if Prince Louis would love a bear or a tiger from Russia for his birthday next year, I've pictured him with Prince Johnny and Alexei as circus performers with an elephant, tiger and bear ❤
Prince John was treated like shit by his parents, the stupid bully George V and the cold-as-ice Queen Mary. They were embarrassed by the boy, who was epileptic. His heroic nurse stayed with him until his sad end.
I read a book that said since the Romanov children were kept in such seclusion by their parents, they were socially stunted. They acted like children up into their teenage years, had poor conversational skills etc. is this true?
Most royal and imperial children of the time didn't have great social skills, because they often didn't get much chance to mingle with other kids, or to compete with other kids in everyday skills. That was particularly true of the Romanov children, because they had to be guarded closely for their own safety. The secret of their brother's illness probably didn't help, either, because that was such a big part of their lives, but they couldn't reveal it to anyone.
+Alicia Coburg Most biographers of Alexandra and the girls do agree on that point. They weren't allowed to play with other children their own age unless they were cousins, and Alexandra didn't approve of the Yousssopovs and other family members as they were too 'worldly'. She was also concerned that letting them mingle would lead to inappropriate relationships as they were considered prime breeding stock for the remaining royals in Europe.
+Josh Kusiak I don't understand what you're saying. Are you saying that one of them could have grown up to be Czar (or Czarina), and for that reason, would not have been socially stunted? But I do not think either of the girls could inherit, only the boy. You say it was *made* up by Stalin fanboy? Not sure who/what Stalin fanboy is. I guess I could Google it.
+Alicia Coburg They did mingle at afternoon teas but many times the Imperial children spent time by themselves with the parents or with sailors from the Standart.
The only thing incorrect I found about is, is that the children are speaking Russian, which was of course their first language, but their mother always spoke to them in English, and Nicholas and Alix spoke to each other in English as well, as she struggled with Russian.
+effooo2000 They really were, and I am sure there were some princes somewhere very saddened that they were never able to offer their hands in marriage to at least one of them. I'm sure they would have only been allowed to marry princes (preferably crown princes), nothing less.
there were were lord luis mountbatten wanted to marry marie. even after she and her family were killed he kept a photo of her by his bed side up until he died
@@jdstep97 they actually didn't want to marry into royalty, they dated injured soldiers during the war when they were nurses. (Sorry for my English, not my first language)
Everything is wrong in this movie! Besides, Anastasia was around 7 years old, Maria 9, Tatiana 11 and Olga 14 years old...I know is ridiculous, but it seem that the people who did this movie didn’t even bother to research on them!! The Tsarina Alexandra was well known to be a kind person, it’s imposible that she where to do what she did in this movie...so disappointing.
It shows a lot actually on the incapability for the Tsar to understand modern world. & they were in their own world. Their cruel end doesn't surprise in all honesty.
+Tajana Kelava Thank you so much! Russian history is so fascinating to me, and the language beautiful and romantic. Some native English- speakers say Russian sounds harsh. I do not.
+M CRM I don't know what I said to cause this sort of reaction, but there's really no need to curse. If I get so upset at someone that I must resort to vulgar language, I take a break. But I will say, my language skills (pompous or not) benefit me. I have a great job, awesome office, and work with some really good and smart folks. I simply would not be where I am without my language (and writing) skills. So it can be a good thing.
Well I was quite shocked to see this portrayal of the Tzarina, but it could be true. Alix was known to be an awkward introvert from Germany, who occasionally visited her grandmother at this location. She had spent many years in Russia where things ARE larger such as the winter palace. Russia is the most sparsely populated place on earth, so it would also be no surprise that she would not be used to houses so close together. I believe none of these people was very smart, in fact quite the opposite. I think her willingness to upset the visit and the whole household shows not only her perhaps unconscious exercise of power, but how inconsiderate she was, the family's dysfunction, and Nicky's wimpiness. If they couldn't even get through a walk on a summer vacation, how could they maintain peace? The russian aristocracy was known for its outrageous snobbishness, and I think this is probably quite accurately portrayed. After years amongst them, Alix was transformed from that shy fraulein into a monster diva!
Her reality was far different. Many of her letters are available, as are those of most of her family. They were kind people but, unfortunately, detached from much of the reality of Russia. Alexander III predicted what was to be their future at least in so far as he knew his eldest son to be inadequate to the task of ruling.
Historically inaccurate. The Romanov grand duchesses were fluent in English as they had English nannies, so they would've spoken in English in the presence of their British royal relations. Their mother, the tsarina, also did not have an accent--she was raised in England through part of her childhood because she was one of Queen Victoria's grandchildren. In fact, the only language she had in common with the future tsar was English--they courted each other in English, since she was totally unfamiliar with Russian, her French (the official language of the Russian court) was awful, and the future tsar was not fluent in German (the only other language the tsarina knew well). This was a huge part of the reason the Russian people, from aristocrats down to the peasants, despised and distrusted their last tsarina--she was a complete foreigner to them, unfamiliar with even the rudiments of Russian language and culture.
It's a movie for entertainment, played to people who have generally no idea about any of this, so they need to be speaking Russian so the audience knows who they are, considering they're in a 3 hour movie for about 6 minutes. Take the stick out of your bottom.
It is said that Olga and Tatiana actually spoke with an Irish lilt on account of their Irish nanny Margaretta Eager, although this was later corrected.
@@ferzach8687 You're going to have a hard time at the cinema if you can't tell the difference between a movie and a documentary 🤣 If you watch World War Z you'll shit your pants.
