Grand Duchess George is a Greek princess, sister of the ex-King Tino. She did not look very pleasant I thought. She was very fond of riding.
One day my Aunt de Baranoff and I were invited to tea by a friend, a lieutenant of the Cossacks of the Guard--Cossacks of the Escort. This was a very select corps, always in attendance on the Emperor, and a very picked body of men they were, with their wild expressions and wasp-like waists.
The Cossacks are extraordinarily active and supple, with their soft leather boots which pull on like stockings and have no hard soles. Our young host was a great favourite of the Grand Duchesses at Court Balls, as he danced very well. He ordered his men to sing and dance
[Illustration: CRONSTADT--TWO SURVIVORS OF THE GLORIOUS KOREITZ]
[Illustration: THE BARRACKS AT PETERHOF, TWO COSSACKS OF THE ESCORT]
[Illustration: THE CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY WITH PRINCESS CECILIE AS FIANCÉS]
for us, which performance I greatly enjoyed, especially the sword dance. Their horses seem to possess quite a special intelligence and to have been circus trained. I took photographs of the company in their Peterhof barracks and later sent a copy to each member.
Grand Duchess Anastasia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, daughter of Grand Duke Michael-Michaelovitch, was also spending her summer at Michaelovka. She often invited my aunt to dinner, but these invitations to help to amuse “Satanasia”--as she is nicknamed in Germany--were sometimes a doubtful pleasure even to my aunt, as the task must have been a difficult one at times.
Grand Duchess Anastasia was no longer what is called a “young” woman, but she had a beautiful figure and was very striking-looking. She, too, affected the wearing of sailor-hats--and thick white veils!
Princess Cecilie, her daughter, was very attached to my young cousin Olga and often came to tea with us. The German Crown Prince and she had met at the same house previously and had become almost secretly engaged, as there were difficulties in the way of their union. The Kaiser was against the marriage, but the young people met again the following winter at Cannes--this, in spite of furious messages from the War Lord recalling his son to Germany, but the Crown Prince paid no heed to them, so it is related. It is also told by people who met the fiancés on the Riviera that their eyes were sometimes swollen by tears shed because of the Emperor’s resistance, which was caused by his dislike of Grand Duchess Anastasia, whom he always refused to receive at Court since the marriage.