Coryne Hall

This book gives a good overview, in just over 250 pages, of the connections and tensions between Queen Victoria and the various Romanov rulers of Russia, involving also the extensive families on both sides - families which became increasingly intertwined as the 19th century went on. It's important to bear in mind that the focus is on the members of the families, even though the backdrop is the many foreign policy difficulties which existed. So the wider political scene is described and explained only so far as necessary for each chapter - the Crimean War passes by in a couple of pages, for example.

The most interesting parts of the book are detailed descriptions of visits and correspondence between those involved, many not available in other published sources. On the whole, too, the book is well-edited and has been properly fact checked. The author takes a balanced view of even the less reputable characters. It is a pity that she ends the book with the claim that by passing haemophilia into the Romanov family, Queen Victoria was partly responsible for the downfall of the dynasty and the two Russian revolutions of 1917. The idea that the revolutions would not have occurred had the tsarevitch Alexi not had haemophilia is farcical (especially as he was only 13 at the time).… (mehr)

This was a very good overview of the relationship between Queen Victoria and the Russian House of Romanov. Queen Victoria met with every Russian monarch beginning with Tsar Nicholas I. All these visits and exchanges are faithfully recounted here. The book also describes each exchange she had with other members of the family, including the more obscure branches.

While there's nothing new to be read here, it's a more complete look than the bits and pieces we pick up from various other books. It's nice to have all the accounts together in one volume. Queen Victoria definitely mistrusted her Russian counterparts. The treatment of her aunt at their hands definitely colored her views.

All in all, a worthy installment in the story of Queen Victoria and the Romanovs.… (mehr)

An honest look at the life of the mistress of Nicholas II and one of the ballet's greatest performers. Mathilde Kschessinska was a survivor...rising throught the ranks of the ballet in Russia, capturing the eye of the then Tsarevich, and becoming one of the movers and shakers of ballet society, this lady led a charmed existence until the Russian Revolution. Cast out of her country, Kschessinska continued to make a name for herself in France, marrying a Grand Duke and raising her son while supporting herself by running a ballet school and writing her memoirs. An interesting read.… (mehr)