Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II

by Coryne Hall, John Van Der Kiste

Release Date: September, 2002

Edition: Hardcover

Price:

More Info

An enchanting read

I have read other books by Van der Kiste and always found them to be of interest and quality. This collaboration with Coryne Hall is a must read book.

Anything to do with the Romanovs has interest and appeal but this book comes from a different angle. It looks at the downfall of the Romanov Dynasty and the lives of the surviving members of the family. The book concentrates on the Grand Duchess Xenia, the younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II. Although this period in history has been well documented, nothing has been written about Xenia before. This gives a very different perspective to the norm.

This is a book full of detailed descriptions of the lifestyle of the Russian aristocracy prior to the revolution. I found this very helpful in setting the scene for what was to come.
Much new material was found and researched. Thirteen boxes of archive material were found in the Hoover Institution, among them Xenia's diaries covering the Rasputin affair and the Tsar's abdication. As a point of interest, the late Queen Mother provided some insights into Xenia's life in Britain in what proved to be her last ever interview.

The authors take us from the opulence and magnificence of her childhood in Russian palaces through to her death in exile in England at the age of eighty five.
Xenia was no stranger to personal heart ache, and the book deals with the Rasputin saga and the downfall of the Romanovs. Her son in law was involved with Rasputin's murder which caused her some angst. She was increasingly exasperated by her sister in law the Empress Alexandra, who seemed to her, to be bringing disaster on them all. For months Xenia did not know what had happened to her brother the Tsar, and eventually rumours of execution began to circulate. One can barely imagine what she must have felt when the appalling truth came to light.

This wonderful book covers in lavish detail the life of the Russian Imperial family immediately before and after the revolution,it is also an excellent insight to the problems faced by the Romanovs in exile.

There are 75 plates, many of which have not been seen previously, the quality and quantity of the research was self evident. The text brought the family to life and I was especially struck by the quiet dignity of Xenia.
The book is beautifully laid out and has detailed family trees at the beginning of the book, which are very interesting. Unlike some historical biographies this book is not at all heavy going. I could barely put it down.

I cannot recommend this book enough. If you already have an interest in the Russian Revolution you will be captivated, as I was. If not, I can think of no better place to start.
The authors should be very proud of themselves- my best read of the year so far.

Grace and Disfavor: How not to write a Biography

A bland presentation of facts, most of which have been better told elsewhere, and almost devoid of anything approaching incision or deduction. It is as though the authors contracted to write this bio before investigating its subject, and, obligated, proceeded to do as formulaic and polite a job as possible. There is neither insight nor color here. Xenia may well have been as uninteresting a woman as herein conveyed (odds are that she was), but her circumstances -- both before and after the Revolution -- were altogether otherwise. The prime fault of this book is its utter lack of delving, into Xenia as an individual or the world in which she moved as either Grand Duchess or exile. Facts are of the "guest list at birthday parties" variety; speculation is non-existent; conclusions vague; deductions passed up in favor of bloodless recitation of names or dates. A woman of little insight or imagination? probably. A woman of great discretion? undoubtedly; but a biographer ought to plunder that discretion, or take up another profession. The subject of the "last" Romanovs, their milieu and personalities is best investigated by reading the myriad memoirs published immediately after 1918 (when exiles were forced to sing for their suppers), and by researchers who neither shrink from stirring up imperial dirt nor who run the danger of permitting it to dull the very lustrous, fascinating colors of a vanished world. Van der Kiste & Hall have written a slight, superficial and tedious book (accompanying photos no better). Perhaps Xenia merited that, but her situation, surely, did not. Stick with her husband's volumes of memoirs; he may have had his own ax to grind, but knew how to tell a ripping good tale & pepper it with vivid, sardonic, informative detail.