On November 3/16, 1895, Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna were blessed with the birth of a daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. The royal parents were happy to have their firstborn. On the same day the Tsarina wrote to her sister, Princess Victoria of Hesse (1863–1950):
“A radiant, happy mother is writing to you. Can you imagine our endless happiness now that we have our precious baby? And we can take care of her.”
And the happy father wrote in his diary after Olga’s birth with excitement: “Oh God, what happiness it is!... In the morning I admired our delightful daughter...”
The sacrament of Baptism was performed over the princess by the court archpriest and father-confessor of the Royal Family, Fr. John Yanyshev, at the church of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace on November 14—the first anniversary of the girl’s parents’ wedding.
Then Princesses Tatiana (1897), Maria (1899), Anastasia (1901) and Tsarevich Alexei (1904) were born in the Imperial Romanov Family. An atmosphere of mutual love, concord, strong friendship and mutual support reigned in this large and closely-knit family. Alexei Volkov, the personal valet to Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, testified: “It was the holiest and purest family.” Volkov’s favorite was Grand Duchess Olga. “Olga is a Romanova born and bred!” he used to say proudly.
The Grand Duchesses were raised in a strictly religious spirit. For instance, this is how Alexandra Feodorovna instructed her eldest daughter Olga:
“Learn to love God with all your heart, and He will always be with you. Pray to Him from the bottom of your heart. Keep in mind that He sees and hears everything. He loves His children dearly, but they must learn to do His will.”
Her mother’s instructions were not in vain. Everyone who knew the Grand Duchess closely, testified to her deep and sincere faith. Charles Sidney Gibbes (later Archimandrite Nicholas), the royal children’s English teacher, wrote in his reminiscences about Princess Olga: “She was a true believer.” Her tutor Sophia Ivanovna Tyutcheva recalled how once the Emperor was late for the Liturgy, and while waiting for him, the court officials were talking in church. The twelve-year-old Olga said:
“I am outraged that these gentlemen are talking loudly in church... And when father comes, everyone will immediately stop talking. Who is higher: God or my father? After all, Metropolitan Philip was not afraid to tell the truth to John the Terrible himself.”
As a child, Grand Duchess Olga was a cheerful, lively, somewhat stubborn girl and the favorite of her father, whom she loved the most. The French tutor Pierre Gilliard wrote about his initial acquaintance with his pupils:
“The eldest of the Grand Duchesses, Olga, is a ten-year-old girl, with very fair hair, with eyes full of a spark of slyness and with a slightly upturned nose… This child radiated purity and truthfulness, which immediately won your affection...”
The Tsarina’s lady-in-waiting Anna Taneyeva-Vyrubova (later Nun Maria) wrote about Princess Olga: “Olga Nikolaevna was remarkably intelligent and capable; she thought of studies as a joke, and that’s why she was sometimes lazy.” Princess Olga was the most gifted of the royal children, and all the tutors marveled at her memory. She obtained an excellent education, spoke English and French, was interested in history and literature, played the piano, studied singing in Petrograd, drew well, loved the theater and rode very well.
All those whose destinies crossed the paths in life of the Royal Family unanimously testified to the moral purity of the eldest Princess, her kindness, modesty, sensitivity, and sense of justice. Like the other sisters, Olga cared for her mother tenderly when the Tsarina was unwell and for her younger brother Alexei during long periods of his serious illness. She treated her younger sisters with maternal affection. Little Anastasia loved her eldest sister Olga very much, following her everywhere and kissing her hands with tenderness. Yulia Dehn, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s friend, left her reminiscences about Olga while in exile: “She was a lovely creature. Anyone who saw Olga fell in love with her instantly.”
General Mikhail Diterikhs wrote:
“Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was a typical Russian girl with a great soul. She impressed you with her gentleness, her charming and sweet attitude to others. She behaved with everyone nicely, calmly, strikingly simply and naturally. She didn’t like the housework, but she loved solitude and books.… Olga was very modest and didn’t like luxury.”
Sophie von Buxhoeveden, the Tsarina’s lady-in-waiting, recalled:
“Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was beautiful, tall and with laughing blue eyes… She was very charming and a bundle of fun… Olga was generous and instantly responded to any request, driven by a warm-hearted impulse and a great sense of compassion, strongly developed in her.”
When Olga was twenty, she was allowed to dispose of her own money, and the first thing she did was pay for the treatment of a disabled child whom she had seen while walking. The boy had an operation and then parted with his crutches, and it was a real joy for her. The court physician St. Eugene Botkin, who lost his beloved son in the war, wrote about Olga’s pure soul and compassion for those in sorrow:
“I will never forget her subtle, not at all ostentatious, but very sensitive attitude to my grief... When I was immersed in dark thoughts, Olga Nikolaevna would run into my room—it was as if an angel had flown in.”
Yalta was the Royal Family’s favorite vacation spot. Every year, White Flower Day was held there—a holiday remarkable for its kindness and beauty, organized on the Tsarina’s initiative. On this day, with Alexandra Feodorovna and the royal children’s personal participation, a huge number of white flowers were sold, the proceeds from the sale of which were used for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. Hand–made works by the Empress and the Grand Duchesses—drawings and embroideries—were sold at charity bazaars in Yalta as well. The proceeds went to the construction of a wonderful tuberculosis sanatorium.
Of all the Emperor’s daughters, only Olga was lucky enough to dance at an adult ball on one occasion. She and Tatiana managed to experience the feeling of first love in their short lives. At the age of sixteen, Grand Duchess Olga fell hopelessly in love with midshipman Pavel Voronov, an officer of the yacht on which the Royal Family used to spend summers. This feeling lasted for over two years and gave her joy. In her diary she called him “happiness”, “sweet”, “dear” and “golden”. It seems that he loved Olga too, but their marriage was impossible due to her high rank, and as a result this love caused her much anguish and disappointment. Voronov was made to understand that his marriage to Countess Kleinmichel was highly desirable. He obeyed, and on February 7, 1914, their wedding took place, which was attended by the entire Imperial Family—and we can only guess how Olga felt when she saw the man she loved as the groom of another lady. Mikhail Diterikhs wrote:
“Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna left in the people who examined her nature the impression of a person who had experienced some great grief in her life.”
When Olga turned eighteen, her parents considered the possibility of her marrying a Romanian prince, but she, who loved her Motherland dearly, flatly refused: “I never want to leave Russia. I am Russian and I want to remain Russian.” There were other suitors among members of imperial families, but they were all rejected by the Tsarina for many reasons. In November 1915 the Tsarina wrote to her husband:
“As I look at our adult Olga, my heart is filled with anxiety and agitation. What is in store for her? What will her destiny be?”
After the beginning of the First World War, having completed surgical nursing courses, together with her mother and sister Tatiana, Princess Olga took care of wounded soldiers at the military hospital in Tsarskoye Selo. The Grand Duchess was always thoughtful of the wounded; kind, amiable, easy-going and never haughty in her high rank. The Empress’ lady-in-waiting Sophia Yakovlevna Ofrosimova recalled:
“Everyone adored and idolized Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna; the wounded loved to tell me about her most of all.”
Olga Nikolaevna, with her poor health and nerves, could not work as a surgical nurse for long, but continued to work in the hospital wards, carefully cleaning up after patients. The wounded officer S.P. Pavlov wrote about her:
“By nature, Olga is kindness incarnate. She would bring medicine, smile affectionately, say hello, ask you how you were feeling, and leave imperceptibly.”
Over the three years of the war, Olga would nurse the wounded back to health. A huge storehouse of things was arranged at the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo to be sent to the front. In emigration, S.Ya. Ofrosimova was filled with pictures of the past, and vividly imagined Grand Duchess Olga in that storehouse:
“Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna is sitting across from me… I am drawn to her by an irresistible power—that of her charm… All of her, fragile and tender, with special care and love bends over the soldier’s shirt that she is sewing… She is all bright and joyful. Involuntarily the words that one of their tutors said to me come to my mind: ‘Olga Nikolaevna has a crystal soul’.”
In addition to the military hospital, Olga and Tatiana worked in and chaired charity committees to aid soldiers’ families. They also collected donations for the needs of the front.
After the February Revolution, Olga and her family were under arrest during their five-month stay in Tsarskoye Selo. Being very vulnerable by nature, she took to heart the events that were taking place. S. Buxhoeveden wrote about Grand Duchess Olga:
“The horror of the Revolution affected her much more than others. Olga changed dramatically, and her cheerfulness disappeared.”
On August 1, 1917, the family was exiled to Tobolsk. During the terrible time of Siberian exile, the royal prisoners found consolation in prayer, reading spiritual books, church services, and Holy Communion. With their love and touching care, the children tried to alleviate their suffering from the insults and humiliations that had befallen them during their imprisonment.
On April 26, 1918, by order of the new Government, the Emperor, the Tsarina and Grand Duchess Maria were transported from Moscow to Ekaterinburg. The Tsarevich was ill, and it was impossible to take him there, so he was left in the care of the other sisters. S. Buxhoeveden testified:
“Olga Nikolaevna has changed a great deal. The anxiety and worries due to the absence of her parents and the responsibility that has fallen to her when she became the head of the house to take care of her sick brother made a change in the gentle and beautiful twenty-two-year-old girl, turning her into a faded and sad, middle-aged woman.”
After moving to the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Olga kept aloof and spent most of her time with her sick brother.
Through Grand Duchess Olga the Emperor conveyed his last will and testament. In a letter from Tobolsk she quoted the monarch’s words:
“Father asked me to tell all those who have remained loyal to him... not to avenge him, as he has forgiven everyone and is praying for everyone… For it is not evil that conquers evil, but only love.”
On the night of July 16–17, 1918, the Grand Duchess was shot with her whole family in the terrible basement of the Ipatiev House of Ekaterinburg. She died in an instant, having been shot right through the heart. Before she died, she had managed to make the sign of the cross. Thus, a beautiful girl was killed, whose only fault was that she was the Tsar’s daughter. She was buried in Ganina Yama. In 1998, what many believe to be the remains of Grand Princess Olga Nikolaevna were reburied in the St. Catherine side-altar of the Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Together with her parents, sisters Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and brother Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchess Olga was canonized among the New Martyrs of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000. They were canonized by ROCOR earlier, in 1981.
Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, pray to God for us!
