Grand Duchess Elena Romanov Russia Princess Greece Antique Signed Letter 1916

Description: Bibelotslondon Ltd is a UK registered company based in London Bridge dealing in ephemera and curiosities from Britain and around the world. Our diverse inventory is carefully chosen and constantly evolving. We work very hard to offer the highest quality works at competitive prices. Our inventory is listed online, and we strive to keep our website completely up to date, so our customers can easily check availability. We believe in offering clients items that are unique and rare for aficionados of the antique and collector's world. Bibelot is a late nineteenth century word derived from the French word bel ‘beautiful’, meaning a small item of beauty, curiosity or interest. The word ephemera is derived from the sixteenth century Greek word ephmera meaning a printed or hand written paper not meant to be retained for a long period of time. An excellent letter dated Old and New Style 7th/20th December 1916, signed by Princess Elena of Greece and Denmark formerly the grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (1882-1957), youngest child of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, written on her personal stationery embossed in blue with 'E' surmounted by a royal crown, to the former nanny to the Vladimirovich family in imperial Russia, Millicent Croft (Millie) (1852-1941). The letter is extraordinary due to it being written at the end of 1916 and expressing in a frank manner the financial trouble she had been experiencing, the bombardment of Athens, and the lack of news from Russia: "Athens 7th/20th Dec. 1916. Dearest Milly, I must profit of a rare occasion to write to you as, now, on account of the blocked, we can't send letters by post anymore. Thank you so much for your dear letter which arrived by the last mail. In a few days is your Christmas, may it be a blessed and peaceful one for you, Milly dear, but it does not feel like Christmas somehow there is no peace and goodwill on earth. I am so sorry not to be able to send you a little present this year but unfortunately I have got no money myself as I can't get it from Russia and we have got to be very economical. We have been through such dreadfully onerous times lately. Our poor Greece is being so shamefully and unjustly treated and we don't know yet what new humiliations and insults we may be made to support. Our only hope is in God, and His Almighty help and protection. It is such a shame to think of the oppressors maltreating a small country in that way and they don't want the truth to come through, so how can we defend ourselves. The only thing is to pray and have Faith. The truth is bound to be known some day. Thank God the children are well and happy, although they were very frightened then day the French bombarded Athens, it was a black page in France's history. Yes the poor Queen of xxx. I think of her so much, first the death of her baby and now that dreadful disaster in her country. I know your great loving for peace and for the speedy end of all this misery. I have no news from Russia except occasionally a telegram. I have not heard from Miss Fox for a long time. I think she never got my last letters. The children send many kisses with every good wish for a blessed New Year and much love dearest Milly Love from affect Ellen" Grand Duchess Elena was a Russian Grand Duchess as the only daughter and youngest child of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her husband was Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and they were both first cousins of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.Elena and her three surviving older brothers, Kirill, Boris, and Andrei, had an English nanny and spoke English as their first language. The young Elena had a temper and was sometimes out of control. When she posed for an artist at age four, she grabbed a paper knife and threatened her nurse, who hid behind the artist. "The little lady then transferred her attentions to me, her black eyes ablaze with fury," recalled the artist. Elena, raised by a mother who was highly conscious of her social status, was also considered snobbish by some. "Poor little thing, I feel sorry for her," wrote her mother's social rival, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, "for she is really quite sweet, but vain and pretty grandiose."She was initially engaged to Prince Max of Baden, but Max backed out of the engagement. Elena's mother was furious and society gossiped about Elena's difficulty in finding a husband. At one point in 1899, the seventeen-year-old Elena was reputedly engaged to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, however this came to nothing as he fell in love with Countess Sophie Chotek. Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, the third son of George I of Greece, first proposed in 1900, but Elena's mother was reluctant to allow her daughter to marry a younger son with no real fortune or prospects of inheriting a throne. She finally agreed to let Elena marry Nicholas, who was Elena's second cousin through his mother Olga Constantinovna of Russia and her father Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, in 1902 after it became clear that no other offers were on the horizon. The couple were married on 29 August 1902 in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia. The Dowager Empress wrote that Elena "has a very brusque and arrogant tone that can shock people" and expected trouble in the marriage. Elena's "grand manner" did irritate some people at the court, but her marriage was a happy one.Prince and Princess Nicholas had three daughters:Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (1903–1997); later Princess Olga of YugoslaviaPrincess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark (1904–1955); later Countess of Toerring-JettenbachPrincess Marina of Greece and Denmark (1906–1968); later Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.The family was later affected by the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent turmoil in Greece, which became a republic and resulted in the family living in France for a time.While living in France Grand Duchess Elena became deeply involved in charity work for Russian exiles, particularly children. Short of money due to their exile from Greece and the loss of their Russian income, Prince Nicholas and his family lived in reduced, but elegant, circumstances. Grand Duchess Elena's fabulous jewel collection, as well as Prince Nicholas' own artwork, were their sources of income.Princess Olga of Greece married Prince Paul of Yugoslavia; Princess Elizabeth of Greece married Count Karl Theodor zu Toerring-Jettenbach, son of Duchess Sophie in Bavaria and scion of a rich Bavarian mediatized family; and Princess Marina of Greece married the Prince George, Duke of Kent in November 1934.Grand Duchess Elena became a widow early in 1938, as Prince Nicholas suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. She remained in Greece throughout the Second World War, dying there in 1957. She bequeathed her personal library to the Anavryta School.Size: 18.5 x 14 cm approxPhotos form part of the description Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

Price: 195 GBP

Location: London

End Time: 2024-12-15T21:00:01.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12.74 GBP