❝ For The First Time In Centuries An Heir Had Been Born To A Reigning Emperor, And The Ceremony Was

❝ For the first time in centuries an heir had been born to a reigning emperor, and the ceremony was adorned with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the occasion. We travelled down to Peterhof, where the christening took place … According to Russian custom, the parents never attended a christening. The Emperor came only to the solemn Te Deum after it, so it was the Empress-Dowager who was the chief personage. Gracious and smiling, she slowly walked between rows of curtsying women, with the two eldest daughters [Olga and Tatiana] of the Emperor beside her, holding each other by the hand. Delightful fair-haired little girls of nine and seven, they wore short Court dresses in pink and silver, reaching a little below their knees. They had tiny kakochniks on their heads, the red ribbon of St. Catherine was worn across their shoulders, and each had a miniature diamond star of the order. They had evidently been told to be good on their first appearance in full gala. They were solemn judges, and allowed themselves to relax into a smile only when they passed a group of still smaller children, their two tiny sisters, and several little cousins, standing near a doorway and gazing open-mouthed as the procession passed.

The sponsors were the Empresss Dowager and the Emperor’s eldest daughter, little Grand Duchess Olga. She flushed a deep scarlet, a mixture of pride and shyness, as she was allowed to stand beside her grandmother and hold a corner of the baby’s cushion, as the Empress Marie carried him to the font. ❞

❁ Baroness Buxhoeveden on the roles of Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nikolaevnaof Russia  during the christening of their brother, Alexei, in 1905. (Before the Storm by Sophie Buxhoeveden, pg. 238, 240-41)

📷 Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana in their court dresses, as described by the baroness, pictured on the day of Alexei’s christening.