ON THIS DATE IN THEIR OWN WORDS: TATIANA ROMANOV. 11 MAY, 1915

From the 1915 letter of Tatiana Romanov:

11 May. Papa darling. Forgive me that I did not write for so long, but somehow there was never enough time. Today Mama, Olga and I went to Obednya at the grotto church of our infirmary, and then changed dressings of the officers and lower ranks. We now have many new officers. Yesterday evening we had dinner with Mama earlier and at 8 o’clock went to Anya’s. Alexei was there too and remained until 9. Ravtopulo arrived there, the Swedes, Yusik Zolotarev and of course Demenkov. It was very nice and merry. And yesterday afternoon we were at Tatiana’s. Poor thing, she was just starting to recover, and when she was standing on crutches she suddenly lost her balance and fell, of course on the injured leg, and again tore all the ligaments that have just started to heal. Her children were terribly nice, and we romped around with them a lot. The other day the new commander, your Erivanetz, presented himself to Mama. He is not very big and has cavalry-like legs. Vitebsk was very good. Olga probably wrote to You about everything we did there, but I wanted to tell you that it was awfully nice. As we approached the governor’s house, a band was playing, which met us with a Cavalry march[1] instead of Ulan. We laughed a lot – so sweet. Well, goodbye. Papa darling, the man will leave now, and I am afraid that the letter to be too late. May God keep You. I kiss You firmly and gently, as much as I love [you], your VOZNESENETZ.

[1] In the XIX century military music in Russia became very diverse, and each regiment had its own march, making it able to determine what regiment was approaching by the music that was played. In 1826, at the request of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Nicholas I ordered that the March for the Cavalry Guards was to be a melody from the opera “La Dame Blanche”, by French Composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. Knowing that Tatiana was approaching, the band should have played the March belonging to the Ulan Regiment.

From the book Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913–1918