ohsoromanov: Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia sitting in her famous Mauve Room at the Alexande

ohsoromanov: Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia sitting in her famous Mauve Room at the Alexander Palace. Alexandra was only 22 when she moved into the Alexander Palace. Until then she had felt like something of a vagabond and perennial guest without a real ‘home’ of her own. She was shuttled between Darmstadt and her grandmother Queen Victoria’s homes at Balmoral in Scotland and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Even the Darmstadt palaces in which she lived belonged first to her father and then to her brother and his wife, not to her. When she was a teenager it was understood she would make her home elsewhere with her future husband. Should no husband arrive to rescue her Alexandra’s fate would have been to retreat as a spinster to an obscure suite in one of family’s palaces or a cottage on some Royal estate - relying on the charity of others. When Alexandra came to Russia she was involved for the first time in creating her own living spaces. She was inexperienced and most of what she knew about decorating came from magazines and the advice she had received over the years from of her English Grandmother and observations of Victoria’s old-fashioned, sentimental style of decorating which dominated a century. Although Alexandra’s tastes were conventional and hesitant she made many suggestions to the decorator, Roman Meltzer about placement of furniture, colors and fabrics. Her objective was to create a bright and cozy environment for her husband and future family. She wanted a room where Nicholas could come and unburden himself from the affairs of government - a sanctuary where they could be together, safe and alone. As Alexandra worked with Meltzer price was never discussed. This was considered undignified. Not knowing prices was disconcerting to Alexandra, who was used to very carefully managing her money like any good German “hausfrau”. She wanted to keep costs down while everyone else involved seemed not to care at all about cost, focusing instead on obtaining the finest quality materials available. The total budget for the redecoration of the Alexander Palace would have astounded the young Tsaritsa, if she had been brave enough to enquire what it all had cost. The Mauve “Boudoir” was Alexandra’s favorite room and for 20 years it was the center of her family’s life in the palace. At the time it was the most celebrated room in Russia and the subject of much gossip as to the events that were supposed to have taken place there. Even today it remains a room of mystery and it is the room of the palace which interests the public the most. The room was also much derided for its’ style and family atmosphere by elite society of the time. Elegant Petersburg thought proper Romanov Empresses should live semi-publically in splendid rooms graciously decorated in the latest style with fine art and sophisticated furnishings. (x) -- source link

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