The Last Tsar - Chapter Eleven Holidays of the Imperial Family

Chapter Eleven
Holidays of the Imperial Family

The Imperial Family moved to Livadia Palace in Yalta in March. Livadia Palace is white, built of marble, replaced the old wooden palace in 1909. The Imperial children loved this palace. They enjoyed their stay in Crimea by riding, swimming in the beautiful Black Sea, lying on the sunny beach. The Tsarina could see the sea from her bedroom, mountains from her boudoir. After his malady, Tsarvitch Alexis improved his health always in Yalta.

During their stay in Yalta the Tsarina held a bazaar on board the 'Standart'. She used to sell some garments made by herself and her daughters. The money used to go to charity to help the poor children. It was in this palace the Tsar's eldest daughter, Olga, celebrated her sixteenth birthday in 1911. Thirty-four years later, in January 1945, Stalin held his famous 'Yalta Conference' with Winston Churchill and Roosevelt, in the same ballroom of Livadia Palace, where Olga once arrived at the dance, flushed and fair.

Mosolove, the Director of Chancellery, wrote in his book - 'The Imperial Train was a travelling miniature palace.' It consisted of a string of luxurious royal blue salon cars with the double-eagled crest emblazoned in gold on their sides, pulled by a gleaming black locomotive. The private car of Nicholas and Alexandra contained a bedroom, a sitting room upholstered in mauve and grey, a private study for the Tsar, furnished with a desk and green leather chairs. The white tiled bathroom boasted a tub with such design that water could not slosh out, even when the train moved very fast.

Nicholas's favourite yacht was a 4,500 ton black-hulled beauty named 'Standart'. The gleaming decks were covered with white canvas, lined with wicker tables and chairs. Below were drawing rooms, lounges and dining rooms panelled in mahogany, with polished floors, crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes. For two weeks, every June, the family cruised the rocky coast of Finland. The yacht steamed among the islands, finding an anchorage at night in a cove deserted, except for the lonely hut of an isolated fisherman. The following morning passengers found themselves surrounded by sparkling blue water, beaches of yellow sand, red granite islands and dark forests of green pines.

Sometimes Nicholas and children went ashore, searching the woods for mushrooms, or wandering down the beach looking for brightly coloured rocks. The Tsar and children picked up berries, set fire to woods, made fire, cooked mushrooms with wine. The part of the day the Tsarina liked best was sunset. She sat on deck watching the lowering of the flag and listening to the deep, echoing voices of the crew singing the orthodox service of evening prayers. In the evening Nicholas played billiards, the Empress read and sewed by lamplight.