Rare Royal Imperial Russian Grand Duchess Elena Romanov Princess Signed Letter

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. At four years old, she posed for the artist Henry Jones Thaddeus.

She grabbed a paper knife and threatened her nurse, who hid behind Thaddeus. "The little lady then transferred her attentions to me, her black eyes ablaze with fury, " recalled Thaddeus. 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.

" Elena's "grand manner irritated some people at court.

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