by JG Hampton
up and wiped the sleep from my eyes. I am riding with my sister Anastasia and she suggested we play a word game which M.Gilliard has made up for us to increase our English vocabulary and use of adjectives which we've quickly adapted to our own amusement. Anastasia was holding my sister's miniature bulldog on her lap and began: "Olga fell in love with a foolish prince with an elephantine nose. The objective is not to use the same adjective more than once. Tatiana said with twinkling eyes: "Olga fell in love with a rotund prince with a beaklike nose and we all laughed uproariously even Mama. Naturally Olga was not riding with us in our car; she was reading a book to Papa in his car while he worked on his never ending correspondence.
Mama was delighted at M. Gilliard's clever way of providing our language lessons in a fun, interesting manner. It also helped dispel Olga's recent trouble and turned a mess into an amusing game and one which we could laugh over instead of cry over. She had the Baroness join in: "Olga fell in love with a simpering prince with a Hanoverian nose." The baroness winked at Mama and both laughed at the innuendo. Most of Mama's English cousins had Hanoverian noses because they were of German extraction with the exception of David who had a petite nose and was known for his blonde Prince Charming good looks during his trip to America. Mama replied: "Olga fell in love with a selfish prince with a globular nose. We continued with this until the air within the train became unbearably hot. I notice that a fly which had flown in was buzzing against the hot glass and quickly expired as Mama pulled a cord which signaled for the engineer to begin looking for a grassy spot where we could stop the train and picnic in a shady spot for a few hours.
Soon we were wading near a small stream and lolling on our blankets eating canned salmon and melba toast washing it down with ginger beer and lemonade. Olga and Papa joined us and wondered why we all kept smiling at her oddly as if she had something strange on her nose. Thanks to Auntie Annya's wisdom and the passing of time, things were almost back to normal until a telegram arrived for Olga from Grandmama Dear chastising her and my parents for the broken betrothal.
27 May 1914, 9 June 1914 – The servants welcomed us back and Joy raced around the palace grounds and wagged her tail glad to be back home and Eira, Mama’s black little terrier, marked her territory. The animals and humans were glad to be back at Tsar Koe Selo and the Alexander Palace. A long letter was waiting for Olga from Grandmama chastising her for her failure to marry Prince Carol. Olga was not happy about this and began pouting again. She tore up the letter into tiny pieces before letting the wind carry them off to the ends of the earth.
After arriving back at the Alexander Palace Tsar Koe Selo, a visible change came over my Mama as if a dark cloud had descended over her. She became weak and pale and Mama was once again the invalid. Our servants appeared happy to see us or were they just good actors? My dog, Joy, took off running and I didn’t call her back knowing that she would return to me after she’d chased all of the birds from the bushes and the trees. I had named her aptly as she was wild with joy to be out of the train and allowed to run free. If only I could do the same, run like the wind.
Big Jim, our Ethiopian sentry, from America had returned from his vacation and we exchanged our small gifts. Besides the guava jelly his Mama had made for him to bring us he handed me a small American flag and a picture of President Theodore Roosevelt who had acted as a mediator between Papa and the Japanese and he’d allowed Papa to save face despite Russia’s defeat and their loss of the Russian navy. Jim, our tall extremely black sentry, and I talked about our travels. He brought me a small American flag and I gave him a small military pin Papa had given me that I’d saved for him to wear on his white turban. I told him about the Emir and his white turban. His Mama had wanted to hear all about the young Czarovitch, and his four sisters. I hoped that he had told her nice things about me and about the three hundred salutes when I was born. I know that Papa and Mama had prayed for years that I’d be born and they were both so happy when I showed my little face. Mama said that I was worth all of the trouble that she went through and that I was her pride and joy. My dog Joy is my pride and joy until I have my own son.
“Alexei, this here president received the Nobel Peace Prize for the role he played in settling the conflict between your Papa and the Japanese. That’s not the only reason why he’s famous. I thought you might like to learn about this brave man. When he was your age, he was puny and underdeveloped and had asthma which made it hard for him to breathe.
One day his Papa told him: “Son, you don’t have to be a weakling; you can change your body by lifting weights and by rowing your small row boat.” After that, Theodore did just that. Everyday he lifted weights and worked out. Rowing was the perfect exercise for him. He became barrel chested and confident because of his physical strength and prowess. Eventually, Theodore who didn't like to be called Teddy any more than Abraham Lincoln liked to be called Abe became a rough rider and a hero in battle. You can do the same thing, if you want it bad enough, Alexei.”
“Do you really think I could, Jim?”
“This president is living proof of mind over matter.” That day I resolved to do the same thing. I was tired of being trapped in an undersized, underdeveloped puny body.
30 May, 1914, 14 June 1914 continued – That night before I soaked in Papa’s silver tub I gazed at my reflection in the mirror and measured my chest with Mama’s tape measure and recorded its dimensions.. I told Papa about my goal and he thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted to do it, too. It became our secret. It is extraordinary to share a secret with my own beloved Papa. We'll now share our mirth and build our girth.
31 May, 1914, 15 June 1914 – The next morning I began my attempt at developing my upper body. Anastasia and I rowed over to our small island. I could barely row across half of the lake before I had to rest. My strong, feisty sister rowed us the rest of the way much to my chagrin. On the way back I insisted that I row the entire way, and I did. No doubt, that my muscles will be stiff tomorrow. Rowing is the perfect sport for me. I am the engine, the crew, and the captain of my little ship. The exercise is tiring, but good for me. I repeat my mantra: Everyday, in every way, I'm getting better and better. I am proud of myself for the first time in my life.
1 June 1914, 16 July 1914 – I was stiff and could hardly move, but Papa showed me how to do push ups so that I don’t have to put pressure on my weak knee. My goal is twenty-five push ups and sit ups, but I am determined to work up to fifty per day.
2 June 1914, 15 June 1914 Papa swims in his saltwater pool everyday and I’m going to try it. Now that I’m still quite healthy from my swimming during our vacation, it should be easy for me. I am not handicapped in the water and it is difficult to bruise myself surrounded by water. Why didn't my parents and doctors figure this out before? Perhaps I'm more intelligent than they are. Swimming is another perfect sport for me besides rowing.
Anastasia is spying on me trying to find out what I’m up to. I don’t intend for her to find out because she would blab about it to everyone. Last year, Mama, shared our family secret with Aunt Olga about my bleeding disease hoping to ease the situation and tension between various family members namely Grandmama and Mama.Auntie Olga can't keep anything confidential and Mama knew this possibly using her to her leak the information to my Grandmama dear about my inherited affliction. However, Mama’s plan backfired on her; now my Russian relatives blame Mama for infecting the Romanovs with a loathsome disease. Poor Mama.
"I told Nicky never to marry the girl. Now she's only getting her just desserts having inherited the "English Disease." said my Grandmama to her courtiers. "However, she's polluted the pure Romanov blood lines with an incurable malady which shall bring down our dynasty. Why didn't Nicky listen to his Papa? Papa and I chose another princess for him, but he refused . Now he's paying the penalty for his disobedience and so will all of Russia." Soon that secret was flying throughout Russia. Mama should have known better than to mention my condition to her enemies, bu
t who would have thought her inlaws were really outlaws?
Papa and I and the older pair, Olga and Tatiana, are going to Peterhof to meet the French Prime Minister Poincare. We always stay at the farm instead of the deluxe palace, it’s more cozy than Peter’s grand Imperial palace. Papa only occasionally has stayed at the big palace; however he keeps his main library there where I enjoy reading leather bound books about Napoleon's famous battles.
The German minister has been giving elaborate dinners and balls at his mansion and Papa plans on attending a few of them with the big pair. He doesn’t want the minister to feel slighted, but Mama doesn't want to call attention to her German roots with all the trouble brewing. Prince Albert, Grandmama' Victoria's consort was from Saxe Coburg, a province in Germany and was her first cousin. Her Mama couldn't even speak English. My English cousins are more German than English and so is Mama according to our genealogists and Queen Mary II who knows what she's talking about. Papa's proud of his children's ability to fluently speak four languages and wants to show them off. Mama is delighted that she can delegate
