#dmitry pavlovich

[thestarik]

The Imperial Family attend the wedding of Andrew of Greece and Alice of Battenberg, Darmstadt, October 1903.

[thepaleys]

Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna on meeting the Hohenfelsens

(safe to say she was not impressed 🤣)

Paris, 16 June 1908

The young Swedish couple" has arrived in our hotel. Little Marie is a very sedate and calm little person, but she poured her heart out to Baby: she feels it terribly meeting here her step-mother and suffers greatly under it. As to poor little Dmitry, he is in perfect despair. He hates the whole thing and loathed the idea of seeing his new Geschwister [siblings]. He comes to me to talk about it.

Of course Uncle Paul and wife manquent de tact [are tactless] in every way: for instance, last Tuesday he arranged a big luncheon with quantities of his French acquaintances and asked us too. It was the first time poor Dmitry went to his house here and Uncle Paul presented him to all the guests as "mon fils aine" [my eldest son]. The boy simply se tordait de désespoir [curled up in despair], we observed it all and in the middle of this unknown company appeared these second children and all the affected French people went into loud ectasies about them [at this time, Vladimir was 11, Irina 4 and Natalie 2], whilst poor Dmitry was pale with concentrated rage and moral suffering.

Marie told Baby that she never would have come here, had she known, how it would be. And people are wonderfully taktlos. They all praise her to the skies when they talk to me, cette charmante Comtesse Hohenfelsen, "elle est adorable, cette femme". Vous trouvez [that charming Countess Hohenfelsen. She's adorable, don't you think?]. I answer, oh! Bien pour moi, c'est très pénible [for me it's all very painful] and I tell them a few truths. Then they at once turn the conversation, as French people hate when they are found at fault et ne désirent pas du tout en savoir d'avantage. [and don't want to be wrong in any way].

As to Uncle Paul, I cannot support at all him here; his whole attitude and tone I find detestable, I don't show it, à quoi bon and I am simply polite with his wife, like with any lady in society I don't care for. I simply writhe when I see in his house portraits of my mother, what a desecration! And he pointed them out to me! I thought one moment I would like to insult him before all his idiotic French guests.

"Dear Mama" - Diana Mandache

This is what I love about digging into original sources. When we read Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna's memoires, the idea we get is that she always had a pleasent relationship with her stepmother, but here (at least according to Maria Alexandrovna, who clearly still held a deep resentment towards her brother and his second wife) it seems things were not so smooth.

It's also interesting (and sad) to notice how she doesn't really consider Grand Duke Paul's children from his second marriage worthy of any note and is even annoyed that the French fawn over them and that Grand Duke Paul introduces Dmitri as his "eldest son", which seems to imply she doesn't consider Vladimir to be his son at all.

It kind of shows what the rest of the family thought about Grand Duke Paul's second family: so irrelevant that it was as if they didn't exist.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Elizaveta Feodorovna with her sister Victoria, niece Maria Pavlovna, Maria's first husband William of Sweden, and nephew Dmitri.

[imperial-russia]

Grand Ducal siblings Maria and Dmitri Pavlovichi during a visit to their cousin, the Tsar Nicholas II., 1905

[gegengestalt]

I draw a cover for every single chapter of The Brothers Karamazov (but I can only use MS Paint)

Book XII: A Judicial Error (Part 2) and Epilogue.

Well, I did it. It's done. All 96 chapters of The Brothers Karamazov. I had so much fun with these last ones that I almost didn't want it to be over. I will not start over because as much as the first ones hurt my eyes, the visible improvement is a part of the project. I got to experience the entire book and its characters again and learnt a lot using a limited tool. I will probably redraw some of them individually if I feel like it.

You have also been a part of it as well: the little comments I've received in these posts and in other social media have brought me many smiles. Enthusiasm tastes better in company.

I - II - III(1) - III(2) - IV - V - VI+VII - VIII - IX - X - XI - XII(1)

[alexeykaramazov]

Happy Father’s Day to Fyodor PavloBitch Karamazov

[possessedbydevils]

Pavel and his gay voice

[sad-eyed-lady-of-the-paperbacks]

Undoubtedly the worst thing about Fyodor Pavlovich is that there is absolutely nothing which he holds as sacred, holy, untouchable, worthy of reverence or respect. Everything is a joke to him.

The very worst way this is exemplified is his alleged (but come on, we all know it was him) crime against the “holy fool” Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya, which for him was yet another distasteful joke. Lizaveta’s innocence and vulnerability are recognised by the community of Skotoprigonyevsk, both young and old, and we are given paragraphs and paragraphs to show how she is widely adored by the townspeople and how attempts are made to shelter, protect, and care for her.

When Fyodor Pavlovich violates her, he violates something that the community holds as sacred.

That, to me, is the core difference between someone like him and someone like Mitya. Even though Mitya has done a lot of “dirty things” and may on the surface appear to be following in his father’s footsteps, his heart is a noble one, or at least one with noble intentions. One that is filled with reverence and genuine emotion and a hatred for what is abhorrent—even when he himself is doing things that are abhorrent.

And even though we can fully understand his hatred of his father for his loathsomely mocking, irreverent, dishonourable, ignoble attitude toward everything, once his father is dead, he still feels sorry for that hatred. He still regrets the relationship he never had with the father who neglected him as a child and possibly swindled him as a young man. That alone speaks to the kind of heart that he has.

“It is a noble man you are speaking with, a most noble person; above all—do not lose sight of this—a man who has done a world of mean things, but who always was and remained a most noble person, as a person, inside, in his depths, well, in short, I don't know how to say it ... This is precisely what has tormented me all my life, that I thirsted for nobility, that I was, so to speak, a sufferer for nobility, seeking it with a lantern, Diogenes’ lantern, and meanwhile all my life I've been doing only dirty things, as we all do, gentlemen ... I mean, me alone, gentlemen, not all but me alone, I made a mistake, me alone, alone ... ! Gentlemen, my head aches,” he winced with pain. “You see, gentlemen, I did not like his appearance, it was somehow dishonorable, boastful, trampling on all that's holy, mockery and unbelief, loathsome, loathsome! But now that he's dead, I think differently.”

“How differently?”

“Not differently, but I'm sorry I hated him so much.”

“You feel repentant?”

“No, not really repentant, don't write that down. I'm not good myself, gentlemen, that's the thing, I'm not so beautiful myself, and therefore I had no right to consider him repulsive, that's the thing. Perhaps you can write that down.”

- The Brothers Karamazov, 3.9.3 (Pevear & Volokhonsky translation)

There is no beauty to be found in anything about Fyodor Pavlovich, and though Mitya contests that the same is true of himself, I argue differently. There is something beautiful in the struggle of an imperfect human toward nobility, despite being doomed to always fall short. To again and again slip into one’s baser impulses, and yet again and again stand back up and trudge onwards.

Both are human, but Fyodor Pavlovich is all of the very worst things about humanity, while Mitya is the worst things mingled with much of the very best.

[leonardoeatscarrots]

[miffy-junot]

Felix Yusupov on Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich

During 1912 and 1913 I saw a great deal of the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, who had just joined the Horse Guards. The Tsar and Tsarina both loved him and looked upon him as a son; he lived at the Alexander Palace and went everywhere with the Tsar. He spent all his free time with me; I saw him almost every day and we took long walks and rides together. Dmitri was extremely attractive: tall, elegant, well-bred, with deep thoughtful eyes, he recalled the portraits of his ancestors. He was all impulses and contradictions; he was both romantic and mystical, and his mind was far from shallow. At the same time, he was very gay and always ready for the wildest escapades. His charm won the hearts of all, but the weakness of his character made him dangerously easy to influence. As I was a few years his senior, I had a certain prestige in his eyes. He was to a certain extent familiar with my "scandalous" life* and considered me interesting and a trifle mysterious. He trusted me and valued my opinion, and be not only confided his inner-most thoughts to me but used to tell me about everything that was happening around him. I thus heard about many grave and even sad events that took place in the Alexander Palace. The Tsar's preference for him aroused a good deal of jealousy and led to some intrigues. For a time, Dmitri's head was turned by success and he became terribly vain. As his senior, I had a good deal of influence over him and sometimes took advantage of this to express my opinion very bluntly. He bore me no grudge and continued to visit my little attic where we used to talk for hours in the friendliest way. Almost every night we took a car and drove to St. Petersburg to have a gay time at restaurants and night clubs and with the gypsies. We would invite artists and musicians to supper with us in a private room; the well-known ballerina Anna Pavlova was often our guest. These wonderful evenings slipped by like dreams and we never went home until dawn. [...] My relations with Dmitri underwent a temporary eclipse. The Tsar and Tsarina, who were aware of the scandalous rumors about my mode of living,* disapproved of our friendship, They ended by forbidding the Grand Duke to see me, and I myself became the object of the most unpleasant supervision. Inspectors of the secret police prowled around our house and followed me like a shadow when I went to St. Petersburg. But Dmitri soon got back his independence. He left the Alexander Palace, went to live in his own palace in St. Petersburg, and asked me to help him with the redecoration of his new home.

*as a young man, Felix Yusupov had many romantic relationships with men and would often attend parties while dressed as a woman. this is presumably what he is referring to here.

source: Lost Splendour by Felix Yusupov, chapter 10

[krasivaa]

Grand Duchesses Maria Nikolaevna & Anastasia Nikolaevna joking around with their cousin Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, 1916.

[thestarik]

Olga, Tatiana and Maria with Dmitri Pavlovitch and his sister, Maria Pavlovna, 1905.

[thepaleys]

The Russian party left Balmoral very early on the morning of 11 October loaded with gifts and good advice, and more gifts reached them on their arrival in London. They stayed for a few days, then began the long return journey, which was broken by a stay in Darmstadt where the Queen sent more presents, this time for Marie and Dmitri.

The visit to Darmstadt was cut short by a summons from St Petersburg, and, sooner than they had intended, the party left for home. On 20 November Elisabeth wrote to her grandmother: 'Paul's children put on your frocks looking so sweet, they are flourishing thank God - He has just been photographed with them, if a success would you like to have some of their portraits - they are such sweet pretty little things.'

A photograph duly followed, with a letter from Pavel, which is still preserved in one of the Queen's albums. 'You had the kindness during my stay in Scotland to ask me for a photograph of my children. I hasten to carry out your request by sending the most recent photograph... taken at my home shortly after my return to St. Petersburg. It is with profound gratitude that I often think of my charming stay at Balmoral and of the extreme kindness which Your Majesty showed to me. On returning I found my children, thank God, grown and in good health. The little girl was enchanted with the doll which Your Majesty had the extreme kindness to send her, and knows perfectly well from whom she came. The little white dress she wears every Sunday.'

Romanov Autumn - Charlotte Zeepvat

[romanovsonelastdance]

Close up of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia.

[roses-of-the-romanovs]

Aren't Romanov Misinformation Sites Great??

(Insert sarcastic symbol)

Just discovered another of these terrible websites. I do not intend to give it any more publicity, but according to it, Olga and Anastasia hardly got along, Olga was snobby, Tatiana and Olga always fought over which was more attractive (???) and hardly ever got along, that the Romanovs had been intending to flee to Paris, that Dmitri Pavlovich and Olga were engaged, that Anastasia throwing a rock at Tatiana was intentional and done because Tatiana provoked her, that Anastasia smoked in secret! (A nice secret it was that it was written about in the families’ friends’ memoirs!)

Thank you for listening to my rant, now have a good day 🙂

[royal-confessions]

“Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich is so cool. He's first cousin to both Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh. Such a large age gap between both, I think that's interesting.” - Submitted by Anonymous