The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1938-10-27
GRAND DUCHESS MARIE
She wanted To Marry So That
She Could Wear Silk 49,
Stockings.

It was my privilege, not long ago,
to be a guest in the home Of prin-
cess-the Grand Duchess Marie, OF
Russia. Her uncle was Alexander
the third, Car of Russia. Her cou-
sin was Nicholas the second, the last
Car of Russia; and her playmates
were the daughters of the Car of
Russia. She is probably the most
famous royal parsonage in the West
ern Hemisphere.
She told me an astonishing thing
about herself. She said that during
the first half of her life, she had
been timid and shy and that she
had suffered severely from an in
feriority complex.
Born into the wealth and glamour
of the mighty Romanoff family that
had ruled Russia for three hundred
years, she was so important that,
even as a child, she rode in a gold
en- coach, drawn by three pairs OF
white horses, and surrounded by
mounted hussars in scarlet uniforms.
And she was so famous that
crowds would gather on the side
walks and stand for an hour for
the privilege of catching but a
glimpse of her royal .highness as she
passed by. Yet she, princess, a
Grand Duchess of Russia, suffered
acutely from an inferiority complex.
Sounds incredible, doesn't it?
Her childhood training had lot
to do with it. She never knew a
mothers love, for her mother died
when she was year and half old;
and her father married second
time, and this time, he married a
woman who was not of royal blood,
so he was banished from Russia and
his property was taken away from
him. So the little princess was
brought up very largely by strang-
ers-by nurses and governesses and
teachers.
Her tutor kept her in ignorance
of the power and prestige that were
hers by right of royal birth; and
since sons of the royal family in
the past had aroused bitter resent
ment by being too arrogant her
teachers were ordered to put humili-
ty into her little soul. And they did,
all right.
She told me that she was reared
in the most rigorous simplicity"
Those were her exact words-"rig-
orous Simplicity She said that if
she had wasted piece of bread as
big as her thumb-nail, she would
have been punished for it. If she
dropped a crump on the floor, she
had to pick it up and put it back
on the table And her food was very
simple and very plain. Frequently,
she had nothing but bread and milk
for supper,
Her clothes were extremely plain,
too. Although she lived among
paintings and works of art that were
priceless, and although the royal
family of Russia was worth hum
dreds of millions of dollars, never
theless, this princess wore cotton
stockings right up to the time Of
her marriage. In fact she told me
that one reason why she wanted to
marry was the hope that she could
have silk stockings after she was
married.
The princess told me that she new
er knew what a real home was;
that her childhood was sad and lone
ly and that her grandmother, Queen
Olga of Greece was the only per-
son in the world who gave her any
real appreciation of what warm love
and maternal tenderness could be.
Marie was so hungry for affection
that she wanted to fling herself in
to her grandmother's arms; but she
said, II was SO little used to caresses
that did not know how to begin"
When she was sixteen, she wanted
a mandolin; sbut she ,didn't<have the