Grand Duchess Caroline Pavlovarovna of Russia

**Grand Duchess Caroline Pavlovarovna of Russia** (**Caroline Pavlovarovna Romanova**) (Russian: Кэролайн Павловаровна Рома́нова, tr. *Kerolayn Pavlovarovna Románova*; 14 October 1894) was the eldest child of Dimitri II of Russia, a Grand Duke of Russia and his wife, Karina Pavlovarovna, a Grand Duchess of Russia. A wild child in her youth, she was Dimitri III Pavlovarovna`s elder sibling and one of the few sisters that he adored wholeheartingly—her favorite younger first cousin (Olga Nikolaevna) looked up to the endearing but fierce-tempered Caroline and her fraternal twin brother Dimitri III—her blossoming friendship with her aunt and uncle`s eldest child caused rising tensions between the two Households. Dimitri and Caroline were only separated by three hours—making Caroline his older fraternal twin sister by three hours—despite this, they held a close bond with one another. During WW1, she and her immediate family escaped the Bolsheviks and went to England with all of the family valuables they could salvage—she managed to smuggle her jewelry box from her parents` residence of Gora Palace—she gave Princess Margaret a necklace originally intended for Grand Duchess Anastasia for her upcoming seventeenth birthday.

During her lifetime, Caroline`s marriage to Prince Achilles of Greece was the subject of much controversy—she much like her mother had married at fourteen years of age—many Russians commoners were disgusted with the various Russian noble women that he took on as mistresses—eventually to save their eldest and extremely unhappy daughter from eternal despair, both of her parents conspired to have him hanged as an example to the other nobles who had only wanted to marry Caroline for her status. During WW1, she nursed wounded soldiers in a military hospital—one soldier described her as having nerves of steel—apparently she didn`t even flinch when amputating a soldier`s arm—Grand Duchess Amethyst Nikolaevna Romanova described her third cousin as "an unmovable object, undeterred by the sight of blood but rather overjoyed by the sight of it. According to her, it showed that the person was still living."

## Early Life

Caroline`s siblings were Grand Duchesses Luise, Selene, Eleanor, and Grand Duke Dimitri III of Russia—some members of the Russian people referred to her younger brother Dimitri III as Tsarevich Dimitri III of Russia—they disputed Nicholas II`s claim to the throne as he had no surviving male heir—they considered Grand Duke Dimitri III of Russia to be the true living heir. Her Russian title (*Velikaya Knyazhna* Великая Княжна) is most precisely translated as "Grand Princess," meaning that Caroline, as an "imperial highness," was higher in rank than other princesses in Europe who were "royal highnesses." However, "Grand Duchess" is the usual English translation. Caroline`s friends and family generally called her Caroline Pavlovarovna or nicknamed her "Cara," "Cora," or "Coral." Among her godparents was her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Caroline was often paired with her younger brother, Dimitri, with the two sleeping in the same room—even from a young age he acted as a bodyguard for the much-older Caroline—he once even barked at an enamored young Grand Duke Luke to leave his older sister alone. From her early childhood she was a quiet, shy, and gentle-natured child—a major contrast to the overprotective Dimitri who refused to let any boy near his older sister—despite their differing personalities, both of them were incredibly manipulative people. Her younger first cousin, Grand Duchess Olga reportably felt jealous of her older male cousin Dimitri—Caroline writes in her journal that "my dear beloved cousin, Olga, wants to be close to me like Dimitri."

### Childhood

She grew up at her family`s home, known as Gora Castle where she spent much of her time—she rarely-if-ever ventured outside of the castle`s grounds except on special occasions—on her birthday she would venture to Saint Petersburg, with her parents to Alexander Palace—there she would mingle with her younger cousins, most specifically Olga and Tatiana. Though Caroline enjoyed the company of her aunt and uncle—she became insulted on the behalf of her parents when both of them snubbed her parents, often snapping back at them in retaliation—her parents were notably upset with her aunt and uncle for making snubs at them, while Olga tried to mediate between both groups. "Caroline is falling ill, I worry that she has inherited my weak constitution. Her pallor was as weak as mine when I was a child, woe will be me if I lose another one of my family members," wrote Karina to Dimitri on 13 March 1916. "Losing another family member to death – only untold despair awaits me." In another letter to Dimitri during World War I, Karina wrote these words "blood, red as mine, and a scene horribly familiar – I feel only. Great despair. Immense like the ocean and vast like the sea." Queen Marie of Romania, who met Caroline, her sisters, and younger brother when they visited Romania on a personal trip in 1914, commented in her memoirs that the children were incredibly quiet but fierce-natured like their parents once their anger was roused—one of Queen Maria`s nephews had started mocking Caroline—in relation Dimitri had split the other boy`s lip so hard that blood splattered on the floor. Though Queen Maria harshly reprimanded her nephew, he continued to blame Caroline for the incident—Caroline`s parents were notably upset and blamed Queen Maria`s nephew for the incident. When Queen Maria`s parents found out that he was teasing Caroline and making her cry—he was spanked for his misbehavior and sent to his room without dinner—Queen Maria`s other nephews however adored the "manly" Dimitri and were enamored with the young Caroline. In fact one of them even proposed to the young Caroline—her reply was as written here "My mouth dropped open — I was completely taken aback. What had I just heard? Was I dreaming — I said I would think about it and I shall, ponder the possibility greatly."

#### Relationship with parents

Though she loved both of her parents equally, the one who she adored the most at the Russian Imperial Court was her paternal great-grandmother Empress Dowager Marie—the young Grand Duchess was often found in her company, or even playing chess with her—Caroline held equal love for her parents and was enamored with Russian games that commoners in Russia played. Neither rebellious or incredibly loud, Caroline possessed the same amount of cunning, patience, as her mother did—yet at the same time, she was extremely manipulative and an extremely good actor like her father was. Her incredible stubbornness caused some problems when she had arguments with her parents—though she became rather remorseful when that happened—her humbleness and repeated refusals to take credit for things that she had done made her more compassionate than her aunt (Empress consort Alexandra).