How the children of Russian Emperors got up to mischief
Despite the barracks discipline and strict daily routine, even royal offspring had a childhood full of ordinary pranks, quarrels and mischief, sometimes even exceeding the bounds of what was deemed acceptable.
From birth, the lives of the grand dukes and duchesses – the royal children – were subject to strict regulations. Each child was assigned a whole staff of servants: nannies, wet nurses, tutors, valets and even stokers. At the same time, the educational system established by Catherine the Great was aimed at strengthening their character. The children were never bundled up in cold weather, were fed regularly and were accustomed to work and loud noises (sometimes even by firing a cannon under the nursery windows). Emperor Alexander III expressed this philosophy simply: "I don't need porcelain. I need normal, healthy, Russian children."
Alexander III with his children
Uncomfortable Jokes
Some of the royal children's pranks crossed all boundaries. Historian Igor Zimin, in his book ‘The Children's World of Imperial Residences’, recounts how Konstantin, Nicholas I's youngest son, once pulled the chair out from under a guest, the venerable Ivan Tolstoy, who was about to sit down during a card game among adults. He fell to the floor and the enraged tsar first publicly apologized for his son and then meted out a severe punishment.
But, the most daring prank belonged to Nicholas II's heir, Alexei. In Fall 1915, at the height of World War I, during an official dinner at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the then 11-year-old tsarevich snuck up behind his uncle and slammed a hollowed-out watermelon half onto his head. The humiliated and drenched elderly relative struggled to free himself, while those present, including the emperor, could barely contain their laughter.
Nicholas II with his children
At a younger age, he had once quietly crawled under the table during dinner and removed a shoe from a lady's foot. She screamed in surprise. The boy crawled back to his parents with his loot, but they sternly ordered him to immediately replace the shoe. Alexei crawled back, but, along the way, stole a strawberry from the table and slipped it into the shoe. The unexpected sensation of something cold and wet on her foot made the lady scream even louder. For this brazen act, the heir was banned from visiting guests for several weeks.
Trying on History
During a tour of the Armory, the royal children were allowed to touch literally every exhibit. For them, it was not just a museum, but a world of personal belongings belonging to their great-grandfathers. But, one day, that same mischievous Konstantin went wild, trying on Peter the Great's gigantic boots, sitting on Ivan the Terrible's throne and even reaching for the crown jewel – the Monomakh's Cap – but was stopped by his tutor, Admiral Litke.
This tradition continued into the 20th century: his great-great-granddaughter, six-year-old Olga Nikolaevna (daughter of Nicholas II), became so fond of her ancestors' carriages that she even ordered the servants to send one to Tsarskoye Selo "for daily use". She was, of course, politely but firmly refused.
