It is rumoured Empress Alexandra never smiled but my grandmother definitely saw her smiling more than once

The first time my grandmother, Countess Olga Kleinmichel, saw Empress Alexandra the Empress wasn’t smiling. In fact, according to my grandmother’s memoir in which she describes the celebration of Grand Duchess Olga’s sixteenth birthday, Empress Alexandra “wore an expression of weariness and sadness which ‘society’ took for coldness and haughtiness.”

Modern society is often quick to judge those who don’t conform to expectations, especially those who have celebrity status. Imperial Russian society was no different and it didn’t take long for Empress Alexandra to gain the reputation of never smiling. Unfortunately this reputation has carried down through the years. Nowadays much of this reputation probably rests on official photographs, similar to the one above. But it has been widely acknowledged that, at those times, no one smiled during official photographs. In fact, even your run of the mill family photographs were serious matters in which smiling was discouraged, a totally different viewpoint to contemporary photos and snapshots. Despite numerous photographs of the Empress smiling being shared online by various social media groups which focus on the Romanovs, many people still believe she was cold and even arrogant.

In the winter which followed the celebration for Grand Duchess Olga’s birthday, my grandmother and her sister Tata (Natalie) were taken to St Petersburg and officially presented at Court to the Dowager Empress and Empress Alexandra. After being presented they were often invited to tea with the young Grand Duchesses at Tsarskoye Selo. It was during these social but intimate situations my grandmother noted that the Empress at home was a totally different person to who she was in more formal surroundings. Not only was the Empress smiling during these times, she was also laughing.

My grandmother wrote, “It was then that I was struck by the difference I saw in the Empress Alexandra. At home, in the intimate circle of her family, she was an entirely different person. She was gay and happy, and even took part in the quieter of our games. She displayed the greatest interest in everything and often laughed to tears at her children’s pranks.”

When I hear yet again of the debate as to whether or not Empress Alexandra smiled, I tend to believe my grandmother, who actually met the Empress and spent time in her presence. It is said that a picture (or indeed a photograph) is worth a thousand words, but it can also be said that personal experience can give context to an image which might not portray the entire story.