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Education of a Princess: A Memoir By Marie, Grand Duchess Of Russia
1930. Translated from the French and Russian under the editorial supervision of Russell Lord. To clarify the confusing Romanov family: this Marie was the granddaughter of Czar Alexander II, the daughter of Grand Duke Paul, and the cousin of Tsar Nicholas. Her brother, Prince Dmitri, was one of the plotters against Rasputin. He was exiled for that, to the Persian frontier, which saved his life when the roundup of the Imperial family began. These are the memoirs of her childhood, a glittering version of solitary confinement, and young adult life. Her father was banished for marrying without the Czar's permission, which left Marie and her brother to be brought up by her uncle, the military governor of Moscow. After her uncle's assassination in 1905, her aunt arranged a marriage with a Swedish prince whom Marie saw a few times before the wedding. The marriage was disastrous, and a divorce was arranged, quickly and quietly. Marie's young son stayed in Sweden. Charity was an acceptable occupation for the women of the aristocracy, but Marie became a qualified nurse and spent much of the early part of WWI in field hospitals. The last part of the book contains her account of the final tense days of the Romanovs, her second marriage, and her escape through the Ukraine.
388 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
14 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia
3 books3 followersGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (Russian: 18 April [O.S. 6 April] 1890 – 13 December 1958), known as Maria Pavlovna the Younger, was a granddaughter of Alexander II of Russia and a paternal first cousin of Nicholas II, Russia's last Tsar.
In exile, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna lived briefly in Bucharest and London, then she settled in Paris in 1920. In 1942, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna moved to Argentina where she spent the years of World War II. She returned permanently to Europe in 1949 and died in Konstanz, Germany in 1958.
In exile, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna lived briefly in Bucharest and London, then she settled in Paris in 1920. In 1942, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna moved to Argentina where she spent the years of World War II. She returned permanently to Europe in 1949 and died in Konstanz, Germany in 1958.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 22, 2012
This book deserves a full review. Unfortunately, it is out of print now and I see a paperback copy on Amazon going for $109. I ran into it in a used bookstore several years ago, so I am lucky.
I could not put the book down. It is a candid, eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution from its very beginning to its aftermath, by the sister of Grand Duke Dmitri, one of the assassins of Rasputin. Her writing style is clear, elegant and restrained, but at the same time it is conversational and quite personal. Her experiences and her personality came alive to me through her writing.
This book needs to be reprinted.
I could not put the book down. It is a candid, eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution from its very beginning to its aftermath, by the sister of Grand Duke Dmitri, one of the assassins of Rasputin. Her writing style is clear, elegant and restrained, but at the same time it is conversational and quite personal. Her experiences and her personality came alive to me through her writing.
This book needs to be reprinted.
June 1, 2024
Shoutout to the random free bookstore where I picked this up 8 years ago and shoutout to me for finally reading it!
This book is kind of crazy to even exist considering her entire family was exiled or killed. Lost some star value because some parts were dull BUT tbh I think life as a royal WAS dull a lot. The most impressive parts of this to me are her own realizations about the monarchy and her education (or lack of). I also love how she fully goes through a quarter life crisis and divorces her Swedish prince and becomes a war nurse. She just CANT sit on the amalfi coast every winter for the rest of her life with her mother in law (relatable)!!!!!!!!! Jokes aside she is really impressive and had to make a lot of hard decisions about her life on her own. This book also proves men are useless in all things and have been for a LooOoooOong time.
This book is kind of crazy to even exist considering her entire family was exiled or killed. Lost some star value because some parts were dull BUT tbh I think life as a royal WAS dull a lot. The most impressive parts of this to me are her own realizations about the monarchy and her education (or lack of). I also love how she fully goes through a quarter life crisis and divorces her Swedish prince and becomes a war nurse. She just CANT sit on the amalfi coast every winter for the rest of her life with her mother in law (relatable)!!!!!!!!! Jokes aside she is really impressive and had to make a lot of hard decisions about her life on her own. This book also proves men are useless in all things and have been for a LooOoooOong time.
June 11, 2025
I read these memoirs back in my teenage years in the 1970s when I was an avid consumer of Romanov memoirs and while these memoirs were a delight if not quite of the Saint Simon league but then life at the various Romanov palaces was no Versailles. The truly wonderful element of Marie's memoirs are what they tell you about herself, her upbringing and her high opinion of both. That she insisted, after her marriage, on her servants always announcing her as 'Your Imperial and Royal Highness' (she being a granddaughter of an emperor and the wife of a king's son) while her husband, as only a younger son of a king, could only be addressed as 'You Royal Highness' does tell you a great deal about what a pain in the ass she must have been to live with. Not surprisingly the marriage didn't last. I am pretty sure she hinted that her husband was queer though as he lived with a woman for thirty years after divorcing Marie I am pretty sure his antipathy was not to women in general but one woman in particular - her. She also claims that she was raped by the famous Swedish doctor and littérateur Axel Munthe (although she cloaks his identity it such a poor one so poorly that even as a 14 year old in Ireland I was able to immediately identify him, and I wasn't very sophisticated, so I am sure her readers in 1930 knew she was referring to the famous author of 'The Story of San Michel').
That she was married at 16 to a Swedish prince was the result of the machinations of her poisonous guardian the grand duchess Elizabeth, sister of the empress Alexandra and wife of the equally odious grand duke Sergei who Marie describes gaining almost lascivious delight in bathing her brother Dimitri. Marie's marriage at 16 was almost absurdly young even for a pre WWI royal bride. That it was to a Swedish prince was extremely unusual, Russia and Sweden were traditionally antipathetic (the Russian Empire in the Baltic was built on the ruins of the Swedish empire which was comprehensively destroyed by Peter the Great and Alexander I).
Marie recounts all of this in marvellous detail, no one, least of all herself, comes out with any credit though the grand duchess Elizabeth comes out worse (why that woman is a 'saint' is beyond me - she took an active part in encouraging Felix Yousoupov and her nephew Dmitri to murder of Rasputin which makes her an accomplice). What is marvellous about these memoirs is that they remind you of how big the Romanov family was and how rich the grand dukes were - seriously you should look up the various palaces each was supplied with - it is not surprising that the daughter of Alexander II who married Queen Victoria's younger son thought she had made a misalliance when comparing Buckingham Palace to her former homes in Russia.
Great, rollicking fun, absolutely nothing to do with history and should deflate anyone who imagines the Romanovs as anything but terribly dull, but obscenely rich wasters.
That she was married at 16 to a Swedish prince was the result of the machinations of her poisonous guardian the grand duchess Elizabeth, sister of the empress Alexandra and wife of the equally odious grand duke Sergei who Marie describes gaining almost lascivious delight in bathing her brother Dimitri. Marie's marriage at 16 was almost absurdly young even for a pre WWI royal bride. That it was to a Swedish prince was extremely unusual, Russia and Sweden were traditionally antipathetic (the Russian Empire in the Baltic was built on the ruins of the Swedish empire which was comprehensively destroyed by Peter the Great and Alexander I).
Marie recounts all of this in marvellous detail, no one, least of all herself, comes out with any credit though the grand duchess Elizabeth comes out worse (why that woman is a 'saint' is beyond me - she took an active part in encouraging Felix Yousoupov and her nephew Dmitri to murder of Rasputin which makes her an accomplice). What is marvellous about these memoirs is that they remind you of how big the Romanov family was and how rich the grand dukes were - seriously you should look up the various palaces each was supplied with - it is not surprising that the daughter of Alexander II who married Queen Victoria's younger son thought she had made a misalliance when comparing Buckingham Palace to her former homes in Russia.
Great, rollicking fun, absolutely nothing to do with history and should deflate anyone who imagines the Romanovs as anything but terribly dull, but obscenely rich wasters.
August 10, 2015
Education of a Princess grants the reader a first-hand perspective of people, life and events in the Romanov family before and during the Revolution. It shatters some widely-held assumptions. For example, Grand Duchess Ella (who was the sister of the Tsarina Alexandra and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei) is usually written of in only the most glowing terms. The author was taken in by Sergei and Ella as a child and reveals a different side of Ella: cold, jealous, unempathetic, and at times quite mentally unbalanced (rather like her sibling). The reader has that envied place: that of a fly on the wall in what many today would call a "lifestyle" which even then was drawing rapidly to a close, largely thanks to the Tsar's lack of comprehension of political and social realities, his weakness as a leader, his profound belief in absolute autocracy and the terrible but compelling advice of his wife (whose "suggestions" as well as her personal lack of popularity proved fatal to the very autocracy in which she fervently believed and to the family she so loved). It has been argued that had Nicholas married someone else things might have turned out much differently. A great read for the historian or anyone fascinated with the last legs of the Romanov dynasty. (Not available in e-book form but very affordable/available).
January 12, 2015
An incredible book. I could hardly set it down. Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra gives an outsider's view of the last decades of the Romanov Dynasty. Romanova, Maria Pavilovna's memoir gives us the insider's view. Maria was the granddaughter of Alexander II and cousin of Nicholas II. She writes, in straightforward simple language, of her childhood, of the vast disconnect between royalty and the Russian people, of her brief marriage to a Swedish Prince, of coming to maturity as a nurse in WWI, of Rasputin and the gathering storm of revolution and her last minute escape from the Bolsheviks.
Maria and her husband Prince Putiatin managed to make their way through a series of made for a movie miracles from St Petersburg to Odessa. From Odessa they were assisted in getting to Romania, where her cousin Helene was Queen, by Canadian adventurer "Colonel" Boyle. For a good biography of larger than life Klondike Joe Boyle and his role in Eastern Europe during and after WWI and the Bolshevik revolution see Pierre Burton's Prisoners of the North.
Maria and her husband Prince Putiatin managed to make their way through a series of made for a movie miracles from St Petersburg to Odessa. From Odessa they were assisted in getting to Romania, where her cousin Helene was Queen, by Canadian adventurer "Colonel" Boyle. For a good biography of larger than life Klondike Joe Boyle and his role in Eastern Europe during and after WWI and the Bolshevik revolution see Pierre Burton's Prisoners of the North.
July 16, 2013
So completely amazing. I admit, I got bored in the middle for a bit, but once the Revolution picked up I just couldn't put it down. Learning the actual experiences of a Russian Grand Duchess of the time teaches you so much more than anything from a history book.
April 28, 2024
Maria Pavlovna Romanova's "Education of a Princess" may be a thrilling read, but is undoubtedly mistitled. As she admits in the text, Maria had a very limited education (even by late Victorian female standards), which ceased immediately upon her betrothal to Swedish prince Vilhelm aged 16. This Russian Grand Duchess didn't even speak Russian until the age of 6, only English.
Maria's love for her father and brother truly shines through in this book. Instead of lingering on Dimitri's famous murder of Rasputin, she admits being unaware of and ill-equiped to discuss the crime and focuses on their shared childhood.
Maria's father, Grand Duke Paul, controversially married the divorced Princess Paley and had three children by her. He had given up Maria and Dimitri long before and so, Maria found out about the existence of her half-brother Volodia only through a photograph of the 5-year-old in her visiting father's pocket. Maria describes Volodia in a very loving way, emphasising the tragedy of his murder and their father's by the Bolsheviks.
What's unique about Maria Pavlovna's memoirs is that she is not blinded by her current views on people when describing their past interactions. Her aunt (and foster mother) Ella of Hesse is initially portrayed as a Roald Dahl-like villain, cold and resentful of her adopted children. It's quite a stray from the kind descriptions Ella usually gets in her relatives' memoirs. However, Maria also describes the evolution of their relationship, especially after her uncle's brutal murder, and by the end we as readers mourn Ella with Maria when she hears of the brutal murder of Ella, Volodia and her father.
One can't help but sympathise with the Grand Duchess who is motherless from infancy, then abandoned by her father (which she acknowledges despite their reconciliation), forced into the care of a possessive uncle who gets murdered, left to be raised by his cold and unwilling wife and then pushed into marriage. Maria shares that Irene of Hesse (the most elusive of the Hesse sisters in royal memoirs) told her that if she didn't go through with the wedding, her aunt Ella (who was ill at the time) would die. Maria also shares that when told of this, Ella was shocked and said that she would never have pushed the marriage so vehemently had she known of Maria's unhappiness.
Maria is rather quiet on some key figures in her life. She doesn't speak much about Vilhelm, who she divorced, but writes about the elaborate pranks she played on his father, to whom she was very close. Her son with Vilhelm, Lennart, is as neglected in his mother's memoirs as he was in life. More surprisingly, she also barely writes about her second husband Putyatin (who she had also divorced by the time of writing the book).
The author lacks a lot of perspective on the political situation in Russia, however. The aristocratic arrogance associated with the Romanovs never gets exposed more clearly than when Maria describes her shock and disappointment when her servants demand a higher salary, better working conditions or when they dare to quit their job after the revolution has stripped Maria from her title.
People who hope to get some insight into the Imperial family of Nicholas II, Alix and their children will also be disappointed: despite playing with some of their daughters as girls, Maria admits to never being that close to her cousin and states that all contact ceased after her brother Dimitri's murder of Rasputin. The previous Tsar, Alexander III, is mentioned even though Maria met her uncle only once before his death when she was four years old. Even so, one must commend Maria for not exploiting or fictionalising relationships with more famous relatives in order to sell a more salacious story.
The book shines most brightly in the chapters detailing the murder of Grand Duke Sergei, the journey to Thailand Maria and her first husband made, and of course the Revolution, when the Grand Duchess was reduced to hiding her jewels into tall candles and bars of soap. The escape to Ukraine with false travel papers is a thrilling read.
Maria Pavlovna's memoirs offer a deep (though heavily biased) look into the high society of 1890s-1910s Saint Petersburg. If one wants to get a sense of Grand Duke Sergei, Ella of Hesse, Dimitri Pavlovich Romanov and Gustav V of Sweden, this is the book one should read as these layered historical figures are described in great detail by a most capable author.
Maria's love for her father and brother truly shines through in this book. Instead of lingering on Dimitri's famous murder of Rasputin, she admits being unaware of and ill-equiped to discuss the crime and focuses on their shared childhood.
Maria's father, Grand Duke Paul, controversially married the divorced Princess Paley and had three children by her. He had given up Maria and Dimitri long before and so, Maria found out about the existence of her half-brother Volodia only through a photograph of the 5-year-old in her visiting father's pocket. Maria describes Volodia in a very loving way, emphasising the tragedy of his murder and their father's by the Bolsheviks.
What's unique about Maria Pavlovna's memoirs is that she is not blinded by her current views on people when describing their past interactions. Her aunt (and foster mother) Ella of Hesse is initially portrayed as a Roald Dahl-like villain, cold and resentful of her adopted children. It's quite a stray from the kind descriptions Ella usually gets in her relatives' memoirs. However, Maria also describes the evolution of their relationship, especially after her uncle's brutal murder, and by the end we as readers mourn Ella with Maria when she hears of the brutal murder of Ella, Volodia and her father.
One can't help but sympathise with the Grand Duchess who is motherless from infancy, then abandoned by her father (which she acknowledges despite their reconciliation), forced into the care of a possessive uncle who gets murdered, left to be raised by his cold and unwilling wife and then pushed into marriage. Maria shares that Irene of Hesse (the most elusive of the Hesse sisters in royal memoirs) told her that if she didn't go through with the wedding, her aunt Ella (who was ill at the time) would die. Maria also shares that when told of this, Ella was shocked and said that she would never have pushed the marriage so vehemently had she known of Maria's unhappiness.
Maria is rather quiet on some key figures in her life. She doesn't speak much about Vilhelm, who she divorced, but writes about the elaborate pranks she played on his father, to whom she was very close. Her son with Vilhelm, Lennart, is as neglected in his mother's memoirs as he was in life. More surprisingly, she also barely writes about her second husband Putyatin (who she had also divorced by the time of writing the book).
The author lacks a lot of perspective on the political situation in Russia, however. The aristocratic arrogance associated with the Romanovs never gets exposed more clearly than when Maria describes her shock and disappointment when her servants demand a higher salary, better working conditions or when they dare to quit their job after the revolution has stripped Maria from her title.
People who hope to get some insight into the Imperial family of Nicholas II, Alix and their children will also be disappointed: despite playing with some of their daughters as girls, Maria admits to never being that close to her cousin and states that all contact ceased after her brother Dimitri's murder of Rasputin. The previous Tsar, Alexander III, is mentioned even though Maria met her uncle only once before his death when she was four years old. Even so, one must commend Maria for not exploiting or fictionalising relationships with more famous relatives in order to sell a more salacious story.
The book shines most brightly in the chapters detailing the murder of Grand Duke Sergei, the journey to Thailand Maria and her first husband made, and of course the Revolution, when the Grand Duchess was reduced to hiding her jewels into tall candles and bars of soap. The escape to Ukraine with false travel papers is a thrilling read.
Maria Pavlovna's memoirs offer a deep (though heavily biased) look into the high society of 1890s-1910s Saint Petersburg. If one wants to get a sense of Grand Duke Sergei, Ella of Hesse, Dimitri Pavlovich Romanov and Gustav V of Sweden, this is the book one should read as these layered historical figures are described in great detail by a most capable author.
January 3, 2023
What a fascinating memoir of Imperial Russia and the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution told by a member of the Romanov family. Grand Duchess Marie was a cousin of Tsar Nicholas II and tells in vivid detail what life was like for the high nobility around the turn of the 20th century. The refinement, ceremonies, and way of life was something beautiful, a universe away from the degenerate vulgarity of our times. She married, then divorced, the son of the King Sweden, then experienced the tragic times of World War I, when the Empire slowly fell apart thanks to military defeats, bad leadership, and revolutionary agitation. Grand Duchess Marie had a front row seat to the events. She served as a nurse on the front with the Russian army. She returned to run a hospital in Saint Petersburg. Her brother Dimitry was one of the assassins of Rasputin. Her escape to Romania was gripping. Education of a Princess is a first-rate memoir for anyone interested in nobility or Russian history.
January 25, 2020
Fascinating account of the youngest Grand Duchess to escape the Bolsheviks with her life. I was particularly interested in details of the relationship she and her brother Grand Duke Dmitri had with the Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich and Grand Duchesses Ella. Though she takes the reader as close in as she can, she doesn’t get close enough to shed much light.
One senses she chooses her words carefully, especially in regards to GD Serge. GD Ella, she seems to have forgiven for her coldness and found room in her heart to admire her in the end. I ended up admiring the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger) who seems to have been a strong woman and appreciate that she took the time to tell the story of her life as she wanted to tell it.
One senses she chooses her words carefully, especially in regards to GD Serge. GD Ella, she seems to have forgiven for her coldness and found room in her heart to admire her in the end. I ended up admiring the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger) who seems to have been a strong woman and appreciate that she took the time to tell the story of her life as she wanted to tell it.
October 28, 2018
Fine Read. Very interesting look to history.
February 1, 2020
It is ashame this book is out print. It a great to read a first hand account instead of a historians. It shattered many preconceptions of the last Russian royal family
September 10, 2025
I wish it had not ended so abruptly.
July 7, 2010
Its been many years since I first found this book on the library's shelves, but I can still remember it. Especailly the end. The writing was beautiful, her life remarkable. Any twelve year old girl (I don't think I was a teenager yet when I read it) will love a title like "Education of a Princess" and I was no exception.
October 18, 2008
learned things in this book that I hadn't learned elsewhere. Such as, details about Rasputin's death, the Russian aristocracy of this period. Also, I wish Russia had remained non Communist, even more after reading this book.
March 26, 2012
It is really interesting to get the story from an insider's first person point of view instead of from historians. Furthermore, Marie writes in a stunningly beautiful way giving a poetic feel to the memoir.
July 24, 2009
Very interesting insider view into the Romanov family in the final years of the Romanov dynasty, as well as a great first-hand account of WWI on the Russian Front.
January 13, 2015
Hugely readable. A real life sweeping saga from palaces to poverty. It ends with her leaving Russia on what feels like the last train out.
October 6, 2025
Innostuin Prinsessa Mariasta edellisen kirjan tarinasta, mutta tää olikin tylsä kuvaus Venäjän historiasta :(
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