About Olga:

• Olga was curious and full of questions. Once when a nursemaid reprimanded her for her grumpiness, saying that she had ‘got out of bed on the wrong foot,’ the following morning Olga had pertly asked which was ‘the right foot to get out with’ so that the ‘bad foot wouldn’t be able to make me naughty to-day.’ Cranky, scornful and difficult she certainly could be, especially during puberty, and difficult to control, but Olga also was a dreamer. During a game of I-spy with the children Alexandra had noticed that ‘Olga always thinks of the sun, clouds, sky, rain or something belonging to the heavens, explaining to me that it makes her so happy to think of that’. (Rappaport, Four Sisters)

By Olga:

• He (Rasputin) kept patting Alexis on the head and said I could rule like tsarinas did in the past. (1913 Diary)

About Tatiana:

• Tatiana at eight years old was pale-skinned, slender and with darker, auburn hair, and eyes rather grayer than the sea-blue of her sisters.She was already arrestingly beautiful, ‘the living replica of her mother’, with a naturally imperious look enhanced by her fine bones and tilted-up nose. On the surface she seemed an extraordinarily self-possessed girl, but she was in fact emotionally cautious and reserved…She was the most polite and deferential at table with adults and proved to be a natural-born organizer with a methodical mind and a down-to-earth manner that her sisters could not match. (Rappaport, Four sisters)
• On one occasion the Prince of Siam came to visit the Empress, and the children were in the room.[...] The Empress said to the Grand Duchess Tatiana, 'Come, shake hands with this gentleman, Tatiana.' She laughed, and said, 'That is not a gentleman, mama; that's only a monkey.' The Empress, covered with confusion, said, 'You are a monkey yourself, Tatiana,' but the prince laughed heartily. They and the prince afterwards became quite good friends. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• Just before we went to Peterhoff that year, the Grand Duchess Olga had typhoid fever.[...] She wearied to see her sister Tatiana, and was very pleased when the doctor said Tatiana might pay her a visit for just five minutes. I went down and fetched her to see Olga. She stood by the side of the bed and conversed in a most amiable manner to the little sick sister. I was rather surprised at her manner, and when the five minutes were up, told her I must take her down to the nursery again. When she got outside of the door, she exclaimed: 'You told me you were bringing me to see Olga and I have not seen her.' I told her that the little girl in bed was indeed her sister. She cried with great grief. 'That little pale thin child is my dear sister Olga! Oh no, no! I cannot believe it!' She wept bitterly at the change, and it was difficult to persuade her that Olga would soon be herself again. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• The second girl, Tatiana, was eight and a half. She had auburn hair and was prettier than her sister, but gave one the impression of being less transparent, frank, and spontaneous. (Gilliard on meeting Tatiana in 1905, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court)
• Tatiana Nicolaievna was rather reserved, essentially well-balanced, and had a will of her own, though she was less frank and spontaneous than her elder sister. She was not so gifted, either, but this inferiority was compensated by more perseverance and balance. She was very pretty, though she had not quite Olga Nicolaievna's charm. If the Tsarina made any difference between her children, Tatiana Nicolaievna was her favorite. It was not that her sisters loved their mother any less, but Tatiana knew how to surround her with unwearying attentions and never gave way to her own capricious impulses. Through her good looks and her art of self-assertion she put her sister in the shade in public, as the latter, thoughtless about herself, seemed to take a back seat. Yet the two sisters were passionately devoted to each other. There was only eighteen months between them, and that in itself was a bond of union. (Gilliard, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court)
• The girls were also very fond of the people who took care of them, one of them being naturally their nurse Margaret Eagar. One day Tatiana was being made ready to go out and Miss Eagar went to get her coat. But when she returned, she saw the other nurse shaking the girl. „How dare you shake Tatiana?“ Eagar exclaimed. „You are paid to take care of her, not to correct her!“ The child turned her eyes to Eagar and asked, obviously surprised: "She is paid?“ „Yes,“ replied the governess. „She is paid and I, also, am paid.“ Hearing that, little Tatiana put her head on her nurses shoulder and wept bitterly. Miss Eagar was flummoxed. „You have seen me get my money every month,“ she tried to figure out what was actually wrong. But the Grand Duchess stated: "I always thought it was a gift to you!“ A long explanation followed, that it was necessary the governess was paid, as she had no money of her own and her way of earning money was to look after the children. The next morning Miss Eagar awoke and Tatiana was standing by her bed. "May I get into your bed?“ the child pleaded. And as she cuddled down in the arms of the governess she exclaimed: "Anyway, you don't get paid for this.
• Their rank meant very little to them, and they felt ill at ease when they were treated ceremoniously. Once at a committee I had to address "my President," the Grand Duchess Tatiana, officially, and naturally began, 'May it please Your Imperial Highness.' She looked at me with astonishment, and when I sat down again beside her 1 was rewarded by a violent kick under the table and a whispered 'Are you crazy to speak to me like that ?' In common with all the Household, I called the Emperor's daughters, in the Russian fashion, by their names and patronymic, and she thought it quite absurdly formal for me to have given her her full title! I had to appeal to the Empress to persuade her that on official occasions it was really necessary. (Buxhoeveden, Left Behind)

About Maria:

• Maria was a shy child who suffered later from being in the middle between her two older sisters and her younger siblings…Her strong physique made her seem rather ungainly and she had a reputation for clumsiness and boisterousness. Yet for many who knew the family, Maria was by far the prettiest, with her peaches-and-cream complexion, her rich brown hair and an earthly Russian quality…everyone remarked on her eyes which shone like la terns and her warm smile. She was not especially bright but had a real gift for painting and drawing…of all the sisters she was the most open-hearted and sincere. (Rappaport, Four Sisters)
• Olga is hitting Maria, and Maria is shouting like an idiot. A dragoon and a big idiot. (Anastasia, A Lifelong Passion, p. 406)
• One day they [Olga and Tatiana] made a house with chairs at one end of the nursery and shut out poor Marie, telling her she might be the footman, but that she should stay outside. [...] She suddenly dashed across the room, rushed into the house, dealt each sister a slap in the face, and ran into the next room, coming back dressed in a doll's cloak and hat, and with her hands full of small toys. 'I won't be a footman, I'll be the kind, good aunt, who brings presents,' she said. She then distributed her gifts, kissed her "nieces," and sat down. The other children looked shamefacedly from one to the other, and then Tatiana said, 'We were too cruel to poor little Marie, and she really couldn't help beating us.' They had learned their lesson - from that hour they respected her rights in the family. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• One day the little Grand Duchess Marie was looking out of the window at a regiment of soldiers marching past, and exclaimed, 'Oh! I love these dear soldiers; I should like to kiss them all!' I said, 'Marie, nice little girls don't kiss soldiers.' She made no remark. A few days afterwards we had a children's party, and the Grand Duke Constantine's children were amongst the guests. One of them, having reached twelve years of age, had been put into the Corps de Cadets, and came in his uniform. He wanted to kiss his little cousin Marie, but she put her hand over her mouth and drew back from the proffered embrace. 'Go away, soldier,' said she, with great dignity. 'I don't kiss soldiers.' The boy was greatly delighted at being taken for a real soldier, and not a little amused at the same time. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• On our return to Tsarskoe Selo the Empress manifested symptoms of whooping cough. It speedily spread to the nurseries and the four children. [...] I told the children they were to be most careful not to cough on anyone, or that person might take the disease from them, and they were very obedient. One day the little Grand Duchess Anastasie was sitting in my lap, coughing and choking away, when the Grand Duchess Marie came to her and putting her face close up to her said, 'Baby, darling, cough on me.' Greatly amazed, I asked her what she meant, and the dear child said, 'I am so sorry to see my dear little sister so ill, and I thought if I could take it from her she would be better. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• From her earliest age her love for her father has been most marked. When she was barely able to toddle she would always try to escape from the nurseries to go to papa, and whenever she saw him in the garden or park she would call after him. If he heard or saw her, he always waited for her, and would carry her for a little. When he was ill in the Crimea her grief at not seeing him was excessive. I had to keep the door of the day nursery locked or she would have escaped into the corridor and disturbed him with her efforts to get to him. Every evening after tea she sat on the floor just inside the nursery door listening intently for any sounds from his room. If she heard his voice by any chance she would stretch out her little arms, and call "Papa, Papa," and her rapture when she was allowed to see him was great. When the Empress came to see the children on the first evening after the illness had been pronounced typhoid fever, she happened to be wearing a miniature of the Emperor set as a brooch. In the midst of her sobs and tears little Marie caught sight of this; she climbed on the Empress's knee, and covered the pictured face with kisses, and on no evening all through his illness would she go to bed without kissing this miniature. (Eager, Six Years at the Russian Court)
• Marie Nicolaievna was a fine girl, tall for her age, and a picture of glowing health and colour. She had large and beautiful grey eyes. Her tastes were very simple, and with her warm heart she was kindness itself. Her sisters took advantage somewhat of her good nature, and called her "fat little bow-wow." She certainly had the benevolent and somewhat gauche devotion of a dog. (Gilliard, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court)

From Maria:

• …Anastasia and I usually play big tennis in our classroom throwing the ball against the wall when we are at home. Of course, we knocked down a lot of things but did not break anything yet… (to Nicholas, 28 November 1915)

About Anastasia:

• [Anastasia] was the least Russian in looks. She had dark blonde hair like Olga and her father’s blue eues but her featyres were much more like those of her mother’s Hesse family. She was not shy like her sisters wither, in fact was extremely forthright, even with adults. She may have been the youngest of the four was but always the one who commanded attention. She had a great gift of humour…yet despite not being academically bright she had an instinctive gift for dealing with people. (Rappaport, Four sisters)
• Perhaps Anastasia Nicolaevna would have grown up the prettiest of the sisters. (Isa Buxhoeveden, The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna)
• Anastasia Nicolaievna, on the other hand, was very roguish and almost a wag. She had a very strong sense of humour, and the darts of her wit often found sensitive spots. She was rather an enfant terrible, though this fault tended to correct itself with age. She was also extremely idle, though with the idleness of a gifted child. Her French accent was excellent, and she acted scenes from comedy with remarkable talent. She was so lively, and her gaiety so infectious, that several members of the suite had fallen into the way of calling her "Sunshine," the nickname her mother had been given at the English Court. (Gilliard, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court)

About Alexei:

General:

• I sat digging my nose with my left hand. Olga wanted to give me a slap but I escaped from her swinish hand. I hope you have got a good picture of Alexei, and you show it to everybody. Tatiana is as stupid as ever... (Anastasia, The Romanovs: love, power and tragedy, p. 129)
• Oh, they (OTMA) were lovely and terribly sweet, far more beautiful than their photographs show. I was crackers about Marie, and was determined to marry her. She was absolutely lovely. I keep her photograph on the mantlepiece in my bedroom - always have. (Louis Mountbatten)