Grand Duchess Tatiana in
formal Russian court dress,
1913, Formal Reception Room, Tsarskoe
Selo, for the Romanov tricentenary.

     Tatiana was rather reserved, essentially well balanced, and had a will of her own, though she was less frank and spontaneous that her elder sister. She was not so gifted, either, but this inferiority was compensated by more perseverance and balance. She was pretty, though she had not quite Olga Nicholaievna's charm. If the Tsarina made any difference between her children, Tatiana Nicholaievna was her favourite. It was not that her sisters loved their mother any less, but Tatiana knew how to surround her with unwearing attentions and she never gave way to her own capricious impulses. Through her good looks and her art of self-assertion she put her sister Olga 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.

                                           ~ M. Pierre Gilliard, imperial tutor, on Tatiana

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