Romanov's in Romania (1914), Russian Empire

Taken from the documentary Russia's Lost Princesses. This is when there where marriage negotiations between Tsar Nicholas’s eldest daughter, Olga, and Carol II of Romania. When the Romanov’s visited their Romanian counterparts, the Carol and Olga struggled to make a connection. Olga’s modest personality did not blend well with Carols casanova character.

Carol did not find Olga’s high cheek-boned face and her curt and sensitive mannerism appealing as Olga was known to be rather independent and opinionated (one might say that Olga was ahead of her time) but also very compassionate and sensitive. And to make sure that Carol would not try to make any advancements on Tatiana (17), Maria (15), or Anastasia (13), all four of them spent time tanning before going on this voyage and as a result the Romanian nobles where put off by the Romanov daughters appearance (as darker skin was not considered the standard of beauty for Princesses at the time).

After this the events of the revolution unfolded in Russia. Carol then married Zizi Lambrino a year later and Olga and her family would all be executed five years later.

But imagine how different history could have been if Olga or Tatiana married Carol (I think Anastasia and Maria where far too young to even think about getting married at this time). There are many things to take into consideration like would the Bolshevik's declared war on Romania and tried to assassinate Carol and whichever Romanov daughter he married? Would Romania have been able to defeat the Bolshevik's in War? Would WWII have gone on longer? How different would the world be today?

Notice how after the family picture is take, Maria eagerly walks over to Olga and picks up the baby she was holding. This is a demonstration of Maria's love for children.