1. Background

2. Relationship with Rasputin

3. Life following the Revolution

4. Notes

5. External links

Background

Alexandra was the third and youngest child of Taneyev and his wife, Nadezhda Illarionovna Tolstaya. Her nickname was Sana.

"Sana was a very nice looking woman with a little porcelain face, and she produced the charming impression of a spoiled and self-centered child," recalled the singer Alexandra Belling.^[3]

Alexandra married Alexander Pistohlkors, a former Life Guards officer who was reportedly famous for his cruelty in putting down the rebellion following the Russian Revolution of 1905.^[4] The couple had three daughters: Tatiana, Olga and Alexandra (born in 1910, 1912 and 1914). Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia was the godmother for the eldest daughter, Tatiana. Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia was the godmother of her middle daughter, Olga.

Relationship with Rasputin

Alexandra and her husband were featured in a widely circulated portrait of Rasputin with his admirers, which was taken in his apartment in St. Petersburg in 1914. At first, the starets was a frequent visitor to the Pistohlkors in their home, and Alexandra introduced Rasputin to many of her friends and relatives.^[5] Later, because Alexandra's mother-in-law, Olga, detested Rasputin, the young couple had to meet with Rasputin in her sister Anna's house, though Alexandra was a frequent visitor to Rasputin's apartment without her husband.^[6]

Alexandra was one of several society women who became followers of Rasputin. She also sent him telegrams, asking for his prayers or help. Rasputin persuaded some of his female followers "that they must not confess the sin of adultery, since that would only confuse their confessors, who would not understand it."^[7]

"I am very sick. I implore you to help. Sana," Alexandra wrote in a telegram to Rasputin in 1913. In another telegram, sent in April 1916, she wrote that she was "gloomily sick at heart" and "I beg for help."^[8]

Alexandra's sister-in-law, Marianne Pistohlkors, has been implicated by some historians as one of the co-conspirators in the murder of Rasputin in December 1916.^[9]

Life following the Revolution

Alarmed by the worsening political situation, Alexandra and Alexander Pistohlkors fled Russia to Helsinki, Finland in 1916. The Pistohlkors family had Baltic estates, among them a castle in Latvia, where they lived following the Russian Revolution. Alexandra's sister, Anna Vyrubova, also later moved to Finland, where she became a nun after the Revolution.

Their daughter, Olga Ramel (1912-2011), later settled in Sweden.^[1][10]

Notes

External links

• Olga Ramel, född Pistolekors, an article about Alexandra's daughter Olga, in Swedish.

• Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption
• Greek Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary Eleousa
• Greek Orthodox Church Saint Nicolas, Montevideo
• Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral
• Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh
• Greek parliamentary election, 2012
• Greek parliamentary election, 2015
• Greek parliamentary election, June 2012
• Greek parliamentary election, May 2012
• Greek participation in the Macedonian Struggle
• Greek parties
• Greek partisans in World War II
• Greek Peak
• Greek People
• Greek (People)
• Greek people
• Greek pepper
• Greek peppers
• Greek personal name
• Greek personal names (ancient)
• Greek-Peruvian relations
• Greek philosophical tradition
• Greek Phoenix
• Greek phoenix
• Greek Pirate Party