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Six Years at the Russian Court

Magaretta Eagar

From 1898 to 1904, Irish born Margaretta Eagar was the nanny to Olga (Ольга), Tatiana (Татьяна), Maria (Мария) and Anastasia (Анастасия) Nikolaevna Romanova, the four young daughters of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his consort, Alexandra Feodorovna. As children, the four grand duchesses invented an acronymic nickname, OTMA, in reference to their collective selves, as a sign of group closeness and sisterly affection.

Eagar was of the opinion that many authors of her time had written fictionalized accounts of the royal family and of Russian society at large. In her words she had "... not started forth to write fiction, but plain, unvarnished truth." Margaretta Eagar's memoir, Six Years at the Russian Court, was published in 1906; much of the content had been serialized earlier in the British periodical, "The Leisure Hour". In the book she shares her experiences while with OTMA, their parents and other Romanovs while also writing about many aspects of Russian society and culture during her time there. - Summary by Brian Fullen