Woronoff / Voronov

Blogs which describe people or events related to my maternal line.

Tell Me a Story

“Story is the song line of a person’s life. We need to sing it and we need someone to hear the singing. Story told. Story heard. Story written. Story read creates the web of life in words.” Christina Baldwin As a child and even as a teenager, I remember asking

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My Grandfather and the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna

The day I Googled my grandfather’s name in both it’s Russian form (Pavel Voronov) and in English (Paul Woronoff) I could never have predicted what I would discover. Apparently, my grandfather, who I knew as Dadu, was one of the love interests of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, daughter of the

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Pavel Voronov, my Russian Grandfather

In this picture my maternal grandfather, Pavel Voronov (Paul Woronoff), is 13 years old. He is a naval cadet in Russia. Years later he would be an officer on Tsar Nicholas II’s imperial yacht, Standart and the love interest of Grand Duchess Olga, eldest daughter of the Tsar. I know

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My Grandmother’s stories

With the 100th anniversary of the death of the Romanovs approaching next month, my thoughts have been more and more on the Russian side of my family; my mother’s family. My grandmother’s family were Russian aristocrats. As a young lady, she became a Maid of Honour to the Empress Alexandra

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Easter Memories

Today is Easter Sunday. Although, if I were still following the Orthodox Easter traditions, it would be Palm Sunday. I was born on Palm Sunday, so many years ago, and it was actually Palm Sunday for both the Orthodox and Western churches. My mother was strictly religious. We fasted for

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