Margaret Eager Six Years at the Russian Court

A poignant memoir by Margaret Eager, governess to the children of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna. Beginning with her difficult journey from her native Ireland to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, her account documents the unique daily life of the Romanov family during her six-year tenure in the Russian Imperial court. In this snapshot of Russian history, Eager chronicles daily life in the Imperial nurseries raising the young Grand Duchesses Olga, Marie, Tatiana, Anastasia, and the Tsarevitch Alexis, and her many anecdotes of the royal children demonstrate the rarefied atmosphere in which they were raised. She elaborates on her time in Russia and records the disadvantages of traveling aboard the Imperial Yacht, peasant life in Russia, scam artists inside the Imperial residences, attempts on the Tsar's life, and her impressions of the Palaces and Imperial art collections. Eager's close intimate relationship with the imperial family allowed her to view the inner workings of their lives in a way few others could. Eager remained in contact with the Imperial family until their murders in 1918.