It is with a prayerful heart and memories deep and reverent that I begin to write the story of my long and
friendship with Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, Empress of Russia, and of the tragedy of the Revolution,
which brought on her and hers such undeserved misery, and on our unhappy country such a black night of oblivion. But
first I feel that I should explain briefly who I am, for though my name has appeared rather prominently in most of the
published accounts of the Revolution, few of the writers have taken the trouble to sift facts from fiction even in the
comparatively unimportant matter of my genealogy. I have seen it stated that I was born in Germany, and that my marriage
to a Russian officer was arranged to conceal my nationality. I have also read that I was a peasant woman brought from my
native Siberia to further the ambitions of Rasputin. The truth is that I am unable to produce an ancestor who was not
born Russian. My her, Alexander Sergievich Taneyev, during most of his life, was a functionary of the Russian Court,
Secretary of State, and Director of the Private Chancellerie of the Emperor, an office held before him by his her and
his grandher. My mother was a daughter of General Tolstoy, aide de camp of Alexander II. One of my immediate
ancestors was Field Marshal Kutusov, famous in the Napoleonic Wars. Another, on my mother's side, was Count Kontaisov,
an friend of the eccentric Tsar Paul, son of the great Catherine. Notwithstanding my family's hereditary
connection with the Court our own family life was simple and quiet. My her, aside from his official duties, had no
interests apart from his home and his music, for he was a composer and a pianist of more than national fame. My earliest
memories are of home evenings, my brother Serge and my sister Alya (Alexandra) studying their lessons under the shaded
lamp, my dear mother sitting near with her needlework, and my her at the piano working out one of his compositions,
striking the keys softly and noting down his harmonies. I thank God for that happy childhood which gave me strength of
soul to bear the sorrows and sufferings of after years. Six months in every year we spent in the country near Moscow on
an estate which had been in the family for nearly two hundred years. For neighbors we had the Princes Galatzina and the
Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Serge, the last named being the older sister of the Empress. I hardly remember when I did
not know and love the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, as she was familiarly called. As small children she petted and spoiled us
all, often inviting us to tea, the feast ending in a grand frolic in which we were allowed to search the rooms for toys
which she had ingeniously hidden. It was at one of these children's teas that I first saw the Empress Alexandra. Quite
unexpectedly the Tsarina was announced and the beautiful Grand Duchess Elizabeth, leaving her small guests, ran eagerly
to greet her. The time was near the beginning of the reign of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, and the Tsarina was
at the very height of her youthful beauty. My childish impression of her was of a tall, slender, graceful woman, lovely
beyond description, with a wealth of golden hair and eyes like stars, the very picture of what an Empress should be. For
my her the young Empress soon conceived a warm liking and confidence and she named him as vice president of the
committee of Assistance par le Travail. During this time we lived in winter in the Mikhailovsky Palace in Petrograd, and
in summer in a small villa in Peterhof on the Baltic Sea. From conversations between my mother and her I learned a
great deal of the life of the Imperial Family. The Empress impressed my her both by her excessive shyness and by her
unusual intelligence. She was above all a motherly woman and often combined baby-tending with serious business affairs.