Royal Splendor

1. The Romanovs (Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra, and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei), together with their three servants and family physician, spent their final days at “The House of Special Purpose”,a heavily guarded merchant building in Yekaterinburg previously owned by military engineer Nikolai Nikolayevich Ipatiev. The house was concealed from the streets by a 14-foot palisade, the windows covered with newspapers and eventually whitewashed. They only had one source of ventilation—a fortochka located in the bedroom of the grand duchesses; peeking through which was forbidden.
2. Grand Duchess Maria allegedly fell in love and planned an escape with one of their guards, Ivan Skorokhodov. The latter, however, was removed from his duty after he was caught smuggling a birthday cake inside the compound during Maria’s 19th birthday.
3. In a meeting that took place on June 29, 1918, the Ural Regional Soviet had reached the decision to execute…

1. She was born on January 15th, 1945 in Karlsbad, Sudetenland (now Karlovy Vary), Czech Republic.

2. Her full name is Marie Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz.
3. She is the daughter of Baron Günther Hubertus von Reibnitz and Countess Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walburga Bernadette.
4. She is of Hungarian and German descent.
5. She was born shortly before World War II ended in Europe.
6. She has two half-siblings (from his father’s first marriage)-- Friedrich von Reibnitz and Margarita von Reibnitz.
7. Her father served as Sturmbannführer (equivalent to major) for the Nazi paramilitary organization, Schutzstaffel.
8. Her parents divorced not too long after her birth.
9. After her parents’ split, she, her brother, and her mother then moved to Australia, where the countess put up a beauty salon.
10. She also resided at her father’s farm in Mozambique and Austria for some time.
11. She took History of Fine and Decorative Art at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, where she…

1. On taking the first step…
“The challenge that so many people have is not knowing how to take that first step of reaching out to another person for help.”
2. On the importance of child’s mental well-being…
“A child's mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.”
3. On how helping just one child could impact the whole humanity…
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5. On the essence of speaking out…
“We have heard time and time again in the course of our work how talking can help heal the hidden challenges we can't deal with alone.”
6. On what her parents instilled in …