Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (1882–1960) was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II. Her father died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. At 19 she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg; their marriage was unconsummated and was annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess served as an army nurse at the front and was awarded a medal for personal gallantry. At the downfall of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution of 1917, she fled to the Crimea with her husband and children, where they lived under the threat of assassination. After her brother and his family were shot by revolutionaries, she and her family escaped to Denmark in February 1920. In exile, she was often sought out by Romanov impostors who claimed to be her dead relatives. In 1948, feeling threatened by Joseph Stalin's regime, she emigrated with her immediate family to Ontario, Canada.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Olga_Alexandrovna_of_Russia
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
France and the United States signed the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, establishing military and commercial ties respectively between the two nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_(United_States%E2%80%93France)
1819:
British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a trading post for the British East India Company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_modern_Singapore
1840:
The British and the Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi, considered as the founding document of New Zealand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi
1958:
The aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team crashed while attempting to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany, killing 8 players and 15 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster
1987:
Mary Gaudron was appointed as the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gaudron
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
haka: A group dance of New Zealand's Maori people featuring rhythmic chanting, vigorous facial and arm movements, and foot stamping. Traditionally a war dance, today it is also performed to welcome guests, as a mark of respect at occasions such as commemorations and funerals, as a challenge to opposing teams at sports events, and for artistic purposes. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haka
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. --Ronald Reagan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan