Introduction
Lili Dehn was a close friend of Empress Alexandra, Queen Victoria’s grand-daughter and consort of Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire. In March 1917, the new Communist powers forced the Emperor to abdicate and confined Lili and the royal family to the Alexander Palace. It was not long before Alexander Kerensky of the ‘Provisional Government’ ordered Lili and Alix’s disabled friend Anna to leave.
ANOTHER imperative summons told us that the moment of parting was at hand. I put on my hat, and we left ‘Orchie’s room’;* the Emperor and the Empress walked on either side of me, and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana followed us. I had never imagined in the ‘happy’ days that it would ever be my lot to traverse this corridor with a breaking heart, or under such conditions. For ten years I had received nothing but affection from the Imperial Family — I had watched the children grow up, I had been their playmate and their friend — now I had to leave them in hostile and menacing surroundings
Russia had already deprived them of their Imperial state, their possessions and their liberty: surely she might not have deprived them of their friends!
We walked slowly towards the head of the great staircase ... the moment for saying farewell had arrived ... I tried to be brave ... the silence was unbroken save by Tatiana’s stifled sobbing.
Dehn says in a footnote: “‘Orchie’ was a pet name for Miss Orchard, the Empress’s old governess, who had died at the Palace. Her room had been left undisturbed since her death.” Mrs Mary Ann Orchard (1830-1906) was originally from Dublin, and had been in service with Queen Victoria.