User talk:Katoufs

relevancy
By all means write an article about Princess Marie of Greece. But do not bury the information under an almost totally irrelevant title: Katoufs. -- RHaworth 19:53, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Princess Marie of Greece (1876-1940)

Princess Marie was born in Athens, Greece, on March 3, 1876, one of eight children of King George I (Danish) and Queen Olga (Russian). The royal children, Marie, Alexandra, Olga (Died at 3 months), Constantine, George, Nicholas, Andrew (Father of Prince Philip), and Christopher were given a broad education. Marie loved Greece with a passion and always considered herself a daughter in the House of the Hellenes. Upon her marriage in 1900 to Grand Duke George Mikhailovitch, she became H.I. & R.H Grand Duchess George of Russia. At Marie's request, and with the Emperor's permission, her marriage was held in Greece. Though she was to live in Russia for many years, her heart was always in Greece.

Settling in to married life, Marie and George built a palatial villa in the Crimea. Nearby was a vacation palace owned by Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra; the Czar's children, including her cousin the infamous “Anastasia,” were frequent playmates of Marie's two daughters, Nina and Xenia.

In 1914 Marie convinced her husband that she should take their daughters to Harrogate in Yorkshire, England, for the sake of Xenia's ailing health. A month after their arrival, World War I broke out and Nicholas assigned Grand Duke George to inspect troops and hospitals. Marie and her girls never returned to Russia. During those years spent in England, Marie set up hospitals, worked with the Red Cross, and did other charity work. In July of 1918 her husband was imprisoned as a member of the Imperial Family; then came the shocking news of the assassination of Nicholas and Alexandra and their five children. In February 1919, Marie received word that her husband had also been assassinated by the Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg.

Marie remained in England for seven (7) years with her daughters, and between 1918 and 1922 it is estimated that she completed work on the four (4) notebook albums that have come to be known as KATOUFS. KATOUFS is an old Greek expression that means “making a face.” Rendered in gouache (French opaque watercolors), the KATOUFS are as brilliant today as they were nearly eighty years ago. Legend has that some of these images are her playful “character interpretations” of people she met throughout her life. Whatever her inspiration and despite difficult times while raising two girls in a life of exile, Marie took the time to create and preserve this unique humorous resource.

In 1922 Marie married a Greek Admiral. They lived first in London, then primarily Rome, with many visits to Greece. Her daughters, who married at about the same time, eventually settled in the United States (Connecticut and New York). Marie traveled to the United States only once, some time in the 1930s, to visit her daughters and grandchildren. At that time it is believed the notebook albums of KATOUFS® were given to her daughter Xenia, who lived in the town of Glen Cove on Long Island, New York. Marie died December 14, 1940 and was buried amidst cypress and pine trees near her father and mother in the family cemetery at Tatoi, in her beloved Greece.

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