Olga et Rita

Favorite Photographs of Grand Duchess Olga 

Smiling Olga with one of her best friends and lady-in-waiting, Margarita “Rita” Sergeevna Khitrovo, taken during the First World War. Like Olga, Rita was born in 1895 and served as a Red Cross nurse during the war. Rita was a graduate of the Smolny Institute, which was famous for being the first educational establishment for women and continued to function under the personal patronage of the Russian Empress until just before the 1917 revolution. After the war, Rita was accused of plotting a monarchist coup but was released for lack of evidence. She emigrated, eventually settling in the United States, and died in 1952.