The Romanov Diary

Chapter three

April 23, 2020

As the class steps into the museum they are greeted by smells from the old artifacts, sounds from crowds walking around with guides and the squeaking floor. The museum is more of a beautiful castle. It's located in the countryside and the building reminds one of old knight tales. The castle's stone walls shouts of history and the golden details reflect in the sun, spreading sun cats all over the grass. The Royal Collection Trust is truly astonishing. The rooms are decorated with old paintings, carpets and the historical articles can take any visitor on a magical journey inside of their minds.

The students all receive a tag to put on their shirts and are divided into smaller groups with their own guides.

"Remember to take notes, it might be useful for you in the future" Mr. McAdams says with a smile and leaves the room with one of the groups.

Their guide is a young woman - she can't be older than 25 - and her black hair is up in a ponytail. She's tall, wears glasses and a copy of a beautiful dress, probably from the 17th century. A microphone is attached to the collar and her voice sounds from the speakers that they were assigned.

"Hello everyone! My name is Krishna and I will be your guide today!" The woman smiles and trials off into another room.

Theo leans into Milo's ear and whispers with a grin.

"The guide is at least hot."

"You're impossible" Milo laughs and gives his friend a bump on his hip.

The group starts to move into the museum and Krishna is talking about stories of medicine, music in the royal collection and paintings. She must love her job, because she tells the teenagers stories about the place and their artifacts with such empathy and joy that her eyes shine from excitement. It wouldn't be surprising if she has any experiences with acting. You could almost believe that she was there, right in the making of history. She captures the group and even Ophelia enjoys the tour.

"I really hope they've acknowledged some women in this exhibition. Did you know that women are represented in just 0,5% of recorded history? Imagine what we could learn from their time if the female icons got a place in the books." Ella looks around the room and starts to take notes from Krishna's stories.

30 minutes later they've reached the center of the building and are allowed to walk around freely to other displays. Milo, Theo, Ophelia and Ella are walking around laughing as if nothing in their surrounding is worth noticing. They enter a room with paintings all over the walls. Some are colourful, some are not. There are mostly men in the paintings, but some women are represented as well. Underneath small displays with stories about their lives hangs on the wall. Ella apparently finds one painting in particular that catches her eye, because she calls for her friends to join her side.

"Who's that?" Ophelia asks as she gets closer to the painting.

"Can't you see? It's Anne Boleyn! Wasn't she a beauty?" Ella answers dreamily.

The woman, mother to queen Elisabeth and second wife to king Henry VIII, is wearing a dark red, maybe brown, dress on the painting. Her hand holds a rose and the necklace around her neck holds the letter "B". On her head sits a crown with jewels and diamonds, covering her dark hair.

"Anne Boleyn was found guilty of incest and conspiracies against king Henry... " Ophelia reads from the display. "... and was beheaded in 1536."

"Damn, why do all royalties lose their heads somehow?" Theo shrugs, thinking of another queen that was beheaded; Marie Antoinette.

"Well, Henry wasn't exactly very charming. I believe he charged her even though she was innocent so he would have a reason to marry another woman." Ella says.