Tale Eleven

This is Olga Irenova Bulganin, who came to live in Belleville during the 1890s with her husband, merchant Anatoly Bulganin.

In her youth, when her name was Olga Irenova Goraya, she was companion to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She moved to England in 1875 when Maria Alexandrovna married Queen Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred. It was rumoured that Olga became romantically involved with his brother, Edward, Prince of Wales.

This hand-tinted photograph was taken in London in around 1875 by photographers Hills and Saunders, well known for their portraits of members of the royal family.