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A Reference to Princess Anastasia Romanov in John Gardner's Scorpius (1988)?

DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
edited May 2016 in Literary 007 Posts: 18,281
I just wanted to ask members here their thoughts on the real meaning of the following passage from Chapter 6 ('Two of a Kind') of John Gardner's Scorpius (1988):

"The bulk of the dossier was old material which Bond had read many times before - the scant details of one shadowy man's life. Vladimir Scorpius, thought to have been born in Cyprus of a wealthy Greek business and a renegade white Russian - possibly Evdokia, daughter of the mysterious Prince and Princess Talanov who, with their daughter, had escaped the Bolshevik Revolution in strange, and almost unbelievable circumstances.” [John Gardner, Scorpius, (Guild Publishing, London, 1988, p. 46)]

Now what I was wondering in regard to this paragraph from Scorpius was whether this was a sort of veiled reference to the then unknown fate of Princess Anastasia Romanov in the 1917 Russian Revolution, who was said to have survived the killers of the Tsar and Tsarina and the rest of her immediate family in 1917.

Here is the Wikipedia page of the Princess Anastasia for more information on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikolaevna_of_Russia

Was it a veiled reference to Princess Anastasia Romanov. The Talanovs seem to be fictitious and perhaps Gardner did not want to reference real events as being part of the background of the fictitious main villain Vladimir Scorpius?

So what do we think?

Comments

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Can anyone help me out and shed some light on this for me?

    Thanks in advance! :)
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 5,994
    Well, many were the noblemen who had escaped the Russian Revolution during the twenties and thirties. So many that it had become a trope in the plays and movies of the times. You can see them in Roberta (the Fred Astaire movie) or Tovarich, for example. So no, no direct references, just something that had been very common at one time.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Thanks for your thoughts on this subject @Gerard. I'm probably just reading too much into things; one of my failings!
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited May 2016 Posts: 9,117
    I think you are mate. It's a bit tenuous to say the least.

    And, given Gardner had Bond meeting Thatcher, Bush and Gorby in Win, Lose or Die, if his intention was that she was Anastasia why not mention the Romanovs directly?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2016 Posts: 18,281
    TheWizardOfIce wrote: »
    I think you are mate. It's a bit tenuous to say the least.

    And, given Gardner had Bond meeting Thatcher, Bush and Gorby in Win, Lose or Die, if his intention was that she was Anastasia why not mention the Romanovs directly?

    I know, I'm writing something on Scorpius as a title at the moment that should be my next blog article later on this month and I wanted to ask others their thoughts on this bit. I guess it was all just invention on Gardner's part then and nothing more. To be honest I had remembered it as actually being Princess Anastasia but on looking back at the section again recently I discovered my memory was mistaken! :)
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Didn't Fleming hint at. Tatiana Romanova's family having a connection to
    The Russian Royal Family in FRWL?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    Didn't Fleming hint at. Tatiana Romanova's family having a connection to
    The Russian Royal Family in FRWL?

    Yes, I think you're right but I'd have to read FRWL again. They certainly had very similar surnames anyhow!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Am I alone in also thinking that Vladimir Scorpius and his yacht Vladem I was inspired by the private motor yacht Christina O once owned by the real-life billionaire shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis? Interestingly, he was also buried in the Island of Skorpios Cemetery!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Not an official Bond movie, but the yacht in NSNA was a loan from. The billionaire
    A Khashoggi .
    Also from an old Columbo we all know the difference between a yacht and a yawl ;)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    Not an official Bond movie, but the yacht in NSNA was a loan from. The billionaire
    A Khashoggi .
    Also from an old Columbo we all know the difference between a yacht and a yawl ;)
    Thanks, I didn't know that, TP.

    And yes, Columbo learned a lot about the maritime industry in the atypical episode 'Last Salute to the Commodore'! :D
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I'm itching to be able to bring out that little nugget of infomation, if I'm in a harbour
    or marina. :D
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    I know, we learn so much extraneous information in that strange (but hilarious) episode of Columbo!
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