Sophie Buxhoeveden

Sophie Freiin von Buxhoeveden (Russian: София Карловна Буксгевден, romanized: Sofiya Karlovna Buksgevden; September 18 [O.S. September 6] 1883 – November 26, 1956), also known as Baroness Sophie Buxdoeveden, was a Russian lady-in-waiting of Baltic German descent in service to Empress Alexandra of Russia. She was the author of three memoirs about the imperial family and about her own escape from Russia.

In her book Before the Storm, Sophie describes a side of old Russia seldom seen elsewhere, a family in the old-fashioned provincial country life of the gentry in the years before the revolution. As a child, Sophie shared picnics and mushroom hunts with other famous players in the story such as Anna Vyrubova, Felix Yussupov, Dmitri Pavlovich and the sons of poet Konstantin Romanov.