Nicholas and Alexandra | by HRH Prince Michael of Kent | A&E Biography | Part 1

hello i'm jack perkins welcome to biography sometime on the night of july 16th 1918 a chapter in russian history came to a violent close after 300 years in power the romanov imperial dynasty ended with the execution of tsar nicholas ii by bolshevik revolutionaries the tragedy also was the heartbreaking end to a royal love story for along with the czar his devoted wife the empress alexandra and at least three of their five children were also brutally murdered that night for nearly 75 years the soviet union kept the details of the murders under lock and key but with the lifting of the iron curtain the true story of nicholas and alexandra their lives and their deaths has finally come to light nicholas and alexandra the last tsar and zarina of russia came to power more than a hundred years ago in 1894. within 25 years they and their family were dead murdered by the bolsheviks the life and death of one of the world's most powerful dynasties has been shrouded in secrecy confused by communist propaganda only now is it possible to put together the jigsaw of the romanov tragedy an imperial family bound by blood love and politics here is a moment in history unthinkable until recently for the first time ever a british sovereign sets foot on russian soil the violent execution of nicholas and alexandre in 1918 deeply affected queen elizabeth's grandfather king george v a cousin of the czar they had close ties nicholas spent holidays in england with his english-speaking wife alexandra though born in germany alexandra was one of queen victoria's favorite grandchildren and stayed with her frequently as a child the queen's cousin his royal highness prince michael of kent is also closely related to both tsar nicholas and his wife alexandra i used to walk past this picture every day as a small child and it fascinates me it shows king george v my grandfather with tsar nicholas ii of russia with his son alex a with sergiovic it's extraordinary to see how it's very similar the cousins were of course we know that the tsar and his family were assassinated in 1918 i've always felt somewhere very close to them particularly because i have remind of blood through my grandmother who was herself a grand duchess so i've always wanted to know more about the tsar's family and what really happened to me in an archive in moscow every facet of the life of the tsar and his family was secretly preserved by the communists that archive is now open the murder of nicholas and alexandra brought to an end a love affair that had lasted all their lives the archive contains an astonishing number of letters between the tsar and sarina they wrote to each other every day that they were apart for a period of about 20 years and all the letters were numbered this one was written by the tsar and the writing paper is headed novi imperative which means the new imperial train and it's number 128 a darling beloved sweet wifey not for a second does the vision of your angelic face leave my mind and whatever i do i always think you are somewhere near me my eyes sudden moist and a lump rises in my throat all that because poor hazy is alone this letter is from her to her husband dated 1899 from peterhof and that's number 154. my own precious darling hussy dear the night was a lonely one and each time i woke up and put my hand out i touched a cold pillow instead of a dear warm hand nobody to shake and poke and bother by waking up so there's a splintered shot of the saliva's navel hat from the standout and it's the story of the tsar's son and heir stricken with an incurable disease that would help pull down the dynasty these are the daily diaries that the science arena wrote right up to the end and this is the last page of alexandra's diary and she writes at the end here played physique with nicholas and harper's ten to bed fifteen degrees three hours later alexandra was executed the communists allowed no memorial of any kind to the murdered family but at this chapel in germany their memory was kept alive this is wolfskarten the place where alex of hess later to become empress alexandra of russia spent her childhood summers with her sister ella alex and ella both married into the russian imperial family and both shared similar fates in the russian tragedy this uh this picture is all interesting because this is actually ella with grand duke surge and it was at their wedding that her sister alex first saw her future husband nicholas across the room this is an extraordinary photograph when it shows queen victoria surrounded by so many of her family this was the wedding of ernst the brother of alix and their zaliks but look who's next to our leagues the young nicholas romanov and the thing is that that was the occasion on which they got engaged very much in love the young couple had to part with this separation they began the very first of their hundreds of letters to each other alex to nicholas letter number one may the second 1894 my own precious darling i'm lying in bed but cannot go to sleep before i've written to you as speak alas we cannot no good night kiss and blessing in june 1894 after six weeks apart nicholas sailed up the thames in the imperial yacht polar star he was there to meet alex on british soil and seek the blessing of queen victoria he wrote in his diary into the arms of my beloved who looked lovely and more beautiful than ever alex's elder sister victoria who was living in england had rented this house at wharton on terms for nicholas and his bride-to-be they loved that time together so much so that the couple sent this telegram to queen victoria in nearby windsor best love from nikki and we would so much like to spend only one more day here would arrive day after tomorrow for tea nikki and alex nicholas wrote in his diary we spent the entire day together rode on the boat as a true idol then we had to go to windsor although we cannot complain her grandmother was very kind and permitted us to go out without chaperones i admit i never expected that from her the bliss of their engagement was to be short-lived when nicholas was only 26 his father czar alexander died at lavadia palace before he had even married his fiance with no experience or preparation nicholas found himself tsar of russia nicholas's diary 20th of october 1894. my god my god what a day the lord has called our adored precious deeply beloved to him my head is spinning i'm not prepared to be a czar i never wanted to become when i know nothing of the business of ruling i have no idea of even how to talk to the ministers alex was sent for their wedding hastily arranged at the winter palace only one week after the funeral nicholas's diary at 10 minutes past 12 we began the entrance into the great church where i returned a married man alexandra wrote ominously our marriage seemed to me a mere continuation of the masses for the dead with this difference but now i wore a white dress instead of black official mourning lasted over a year the coronation of the young emperor and his wife now named alexandra did not take place until the year after that uh the duke of canaldt represented his mother queen victoria at the coronation of nicholas in 1896 and this is how he described the remarkable scene to his mother if you can imagine the most magnificent pageant that you've ever seen put on the stage coupled with the most gorgeous religious ceremony you've ever seen then that will give you an idea of nikki and alex's coronation it must have been an extraordinary event queen victoria herself after always hardly a stranger to pageantry and it's interesting because from the moment of his coronation the tsar became god's representative on earth the ceremony endowed him with sole responsibility for the fate of his empire no one could take that from him an arrangement unknown in the rest of europe yeah you can see the tsar wearing the imperial russian crown at his coronation nicholas like all czars assumed the role of autocrat russia had no parliament or constitution but the absolute power that the 28 year old nicholas had inherited would not protect him from the new world of the 20th century surrey dranks of soldiers and a sea of faces there was an even greater crowd waiting at hodinka field on the outskirts of moscow waiting for the traditional coronation gifts of mugs and sweet meats in the stampede that followed 1300 people were crushed to death czar's diary may the 18th 1896 today a great sin occurred the crowd waiting for food and mugs put pressure on the structures and there was a horrendous crush i must add terribly about 1300 people were trampled an acquaintance of mine told me that he had been there when he was 12 years old and they'd had to pull him out of the crowd he'd literally had to walk on people's heads the tragedy was compounded when the zarans arena attended a sumptuous ball in their honor at the french embassy the same night they'd been recommended to go by family members who were more concerned about russia's ally france than the disaster trading this poor advice made the newly crowned couple very unpopular it was a difficult piece of protocol but the advice was surely wrong immediately after the coronation nicholas and alexandra toured europe first they visited balmoral where alexandra had a joyful reunion with queen victoria her grandmother but alexander found that in her new country the husband she loved was worshipped as a living god postcards of the day depicted nicholas as a divine figure no other monarch in europe was seen like that jesus was in heaven he was god on earth people used to say if they were real if i could just touch the jar i could just put my hand on his arm we didn't sleep the night before in order to save a place finally the sahara drove by eh everyone shouted to rob he was sitting in a carriage i think he had a reddish beard he went by and we went home he was everything you could go no further you couldn't see god but i saw all his life nicholas believed that azar he had a mystical link with his people he saw himself as their protector and savior the tsar was not much closer to the court in saint petersburg his wife the new empress spoke very little of her new language she found the sophistication and scandal of russian court life a great strain my mother happened to be made of honor she was always struck by how shy uh the episode was and how she was covered with red sort of blotches of redness on her face when she spoke to people when there was some theatrical performance the empress during their intervals sat with her friend in front of her face she literally didn't want you it would never have occurred to her to go out and talk to people she didn't even want to be seen the imperial couple withdrew from the russian court secluding themselves at sarskoya cello their new home outside st petersburg isolated and unpopular with high society alexander was sustained by her passionate love for nicholas and their fast developing family of beautiful girls 3rd of november 1895 a day i'll always remember at exactly nine o'clock we heard a baby squawk we named her olga 29th of may 1897 second happiest day at 10 am the lord blessed us with a little girl tatiana in 1899 their third daughter maria was born and in 1901 a fourth daughter anastasia but the daughters could not succeed to the throne in order to secure the romanov line the imperial family needed a son in july 1904 the long-awaited heir to the throne alexa was born but this happy event was to have tragic consequences for the house of romanov the tsar's palace alexandria was neighboring our palace of zlam and caneer peterhof which is the outskirts of petersburg and it's all said well the baby is alright fine beautiful there's a problem of bleeding at the neighbor and at that moment grandmother told me i knew then that he had hemophilia but i am absolutely certain said my grandmother that the tsar did not know hemophilia threatened the life of the young heir to the russian throne a fall could kill him internal bleeding could bring terrible pain hemophilia is not a problem that we worry about any longer in my family although it certainly used to be it was queen victoria after all who transmitted it to her son prince leopold and later daughters of queen victoria passed the disease down to the russian family and thence to the young elixir not surprisingly alexandra the carrier of the disease was devastated alexandra to nicholas september 15 1904 forgive me those horrid tears won't keep back i what anguish it was not to let others see the knife digging in one thank god here so well now in 1897 there was a census in russia the tsar like every other citizen filled in the form and when it came to describing his occupation he wrote and for his wife hazyaika which means master and mistress of the russian land that says a lot about the system there were no constitutional or legal restraints on the power of the tsar his rule was absolute the autocratic system worked like this from his study in the winter palace tsar had all the responsibility of a full-time head of state but was ill-prepared for the task of governing and unwilling to trust others at times he did not even have a personal secret the obsolete bureaucracy made his huge task impossible an autocrat was expected to run the country down to the tiniest detail the tsar would even spend time granting a divorce or a change of name to the humblest peasant petition to his most supreme most sovereign majesty emperor nicholas most merciful autocrat of all the russians a petition for divorce some time after our wedding my wife started leading a debauched life twelve years ago she got syphilis my name's fenin meaning pig is a source of constant undeserved jokes and insults thereby an obstacle to getting married so what was russia like at the turn of the century agriculture was the backbone of the tsarist economy peasants had been freed by nicholas's grandfather but they did not yet own all the land they worked their expectations were bitterly frustrated under nicholas's father factories had been built and cities were becoming industrialized but workers had no control over conditions so revolutionary theories made headway among an urban population with no rights and nowhere to express their grievances away from his family nicholas was happiest when he was with his immense armies previous tsars had been remarkably successful in extending the frontiers of the empire now nicholas was determined to defend his realm against internal threat this role was very much impressed on young recruits at propaganda classes the united st to come out against external who are the socialists and cried down securing his empire was an enormous commitment but nicholas still found time to escape to his wife and children he was very much a family man and they were his overwhelming joy every year the family took an extended cruise in the imperial yacht around the gulf of finland nicholas and alexandra were clearly deeply in love letter number 133 my alex my beloved sweet wifeykins i love you passionately god bless you and our babies letter 155 my own sweet one how i miss you those orbs lashes where are they to gaze into i love you there were always expeditions and picnics ashore with the ship's company letter nicholas to his mother 1906 in the mornings we go out in the boats with the children how much i enjoy being able to live a little while for myself another letter to his mother picnics were a great success you can judge the gayety that prevailed by the fact that your 43 year old son ran about and took part in games with young sublimitants with as much most of all nicholas and his family liked to spend time at their favorite palace levadia on the black sea it was miles away from government and dangerous revolutionaries in saint petersburg and the family felt that here they could meet their subjects nicholas felt more comfortable with religious ritual than with politics at easter when all men were deemed equal he diligently kissed each soldier from his classic regiments at lavadia easter monday the main easter greeting began at 2pm in the courtyard 920 men it ended at 3 p.m the mistress of russia was not above serving behind a stall whose proceeds went to help tb sufferers the empress asked my grandmother what would you like my grandmother replied i should be grateful for whatever your majesty gives me with my mother he was kneeling as he had something wrong with his legs he wore a sailor suit and a sailor's cat with ribbons the cause of alexei's ill health hemophilia was a state secret a sailor derevienko had the permanent task of watching over him at any moment he could fall and start bleeding through injury he looked after him very carefully like a flower they never took their eyes off him we were frightened that we'd push him or injure him that he'd fall sometimes alexa was well and insisted on playing like a normal child even then divineko would put down a carpet of hay to catch the zaryaevich when he fell the event his name was even remember his name and we took part in everything and the boy the travis adult him really loved him he enjoyed its company i think more than many other friends the imperial household knew little about hemophilia and alexei was continually bruising himself for ten years the sailor debienko carried him when he was in pain only to betray him cruelly and desert him when the bolsheviks came to power in 1917. another sailor nagorni took over the task when the imperial family were interned he was shot for that a few days before alexei's own execution in january 1905 the winter palace was the focus for an event that changed the way people thought about the czar the day would become known as bloody sunday a peaceful demonstration of factory workers with women and children had set out for the palace to appeal to the czar their petition begged him to grant civil rights nicholas had decided that it was better not to be in the palace that day the army had no training in crowd control panicked and opened fire killing over a hundred people there is no film of the awful event but this is how soviet filmmakers reconstructed the shooting afterwards nicholas's diary the 9th of january 1905 a difficult day the troops had to fire and in various places in the city many were killed and injured lord it is so painful and hard blood was answered with blood shortly afterwards grand duke serge the husband of ella alexandra's sister was assassinated by a bomb outside their palace in moscow the events seemed to confirm the family's mystical beliefs two years earlier a nun had predicted serge's death they went to visit a very very old nun who lived in a shabby shack in the wood and that old nun suddenly pointed her finger at him and said you there with the small head you have little to laugh because your head will go crack she made the gesture like that and two years later a bomb was slammed him and practically nothing of the ganjuk's head was ever found as an act of mourning ella took up holy orders for the rest of her life in july 1918 on the same night that the imperial family were executed ella was thrown headlong down a mine shaft by bolsheviks as a result of bloody sunday an unprecedented number of strikes paralyzed russia street demonstrations struck at the heart of autocratic government when we arrived at our estate in the summer of 1905 we discovered peasants not only on the boundaries but even in the park itself and they didn't take their hats off to us anymore now no meeting at one meeting a speaker said comrades in our lifetime we'll live to see these things we'll govern ourselves there will be no owners and we'll kick the landowners out another one said all right but only in 500 years time the czar was persuaded to do something an elected assembly was summoned and although the tsar retained key functions like control of the army power in russia was no longer in the hands of one man but the violence still did not stop revolutionary councils known as soviets made a brief appearance in moscow and other cities armed uprisings were ruthlessly put down by the authorities the revolutionaries often students fed off the excesses of the secret police operating here in st petersburg this organization refined by nicholas's father infiltrated the revolutionary movement one in ten students was said to be an informer the authorities clamped down on the unrest agitators were exiled to bleaker corners of the empire others were executed in january 1906 almost 400 people were executed some around the czar thought he was being too lenient your grandmother commented that the tsar wasn't hard enough on revolutionaries she did tell me that she thought that sar was too lenient sending people to siberia was practically given a passport for freedom so grandmother in fact being a montenegran where well one is used to tougher ways of dealing with those who misbehave felt that those who were should be should suffer capital punishment and the cell wouldn't do it not often enough according to grandmother underground magazine circulated pictures of the tsar surrounded by a sea of skulls the same cartoons predicted his demise radicals referred to the czar as nicholas the bloody the first cracks were beginning to appear in the imperial edifice within the imperial family itself was a secret helping to bring down the house of romanov the hemophilia of alexei the heir to the throne the constant threat to his life put strain on the judgment of both parents despairing of cures from doctors his mother's religious fervor became extreme her bedroom contained 800 icons beyond the health of her son little else appeared to matter at alexandra's instigation a cathedral was built on the grounds at sarskoya cello there she prayed to god for help me tsar's diary november the 1st 1905. we've got no man of god alexandra's prayers were answered through grigori rasputin thought to be a holy man with mysterious healing powers he was introduced into the household to help the sick alexei rasputin's strange powers probably came down to his ability to relax and reduce the level of stress in those around him on one occasion he appeared to heal the boy when he was ill simply by sending a telegram god has gazed on your tears and accepted your prayers be not sad your son will live the tsar's sister witnessed the effect of rasputin's presence i could not believe my eyes rasputin had not even touched the child but merely stood at the foot of bed and prayed soon rasputin became a confidant of alexandra she relied on him when alexei was ill that mother for her life has been blamed she and her sister for having introduced rasputin to the czar but they didn't introduce a corrupt monk they introduced a simple peasant from beyond the mountains who spoke plain language to the powerful at his house in saint petersburg rasputin used a direct approach in his dealings with women too away from the imperial family he embarked on wild orgies the saint petersburg secret police kept regular watch on his apartment and recorded this january the 29th maria gill the wife of a captain in the 145th regiment slept at rasputin's about 1am rasputin brought an unknown woman to the house she spent the night with him but the actress slept at rasputins changing character rasputin would hurry to this house at the gates of the palace at sarscoya cello when summoned by the empress rumors largely unfounded that rasputin was having affairs within the court even with alexandre began to circulate around saint petersburg importantly rasputin because of his healing powers began to have increasing influence on alexandre the tsar few people saw nicholas any longer as a benign father czar a confused public unaware of the seriousness of the heirs illness simply couldn't understand the importance of rasputin to the tsar and zarina order had been restored in the wake of 1905 but much of the frustration that had provoked the turmoil had not been properly addressed the ground was fertile for revolution in 1913 a group of professional revolutionaries swore an oath at baku sentencing desire to death mikhail medvedev's father was one of the authors of the proclamation five years later his father would kill the tsar and his family in this proclamation the baku revolutionaries concluded that the romanov dynasty should be wiped from the face of the earth the outbreak of the first world war and a wave of patriotism which began at the winter palace saved the troubled imperial family for the time being nicholas's diary july 1914 a good day in the sense of an upsurge of spirit direct to the winter palace signed the declaration of war from the malachite room we went into george's hall the entire hall sang save us lord and many years then we went out onto the balcony in alexander square and bowed to the enormous mass of people the disastrous conduct of the war would mean that within three years the divine ruler of russia would be forced to abdicate a revolution would begin that would alter the course of world history with the imperial family murdered and the dynasty destroyed in 1913 nicholas and alexandra celebrated 300 years of czarist rule by the house of romanov it was a triumphant anniversary the romanovs it seemed would reign in russia forever how strange it is to think that after this extraordinary outpouring of support and affection for the couple the romanov dynasty had ended five years to run all through the celebrations a cossack soldier carried alexei the heir to the throne who was ill with hemophilia a four-month tour of russia began with a tumultuous welcome for the imperial family at the river town of costroma birthplace of the romanov dynasty my father was weeping like everyone around us everyone was so moved he said to me look here is our tsar here is our zarina here is our air our future the four daughters of the imperial couple were also at the celebrations suddenly grown into beautiful young women what struck me was their wonderful big hats with ostrich feathers which fluttered as they bowed to the people there was a giant standing there or so it seems me holding the air to the throne alexay in a sailor's uniform the first world war really triggered the downfall of the romanov dynasty in 1914 russia had the mightiest army in the world but it was ill-prepared for the bloody battles that play ahead and another soldier was boarding a train for the war also leaving behind an anxious wife letter alexandra to nicholas september 20th 1914 oh my love it was hard bidding you goodbye and seeing that lonely pale face with big sad eyes at the wagon window my heart cried out take me with you by 1914 alexandra the empress had aged visibly from the shy young bride of 20 years earlier the ever-present threat to her son's life hemophilia had broken her physically and emotionally with the outbreak of war the empress established a hospital at the palace at sarcoia cello alexandra had her two eldest daughters olga and tatyana trained as nurses and threw themselves into the war effort letters alexandra to nicholas november 20th 1914. this morning we were present at our first big amputation her arm was cut off i washed and cleaned and painted with iodine and smeared with vaseline and bandaged all up november 25th 1914 during an operation a soldier died we all behaved well none lost their heads and the girlies were brave they had never seen a death he died in a minute how near death always is it was while they were nursing at the hospital that both olga and tatyana fell in love with a wounded young officer dmitry malamar they loved him very much they thought of him as one of their the empress wrote to the tsar about dimitri says one must say what a nice son-in-law in the first five months of the war the russian army lost one million men killed wounded taken prisoner in 1915 a disaster shortage of munitions led to crushing defeats the germans would be shooting at us and our artillery would just stand there in silence nicholas decided to take charge he appointed himself commander-in-chief of the russian army and moved to the front to boost morale the tsar took a risk with alexei's health and brought him to headquarters soon the heir to the throne was seen everywhere these are postcards from alexa at the front to his mother 3rd of november 1916 it's time i was sent by pay i beseech you and he signs it loving and love your corporal alexey romanov and in december of that year he begins to write as if he was embarrassed which roughly translates off noshing and then to the flicks alex provided a distraction for the exhausted tsar i got the impression that the tsar's face was full of suffering it was so yellow tortured in another letter to alexandra i say prayers with him every night he says his prayers too fast i read your letters aloud to him he listens lying in bed and kisses your signature inevitably lxa fell ill the emperor of all russia responsible for his country's fortunes in war was up at night tending a sick boy letter nicholas to alexandra baby has hurt his left arm he slept very restlessly kept on sitting up in bed groaning calling for you and talking to me this went on till 4am and in another letter the little one is suffering from a strained vein in the upper part of his right leg during the night he kept on waking and groaned in his sleep desperate letters came back from alexandra take care of baby's arm don't let him run about in the train so as not to knock his arms finally for his own safety the heir to the throne was sent home is oh me

Channel: The Romanov Royal Martyrs

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Keywords: romanovs, romanov, romanov royal martyrs, Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, Royal Family, Romanov execution, Romanov dynasty, Romanov trailer, Romanov family, Romanoffs, Helen Rappaport, Four sisters, Last Tsar, Ekaterinburg, Olga Shirnina, Anastasia Romanov, Alexandra Feodrovna, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Royalty, British Royalty, romanov family today, romanov family death, romanov coronation, romanov sisters, romanov jewels, romanov saints, romanov book, National Geographic

Id: PwPbfWlb9Sg

Length: 49min 49sec (2989 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 09 2020