Romanov sisters

When they first met he was so enchanted by her, that he secretly pressed into her hand a bracelet. She accepted it at first, but later returned it. What she didn´t return was his heart. And their story cannot be told separately.

Nicolas Alexandrovich Romanov was born on 18th of May 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo. His parents were Tsarevitch Alexander and Maria Fyodorovna, originally Princess Dagmar of Denmark. Nicolas had safe and happy childhood, which he spent mostly in Gatchina palace, and which was marked only by tragic death of his grand-father Tsar Alexander II., who died after atentat in 1881. Children in Imperial family were raised up very stricktly - in the morning they had to get up at seven, get a cold bath and eat simple food. They also didn´t sleep on soft matresses, but on hard camp beds with only thin pillows. These were customs, which later Nicolas used to raise his own children.

Nicolas was very handsome. He was of middle-height with brown hair and kind, deep blue Romanov eyes. 

Death of Alexander II. was the beggining of the rule of the last truly autocratic Tsar - Alexander III.. And Nicolas was then first in the succesion to the throne. He had different personality than his father, but always admired his strenght. Nicky, as he was reffered to in a family, was very sensitive and didn´t like to argue. He was also very hesitative and easily influenced by other people.

It was in 1884, on the wedding of Grand Duke Sergei with German Princess Elizabeth of Hesse, when Nicolas first met Elizabeth´s younger sister, who was only 12 at the time.

Her name was Victoria Alix Helena Louise Beatrice, but they called her simply Alix, Alicky or Sunny. She was born on 6th of June 1872 in a town of Darmstadt in Germany to her parents Grand Duke Louis of province Hesse and Princess Alice. Through her mother Alix was a grad-daughter to famous British Queen Victoria, and it is said she was even Victoria´s favourite grand-child. It was Victoria, who in fact raised her Hessian descendants after Princess Alice died in 1878. Because of that Alix always thought of herself more as English then German.

She was very fond of her sister Elizabeth and was immensely happy when she could go to Russia to see her wedding. During the ceremony she saw him for the first time. And he always remembered, that she was dressed  in white muslin dress and had roses in her hair. She was very beautiful: with long golden hair and blue-grey eyes. But after the wedding celebrations she had to go back home.

They met again in 1889, when Alix visited Ella in St.Petersburg and they spent a lot of time together with Nicolas, they went ice-skating and dancing, and this visit sealed their devotion and fate. However, there were many objections to their relationship. Tsar wanted his son to marry a French noblewoman, Alix was a Protestant and even Queen Victoria didn´t like her to go to Russia. It seemed their romance would stay locked only in their diaries.

"My dream is to one day marry Alix H., I have loved her for a long time, and still deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent six weeks in St. Petersburg. For a long time, I resisted my feeling that my dream will come true." (1892)

Then came the year of 1894 and a wedding of Alix´s brother Ernst. And Nicolas for the first time of his life stood  up to his father and was finally allowed to travel to Germany and propose Hessian Princess. And she, after hard fight with herself, torn between her love for Nicolas and her religion, agreed.

Sadly for Nicolas his father soon became seriously ill and eventually died on 1st of November 1894. And two young people had to postpon happiness to other time. Next day Alix officially converted to Orthodoxy and got a name under which world knows her today - Alexandra Fyodorovna.

Their wedding took place in the time of mourning, and so people were whispering, that new Tsarina came to Russia behind a coffin. On November 26th, Nicolas and Alexandra were married in Winter Palace, and for the time being they lived with Dowager Empress in Anitchkov palace, later they settled in Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

The coronation of the new Tsar and Tsarina took place in Moscow on 26th May 1896. And so the rule of Nicolas II. truly began. Alix was always by his side, helping him. Alas! They were both totally unprepared for such task, and their rule was not good for their people. And people didn´tlike to see their Tsar under an influence of German woman. And people, remembering events like Bloody Sunday and lost war with Japan, and war declared in 1914, which had been the most devastating yet, later turned against them.

Were they only common people, their life would have been calm and satisfied. When revolution and captivity came, Alexandra and Nicolas never blamed each other from anything.

They died as they lived: together, almost within a second. Death mercifully took them away, so neither of them could hear their daughters scream, nor see the executioners stabbing them to death with bayonets.

"I am yours, you are mine, of that be sure. You are locked in my heart, the little key is lost and now you must stay there forever."  Alix

"He had what we Russians usually call "a golden heart." He easily felt an attachment to people, he liked them and tried to do his best to help them, especially when it seemed to him that someone was unjustly hurt. His love, like that of his parents, was based mainly on pity." (Colonel Mordvinov)

First came Olga, then Tatiana, then Maria, then Anastasia.... After four daughters it really must have seemed a miracle to Alexandra giving birth to a boy.

Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov was born on 12th August 1904 at Peterhof and all Russians rejoiced! Finally there was an heir to the great Russian Empire, a descendant of long Romanov line!

In family he was lovingly called "Baby" and "Sunbeam" by his parents, and simply Alyosha by his sisters. His French tutor Pierre Gilliard wrote in his memoirs: "Alexei was the center of this united family, the focus of all its hopes and affections. His sisters worshipped him. He was his parents' pride and joy. When he was well, the palace was transformed. Everyone and everything in it seemed bathed in sunshine."

In resemblance he favoured his mother - he had auburn hair and grey-blue eyes. He was always mischievely handsome and tall for his age. He was also witty and capable, but lazy at the same time. Rather than learning he played tricks and pranks on others, his sister Anastasia being often his partner in crime.

Alexei was blessed with so many things, that it would seem almost impossible he could be unhappy. But in reality there was something. Since birth Alexei suffered from incurable disease which he inherited from his mother: hemophilia. Even the slightest cut, bump or bruise could cause terrible bleeding pain and could be even fatal for the boy. Because of that he wasn´t allowed to play rough games, but he also couldn´t play tennis, ride a horse or bike. He was also always under care of several sailors: two of them were Derevenko and Nagorny. First one later left the family, second was shot in jail after arrival to Ekaterinburg. It was the constant dreadful fear for Alexei´s life, that made his mother to trust Grigory Rasputin, who seemed to have magical powers over the illness, while doctors were helpless.

Like his sisters, Alexei didn´t complain during the imprisoment - he only complained he was bored. When his parents and Maria were taken to Ekaterinburg, Alexei had been hurt and he couldn´t go with them. So he stayed with three of his sisters in Tobolsk till he was better and they could join the rest of the family.

Alexei, last Tsarevich of Russian Empire, was killed several weeks before his 14th birthday. It is said that he wasn´t killed instantly, he was only hurt by the bullets, and leading executioner Yakov Yurovsky himself finished the boy with a shot to the head. Alexei´s body (together with a body of one of his sisters) was not found in the mass grave. It wasn´t until August 2007 when second grave was discovered. The remains are still in the hands of scientists, but most people agree, that they belong to lost Tsarevich and Grand Duchess.

There were many and many men, who claimed to be Alexei, but the real Tsarevich died with his family.