The Romanovs

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

  Training for tsar: childishness: ND 24 January 1894, hide and seek like little children. Preparations for rule: Nicky helping with English in letters to Queen Victoria: GARF 642.1.709.19–22, AIII to Minny, 12 May 1884. ND 17 December 1893: went to Council of State, wormed out of Committee of Ministers; 17 January 1894, visited regiment and Council of State; at Papa’s request read report from defence minister; 24 January 1894 read papers of Siberian Committee. Nicky’s fun upbringing with his father, games with donkeys: Bing 28, Nicky to Minny, 15 May 1884. Alexander II’s calm: Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, 16. Meeting with Alix: ND 27 May 1884; 19 November 1884.

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  Alix. Golden hair/look: Anna Vyrubova, Memories of the Russian Court, (henceforth Vyrubova) 3. Queen Victoria, your very loving, grateful and dutiful child: LP 28, Alix to Victoria, 26 December 1893; 52 my sweet Alicky, watch over her, Alix’s nerves, 22 April 1894; 64 Alix’s nerves, treatment, her father’s death, anxiety over brother, Victoria to Nicky, 25 May 1894. Benckendorff on Alexandra, ‘a will of iron linked to not much brain and no knowledge’, Lieven, NII 227. Pierre Gilliard, Thirteen Years at the Russian Court (henceforth Gilliard) 16. Alexandra – Ernest of Hesse on her strength, need for superior will to bridle, tsar an angel but doesn’t know how to treat her: Naryshkin 204. Meets Nicky, mentions in ND: 27 May 1884; 19 November 1884; 31 January 1889 to 27 February 1889 on Alix’s visit 1889.

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  World tour: Oye 15–23. Minny’s advice and anxiety about Georgy illness, Nicky behaviour, assassination attempt: Bing 43, Minny to Nicky on Georgy illness; 46 Minny to Nicky, 16 January 1891, 59, ‘Papa and I at the end of our strength; second time God’s saved you, like Borki’, Minny to Nicky, 6 May 1891. Hall 144–7. NII. Sandro 189. World tour: Oye 219. Willy’s views of sex on tour, and hidden jewels: Röhl 1.125.

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  ND: talked about marriage with Papa, ‘my dream to marry Alix’; only obstacle religion; Eddy withdrawn, 21 December 1891; Minny hints about Hélène, daughter of comte de Paris, 29 January 1892; two loves coexist, Alix and K, 29 January 1892; once loved Princess Olga Dolgorukaya, ND 1 April 1892; permission to start finding out about Alix, 10 January 1893. Ella to Nicky on prayers in Jerusalem: LP, Ella to Nicky, 19 June 1889. Ella role in romance: Ella 150–3, 174–6. Minny on Nicky–Alix romance: Hall 150–3. Nicky and Little K: Dancer 23–44. Little K: ND, dashed to see my MK, 29 January 1893; London wedding no attractive women, 18 June 1893; round ball on legs, Queen Victoria, 19 June; everyone finds great resemblance between me and Georgy, 20 June. Alix cannot be untrue to faith: LP 24, Alix to Xenia, 8 November 1893; 25 Alix to Nicky, can’t do it against conscience. Sergei and Ella as intermediaries: Sergei’s diary, GARF 648.1.29:286, 9 October 1893; 290, 13 October 1893; total reprimand from Sergei, to Nicky, GARF 601.1.1340.81–2, 14 October 1893; Alix invites Nicky – Grand Duchess Ella to Nicky – GARF 601.1.1253.42, 18 October 1893. Everything is over: ND 18 November 1893. LP 26, Nicky to Alix, 17 December 1893, the depth of our religion. Looks: Vyrubova, 3. Nicky social life in Guards, four-day binge: ND 26 November 1893; parties at Vorontsovs’, Trubetskois’, card games, macao with Uncle Alexei; 12 January 1894, Uncle Vladimir to club, tipsy; 24 January, hide and seek like little children; 26 January, best ladies at Montebello party; 27 February, dancing for nine hours with Sandro; 8 March, soirée at Aunt Miechen’s, seventy gypsies, fun and chatted to Pototsky; 25 March, to gypsies with Sandro and Konstantin Konstantinovich (KR). Hide-and-seek: Polovstov, Dnevnik 26 January 1894. Nicky’s life in the Guards: Zaionchkovsky 2.20. Nicky delight in Guards life: LP 13, Nicky to Alix, 23 May 1889. Childishness: ND 24 January 1894. Attends ministers: ND 17 December 1893,; 17 January 1894, v regiment and Council of State; 24 January 1894, Siberian Committee. Alexander’s first illness: ND 17 January 1894. Departure for Coburg: ND 2 April 1894. LP 36, KR diary, 3 April 1894 – Minny advises ask Queen Victoria. Coburg: ND 5 April 1894, Alix sad, arrival of Victoria in pomp, talked for hours; 6 April, Willy arrives; 7 April, wedding; 8 April, wonderful day, my betrothal; 9–15 April, reactions, excitement, tea with Victoria. LP 40, Nicky to Minny, 10 April 1894; 42 Minny to Nicky, 10 April; Minny to Nicky, 14 April; AIII to Nicky, 14 April; 50 all my life belonged to you, Nicky to Alix, 20 April; 52 my sweet Alicky, watch over her most anxiously, Alix’s nerves, ‘I am the only person answerable for her’, an orphan, no one but me, your devoted Grandmama, 22 April; 61 Victoria as old belly woman, Nicky to Georgy, 9 May; 61 Alix in Harrogate/public/bathchair, Alix to Nicky and Nicky to Alix, 10, 13, 16 May; 64 Alix’s nerves, treatment, her father’s death, anxiety over brother etc., Queen Victoria to Nicky, 25 May; 65 Alix on ‘new position’, Alix to Victoria, 28 May. Bing 73: Minny’s delight, 10 April 1894; Nicky’s account of engagement, Nicky to Minny, 10 April. Nicky in England, locked in lavatory: ND 14 June 1894; Sandringham ND 17, 26 June, with Bertie, Franz Ferdinand, Empress Eugénie. Part of English family, too hot, in tailcoat: LP 72, Nicky to Georgie, 29 June 1894. Jewish horsedealers, Hirsch at Sandringham: Bing 84, Nicky to Minny, June 1894. LP 75, Alix to Nicky, 10 July 1894, passion burning; 81 Nicky to Alix, 22 July, you’ve got me entirely. Little K anon letters to Alix: Dancer 44–5; and K’s new protectors Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich 66–83. Nicky confession and Alix forgiveness: ND 8 July 1894. Wedding of Xenia and Sandro: Olga 45–6. LP 61, Nicky to Georgy, 9 May 1894 improper kissing; Georgy to Nicky, 9 June, sexy gymnastics of Xenia and Sandro. Sandro wedding: Sandro 150–4. Hall 150–3.

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  Bing 86, Papa tired and insomnia on cruise on yacht Tsarevna, Minny to Nicky, 27 June 1894; after illness starts, Cherevin drinking: Zaionchkovsky 2.19. Illness: ND 11 August and 15 September 1894. LP 84–9, Nicky to Alix, 11 August 1894; 11 September, enchantress, I’m gelatine; 15 September, to Livadia. Alix comment and Alexander death: ND 10–20 October 1894. Olga 47–8, inc. Nicky unhappy at burden; wedding to Alix 48. Sandro 190. Charlotte Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, 146–7. Ella on the death scene to Queen Victoria: Ella 178. Minny’s breakdown: Hall 155–64. Accession Nicholas II: ND 20–30 October 1894. Olga 47–8. Death of Colossus and Nicky’s crisis: Sandro 190–1. Arrangements of funeral, role of prince of Wales: Hall 164–7.

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  ND 20 October–1 November. On Yanishev asking AIII re preparation of heir: KR, 7 December 1894. Greg King, The Court of the Last Tsar: Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II (henceforth King) 325–42; Olga Alexandrovna quotes.

  SCENE 4: MASTER OF THE LAND

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  ND 1, 2, 3 November 1894. Black face of AIII: KR 3 November 1894. This account of the funeral is based on King 325–42. Too little of Alix: ND 1, 2, 36, 7 November 1894. KR on funeral: 7 November.

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  ND, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17 November 1894. LP 104, Duke of York to Queen Victoria, 16 November 1894; 100 Georgy to Nicky, 9 November, missing wedding; 108 Nicky to Georgy, 19 November, strength not to break down. KR 15 November 1894. King 343–57.

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  New life starts: Nicky to Georgie 19 November – LP 114. KR 10 November 1894, on better to sacrifice one uncle; 14 November 1894 on uncles try to influence; Minny aggrieved; 15 November 1894, wedding and sacrifice; N overloaded with work; in his study 18 November. Nicky ‘gentle, dwarfed by giant’ uncles: Marie of Romania 2.65. Uncles: Sandro 155–160 and 194–5. No real secretariat/chancellery: Lieven NII 11–121. Sealing envelopes/distrust of secretaries: Mossolov, 10–12.

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  ND 17 January 1895, senseless dreams. ‘Father never once mentioned responsibilities that awaited him’ and AIII’s comment to Yanishev: KR 7 December 1894. Sergei vs Vorontsov on coronation and threat to resign: Naryshkin 146.

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  Nicky’s daily life, micro–managing, horse and carriage for Alix: GARF 553.1.6.5, NII to Benckendorff, 1896; Easter eggs GARF 553.1.6.47, NII to Benckendorff, 20 March 1915. Love life, whistle: Vyrubova 4; Alexandra to Countess Rantzau quoted 12; unable to order cakes 27; Court, black Nubian Guards: this is based on the research of Penny Wilson – see http://forum.alexanderpalace.o
rg/index.php?topic=348.0;wap2. Joseph T. Fuhrman (ed.), The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra (henceforth F): we make one, F 41, Alexandra (A) to Nicholas (N), 17 November 1914; thanks for happiness/life as riddle, F 300, A to N, 12 November 1915; nicknames Lovebird etc., F 55, A to N, 26 November 1914; I want you so, Madame B, F 447, N to A, 8 April 1916; Oh Pussy, F 450, A to N, 10 April 1916; F 424, I kiss with tenderness/your shyness, A to N, 26 March 1916; ‘tell boysy that lady’, F 374, A to N, 1 February 1916; your sweet lips, F 373, A to N, 13 January 1916; F 380, girly kisses, A to N, 4 February 1916; F 366, ‘burn with impatience to see’, A to N, 13 January 1916; couldn’t have endured burden without you, my shyness, F 339, N to A, 31 December 1915; always doing it, F 324, A to N, 12 December 1915; F 506, Boysy hops, 16 June 1916. Interior decoration: GARF 553.1.6.4, NII to Benckendorf, 1895. Alix pregnant? KR 11 December 1894.

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  ND 25, 26, 27 November 1894; 28 September 1895, on mauve room sofa; 1 January 1896, ceremonials; 28 March 1896, Easter kissing 1600. KR 14 November 1896, on Vladimir vs Minny. Coronation preparations: GARF 644.1.204.97–8, Sergei to Pavel, 15 April 1894. Sergei vs Vorontsov on coronation and threat to resign: Naryshkin 146. Immersed in preparations, discussion with Nicholas over details of coronation ceremonies: GARF 601.1.1340.114, Nicholas to Sergei, undated. LP 108, Nicky to Georgy, 19 November 1894; 120 Willy to Nicky, 14 September and 13 October 1894; 124 Nicky to Georgy, 18 December 1895; 130 Ella to Nicky, 20 April 1896. Sandro 195 on uncles.

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  Koronatsionnye torzhestva, 89. KR 8, 9 14 necklace broke, May 1895; 18 May, bodies seen by KR’s brother Dmitri; 29 May, blames Sergei, photograph; 29 May, Pahlen appointment and Sergei threat. LP 138–9, Xenia diary, 18, 19 May; Olga memoirs; 144–5 Nicky to Georgy, 29 July 1896; Georgy to Nicky, 5 August 1896. ND 9, 17, 18 May 1896. Sandro 191–4: coronation, warning about Khodynka, the Montebello ball. Jewels dropped in ceremony, 3,000 dead, findings of Pahlen: S. L. Seeger (ed.), Alexander Izvolsky, Recollections of a Foreign Minister: The Memoirs of Alexander Izvolsky (henceforth Izvolsky) 69–70. Joyless Alix: Marie Roumania 2.65–79. Coronation, Zizi becomes lady-in-waiting, Khodynka, Sergei vs Vorontsov on coronation and threat to resign, wagons of corpses: Naryshkin 146–50. Hall 181–2. King 357–88. Nicky’s view of tsar and God, dangerous to stop halfway/my terrible responsibility before my Maker: Bing 166, Nicky to Minny, 20 October 1902. Court officials/statistics: King 97–109.

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  Nicky on family vs national diplomacy: LP 145, Nicky to Victoria, 10 October 1896. Ottoman crisis: Geyer 192. Byrnes 131. Witte 186–7. Sean McMeekin, The Russian Origins of the First World War (henceforth McMeekin) 144. Far Eastern policy 1894– 1900: Geyer 187–205. Oye 5–15; world tour 15–23; Nicky’s vision 49–53; Witte’s pénétration pacifique 61–81. Germany: Röhl 1.749–60, 929–31; Kiaochow 954–61. Kaiser visit: Bing 128–9, Nicky to Minny, 23 July and 1 August 1897. Railway, Chinese Eastern Railway and annexation of Port Arthur: Witte 82–104. Eastern policy: Lobanov-Rostovsky, French mistress, Jewish books: Dominic Lieven, Russia’s Rulers under the Old Regime (henceforth Lieven, RR) 198–9. Alexandra’s personality: correspondence with Queen Victoria quoted in Figes, PT 26–8. Marie of Romania 2. 67. Death of Lobanov on train: Naryshkin 152. Priggish Alix and Hamlet: Beech 2.119. Silver Age: Bruce Lincoln, In War’s Dark Shadow, 349–88.

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  Oye on Kuropatkin 86–91; Kaiser and Far East 146–58. Izvolsky 70 on Muraviev sycophancy. Bing 137, Nicky to Minny, 18 March 1898. Witte to Alexander III on Russian domination of Asia: Geoffrey Hosking, Russia and the Russians 329.

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  Oye on Ukhtomsky 42–59; on Kuropatkin and warning to Nicholas 86–97. Alexei Kuropatkin, Dnevnik generala A. N. Kuropatkina (henceforth Kuropatkin), 7 April 1898 and 22 September 1899.

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  LP 172, Georgy to Nicky, 15 June 1899; Georgy funeral 176 – Xenia diary, 14 July 1899. ND 14 June 1899. KR 14 June 1899.

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  Oye on Boxers 159–71; Manchuria 172–86; Lamsdorf 167; Manchuria, Korea, comments to Prince Heinrich of Prussia 182–5. Bing 137–4, Nicky to Minny on Port Arthur, 18 March 1898; Beijing, 11 August 1900; Boer War, 9 November 1900; taking Mukden, 23 September 1900. Witte 107–14 on Nicholas’s thirst for conquest, Kuropatkin seizing Manchuria, Kuropatkin flightiness, courtier charms empress. Believe in myself: Meshchersky Letters, Nicky to Meshchersky, 28 February 1903. Geyer 206–12. 100 per cent Byzantine, Witte quoted in Figes, PT 21.

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  Illness in Livadia: Witte 194–5. LP, Xenia diary, 26 October to 13 November 1900. Alix inadequacy in politics: Mosolov 1.32–4. Birth of Anastasia: ND 5 June 1900. KR 6 June 1900. LP 189,; death of Queen Victoria and Nicky to Edward VII, 22 May 1901. Moscow enchantment: LP 181, Nicky to Xenia, 5 April 1900. Meetings with Philippe’Our Friend’: ND 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21 July. LP 193, Alix on Mr P, ‘one comfort to me’, 27 August 1900; 194 interor ministry police report on Philippe. Bing 144: such ecstasy, Nicky to Minny, 5 April 1900. Vyrubova: definition of communion with God and prophets but dislike of table-tipping and spiritualism 67–9. Witte 195–204: craze of occultism, Montenegrins nurse Alix, rise of Philippe. Supernatural faith of Nikolai Nikolaevich (Nikolasha) quote by his chaplain Father Georgi Shavelskii in Robinson 14 and known as Terrible Uncle (Diadia Groznyi) 3. Bond of religious ecstasy and links between Montenegrins and Alexandra: Naryshkina 163; Dr Philippe’s prophecy of Far East 174.

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  B. A. Romanov, Ocherki diplomaticheskoi istorii Russko–Iaponskoi voiny 1895–1907 111–12. Oye on Bezobrazov 187–95 and quotes on bayonets and treaties 199. Braggart, half–mad adventurer, Nicky liked fantastic schemes: Izvolsky 71. On Nicholas’s ambitions in East: Kuropatkin, 16 February 1903; on Bezobrazov, 24 July 1903; Nicholas on Bezobrazov as inspiration and policy correction, 19 August 1903. Geyer 206–19. Dr Philippe’s Far East policy: Naryshkin 174.

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  Nicholas on Russia as landed estate – Master of the Land in census 1897: ‘Khozyain Zemli Russkoy/Khozyayka Zemli Russkoy’: GARF 601.1.2.2, 28 January 1897. Sipiagin: Wortman 350–4; the balls 353–4. Sipiagin and Tsar Alexei, banquets, frivolity: Izvolsky 70. Sipiagin ‘deep wound in my heart’, Nicky feeling strong: Meshchersky Letters, 2 and 5 April 1902, Nicky to Meshchersky. LP 200 on Sipiagin killing, Ella to Nicky, 3 April 1902. Police limitations and Zubatov proposals, Daly 1.124–7. KR 20, 22, 25 August 1902. Baku working class/Stalin and Trotsky quotes in Montefiore, Young Stalin 66, 196. Working class, highest death rates in Petersburg, excrement, cholera: Figes, PT 108–13. Zubatov’s new police methods: Daly 1.72–123.

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  GARF 586.1.950.2, NII to Plehve, 7 April 1902; I’m not a fan . . . smug, arrogant scoundrel, GARF 586.1.950.9, NII to Plehve, 8 July 1902; crack down suddenly and hard, GARF 586.1.950.11, NII to Plehve, 1 January 1904. Sandro 199: Pobedonostsev recommends scoundrel Plehve. Plehve and pogroms: Ruud 235–6; Azev and Plehve 125–51; too clever 152–8. Witte 380–1: Plehve, leading spirit of anti Jewish policy. Plehve on danger of Jews to Kireev quoted in Lieven, RR 343. Plehve changing beliefs: Alexander III quoted in Zaionchkovsky 85–6. Plehve promotes Zubatov to Petersburg: Daly 1.124–38; 138–9 pogrom. Lenin and Chernyshevsky, quoted in Figes, PT 131.

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  LP 202–10: removal of Philippe, Alix to Nicky, 23 July 1902, on Ella warning and lie about remedy; Xenia letter, 19 August 1902 on Minny warns Nicky and 20 August 1902 on pregnancy and 31 August 1902 on power of suggestion; 209 Nicky to Alix, 1 September 1902, naughty; Alix to Nicky, 3 September 1902, sweet eyes; 211 Nicky to Minny, 20 October 1902; Minny to Nicky, 23 October 1902, on Grand Duke Paul marriage. Naryshkin 170–1. Bing 168–70, Nicky to Minny, 20 October 1902 (LP 211). On Misha: LP 227.

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  Sandro ‘last spectacular ball in the empire’ 235–6. King 405–18.

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  Daly 1.140–8. John Röhl, Wilhelm II: Into the Abyss of War and Exile, 1900–1941 (henceforth Röhl 2) 176–85: Reval meeting. Useful war
, Kuropatkin 206: war to avoid revolution, 11 December 1903; 85 Nicholas distrusts ministers, 28 November 1903; 115 tsar is right, better understands glory than ministers, 16 February 1903; 141 tsar would trust me better if not a minister, that’s true, 4 August 1903.

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  St Seraphim: LP 203, Alexandra to Nicholas, 23 July 1902, on Alexandra ordering Pobedonostsev to canonize Seraphim. ND 17, 18, 19 July 1903. Japan: Oye 172–95: Geyer 187–205. KR 5 September 1903. Sandro 201: Nicholas dismisses Witte who tells Sandro: ‘Oriental full blooded Byzantine’; Kuropatkin Japanese army ‘joke’ 237–8. Helen Rappaport, Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses (henceforth Rappaport): attitude of imperial children to Japanese 72. Plehve’s Odessa strikes, multiplying opposition, fall of Zubatov: Daly 1.140–8. Kuropatkin on Plehve’s methods and coming bloodshed and dissatisfaction, 24 July 1903. War: Sandro, warning to N 239–40. Kaiser encourages war against Japan: Röhl 2.188–9; meeting Wiesbaden 264–70.

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  Crackdown GARF 586.1.950.11, NII to Plehve, 1 January 1904. Revolution gathering, war coming: Sandro 237. NII as ruler: Lieven, NII 106, ‘agree with everyone’, Pobedonostsev; 109 Plehve on nature of autocracy to Kuropatkin; 136 Princess Svyatopolk-Mirsky on NII: most false man in the world. Witte: fullblooded Byzantine – Sandro 201. Witte 179, 189. Zaionchkovsky 2.19–21, half-boy half-man. Polovstov, Dnevnik 26 January 1892. LP 67: ‘You don’t know how sly I can be,’ Nicky to Alix, 2 June 1894. Lieven, NII 28–43 Marie Romania – imperial mist 2.327.