Most of the Russian tsars of the great Romanov dynasty lived relatively short life. The last Russian Emperor Nicholas II is no exception. Martyrdom- is far from the only secret of the royal family. What other amazing facts does history keep about the Romanovs?

Direct descendant of the Romanov dynasty

Nicholas II is a descendant of the great Romanov dynasty, which dates back to 1613. She remained in power for 304 years until the February Revolution of 1917.

Nikolai had titles since birth. He accepted the throne in 1894 in Crimea after the death of his father Alexandra III. His predecessor died in a terrorist attack organized by the populists. Three weeks after ascending the throne, he married Alexandra Feodorovna. Since during this period there was still mourning for the departed father, the honeymoon passed in the atmosphere of funeral services.

Not many people know that amazing fact that the sovereign was like two peas in a pod like his cousin on his mother’s side. In adolescence, “George” and “Nicky” were confused even by close relatives. The “double” was destined to become English king George V.

Nicholas II, like his eminent ancestors, loved to travel. For trips around Russia, his family had at its disposal the yacht “Standard” and two trains. He was one of the first in Russia to appreciate such a new “thing” as a car. Nikolai drove the car personally and had a sizable fleet of vehicles.

Before the February Revolution of 1917, the ruling Romanov dynasty was one of the richest families in Europe. Works of art that decorated the imperial court were created by the best masters of those times. To give the jewelry national characteristics, court jewelers complemented them with double-headed eagles and golden ears of corn. Chests with relics of the Russian crown were first preserved within the walls of the St. Petersburg Winter Palace. With the outbreak of the First World War, they were transported to the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. Now they can be found in museums in Russia and private collections around the world.

Achievements of the Russian Tsar

Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov ruled the state for 23 years. A man known for his religiosity, he was actively involved in economics and foreign policy. During the reign from 1890 to 1913, thanks to competent leadership, the country's GDP grew 4 times. During the global economic crisis, which lasted from 1911 to 1912, unlike other countries, the economy of the Russian Empire was at its peak. At the beginning of the 20th century Royal Russia was rightfully considered the absolute leader who “fed half of Europe.”

During the reign of Nicholas II, the population grew by 40%, reaching 50 million people. Moreover, along with natural growth, people were able to increase general level welfare.

Nicholas became the first global peacemaker. With his input, a program for an international convention regarding the general limitation of weapons was developed. The king introduced military reform, according to which the service life was reduced and the living conditions of sailors and soldiers were improved. During the First World War, he without hesitation took command of the Russian army and gave a worthy rebuff to Germany.

The great sovereign himself was a very educated man, who owned 5 foreign languages and well versed in military affairs, economics and world history. Through his efforts, the program for introducing universal education came into force in 1908, thanks to which elementary education became publicly available and free.

At the expense of funds created by the Tsar in different corners The Russian Empire organized 140 thousand schools. As a result, by 1916 the number of literate people in the state was 85%. On the eve of the revolution, over 100 universities were already functioning in the country.

Life of the royal family

He met his future wife Alexandra Fedorovna in May 1884 at the wedding of Elizaveta Fedorovna. Having married for love, the couple managed to maintain a reverent relationship with each other until their death. Many people know that the family raised five children: daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia and son Alexei.

Few people know the amazing fact about the Romanovs that, in addition to their children, the couple raised the offspring of their uncle Pavel Alexandrovich - Maria and Dmitry. The adopted children called the emperor and his wife “mom and dad.” As fate would have it, it would be Dmitry in the future, together with Yusupov, who would kill the famous Rasputin, for which he would go into exile. Having passed all the tests, he will subsequently escape to Europe, where he will even have time to start an affair with the inimitable Coco Chanel.

In order to maintain the strictness of upbringing, the life of the imperial family was not pompous. The daughters were accommodated two to a room. The young ladies slept on folding army beds, each of which was crowned with an inscription with the name of the owner. Near the beds there were small bedside tables and a sofa. The walls were decorated with numerous photographs, for which the king had a weakness, and icons.

As in ordinary families, younger sisters I had to wear out the clothes of my elders. With the weekly pocket money, the girls could spoil each other with inexpensive gifts.

Parents paid great attention to their children's education. At the age of 8 they began to learn the Law of God, reading, arithmetic and penmanship. A little later, the program was expanded by adding 4 languages: Russian, French, English and German. Also, without fail, girls mastered the rules of etiquette, playing musical instruments, science and dance.

Family relationships were built on mutual love and respect. According to the recollections of contemporaries, the palette of children’s feelings for their father was so wide that it included almost religious worship and the most cordial friendship.

Favorite of the Russian Emperor

The life of the imperial family was darkened by the incurable illness of the heir. But her parents were forced to hide their experiences, since her character was a state secret. Realizing that traditional medicine was powerless in this situation, the empress pinned her hopes only on a miraculous healing.

One of those people who was able to alleviate the suffering of the young crown prince was the holy elder Rasputin. Spiritual mentor, martyr, spy, sorcerer... They called the layman whatever they called him. Only one thing is clear - he was an extraordinary person.

Researchers believe that the elder helped relieve Alexei’s painful attacks and reduce bleeding using hypnotic techniques. By instilling the idea of ​​improving the boy’s condition, Rasputin helped overcome the crisis and thereby calm both the sufferer and his family.

Blindly believing in the “visions” and the unearthly gift of the man who alleviated the suffering of her son, the empress began to consult him on many issues. state issues. Contemporaries noted that people appointed to government positions were forced to go through the “Rasputin filter.” The family's spiritual mentor greatly influenced even strategic decisions during the First World War. This fueled passions in society and caused general rejection.

Attempts by members of the royal family to influence the ruling couple were unsuccessful. Therefore, starting in 1914, several attempts were organized on Rasputin’s life. It was possible to achieve the desired goal only in 1916.

Last days of reign

The widespread claim that Nikolai Alexandrovich abdicated the throne is nothing more than a myth. The surviving manifesto about the renunciation and will of the army to obey the Provisional Government was found to be fake. Although the great sovereign had the opportunity to escape with his family abroad, he remained true to his idea, for which he died.

On April 30, 1917, along with his family and some servants, the Tsar was transported to the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg. For more than two months, the family had to huddle in four rooms, two of which were reserved for the restroom and dining room. The Red Army soldiers did not stand on ceremony with them. Food was given out in minimal portions.

Throughout this time, the top Soviet leadership decided how to destroy the “remnants of the tsarist regime”: publicly try the sovereign or immediately shoot him. The sentence was carried into effect on the night of July 17, 1918. A family with children was shot in the basement of the house. The youngest son, Alexei, was only 14 years old at that time.

The bodies of the murdered were loaded into a truck and taken to the forest, where they doused them with acid and hastily burned them. Information that the whole family died along with the king, for a long time was kept secret. The official version: the wife and children were exiled to a safe place. True information was made public only several years later. This misinformation contributed to rumors that some family members managed to escape. Some pretended to be the “miracle surviving” children of Nicholas II intentionally, others on the basis mental disorders. According to the most conservative estimates, over the century since the tragedy, the number of impostors has exceeded two hundred.

Romanovs today

The remains of the Romanov family, found in July 1991 under the embankment of the old Koptyakovskaya road, were identified and carefully studied by scientists. The researchers were most interested in DNA. Many years of research led to the conclusion that the genes of the sovereign's youngest son Alexei contained mutations that led to hemophilia. This was manifested in the Tsarevich by frequent hemorrhages in the organs, which could be provoked by ordinary bruises. Mother Anna Fedorovna and sister Anastasia were also carriers of the hemophilia gene. But this gene did not manifest itself in the female line.

On July 17, 1998, the remains of members of the imperial family were buried in St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

In 1917, the new government failed to find and destroy all the Romanov representatives. The house of the great family numbered 65 people. Those who were abroad during this period were able to avoid a sad fate. Today, 4 branches of “survivors” are officially recognized. These are all male descendants of the sons of Nicholas I:

• The Alexandrovichs are descendants of Alexander II; among the living representatives are the brothers Dmitry and Mikhail Pavlovich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky.
• Nikolaevich - the female line still exists, but the male line, represented by brothers Nikolai and Dmitry Romanovich, was interrupted in 2017.
• Kirillovich - Prince Nikolai Kirillovich, princes Yuryevsky. Among the living representatives of the branch is Maria Vladimirovna, head of the Russian imperial house, and her son Georgy Mikhailovich born in 1981.
• Mikhailovichs - this branch includes all the other living Romanov men. The youngest male representative was born in 2013.

Most of them live in the USA and Western European countries. They are united in the “House of Romanov”. The descendants of the branch of Alexander II can lay claim to the Russian throne. It is the “Kirillovichs” who are recognized as dynasties of European monarchs.

History, like a corrupt girl, falls under every new “king”. So, the modern history of our country has been rewritten many times. “Responsible” and “unbiased” historians rewrote biographies and changed the fates of people in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods.

But today access to many archives is open. Only conscience is the key. What gets to people bit by bit does not leave those who live in Russia indifferent. Those who want to be proud of their country and raise their children as patriots of their native land.

In Russia, historians are a dime a dozen. If you throw a stone, you will almost always hit one of them. But only 14 years have passed, and no one can establish the real history of the last century.

Modern henchmen of Miller and Baer are robbing the Russians in all directions. Either they will start Maslenitsa in February by mocking Russian traditions, or they will put an outright criminal under the Nobel Prize.

And then we wonder: why is this in a country with the richest resources and cultural heritage, such poor people?

Abdication of Nicholas II

Emperor Nicholas II did not abdicate the Throne. This act is “fake”. It was compiled and printed on a typewriter by the Quartermaster General of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief A.S. Lukomsky and the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the General Staff N.I. Basili.

This printed text was signed on March 2, 1917, not by Sovereign Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov, but by the Minister of the Imperial Court, Adjutant General, Baron Boris Fredericks.

After 4 days, the Orthodox Tsar Nicholas II was betrayed by the top of the Russian Orthodox Church, misleading all of Russia by the fact that, seeing this false act, the clergy passed it off as real. And they telegraphed it to the entire Empire and beyond its borders that the Tsar had abdicated the Throne!

On March 6, 1917, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church heard two reports. The first is the act of “abdication” of the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II for himself and for his son from the Throne of the Russian State, which took place on March 2, 1917. Supreme power. The second is the act of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich’s refusal to accept the Supreme Power, which took place on March 3, 1917.

After the hearing, pending determination of Constituent Assembly way of government and new fundamental laws of the Russian State, ORDERED:

« Take note of the above acts and implement them and announce them in all Orthodox churches, in urban areas - on the first day after receiving the text of these acts, and in rural areas - on the first Sunday or holiday, after Divine Liturgy, with the performance of a prayer to the Lord God for the pacification of passions, with the proclamation of many years to the God-protected Russian Power and its Blessed Provisional Government».

And although the top generals of the Russian Army were mostly Jews, the middle officer corps and several senior ranks of the generals, such as Fyodor Arturovich Keller, did not believe this fake and decided to go to the rescue of the Tsar.

From that moment on, the split in the Army began, which turned into a Civil War!

The priesthood and the entire Russian society split.

But the Rothschilds achieved the main thing - they removed Her Lawful Sovereign from governing the country, and began to finish off Russia.

After the revolution, all the bishops and priests who betrayed the Tsar suffered death or dispersion throughout the world for perjury before the Orthodox Tsar.

To the Chairman of the V.Ch.K. No. 13666/2 comrade. Dzerzhinsky F.E. INSTRUCTION: “In accordance with the decision of the V.Ts.I.K. and the Council of People's Commissars, it is necessary to put an end to priests and religion as quickly as possible. Popovs should be arrested as counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs, and shot mercilessly and everywhere. And as much as possible. Churches are subject to closure. The temple premises should be sealed and turned into warehouses.

Chairman V. Ts. I. K. Kalinin, Chairman of the Council. adv. Commissars Ulyanov /Lenin/.”

Murder simulation

There is a lot of information about the Sovereign’s stay with his family in prison and exile, about his stay in Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg, and it is quite truthful.

Was there an execution? Or perhaps it was staged? Was it possible to escape or be taken out of Ipatiev’s house?

It turns out yes!

There was a factory nearby. In 1905, the owner, in case of capture by revolutionaries, dug an underground passage to it. When Yeltsin destroyed the house, after the decision of the Politburo, the bulldozer fell into a tunnel that no one knew about.

Thanks to Stalin and the intelligence officers of the General Staff, the Royal Family was taken to various Russian provinces, with the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius (Nevsky).

On July 22, 1918, Evgenia Popel received the keys to the empty house and sent her husband, N.N. Ipatiev, a telegram in the village of Nikolskoye about the possibility of returning to the city.

In connection with the offensive of the White Guard Army, the evacuation of Soviet institutions was underway in Yekaterinburg. Documents, property and valuables were exported, including those of the Romanov family (!).

Strong excitement spread among the officers when it became known in what condition the Ipatiev house, where the Royal Family lived, was located. Those who were free from service went to the house, everyone wanted to take an active part in clarifying the question: “Where are They?”

Some inspected the house, breaking open the boarded up doors; others sorted out the lying things and papers; still others raked out the ashes from the furnaces. The fourth ones scoured the yard and garden, looking into all the basements and cellars. Everyone acted independently, not trusting each other and trying to find an answer to the question that worried everyone.

While the officers were inspecting the rooms, people who came to profit took away a lot of abandoned property, which was later found at the bazaar and flea markets.

The head of the garrison, Major General Golitsin, appointed a special commission of officers, mainly cadets of the Academy General Staff, chaired by Colonel Sherekhovsky. Which was tasked with dealing with the finds in the Ganina Yama area: local peasants, raking out recent fire pits, found burnt items from the Tsar’s wardrobe, including a cross with precious stones.

Captain Malinovsky received an order to explore the area of ​​​​Ganina Yama. July 30, taking with him Sheremetyevsky, an investigator for important matters Ekaterinburg District Court A.P. Nametkin, several officers, the Heir's doctor - V.N. Derevenko and the Sovereign's servant - T.I. Chemodurova, went there.

Thus began the investigation into the disappearance of Sovereign Nicholas II, the Empress, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses.

Malinovsky's commission lasted about a week. But it was she who determined the area of ​​all subsequent investigative actions in Yekaterinburg and its environs. It was she who found witnesses to the cordon of the Koptyakovskaya road around Ganina Yama by the Red Army. I found those who saw a suspicious convoy that passed from Yekaterinburg into the cordon and back. I obtained evidence of the destruction there, in the fires near the mines of the Tsar's things.

After the entire staff of officers went to Koptyaki, Sherekhovsky divided the team into two parts. One, headed by Malinovsky, examined Ipatiev’s house, the other, led by Lieutenant Sheremetyevsky, began inspecting Ganina Yama.

When inspecting Ipatiev’s house, the officers of Malinovsky’s group managed to establish almost all the basic facts within a week, which the investigation later relied on.

A year after the investigations, Malinovsky, in June 1919, testified to Sokolov: “As a result of my work on the case, I developed the conviction that the August Family is alive... all the facts that I observed during the investigation are a simulation of murder.”

At the scene

On July 28, A.P. Nametkin was invited to the headquarters, and from the military authorities, since civil power had not yet been formed, he was asked to investigate the case of the Royal Family. After this, we began to inspect the Ipatiev House. Doctor Derevenko and old man Chemodurov were invited to participate in the identification of things; Professor of the Academy of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Medvedev, took part as an expert.

On July 30, Alexey Pavlovich Nametkin participated in the inspection of the mine and fires near Ganina Yama. After the inspection, the Koptyakovsky peasant handed over to Captain Politkovsky a huge diamond, which Chemodurov, who was there, recognized as a jewel belonging to Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Nametkin, inspecting Ipatiev’s house from August 2 to 8, had at his disposal publications of resolutions of the Urals Council and the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which reported on the execution of Nicholas II.

An inspection of the building, traces of gunshots and signs of spilled blood confirmed known fact- possible death of people in this house.

As for the other results of the inspection of Ipatiev’s house, they left the impression of the unexpected disappearance of its inhabitants.

On August 5, 6, 7, 8, Nametkin continued to inspect Ipatiev’s house and described the state of the rooms where Nikolai Alexandrovich, Alexandra Feodorovna, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses were kept. During the examination, I found many small things that, according to the valet T.I. Chemodurov and the Heir's doctor V.N. Derevenko, belonged to members of the Royal Family.

Being an experienced investigator, Nametkin, after examining the scene of the incident, stated that a mock execution took place in the Ipatiev House, and that not a single member of the Royal Family was shot there.

He repeated his data officially in Omsk, where he gave interviews on this topic to foreign, mainly American correspondents. Stating that he had evidence that the Royal Family was not killed on the night of July 16-17 and was going to publish these documents soon.

But he was forced to hand over the investigation.

War with investigators

On August 7, 1918, a meeting of the branches of the Yekaterinburg District Court was held, where, unexpectedly for prosecutor Kutuzov, contrary to agreements with the chairman of the court Glasson, the Yekaterinburg District Court, by a majority vote, decided to transfer the “case of the murder of the former Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II” to court member Ivan Aleksandrovich Sergeev .

After the case was transferred, the house where he rented the premises was burned down, which led to the destruction of Nametkin’s investigative archive.

The main difference in the work of a detective at the scene of an incident lies in what is not in the laws and textbooks to plan further actions for each of the significant circumstances discovered. What is harmful about replacing them is that with the departure of the previous investigator, his plan to unravel the tangle of mysteries disappears.

On August 13, A.P. Nametkin handed over the case to I.A. Sergeev on 26 numbered sheets. And after the capture of Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks, Nametkin was shot.

Sergeev was aware of the complexity of the upcoming investigation.

He understood that the main thing was to find the bodies of the dead. After all, in criminology there is a strict attitude: “no corpse, no murder.” They had great expectations for the expedition to Ganina Yama, where they very carefully searched the area and pumped out water from the mines. But... they found only a severed finger and a prosthetic upper jaw. True, a “corpse” was also recovered, but it was the corpse of a dog Grand Duchess Anastasia.

In addition, there are witnesses who saw the former Empress and her children in Perm.

Doctor Derevenko, who treated the Heir, like Botkin, who accompanied the Royal Family in Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg, testifies over and over again that the unidentified corpses delivered to him are not the Tsar and not the Heir, since the Tsar must have a mark on his head / skull / from the blow of the Japanese sabers in 1891

The clergy also knew about the liberation of the Royal Family: Patriarch St. Tikhon.

Life of the royal family after “death”

In the KGB of the USSR, on the basis of the 2nd Main Directorate, there was a special officer. department that monitored all movements of the Royal Family and their descendants across the territory of the USSR. Whether someone likes it or not, this will have to be taken into account, and, therefore, Russia’s future policy will have to be reconsidered.

Daughters Olga (lived under the name Natalia) and Tatyana were in Diveyevo Monastery, disguised as nuns and sang in the choir of the Trinity Church. From there, Tatyana moved to the Krasnodar Territory, got married and lived in the Apsheronsky and Mostovsky districts. She was buried on September 21, 1992 in the village of Solenom, Mostovsky district.

Olga, through Uzbekistan, left for Afghanistan with the Emir of Bukhara, Seyid Alim Khan (1880 - 1944). From there - to Finland to Vyrubova. Since 1956, she lived in Vyritsa under the name of Natalya Mikhailovna Evstigneeva, where she rested in Bose on January 16, 1976 (11/15/2011 from the grave of V.K. Olga, Her fragrant relics were partially stolen by one demoniac, but were returned to Kazan Temple).

On October 6, 2012, her remaining relics were removed from the grave in the cemetery, added to those stolen and reburied near the Kazan Church.

The daughters of Nicholas II Maria and Anastasia (lived as Alexandra Nikolaevna Tugareva) were in the Glinsk Hermitage for some time. Then Anastasia moved to the Volgograd (Stalingrad) region and got married on the Tugarev farm in the Novoanninsky district. From there she moved to the station. Panfilovo, where she was buried on June 27, 1980. And her husband Vasily Evlampievich Peregudov died defending Stalingrad in January 1943. Maria moved to the Nizhny Novgorod region in the village of Arefino and was buried there on May 27, 1954.

Metropolitan John of Ladoga (Snychev, d. 1995) looked after Anastasia’s daughter Julia in Samara, and together with Archimandrite John (Maslov, d. 1991) looked after Tsarevich Alexei. Archpriest Vasily (Shvets, died 2011) looked after his daughter Olga (Natalia). The son of the youngest daughter of Nicholas II - Anastasia - Mikhail Vasilyevich Peregudov (1924 - 2001), coming from the front, worked as an architect, according to his design a railway station was built in Stalingrad-Volgograd!

The brother of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, was also able to escape from Perm right under the nose of the Cheka. At first he lived in Belogorye, and then moved to Vyritsa, where he rested in Bose in 1948.

Until 1927, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna stayed at the Tsar’s dacha (Vvedensky Skete of the Seraphim Ponetaevsky Monastery, Nizhny Novgorod Region). And at the same time she visited Kyiv, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sukhumi. Alexandra Feodorovna took the name Ksenia (in honor of St. Ksenia Grigorievna of Petersburg /Petrova 1732 - 1803/).

In 1899, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna wrote a prophetic poem:

“In the solitude and silence of the monastery,

Where guardian angels fly,

Far from temptation and sin

She lives, whom everyone considers dead.

Everyone thinks she already lives

In the Divine celestial sphere.

She steps outside the walls of the monastery,

Submissive to your increased faith!”

The Empress met with Stalin, who told Her the following: “Live quietly in the city of Starobelsk, but there is no need to interfere in politics.”

Stalin's patronage saved the Tsarina when local security officers opened criminal cases against her.

Regular requests were received from France and Japan in the name of the Queen. Money transfers. The Empress received them and donated them to four kindergartens. This was confirmed by the former manager of the Starobelsky branch of the State Bank, Ruf Leontyevich Shpilev, and the chief accountant Klokolov.

The Empress did handicrafts, making blouses and scarves, and she was sent straws from Japan to make hats. All this was done on orders from local fashionistas.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

In 1931, the Tsarina appeared at the Starobelsky Okrot Department of the GPU and stated that she had 185,000 marks in her account in the Berlin Reichsbank, as well as $300,000 in the Chicago Bank. She allegedly wants to put all these funds at the disposal of the Soviet government, provided that it provides for her old age.

The Empress’s statement was forwarded to the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR, which instructed the so-called “Credit Bureau” to negotiate with foreign countries about receiving these deposits!

In 1942, Starobelsk was occupied, the Empress on the same day was invited to breakfast with Colonel General Kleist, who invited her to move to Berlin, to which the Empress replied with dignity: “I am Russian and I want to die in my homeland.” Then she was offered to choose any house in the city that she wanted: it was not suitable, they say, for such a person to huddle in a cramped dugout. But she refused that too.

The only thing the Queen agreed to was to use the services of German doctors. True, the city commandant still ordered to install a sign at the Empress’s home with the inscription in Russian and German: “Do not disturb Her Majesty.”

Which she was very happy about, because in her dugout behind the screen there were... wounded Soviet tankers.

The German medicine was very useful. The tankers managed to get out, and they safely crossed the front line. Taking advantage of the favor of the authorities, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna saved many prisoners of war and local residents who were threatened with reprisals.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, under the name of Xenia, lived in the city of Starobelsk, Lugansk region, from 1927 until her death in 1948. She took monastic tonsure in the name of Alexandra at the Starobelsky Holy Trinity Monastery.

Kosygin - Tsarevich Alexei

Tsarevich Alexei - became Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (1904 - 1980). Twice Hero of Social. Labor (1964, 1974). Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru. In 1935, he graduated from the Leningrad Textile Institute. In 1938, head. department Leningrad Regional Committee party, chairman of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council.

Wife Klavdiya Andreevna Krivosheina (1908 - 1967) - niece of A. A. Kuznetsov. Daughter Lyudmila (1928 - 1990) was married to Jermen Mikhailovich Gvishiani (1928 - 2003). Son of Mikhail Maksimovich Gvishiani (1905 - 1966) since 1928 in the State Political Directorate of Internal Affairs of Georgia. In 1937-38 deputy Chairman of the Tbilisi City Executive Committee. In 1938, 1st deputy. People's Commissar of the NKVD of Georgia. In 1938 - 1950 beginning UNKVDUNKGBUMGB Primorsky Krai. In 1950 - 1953 beginning UMGB Kuibyshev region. Grandsons Tatyana and Alexey.

The Kosygin family was friends with the families of the writer Sholokhov, composer Khachaturian, and rocket designer Chelomey.

In 1940 - 1960 - deputy prev Council of People's Commissars - Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1941 - deputy. prev Council for the evacuation of industry to the eastern regions of the USSR. From January to July 1942 - authorized State Committee defense in besieged Leningrad. Participated in the evacuation of the population and industrial enterprises and property of Tsarskoye Selo. The Tsarevich walked around Ladoga on the yacht “Standard” and knew the surroundings of the Lake well, so he organized the “Road of Life” across the Lake to supply the city.

Alexey Nikolaevich created an electronics center in Zelenograd, but enemies in the Politburo did not allow him to bring this idea to fruition. And today Russia is forced to purchase household appliances and computers from all over the world.

The Sverdlovsk Region produced everything: from strategic missiles to bacteriological weapons, and was filled with underground cities hiding under the indices “Sverdlovsk-42”, and there were more than two hundred such “Sverdlovsks”.

He helped Palestine as Israel expanded its borders at the expense of Arab lands.

He implemented projects for the development of gas and oil fields in Siberia.

But the Jews, members of the Politburo, made the main line of the budget the export of crude oil and gas - instead of the export of processed products, as Kosygin (Romanov) wanted.

In 1949, during the promotion of G. M. Malenkov’s “Leningrad Affair,” Kosygin miraculously survived. During the investigation, Mikoyan, deputy. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, “organized Kosygin’s long trip around Siberia, due to the need to strengthen cooperation activities and improve matters with the procurement of agricultural products.” Stalin agreed on this business trip with Mikoyan on time, because he was poisoned and from the beginning of August to the end of December 1950 lay in his dacha, miraculously remaining alive!

When addressing Alexei, Stalin affectionately called him “Kosyga”, since he was his nephew. Sometimes Stalin called him Tsarevich in front of everyone.

In the 60s Tsarevich Alexei, realizing the ineffectiveness of the existing system, proposed a transition from social economics to real economics. Keep records of sold, and not manufactured, products as the main indicator of the efficiency of enterprises, etc. Alexey Nikolaevich Romanov normalized relations between the USSR and China during the conflict on the island. Damansky, meeting at the airport in Beijing with the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai.

Alexey Nikolaevich visited the Venevsky Monastery Tula region and communicated with nun Anna, who was in touch with the entire Royal family. He even once gave her a diamond ring for clear predictions. And shortly before his death he came to her, and she told him that He would die on December 18!

The death of Tsarevich Alexei coincided with the birthday of L.I. Brezhnev on December 18, 1980, and during these days the country did not know that Kosygin had died.

The ashes of the Tsarevich have been resting in the Kremlin wall since December 24, 1980!

There was no memorial service for the August Family

Until 1927, the Royal Family met on the stones of St. Seraphim of Sarov, next to the Tsar’s dacha, on the territory of the Vvedensky Skete of the Seraphim-Ponetaevsky Monastery. Now all that remains of the Skete is the former baptismal sanctuary. It was closed in 1927 by the NKVD. This was preceded by general searches, after which all the nuns were relocated to different monasteries in Arzamas and Ponetaevka. And icons, jewelry, bells and other property were taken to Moscow.

In the 20s - 30s. Nicholas II stayed in Diveevo at st. Arzamasskaya, 16, in the house of Alexandra Ivanovna Grashkina - schemanun Dominica (1906 - 2009).

Stalin built a dacha in Sukhumi next to the dacha of the Royal Family and came there to meet with the Emperor and his cousin Nicholas II.

In the uniform of an officer, Nicholas II visited Stalin in the Kremlin, as confirmed by General Vatov (d. 2004), who served in Stalin’s guard.

Marshal Mannerheim, having become the President of Finland, immediately withdrew from the war, as he secretly communicated with the Emperor. And in Mannerheim’s office there hung a portrait of Nicholas II. Confessor of the Royal Family since 1912, Fr. Alexey (Kibardin, 1882 - 1964), living in Vyritsa, cared for a woman who arrived there from Finland in 1956 as a permanent resident. the Tsar's eldest daughter, Olga.

In Sofia after the revolution, in the building of the Holy Synod on St. Alexander Nevsky Square, the confessor of the Highest Family, Vladyka Feofan (Bistrov), lived.

Vladyka never served a memorial service for the August Family and told his cell attendant that the Royal Family was alive! And even in April 1931 he went to Paris to meet with Tsar Nicholas II and the people who freed the Royal Family from captivity. Bishop Theophan also said that over time the Romanov Family would be restored, but through the female line.

Expertise

Head Department of Biology of the Ural Medical Academy Oleg Makeev said: “Genetic examination after 90 years is not only complicated due to the changes that have occurred in bone tissue, but also cannot give an absolute result even if it is carried out carefully. The methodology used in the studies already conducted is still not recognized as evidence by any court in the world.”

The foreign expert commission to investigate the fate of the Royal Family, created in 1989, chaired by Pyotr Nikolaevich Koltypin-Vallovsky, ordered a study by scientists from Stanford University and received data on the DNA discrepancy between the “Ekaterinburg remains”.

The commission provided for DNA analysis a fragment of the finger of V.K. St. Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova, whose relics are kept in the Jerusalem Church of Mary Magdalene.

« The sisters and their children should have identical mitochondrial DNA, but the results of the analysis of the remains of Elizaveta Fedorovna do not correspond to the previously published DNA of the alleged remains of Alexandra Fedorovna and her daughters,” was the conclusion of the scientists.

The experiment was carried out by an international team of scientists led by Dr. Alec Knight, a molecular taxonomist from Stanford University, with the participation of geneticists from Eastern Michigan University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, with the participation of Dr. Lev Zhivotovsky, an employee of the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

After the death of an organism, the DNA begins to quickly decompose (cut) into pieces, and the more time passes, the more these parts are shortened. After 80 years, without creating special conditions, DNA segments longer than 200 - 300 nucleotides are not preserved. And in 1994, during analysis, a segment of 1.223 nucleotides was isolated».

Thus, Pyotr Koltypin-Vallovskoy emphasized: “ Geneticists again refuted the results of an examination carried out in 1994 in a British laboratory, on the basis of which it was concluded that the “Ekaterinburg remains” belonged to Tsar Nicholas II and his Family.».

Japanese scientists presented the Moscow Patriarchate with the results of their research regarding the “Ekaterinburg remains”.

On December 7, 2004, in the MP building, Bishop Alexander of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow Diocese, met with Dr. Tatsuo Nagai. Doctor biological sciences, Professor, Director of the Department of Forensic and Scientific Medicine, Kitazato University (Japan). Since 1987, he has been working at Kitazato University, is vice-dean of the Joint School of Medical Sciences, director and professor of the Department of Clinical Hematology and the Department of Forensic Medicine. Published 372 scientific works and made 150 presentations at international medical conferences in various countries. Member of the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

He identified the mitochondrial DNA of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. During the assassination attempt on Tsarevich Nicholas II in Japan in 1891, his handkerchief remained there and was applied to the wound. It turned out that the DNA structures from the cuts in 1998 in the first case differ from the DNA structure in both the second and third cases. Led by Dr. Nagai research group took a sample of dried sweat from the clothes of Nicholas II, stored in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, and performed a mitochondrial analysis of it.

In addition, mitochondrial DNA analysis was performed on hair, lower jaw bone and nails. thumb V.K. Georgiy Alexandrovich, buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, younger brother Nicholas II. He compared DNA from bone cuts buried in 1998 in the Peter and Paul Fortress with blood samples from Emperor Nicholas II’s own nephew Tikhon Nikolaevich, as well as with samples of the sweat and blood of Tsar Nicholas II himself.

Dr. Nagai's conclusions: "We obtained different results from those obtained by Drs. Peter Gill and Dr. Pavel Ivanov in five respects."

Glorification of the King

Sobchak (Finkelstein, d. 2000), while mayor of St. Petersburg, committed a monstrous crime - he issued death certificates for Nicholas II and his family members to Leonida Georgievna. He issued certificates in 1996 - without even waiting for the conclusions of Nemtsov’s “official commission”.

The “protection of the rights and legitimate interests” of the “imperial house” in Russia began in 1995 by the late Leonida Georgievna, who, on behalf of her daughter, the “head of the Russian imperial house,” applied for state registration of the deaths of members of the Imperial House killed in 1918 - 1919. , and issuing death certificates."

On December 1, 2005, an application was submitted to the Prosecutor General's Office for the “rehabilitation of Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family.” This application was submitted on behalf of “Princess” Maria Vladimirovna by her lawyer G. Yu. Lukyanov, who replaced Sobchak in this post.

The glorification of the Royal Family, although it took place under Ridiger (Alexy II) at the Council of Bishops, was just a cover for the “consecration” of the Temple of Solomon.

After all, the king can only be glorified among the Saints Local Council. Because the King is the exponent of the Spirit of the entire people, and not just the Priesthood. That is why the decision of the Council of Bishops in 2000 must be approved by the Local Council.

According to ancient canons, God’s saints can be glorified after healing from various ailments occurs at their graves. After this, it is checked how this or that ascetic lived. If he lived righteous life, which means healing comes from God. If not, then such healings are performed by the Demon, and they will later turn into new diseases.

In order to be convinced from your own experience, you need to go to the grave of Emperor Nicholas II, in Nizhny Novgorod at the Red Etna cemetery, where he was buried on December 26, 1958.

The funeral service and burial of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II was performed by the famous Nizhny Novgorod elder and priest Gregory (Dolbunov, d. 1996).

Whoever the Lord grants to go to the grave and be healed will be able to see it from his own experience.

The transfer of His relics is yet to take place at the federal level.

Sergey Zhelenkov

At one in the morning on July 17, 1918, the former Russian Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, their five children and four servants, including a doctor, were taken to the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg, where they were detained, where they were brutally shot by the Bolsheviks and subsequently burned bodies.

The terrible scene continues to haunt us to this day, and their remains, which lay for most of a century in unmarked graves, the location of which only the Soviet leadership knew, are still surrounded by an aura of mystery. In 1979, enthusiastic historians discovered the remains of some members of the royal family, and in 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, their identity was confirmed using DNA analysis.

The remains of two more royal children, Alexei and Maria, were discovered in 2007 and subjected to similar analysis. However, the Russian Orthodox Church questioned the results of the DNA tests. The remains of Alexei and Maria were not buried, but were transferred to a scientific institution. They were analyzed again in 2015.

Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore recounts these events in detail in his book 'The Romanovs, 1613-1618', published in this year. El Confidencial already wrote about it. In Town & Country magazine, the author recalls that last fall the official investigation into the murder of the royal family was resumed, and the remains of the Tsar and Tsarina were exhumed. This gave rise to conflicting statements from the government and Church representatives, once again raising questions this question into the public spotlight.

According to Sebag, Nicholas was good-looking, and his apparent weakness hid a powerful man who despised the ruling class, a fierce anti-Semite who did not doubt his sacred right to power. She and Alexandra married for love, which was a rare occurrence back then. She brought in family life paranoid thinking, mystical fanaticism (just remember Rasputin) and another danger - hemophilia, which was passed on to her son, the heir to the throne.

Wounds

In 1998, the reburial of the remains of the Romanovs took place in a solemn official ceremony designed to heal the wounds of Russia's past.

President Yeltsin said that political change should never again be carried out by force. Many Orthodox Christians again expressed their opposition and perceived the event as an attempt by the president to impose a liberal agenda in the former USSR.

In 2000, the Orthodox Church canonized royal family, as a result of which the relics of its members became a shrine, and according to statements of its representatives, it was necessary to carry out their reliable identification.

When Yeltsin left his post and nominated the unknown Vladimir Putin, a KGB lieutenant colonel who considered the collapse of the USSR “the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century,” the young leader began to concentrate power in his hands, put up barriers to foreign influence, and help strengthen Orthodox faith and pursue an aggressive foreign policy. It seemed - Sebag reflects with irony - that he decided to continue the political line of the Romanovs.

Putin is a political realist, and he is moving along the path outlined by the leaders of a strong Russia: from Peter I to Stalin. These were bright personalities, resisting the international threat.

The position of Putin, who questioned the results scientific research(a faint echo of the Cold War: many of the researchers were Americans), calmed the Church and created a breeding ground for conspiracy theories, nationalist and anti-Semitic hypotheses regarding the remains of the Romanovs. One of them was that Lenin and his followers, many of whom were Jews, transported the bodies to Moscow, ordering their mutilation. Was it really the king and his family? Or did someone manage to escape?

Context

How the kings returned to Russian history

Atlantico 08/19/2015

304 years of Romanov rule

Le Figaro 05/30/2016

Why both Lenin and Nicholas II are “good”

Radio Prague 10/14/2015

What did Nicholas II give to the Finns?

Helsingin Sanomat 07/25/2016 During Civil War The Bolsheviks declared the Red Terror. They took the family away from Moscow. It was a terrifying journey by train and horse-drawn carriages. Tsarevich Alexei suffered from hemophilia, and some of his sisters were sexually abused on the train. Finally, they found themselves in the house where their life path. It was essentially turned into a fortified prison and machine guns were installed around the perimeter. Be that as it may, but royal family tried to adapt to new conditions. Eldest daughter Olga was depressed, and the younger ones played, not really understanding what was happening. Maria had an affair with one of the guards, and then the Bolsheviks replaced all the guards, tightening the internal rules.

When it became obvious that the White Guards were about to take Yekaterinburg, Lenin issued an unspoken decree on the execution of the entire royal family, entrusting the execution to Yakov Yurovsky. At first it was planned to secretly bury everyone in the nearby forests. But the murder turned out to be poorly planned and even worse executed. Each member of the firing squad had to kill one of the victims. But when the basement of the house was filled with smoke from shots and the screams of people being shot, many of the Romanovs were still alive. They were wounded and crying in horror.

The fact is that diamonds were sewn into the clothes of the princesses, and the bullets bounced off them, which led to the confusion of the killers. The wounded were finished off with bayonets and shots to the head. One of the executioners later said that the floor was slippery with blood and brains.

Scars

Having completed their work, the drunken executioners robbed the corpses and loaded them onto a truck, which stalled along the way. On top of that, at the last moment it turned out that all the bodies did not fit into the graves dug in advance for them. The clothes of the dead were removed and burned. Then the frightened Yurovsky came up with another plan. He left the bodies in the forest and went to Yekaterinburg to buy acid and gasoline. For three days and nights, he carried containers of sulfuric acid and gasoline into the forest to destroy the bodies, which he decided to bury in different places to confuse those who intended to find them. No one should have known anything about what happened. They doused the bodies with acid and gasoline, burned them, and then buried them.

Sebag wonders how 2017 will mark the 100th anniversary of October revolution. What will happen to the royal remains? The country does not want to lose its former glory. The past is always seen in a positive light, but the legitimacy of the autocracy remains controversial. New research initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church and carried out by the Investigative Committee, led to the repeated exhumation of the bodies. A comparative DNA analysis was carried out with living relatives, in particular with British prince Philip, one of whose grandmothers was Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna Romanova. Thus, he is the great-great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas II.

The fact that the Church still makes decisions on such important issues has attracted attention in the rest of Europe, as well as the lack of openness and a chaotic series of burials, exhumations, and DNA tests of certain members of the royal family. Most political observers believe that final decision Putin will decide what to do with the remains on the 100th anniversary of the revolution. Will he finally be able to reconcile the image of the revolution of 1917 with the barbaric massacre of 1918? Will he have to hold two separate events to satisfy each party? Will the Romanovs be given royal honors or church honors, like saints?

In Russian textbooks, many Russian tsars are still presented as heroes covered in glory. Gorbachev and the last king The Romanovs renounced, Putin said that he would never do this.

The historian claims that in his book he omitted nothing from the materials he examined on the execution of the Romanov family... with the exception of the most disgusting details of the murder. When the bodies were taken to the forest, the two princesses moaned and had to be finished off. Whatever the future of the country, it will be impossible to erase this terrible episode from memory.

Publications in the Architecture section

Where did the Romanovs live?

Small Imperial, Mramorny, Nikolaevsky, Anichkov - we go for a walk along the central streets of St. Petersburg and remember the palaces in which representatives of the royal family lived.

Palace Embankment, 26

Let's start our walk from Palace Embankment. A few hundred meters east of the Winter Palace is the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. Previously, the building, built in 1870, was called the “small imperial courtyard.” Here, all the interiors have been preserved almost in their original form, reminiscent of one of the main centers social life Petersburg at the end of the 19th century. Once upon a time, the walls of the palace were decorated with many famous paintings: for example, “Barge Haulers on the Volga” by Ilya Repin hung on the wall of the former billiard room. On the doors and panels there are still monograms with the letter “B” - “Vladimir”.

In 1920, the palace became the House of Scientists, and today the building houses one of the main scientific centers cities. The palace is open to tourists.

Palace Embankment, 18

A little further on the Palace Embankment you can see the majestic gray Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. It was erected in 1862 by the famous architect Andrei Stackenschneider for the wedding of the son of Nicholas I, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. The new palace, for the reconstruction of which neighboring houses were purchased, incorporated Baroque and Rococo styles, elements of the Renaissance and architecture from the time of Louis XIV. Before the October Revolution, there was a church on the top floor of the main facade.

Today the palace houses institutions Russian Academy Sci.

Millionnaya Street, 5/1

Even further on the embankment is the Marble Palace, family nest Konstantinovich - the son of Nicholas I, Konstantin, and his descendants. It was built in 1785 by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi. The palace became the first building in St. Petersburg to be faced with natural stone. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, known for his poetic works, lived here with his family; in the pre-revolutionary years, his eldest son John lived here. The second son, Gabriel, wrote his memoirs “In the Marble Palace” while in exile.

In 1992, the building was transferred to the Russian Museum.

Admiralteyskaya embankment, 8

Palace of Mikhail Mikhailovich. Architect Maximilian Messmacher. 1885–1891. Photo: Valentina Kachalova / photobank “Lori”

Not far from the Winter Palace on Admiralteyskaya Embankment you can see a building in the neo-Renaissance style. It once belonged to Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I. Construction began when the Grand Duke decided to get married - his chosen one was Alexander Pushkin's granddaughter Sofia Merenberg. Emperor Alexander III did not give consent to the marriage, and the marriage was recognized as morganatic: Mikhail Mikhailovich’s wife did not become a member of the imperial family. The Grand Duke was forced to leave the country without living in the new palace.

Today the palace is rented out to financial companies.

Truda Square, 4

If we walk from the Mikhail Mikhailovich Palace to the Annunciation Bridge and turn left, on Labor Square we will see another brainchild of the architect Stackenschneider - the Nicholas Palace. The son of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, lived in it until 1894. During the years of his life, the building also housed a house church; everyone was allowed to attend services here. In 1895 - after the death of the owner - a women's institute named after Grand Duchess Xenia, sister of Nicholas II, was opened in the palace. Girls were trained to be accountants, housekeepers, and seamstresses.

Today, the building, known in the USSR as the Palace of Labor, hosts excursions, lectures and folk concerts.

English Embankment, 68

Let's return to the embankment and go west. Halfway to the New Admiralty Canal is the palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. In 1887, he bought it from the daughter of the late Baron Stieglitz, a famous banker and philanthropist, whose name is given to the Academy of Arts and Industry he founded. The Grand Duke lived in the palace until his death - he was shot in 1918.

The palace of Pavel Alexandrovich was empty for a long time. In 2011, the building was transferred to St. Petersburg University.

Moika River Embankment, 106

On the right side of the Moika River, opposite the island New Holland, the palace of Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna is located. She was married to the founder of the Russian Air Force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I. They were given the palace as a wedding gift in 1894. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess opened a hospital here.

Today the palace houses the Lesgaft Academy of Physical Culture.

Nevsky Prospekt, 39

We exit onto Nevsky Prospekt and move in the direction of the Fontanka River. Here, near the embankment, the Anichkov Palace is located. It was named after the Anichkov Bridge in honor of the ancient family of pillar nobles, the Anichkovs. The palace, erected under Elizaveta Petrovna, is the oldest building on Nevsky Prospekt. Architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Bartolomeo Rastrelli participated in its construction. Later, Empress Catherine II donated the building to Grigory Potemkin. On behalf of the new owner, architect Giacomo Quarenghi gave Anichkov a more austere, closer to modern look.

Starting from Nicholas I, mainly the heirs to the throne lived in the palace. When Alexander II ascended the throne, the widow of Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, lived here. After the death of Emperor Alexander III, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna settled in the Anichkov Palace. Nicholas II also grew up here. He did not like the Winter Palace and spent most of his time, already as emperor, in the Anichkov Palace.

Today it houses the Palace of Youth Creativity. The building is also open to tourists.

Nevsky Prospekt, 41

On the other side of the Fontanka is the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace - the last one built on Nevsky in the 19th century a private house and another brainchild of Stackenschneider. IN late XIX century, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich bought it, and in 1911 the palace passed to his nephew, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. In 1917, while in exile for participating in the murder of Grigory Rasputin, he sold the palace. And later he emigrated and took the money from the sale of the palace abroad, thanks to which he lived comfortably for a long time.

Since 2003, the building has belonged to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation; concerts and creative evenings are held there. On some days there are excursions through the halls of the palace.

Petrovskaya embankment, 2

And while walking near Peter’s house on Petrovskaya embankment, you should not miss the white majestic building in the neoclassical style. This is the palace of the grandson of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Younger, the supreme commander in chief of all land and naval forces of the Russian Empire in the early years of the First World War. Today, the palace, which became the last grand ducal building until 1917, houses the Representative Office of the President Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District.

It's one thing to die without knowing when that hour will come. It's quite another to mentally prepare for your last breath, expecting it to happen at any moment. This is exactly how the Romanovs left...

The path was short, but if you walked it a couple of dozen times, it seemed endless. From somewhere on the path a piece of peat appeared.

Would you like to remove it?

The tea is not a master, you can clean it yourself!

A stately man with a smoothly combed mustache silently approached and pushed the dirt out of the way with the toe of his boot. During the months of exile, former Emperor Nicholas II had already come to terms with such treatment.

They looked around and sighed heavily: they realized that perhaps this very place would become their last refuge.

After Nicholas II abdicated the throne in February 1917, the royal family was not left alone. First they put him under house arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, then they sent him to Tobolsk, and then here to the House of Special Purpose. Nikolai Alexandrovich was followed by his wife Alexandra Fedorovna and their children - daughters Tatyana, Olga, Anastasia, Maria and son Alexey. Having inherited hemophilia on his mother's side, the boy was weak and afraid of any bruise or cut - they could be his last. Upon arrival at the Ipatiev House, he could no longer walk: his father had to carry his 14-year-old son in his arms.

The servants decided to share the fate of their masters. Together with the Romanovs, cook Ivan Kharitonov, his assistant Leonid Sednev, room girl Anna Demidova, footman Aloysius Trupp and doctor Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin went to Yekaterinburg. Here, in exile, all boundaries have been erased. Close to each other, if not by kinship, but by conviction, the family and servants became even more united. Ahead of them lay 78 days of almost imprisonment.

Four rooms with furniture, hot water and other amenities. It was possible to live quite tolerably here, if not for one “but” - security guards watched the family members day and night. Feeling permissiveness, the guards mocked the king and his loved ones as they wanted. The Empress was reproached for cohabiting with Rasputin. It was brought to such an extent that she stopped leaving her room, fearing humiliation and suffering from headaches. They followed the princesses on their heels, almost going into the restroom, which greatly embarrassed them. The girls, brought up according to different canons, blushed and secretly hated their jailers.

Nikolai Alexandrovich himself was called dryly - “citizen”. At first he didn’t even respond - he simply didn’t know that they were addressing him.

The norm here was to barge into a family during dinner, sit at the same table with them and put a spoon into someone else's plate. "You've had enough!" - they explained to the prisoners with mocking laughter. Lunch had to end.

The hardest things to deal with were the deprivations related to hygiene. Accustomed to cleanliness, the Romanovs were horrified to learn that they would not be able to take a bath and change clothes every day. They were simply not given a laundress to help them wash this mountain of linen. The princesses decided to take up the matter themselves. “Could you give me washing instructions?” - one of them asked the guards naively. The only answer they heard was cackling. Soon the sisters turned to the cook, asking him to teach them the simplest dishes. With what pleasure they brought home-made bread to their father! And he briefly noted in his diary: “Not bad.”

Despite the bullying, the royal family behaved calmly and with dignity. Although walking was allowed no more than an hour a day, everyone tried to make full use of this time. Nikolai Alexandrovich carried his son Alexei out of the house in his arms, put him in a stroller and drove him around the garden. They admired the flowers, talked about something, but more often they were silent, as if understanding each other without words. When the weather did not allow walking, Romanov Sr. read more and more Tolstoy and Saltykov-Shchedrin, sometimes the Gospel. To keep his body from becoming lazy, he chopped and sawed wood. The daughters played music, embroidered, and prayed. In the evenings the family gathered at in full force play backgammon.

While no one saw, Alexandra Fedorovna sewed her daughters into her outfits and into the bodices of her dresses. gems. I didn't want something that rightfully belonged to their family to go missing. The Romanovs already understood that nothing good awaited them. The clouds began to thicken.

In one of the food parcels that the nuns often handed over Novo-Tikhvin Monastery(and which in most cases were stolen by the guards), there turned out to be a warning note. The prisoners were advised to be wary of overnight guests, and the family spent the next few nights in their clothes, afraid to go to bed. Then it turned out that it was not friends who wrote, but provocateurs. They wanted to check how ready the prisoners were to escape. They thought they were ready.

Execution of the Romanov family

On July 4, 1918, the commandant was changed at the Ipatiev House. The place was taken by Yakov Yurovsky, whom everyone immediately called the executioner behind his back. “I like this guy less and less,” Nikolai Alexandrovich wrote in his diary a few days later.

The situation was heating up. The Romanovs slept poorly, already in the evening expecting the arrival of their killers. No one doubted that they would come. On the night of July 16-17, a little after midnight, a roar was heard from the street. A large truck drove up to the Ipatiev House - as it turned out later, to remove the bodies of the executed. Doctor Botkin was ordered to go downstairs along with the royal family and servants. “It’s not safe upstairs, you should go to the basement,” the guards lied.

It took the Romanovs a painfully long time to get ready. The women took pillows with them: if they shoot, the pillows might stop the bullets. To be sure, the princesses took the dogs, holding them tightly to their chests. They walked silently into the basement. Everyone mentally counted the steps. Exactly twenty-three. Hope faded with every step...

The prisoners were immediately distributed in a small basement room. Alexandra Fedorovna and Alexei, who did not have the strength to stand, were seated on chairs. The rest stood in two rows behind them (except for the cook, who had previously been removed from the Ipatiev House). Yurovsky slowly looked around those present, grinned nastily, and took out a paper. “Nikolai Alexandrovich,” he addressed the Tsar, “your friends and relatives tried to organize your escape, but nothing worked out for them. Now the order is to shoot you.” One of the princesses gasped, a muffled cry was heard, and Romanov himself only had time to ask again: “What, excuse me? Read it again.”

Instead of an answer, the roar of a starting truck was heard in the street - to drown out the shots. The Tsar was the first to fall dead from Yurovsky's bullet, then the rest of the executioners began to shoot. Several other convicts were lucky to die quickly. The princesses died in agony. The jewels sewn into their dresses played a cruel joke on them. Having become a kind of shell, the stones protected them from bullets. Seeing that the girls were not dying, Yurovsky ordered them to be finished off with bayonets. The unfortunate people screamed, moaned, convulsed... “A few more minutes like this, and you could have gone crazy,” the executors of the sentence later said...