Pierre Gilliard on Ella trying to persuade Alexandra to believe the truth about Rasputin and how it caused a rift between the two sisters (the account of their last meeting is a fabrication to slander Alexandra), year 1916

Sources:

Treize années à la cour de Russie: Le tragique destin de Nicolas II et de sa famille, pages 153 to 154, by Pierre Gilliard, 1921

https://archive.org/details/LeTragiqueDestinDeNicolasIiEtDeSaFamille/page/n151/mode/2up

Thirteen Years at the Russian Court, pages 181 to 182, by Pierre Gilliard, translated by F. Appelby Holt, 1921

https://archive.org/details/cu31924028372088/page/n211/mode/2up

The account:

De nombreuses tentatives avoient été faites auprès de l'impératrice — et par les personnes les plus chères à son cœur — pour tâcher de lui ouvrir les yeux sur la véritable personnalité de Raspoutine: elles étaient toutes venues se briser contre la foi absolue qu'elle avait en lui. Cependant la grande-duchesse Élisabeth Féodorovna voulut encore, en cette heure tragique, tenter un dernier effort auprès de sa sœur. Elle vint de Moscou avec l'intention de passer quelques jours à Tsarskoïé-Sélo au milieu de ceux qu'elle chérissait profondement. La grande-duchesse Élisabeth était de neuf ans plus âgée que l'impératrice et avait pour elle une tendresse presque maternelle. C'est chez elle, on se le rappelle, que la jeune princesse avait fait son premier séjour en Russie; c'est elle qui, au début du règne d'Alexandra Féodorovna, l'avait entourée de ses conseils et de sa sollicitude attentive. Si souvent, déjà, elle avait essayé de désabuser sa sœur sans y parvenir! Pourtant elle espérait que, cette fois, Dieu lui donnerait la force de persuasion qui lui avait fait défaut jusque-là et lui permettrait de prévenir l'effroyable catastrophe qu'elle sentait imminente.

Dès son arrivée à Tsarskoïé-Sélo, elle parla à l'impératrice, s'efforçant, avec tout l'amour qu'elle lui portait, de lui faire comprendre enfin son aveuglement, la suppliant d'écouter ses avertissements, pour le salut des siens et de son pays. L'impératrice resta inébranlable dans sa confiance: elle comprenait le sentiment qui poussait sa sœur à cette démarche, mais elle éprouvait une peine infinie à voir ajouter foi aux calomnies de ceux qui cherchaient à perdre le staretz, et elle la pria de ne plus revenir sur ce sujet. Comme la grande-duchesse insistait, l'impératrice coupa court. L'entrevue était désormais sans objet.

Quelques heures plus tard, la grande-duchesse reprenait le chemin de Moscou, la mort dans l'âme. L'impératrice et ses filles l'accompagnèrent à la gare. Les deux sœurs se séparèrent: elles gardaient intact le sentiment de tendresse infinie que les unissait depuis leur enfance, mais elles comprenaient qu'entre elles quelque chose venait de se briser. Elles ne devaient plus se revoir.

English translation (by Holt):

Many attempts had been made, even by the Czarina's greatest friends at Court, to open her eyes to the true character of Rasputin. They had all collapsed against the blind faith she had in him. But in this tragic hour the Grand-Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna wished to make one last effort to save her sister. She came from Moscow, intending to spend a few days at Tsarskoïe-Selo with the relations she loved so dearly. She was nine years older than her sister, and felt an almost maternal tenderness for her. It was at her house, it will be remembered, that the young princess had stayed on her first visit to Russia. It was she who had helped Alexandra Feodorovna with wise advice and surrounded her with every attention when she started her reign. She had often tried to open her sister's eyes before, but in vain. Yet this time she hoped that God would give her the powers of persuasion which had hitherto failed her, and enable her to avert the terrible catastrophe she felt was imminent.

As soon as she arrived at Tsarskoïe-Selo she spoke to the Czarina, trying with all the love she bore her to convince her of her blindness, and pleading with her to listen to her warnings for the sake of her family and her country.

The Czarina's confidence was not to be shaken. She realised the feelings which had impelled her sister to take this step, but she was terribly grieved to find her accepting the lying stories of those who desired to ruin the staretz, and she asked her never to mention the subject again. As the Grand-Duchess persisted, the Czarina broke off the conversation. The interview was then objectless.

A few hours later the Grand-Duchess left for Moscow, death in her heart. The Czarina and her daughters accompanied her to the station. The two sisters took leave of each other. The tender affection which had associated them since their childhood was still intact, but they realised that there was a broken something lying between them.

They were never to see each other again.

Above: Alexandra.

Above: Ella.

Above: Grigori Rasputin.

Above: Pierre Gilliard.

News report on a rumour accusing Alexandra of being behind the death of Lord Kitchener in B.T. newspaper, dated November 6, 1917

Source:

Published in B.T. newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 6, 1917

http://www2.statsbiblioteket.dk/mediestream/avis/record/doms_aviser_page%3Auuid%3A16a4f749-96f3-445c-af8f-55f9cd4ec1c8/query/kejserinde%20Alexandra%20Rusland/page/doms_aviser_page%3Auuid%3Ae70c2054-f6c1-49be-adc0-0b7a254172a1

The report:

Sendte den russiske Eks-Kejserinde Lord Kitchener i Døden?

En sensationel Beskyldning for Forræderi mod den fængslede Czaritza.

Nordhavets Taager hviler stadig som et Slør over det Mysterium, der hedder Lord Kitcheners Død — blandt Skotlands Klipper hviskes der endog sære Sagn om, at den store Hærfører slet ikke er død, men en Dag vil vende tilbage og frelse old Britain.

Men en tysk Matros, der er bleven taget til Fange af Englænderne, har med sit Vidneudsagn kastet et nyt sensationelt Skær over den mærkelige Affære.

Lord Kitchener omkom, som bekendt, paa den Maade, at han blev skudt ned med Krydseren „Hampshire” i Nærheden af Hebriderne paa Vej mod Rusland.

Man gik i England ud fra, at en tysk U-Baad var „Hampshire”'s Banemand, og allerede den Gang anede man, at der var Forræderi med i Spillet, thi kun 5-6 Mennesker kunde forudsættes at kende noget til Lordens verdenshistoriske Rejse.

Nu forklarer den tyske Matros, at ikke een, men fem U-Baade var sendte ud paa Jagt efter „Hampshire”. De havde faaet Ordre til at sænke Krydseren for enhver Pris, og der blev givet Løfter om store Belønninger, hvis Foretagendet lykkedes — men først da Foretagendet var lykkedes og U-Baadene atter var løbne ind i Wilhelmshafen, fik Mandskabet Meddelelse om, hvorfor der var sat saa meget ind paa denne Affære: Kitchener of Khartum havde været ombord.

Men hvorfra havde Tyskerne denne skæbnesvangre Efterretning var det ganske naturlige Spørgsmaal, som Matrosens Forklaring affødte.

En indgaaende Undersøgelse til Opklaring heraf blev iværksat, og foreløbig er man standset ved følgende uhyggelige Teori:

Det var den daværende russiske Kejserinde, der har forraadt Hemmeligheden til Tyskerne. Hun vidste, at Kitchener skulde komme, men hvilket Skib og ad hvilken Rute, Rejsen skulde foretages. Ad neutral Omvej meddelte hun Admiralitetet i Berlin alle disse Oplysninger. Allerede i 1916 var hun Forræder mod de Allieredes Sag!

Dette er ikke den eneste Forræderi-Sigtelse, der er rejst mod den ulykkelige Eks-Czaritza, men vel nok den mest opsigtsvækkende. Men de, der har fremsat den, skylder dog den haardtprøvede Kvinde at fremlægge afgørende Beviser, før de dømmer hende.

English translation (my own):

Did the Russian Ex-Empress Send Lord Kitchener to Death?

A sensational accusation of treason against the imprisoned Tsaritsa.

The fog of the North Sea still rests as a veil over the mystery that is called Lord Kitchener's death — even among the cliffs of Scotland, there are even whispers that the great military man is not dead at all, but will one day return and save old Britain.

But a German sailor, taken prisoner by the English, has, with his testimony, cast a new, sensational cut on the strange affair.

Lord Kitchener, as is known, perished in the way of being shot down with the "Hampshire" cruiser in the vicinity of the Hebrides on his way to Russia.

It was assumed in England that a German U-boat was Hampshire's pioneer, and already at that time it was thought that there was treachery in the game, for only 5 or 6 people could be presumed to know anything about the Lord's world-historic trip.

Now the German sailor explains that not one, but five U-boats were sent in search of Hampshire. They had been ordered to sink the cruiser at all costs and promises of great rewards were given if the enterprise succeeded — but only when the enterprise succeeded and the U-boats again ran into Wilhelmshaven was the crew told why there was put so much effort into this affair: Kitchener of Khartum had been on board.

But from where the Germans had this fateful intelligence was the quite natural question which the sailor's explanation gave rise to.

An in-depth investigation into this has been launched, and for the time being, the following disturbing theory has emerged:

It was the then Empress of Russia who betrayed the secret to the Germans. She knew that Kitchenerwould come, but not which ship and which route to travel would be made. By neutral detour, she communicated all this information to the Admiralty in Berlin. Already in 1916 she was a traitor to the Allies' cause!

This is not the only betrayal charge brought against the unhappy ex-Tsaritsa, but it is probably the most startling. However, those who have made it owe it to the hard-pressed woman to produce decisive evidence before convicting her.

Review of Marfa Mouchanow's book "My Empress" in The Sun newspaper, year 1918

Source:

The Sun, published in New York on May 5, 1918

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-05-05/ed-1/seq-71/#date1=1894&index=14&rows=20&words=Czarina&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1918&proxtext=Czarina&y=14&x=13&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

This review of Marfa Mouchanow's book My Empress, an early biography of Alexandra, was published in The Sun newspaper of New York on Sunday, May 5, 1918, just two months before Alexandra's death. We now know that Marfa Mouchanow was either a pseudonym for someone at court or a fictional person, in addition the book makes obviously fabricated claims as well as exaggerations and half-truths and ironically dismissing certain claims and stories as falsehoods, all while both pitying and defaming Alexandra, and therefore the book is a discredited source (which I learned only after finding the excerpts I included in part 1 of my Alexandra biography here, long before I reached the end of the book). Another book, Confessions of the Czarina by Count Paul Vassily, was published at around the same time and is nothing more than an almost word-for-word rehash of everything in My Empress, making it obvious that the books were written at the same time by the same author using different pen names and identities. The author's true identity remains unknown.

The article:

An Intimate Picture of Mrs. Romanoff
SOME day, we hope, a second Dumas, or rather a third Dumas, will write the history of the Russian court which had for its heads the residents of Tobolsk, now known as Col. and Mrs. Nicholas Romanoff. With such unsurpassed materials a genius in the art of story telling ought to build up one of the great romances of all times. There will be no Henri of Navarre, it is true, no personality vital and intense to fill the foreground of this amazing picture, but talent could do much with the melancholy figure of the beautiful, superstitious, unfortunate woman whom Marfa Mouchanow tells about in her book My Empress, Alexandra Feodorovna, the final chapters of whose life are still to be written.

Humanity's inborn interest and curiosity concerning those who wear a crown is perhaps one of the great obstacles to universal republicanism. All of us, it seems, like to hear whether an Empress prefers rice or prunes and how many dresses she buys each year. We are safe in saying, therefore, we think, that readers will enjoy Marfa Mouchanow's pleasantly written account of the former Czarina of Russia as she knew her during twenty-three years of service as first maid in waiting. The world is not in the mood to sympathize with the woes of autocrats, yet one cannot but pity this unhappy woman who earned the gratitude of those whose duty it was to wait upon her but who had no charm or graciousness to win their affection.

A Proud Empress.
Mme. Mouchanow held her post in the Russian Imperial household from the day of the marriage of Nicholas II. to the German princess up to the hour when the train departed from Czarskoi Selo bearing the deposed rulers to their present habitation. She would have accompanied them in this exile had the leaders of the revolution allowed her to do so. Mme. Mouchanow describes the former Czarina as conscientious and straightforward, proud, morbidly sensitive; not, like her husband, lacking in courage, but so entirely without tact and worldly address as to antagonize everybody from her mother-in-law, the accomplished Danish woman, down to the Parisian dressmakers who had the honor to serve her.

There was the episode of the gold toilet set, for instance, which the Empress insisted on carrying with her when she went visiting at neighboring courts, along with an antique Argenton lace covering for her dressing table, valued at 20,000 francs. This equipment mortally offended the Kaiser during a stay at Breslau. That gentleman for obvious reasons had laid himself out to be pleasant to the newly made Czarina and had caused to be brought from the Royal Treasury at Berlin the silver toilet set of Queen Louise of Prussia. "Alix," however, had already developed decided ideas as to the deference due her exalted position and complained that Cousin William apparently still thought her a "little Hessian Princess of no importance."

The bickerings between Alexandra Feodorovna and Marie Feodorovna, the Dowager Empress, seem to have been endless, their quarrels being over such important matters as the propriety of the Czarina's addressing her imperial husband as "my boy" in public and as to which lady should be prayed for first in the services of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Devoted as a Mother.
The Czarina was a devoted mother — too devoted to please the gay leaders of St. Petersburg society, who never forgave the beautiful young ruler for the frigidity of her manners or her rash attempt to exercise a moral censorship over them. The four girl babies who arrived successively in the imperial nursery added to the unpopularity of the Czarina. In fact, misfortune so persistently dogged the steps of Alexandra Feodorovna that one cannot blame her for having a superstitious conviction of a parallel between her career and that of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette.

The rejoicings which greeted the birth of an heir to the throne were quickly turned into apprehensions because of the delicate health of the boy. Mme. Mouchanow explains fully the mysterious malady of the former Czarevitch, which was for many years one of the most fruitful topics for some of the imaginings of sensational writers.

The Rasputin Scandal.
There is no hint in this narrative of any domestic infelicity in the lives of the ex-rulers more serious than a difference in literary tastes. The ex-Czar liked to spend his evenings reading aloud historical volumes, which bored his wife exceedingly, her taste being for scientific works, such as Darwin's masterpiece and treatises on astronomy. Very likely the Empress despised her weak minded husband, but she apparently tried to do her duty as she conceived it.

Mme. Mouchanow denounces as malicious lies the frequent insinuations made against the Czarina in connection with the Rasputin scandal. The truth, however, seems to have been bad enough. It is hard to picture a more disgusting scene than the celebrated prayer meetings in the imperial oratory, presided over by Rasputin, at which the Empress of All the Russias usually writhed on the floor in hysterical convulsions while the his Imperial Majesty looked on unconcerned, having been persuaded by the charlatan that the neurotic manifestations of the Czarina were proof that her prayers would be answered.

Victim of Charlatans.
Superstitious and mystical by nature, the Czarina upon her arrival in Russia rapidly developed into an ultraorthodox adherent of the Greek Church. Malicious advisers abetted and encouraged her in developing this natural inclination into a morbid hysteria. So that in the years just preceding the revolution the Empress's days and nights were mostly taken up with table tipping, spook consultations and the procuring of quack powders and potions to build up the health of her son. Upon one occasion the Duchess Elizabeth, sister of the Czarina, so worked on the superstitions of the half insane lady as to persuade her to drink a beverage made from dissolving in water the bones of some departed saint of the Greek Church in order to insure success to the Russian armies at the front.

The haughty pride of Alexandra Feodorovna's nature enabled her to go through the bitter times following the abdication of the Czar in a manner befitting her birth and former rank. She bore herself with a dignity which had certainly been lacking in the days of petty squabbles and religious mania. She is rapidly being forgotten, while her story is yet unfinished, a circumstance which is, perhaps, one of the many crosses which Providence has placed upon her ill starred shoulders.

Richmond news article slandering Alexandra, year 1918

TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE AND DEATH.

Source:

Richmond Times-Dispatch, published November 20, 1918

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045389/1918-11-10/ed-1/seq-37/#date1=1789&index=7&rows=20&words=Czarina&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=Czarina&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

This article was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper on November 10, 1918, blaming Alexandra for betrayal via secretly communicating intelligence information to her cousin and Russia's enemy Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, for the fall of the Romanov dynasty and ultimately the deaths of Nicholas and Alexei, as well as on reporting news on what happened to Nicholas's body and the way Alexei died that we now of course know is fabricated, gets the ages of Maria and Anastasia not only mixed up but further wrong, and other such fabrications, half-truths and exaggerations. But at that time, it was only made public that Nicholas and Alexei had been assassinated, which was the official news released then, and the rumour spread around the world that Alexandra and her daughters were probably still alive and their whereabouts unknown — when in reality they had been killed with Nicholas and Alexei in the pre-dawn hours of July 17, 1918, almost four months before this article was published.

The article:

The Terrible Retribution which has Punished the Czarina

How Her Plotting with Her Cousin, the Kaiser, Betrayed Russia, Dethroned Her Husband, Led to His Murder and the Cruel Death of Her Idolized Son -- Her Own and Her Daughters' Fate a Mystery

UTTER mystery surrounded the fate of the widowed Czarina of Russia and her four pretty young daughters up to four weeks ago, but vague reports from chaotic Russia created a strong impression that they had all been killed.

Concerning the little Czarevitch, the Czarina's only son, the reports left little doubt that he had perished. In a country where the executioners are killing daily until they drop from exhaustion at their work of slaughter, there can be little hope for members of the former ruling class who are caught in the whirlpool of anarchy.

While the fate of the delicately nurtured Czarina and her family must fill us with horror, it is still more amazing and shocking to learn that the unfortunate woman by her treachery brought about the entire tragedy of Russia.

Evidence had long shown that there was constant communication between the Russian court and the German military command. Our knowledge of this subject has just taken a long step forward. Commissioner Henry W. Mapp, of the Salvation Army, a responsible American who had been sent to Russia to relieve distress, came back with positive information that the Czarina herself had sent direct communication by her private wire from Tsarskoe Selo to the German Kaiser giving information that the British War Minister, Lord Kitchener, had sailed for Russia. Kitchener's mission was to provide for better co-operation between the Russian and Allied armies and to check the disorganization of the Russian armies which had already begun.

Kitchener sailed for Russia on the cruiser Hampshire in April, 1917, and the ship was torpedoed by the Germans off the north of Scotland and lost with everybody on board. This tragedy was directly traceable to the information supplied by the Czarina.

The latest evidence indicates that the Czarina constantly furnished to the Kaiser intelligence concerning Russian military movements. She was a cousin of the Kaiser, the sister of a reigning German sovereign, the Grand Duke of Hesse, a German princess herself by birth, training and instinct. Like the Queen of Greece and other royalties, she was a devoted and unreasoning adherent of the Kaiser.

Right well did she work for her imperial master. Through her treachery she brought about the ruin of her adopted country, the defeat of its armies and the demoralization of its entire political structure, previously weakened by terrible losses and sufferings.

Her treachery, according to this view, was the main factor that caused not only the collapse of the empire, but the death of her husband and her son, and, it appears probable, of herself and all her daughters.

Never perhaps in all history has there been a more perfect case of retribution for treachery.

The last days of the Czarina and her family would surely make a drama of unsurpassed terror. Lost in the wilds of the most desolate part of Russia, at the mercy of half-crazed Bolsheviki politicians, Red Guards and unwashed peasants, the condition of this family of delicately bred women defies description. The wretched Czarina, once the wife of the most absolute monarch in the world, the possessor of jewels valued at $100,000,000, had not even the power to communicate with her relatives and friends.

So great was the uncertainty about the Czarina's fate that His Holiness the Pope sent an inquiry about a month ago to the Austrian Ambassador at Petrograd, asking if he could find out what had happened to her and her daughters. The Austrians having nominally made peace with the Bolsheviki, it was supposed that they could obtain some information from them. The Ambassador answered His Holiness that their death had been reported and denied, and that no reliable information could be obtained.

The Pope then sent an ecclesiastic of high rank to Russia with instructions to find out definitely what happened to them and to remove them to a place of safety, if possible. As the place where the family were last heard from, Ekaterinburg, is nearly a thousand miles from Petrograd, and as railway travel is almost at an end, no one can say when the envoy will complete his mission.

One of the latest and most circumstantial reports declared that the Czarina and her four daughters had been murdered at a village near Ekaterinburg. A former court servant returned to Petrograd, who declared that he had seen certain details of the tragedy.

According to this man, there had arisen a violent quarrel in the local Soviet as to what should be done with the Czarina and her daughters. The six most bloodthirsty members of the Soviet, a butcher, an innkeeper and four peasants, then went to the house in which the poor women were imprisoned and shot them all.

After this the murderers burned down the house with all the bodies. The servant who brought this news declared that he had seen the charred bodies and some fragments of jewelry the princess had worn.

Russia now groans under a condition of anarchy in which local councils called "Soviets" exercise tyrannous power in their vicinity, while the central bodies at Moscow and Petrograd have little or no authority.

After the circumstantial report about the murder had been received, Lenine, the Bolshevist Prime Minister, announced that he had received a denial of it from Ekaterinburg and that the women were safe.

When the execution of ex-Czar Nicholas was decided on, his wife and children were separated from him in order that pity for them should not lead to any action that might save the fallen monarch. The whole family up to that time had been imprisoned at Tobolsk in Siberia. They were then taken to Ekaterinburg in European Russia, but while the ex-Czar was imprisoned in the town, the rest of the family were taken outside.

The Czar's execution has been reported in many ways from various sources. One report stated that he had faced the firing squad with bravery and steadiness, while another described him as collapsing in terror. The reports generally agreed that his last thoughts had been for his family and that his last words were:
"Have mercy on my wife and children!"

After the Czar's execution his body underwent a strange series of experiences, which suggest his own treatment of the fanatic Rasputin's remains. It will be recalled that the Czar recovered Rasputin's body from the Neva and buried it at midnight in a silver coffin with solemn ceremonies in the grounds of his palace at Tsarskoe Selo, from which it was dug up and carted away to Siberia by the revolutionists.

The Bolsheviki deliberately planned to treat Nicholas's body with the greatest possible indignity. They buried it in the "Suicides' Corner" of the local cemetery. In the eyes of the old-fashioned Russian peasants a suicide is the most hopeless of lost souls, worse even than a murderer, and the spot where such creatures are buried is passed with shuddering and loathing.

The body had not lain here many weeks, however, when a force of the Czecho-Slovak army, the released Austro-Hungarian soldiers who support the Allies, passed this way. They considered that the monarch who had supported the cause they believe in deserved better treatment. They therefore unearthed his body and buried it in consecrated ground with simple religious services.

But the body was not yet to rest. The "People's Army" consisting of Cossacks, obtained possession of the grave, and, being imbued with the old, deep, religious sentiment of Russia, they thought that the Soviet's treatment of the Czar's body was wicked and would bring divine anger on the country. They therefore exhumed the body again with much ceremony and prepared to give it solemn burial according to the rites of the Russian Orthodox Church.

It was enclosed in a zinc coffin with an outer case of Siberian cedar and placed in the Cathedral at Ekaterinburg under a guard composed of commanders of the People's Army. After that the body was carried away to be buried in a special sarcophagus at Omsk.

These details concerning the two burials were furnished by the newspaper Izvestia of Moscow.

Only scraps of information and rumors can be obtained concerning what happened to the Czarina and her children between their removal from Tobolsk and their reported reappearance at Ekaterinburg. This information has come through Russian Bolsheviki and peasants notorious for their untruthfulness and wild imaginations.

The circumstantial report has it that the Red Guards deliberately kept the delicate little Czarewitch out in a public square at Perm day and night for three days without food or shelter. At the end of this time the poor child died of pneumonia brought on by cold and starvation.

The child, whose birth Russia and the rest of the world awaited with anxiety for ten years, is now supposed to be in an unknown grave. Everybody will recall how the Czar and Czarina of Russia longed and prayed for the birth of a son for years. Four daughters in succession were born to the couple, and the Czarina nearly lost her mind through disappointment at her failure to bear the desired heir.

When, at last, in 1904, the little Czarevitch Alexis came, the Imperial couple were transported with joy. The entire thoughts of Russia's ruler were concentrated on this child. As he began to grow he received increased devotion from the Czar. The entire world was ransacked to gratify his wishes. From the strongly guarded precincts of the Russian Court came many reports of attempts by revolutionists on the boy's life. It was very positively stated that one attack had resulted in injury to his leg.

On public occasions after that the Czarevitch was observed to have a permanently stiffened right leg. Though of delicate health, he was a handsome and attractive boy.

How the late Czar spoiled his child is shown by an incident related by Dr. E.L. Dillon, the well-known English writer on Balkan affairs. Not long before the Czar's downfall a special British envoy, General Sir Arthur Paget, was sent to Petrograd to discuss closer cooperation between British and Russians. While he was talking with the Czar, the young Czarevitch got hold of the General's cap and placed it on the head of a female statue. When the Czar saw this he laughed so heartily that the conference was seriously interrupted.

Now, this spoiled heir of the world's greatest autocracy may have been put to death by a band of unwashed ruffians in an obscure village.

It was assumed that the report of the Czarevitch's death must be correct, because no mention was made of him when the rest of the Romanoff family reappeared at Ekaterinburg.

The four daughters of the Czarina were the Grand Duchess Olga, aged twenty-three; Grand Duchess Tatiana, aged twenty-one; Grand Duchess Anastasia, aged nineteen, and Grand Duchess Marie, aged fourteen. Their photographs prove that they were very handsome young girls and all accounts agree that they were charming and sweet.

After the Czar's downfall and a brief period of imprisonment in the palace at Tsarskoe Selo, they were removed to Tobolsk in Siberia. The whole family was forced to occupy the upper floor of a humble house that had belonged to a local tax collector. Revolutionary guards occupied the ground floor.

At first the fallen imperial family was treated with leniency, although subject to considerable privations. They had only one servant and the Czarina was obliged to do much of her own cooking. The deposed monarch and his wife were not allowed to go out except to church, and Nicholas tried to maintain his health by carrying pails of water upstairs. The little Czarevitch was only permitted to go into the public park for a few hours a day under an armed guard.

The young Grand Duchesses, however, were allowed considerable liberty at this stage. They mingled freely with the townspeople and travelled about the country. All signs of rank were discarded in their social relations and the young women were known simply as the Misses Romanoff. The Grand Duchess Olga learnt stenography and typewriting and fitted herself to earn her living in business. The second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, began to train as a nurse. All the girls, in fact, were learning to live in a normal way under a democratic system.

The quarters in the private house were so cramped that the imperial family was removed after three months to the monastery of Tobolsk.

That was before the Russian revolution began to turn toward Bolshevism and terrorism. The anti-Bolshevist sentiments of the Siberians settled the fate of the fallen imperial family. They were removed from Tobolsk hastily by the Red Guards lest the Siberians or Czecho-Slovaks should reach them and liberate them. Then began the terrible journey toward European Russia in which Czar Nicholas lost his life, while the fate of the women was left in uncertainty.