Last of the Tsars - Ep1 - Nicky and Alix

St. Petersburg, 1912

Tsar Nicholas Romanov, his wife Alexandra, and their son and heir Alexei in all their glory

Their four daughters, the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria, and Anastasia. The Romanov dynasty had ruled Russia for 300 years

In another six, it would all be over. Nicholas was the wrong man in the wrong place

A mild, awkward man whose country would be ravaged by war and revolution

His wife was detested by her subjects, thought to be a spy and a fool

under the spell of a depraved madman. The Romanov seemed oblivious to it all

Echoes of passion and tragedy still haunt their photographs, letters, and diaries

Petitions and audiences without end. Saw Alex for one hour only

It is sad that my work takes so many hours which I would prefer to spend exclusively with Alex

I am so indescribably happy with her. Never did I believe there could be such utter happiness in this world

Such a feeling of unity between two mortal beings. But love did not conquer all

It blinded them to the fury that raged just outside their grand and glorious palaces

In the end, revolution would sweep Nikki, his wife Alex, and their five children away

and murder them in a Siberian cellar. Nicholas' first encounter with assassination came when he was only 12

In March 1881, his grandfather, Tsar Alexander II, was returning to the Winter Palace when something was hurled at his carriage

A bomb shaped like an Easter cake left him disemboweled and dismembered but alive

He was rushed home, where the imperial family gathered in haste. Nicky's cousin, the Grand Duke Alexander, wrote about the tragedy sometime later

He was a terrifying sight. His right leg torn off, his left leg shattered, innumerable wounds all over his head and face

One eye was shut, the other expressionless. I clung to the arm of Nicky, deathly pale in his blue sailor suit

My father led me up to the bed. Papa, he said, your sunshine is here

I saw the flicker of an eyelid. Grandfather's blue eyes opened and he tried to smile

He knew me. The trauma of assassination was to haunt Niki all his life

His father, now Alexander III, inherited the Russian Empire, and Nicholas became Tsarevich, the heir apparent

He would be taught the foundation stones of the Romano faith, orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality

More simply, the church, the Tsar and Russia. Ordinary Russians, the vast majority of the population

saw the Tsar, including Nicholas later in his life, as only one step away from God himself

At home we had icons and a portrait of the Tsar. The Tsar was like God on earth and icons, God in heaven

We prayed to the Tsar and to God. Our whole family did that

Nicholas believed so firmly in the Romanov edifice of autocracy that he would fail to see that its foundation stones were crumbling

A retinue of literally thousands cocooned the Romanov family, keeping them in a very real and necessary sense

prisoners in their palaces. The Romanovs were an illustrious line

which had ruled Russia since 1613. Peter the Great had founded the magnificent city

of St. Petersburg in 1703 to be a window on the west

Another Romanov, Catherine the Great, had taken the dynasty to new heights of glory

which rivaled those of any European clan. The Romanovs were the most extravagant rulers in the Western world

though they paid for the upkeep of their palaces and staff out of their own pocket

But that pocket was wide and deep. The Romanov Empire comprised one-sixth of the globe

The Russia over which the Romanovs ruled seemed to have changed little over the centuries

but the old world and the new were beginning to pull apart

Russia was a nation of extremes, vastly diverse in race, religion, and wealth

From the bottom of the social pyramid, the poor looked up at the rich

who made no excuses for their privileges. As a child, Margot Tracy was one who lived this life of opulence and ease

When there were big dinner parties, we could have 600 people to dinner

because the winter garden was enormous and it gave on to the dining room

And of course there were palm trees there and all kinds It was only here that somebody said to me What happened when those palm trees grew to the ceilings And my sister said well didn you know they used to lift the roof up

They never cut the palm trees, just let them grow on. I worked doing embroidery in the houses of the nobility

of army generals, of wealthy people. They took pity on me, especially the cooks

I was so little. I was only seven. I went there to embroider monograms on their fine linens

I sewed for 14 hours a day, and that's why I'm so hardworking even now

I can sew for 14 hours at a stretch. Such unquestioning industry, even from children

underpinned the aristocrats' certainty that their world would never change. At the apex of it all

Nicholas Romanov grew up in luxury and unlimited privilege. His life was almost that of a playboy

During the social season, from New Year to Lent, he attended as many as 20 glamorous events a month

concerts of new music by Mussorgsky or the ballets of Tchaikovsky. after the show he and his young officer retinue might invite some of the actresses or ballerinas

to supper in this way he met in the spring of 1890 matilda kashinskaya she was 17 and nicholas 21

an affair blossomed but was interrupted that fall when nicholas's father sent him off on a nine-month

world tour. The future czar visited Europe, Africa, and Asia, ending his trip in Japan

His close friend, the Prince of Greece, went with him and was called on to defend the unlucky czar

My grandmother's brother, Prince George of Greece, accompanied Nicholas, and they were riding

together in a sort of a rickshaw arrangement when suddenly a crazed Japanese attacked Nicholas

and hit him over the head with a saber. And Uncle George told me about this years later

I took my walking stick and exceedingly demolished this Japanese. But in his diary, Nicholas was gracious and forgiving to his Asian hosts

I do not blame the kind Japanese people. How can I with so many condolences, so many gifts

In July 1891, while returning home from Japan, Nicholas visited the Siberian town of Tobolsk

He admired the bell of the Kremlin's cathedral and was entertained at the governor's house

Twenty-six years later, Nicholas would spend many months in the same house

deposed and a prisoner. For generations, men like the governor of Tobolsk

had oiled the wheels of the czarist system. In turn, the Tsars had always supported Russia's elite

But as the end of the 19th century neared, frustration and resentment at the iron rule

were brewing in some of the younger members of the population. One of these disaffected young men was named Alexander Ulyanov

He was condemned to Schlüsselberg prison outside St. Petersburg for his attempted assassination of Tsar Alexander, Nicholas's father

In 1887, Ulyanov was hanged. He had grown up 2,000 miles away from the capital

in the town of Simbirsk. The high school he attended was fertile ground

for budding young revolutionaries. The headmaster's son was Alexander Kerensky, who would play a key role in the still-distant revolution

Ultimately, neither Alexander Kerensky nor Alexander Ulyanov were the most famous of Symbiersk High School's revolutionaries

Ulyanov had a younger brother who had impressed the headmaster. Very gifted, always neat and assiduous

Ulyanov received a gold medal as the most deserving pupil. Religion and discipline were the basis of his upbringing

He was taking his final exams just as his big brother was being hanged from the gallows

This young man would become known to Russia and the world as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

In 1891, the collision of Nicholas and Lenin was still years away

The Romanov dynasty was firmly entrenched and in their 900-room Gatchina palace

The 21-year-old future czar, Nicholas II, was a young man in love

My dream one day is to marry Alex H. I have loved her a long while

I'm nearly convinced our feelings are mutual. Alex H. was a shy German princess named Alex Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice von Hesse-Darmstadt

but known to her family as Sunny. In 1884, 12-year-old Alex had met 16-year-old Nicky

at the wedding of her sister Ella to Nicky's uncle Sergei. Though it was love at first sight

it was a decade before Nicky got a chance to pop the question. They were in Germany

where much of Europe's closely related royalty, including Alex's grandmother, Queen Victoria

had gathered for yet another wedding. For ten years, Nicholas was waiting for the right moment to make his official proposal

to Alex. On the 8th of April, he draws three thick lines under the date

The dream he had cherished for ten years had come true. A marvelous, unforgettable day in my life, the day of my engagement to my precious, beloved Alex

around the entire day in a haze, not fully conscious actually of what happened to me

But they were not together for long. She leaves for England, he returns to Russia

And from then on, letters, letters without end. They wrote to each other every day

Here are Alexandra's letters. They're full of love, full of sweet, affectionate words

They call each other by tender little nicknames. For my darling Nicky dear from his deeply loving and devoted old owl

Again and again, the same old face, Nikki. Alex was 22 years old when she became engaged to the next Tsar of Russia

Her mother had died when she was only six, and Alix became a regular visitor to England

where she was taught to be a proper Victorian by her grandmother, Queen Victoria herself

A combination of naivete and a sense of entitlement made Alix believe she could overcome any obstacles

but her primness and lack of humour did not go over well with the sophisticated Russian court

Alix was not Queen Victoria's granddaughter for nothing. In fact, she was Queen Victoria's favourite granddaughter

And she had the attitudes you would expect. When she became empress

she tried to set up little knitting circles in the Winter Palace

And the Russian great ladies were not very amused by this. Petersburg High Society was cultured, very elegant

and pretty loose living. And they regarded this rather shy, prim, almost sort of little daughter of an English rectory

as beneath their contempt in many ways. Later that same year, at the Imperial Summer Palace at Levadia

Tsar Alexander fell unexpectedly ill. In October, at the age of 49, he died

his 26 year old son Nicholas was now czar of Russia Nicholas's younger sister Grand Duchess Olga was one of the Romanov family assembled at the deathbed

Nicky was in despair he kept saying that he did not know what would become of us all

that he was wholly unfit to reign. And yet, Nicky's unfitness was by no means his fault

He should have been taught statesmanship, and he was not. Nicky's brother-in-law, the Grand Duke, known as Sandro

also remembered the young Tsar's desperation. Nicky asked me, Sandro, what am I going to do

What is going to happen to me, to you, to Alex, to Mother

to Russia. I'm not ready to be Tsar. I never wanted to become one

The day after Alexander died, the family gathered to mourn in the small private chapel at Lavadia

Today it is open to the public and one of the few remnants left of Tsarist glory

Still, it is a far cry from the day when Alex arrived here from Germany to be with Nicholas

Her reluctant conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, a prerequisite to becoming Tsarina, was finally arranged

During this tumultuous period, it was Nicholas's one consolation. In our deep sadness, the Lord gives us quiet, luminous joy

At ten, my Alex was consecrated. And so, within 24 hours, Nicholas became Tsar Nicholas II

and Alex became officially his intended. A few weeks later, with relatively little ceremony, they were married

The young bride wrote to her sister. Our wedding seemed to me a mere continuation of the funeral liturgy for the dead Tsar

with this one difference. Now, I wore a white dress instead of a black one

Nicholas and Alexandra chose the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Salon

Tsar's village, outside St. Petersburg as their new home. Within three months, Alex was pregnant

In the fall of 1895, she gave birth to a girl, Olga

If a daughter was a disappointment for the Tsar and Tsarina, they never expressed it

There was plenty of time for a son and heir. Their immediate preoccupation was the coronation ceremony

over a year in the planning and set for May 1896 in Moscow

It was recorded in a special album, now a rare collector's item

The procession of the entire Romanov family, all their relatives, the kings and queens of other European nations

wound its way through the great halls of the Kremlin. As Nicholas and Alexandra descended the red staircase

they were captured on film, the first ever shot of a state occasion a hundred years ago

The religious ceremony in the 500-year-old cathedral lasted a full five hours

When it was all over, Alexandra would write to her sister

I was not at all tired by the ceremony, more elated by my mystic marriage to Russia

I am now truly Tsarina. At last, wearing the nine-pound imperial crown

made for Catherine the Great, Nicholas emerged into the courtyard. Every bell in Moscow's hundreds of churches rang out

for the latest and last of the Romanov Tsars. The festivities lasted a whole week Four days after the coronation itself the Tsar munificence as little father was to be demonstrated to all with gifts of enameled mugs food and drink

On the 18th of May, half a million Russians from all over the land

gathered at the chosen spot. Then something went wrong, which was to haunt Nicholas forever

The crowd that spent the night on Hodinka Field waiting for the food and mugs began to press on the structures

and there was a terrible crush. I have to record, with great sadness

that about 1,300 people were trampled. All Moscow was there

Later I spoke to someone who'd been carried out from there. He was a boy of about 10 years old

He was dragged in and had to climb out, stepping on people's heads, and came out alive

But on the whole, many people perished there. My father was there. He was quite young

He was not in his 20s at that time. And he thought that it was so dreadful

that he never could have seen something worse. the screaming, the mismanagement

He was terribly upset. In our family, we kept a little mug, and it was crushed

And when I was a child, I didn't understand why we held on to such a piece of useless junk

But later I realized that it was kept as a relic, that this mug had shared the fate of those thousands of people

who were crushed to death there or crippled for a lifetime. The catastrophe, commemorated in a Moscow cemetery

was in no way Nicholas's fault. But he, as the new czar, carried the blame

for the terrible events of the 18th of May, 1896. And in the eyes of many Russians

his wife Alexandra was faring little better. Over the next five years, Alexandra would bear three more children

After Olga came Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. But still no boy, and so no heir to the Romanov throne

As the new century began, St. Petersburg still appeared peaceful. But radicals like Alexander Kerensky, now a student in the capital

were circling ever closer. It was Easter, and I was returning late at night

or rather in the morning, about 4 a.m., from the traditional midnight celebrations

I was walking home past the Winter Palace. Suddenly, I stopped involuntarily

On an overhanging balcony stood the young emperor, quite alone, deep in thought

A keen presentiment struck me. We should meet sometime. Somehow our paths would cross

Years later, it was Kerensky who had the Romanovs arrested and sent the family into exile

But he paled in comparison to that other revolutionary from his hometown

By the turn of the century, Lenin had been sent by the Tsarist government into exile

where he continued to publish his magazine, Iskra, a spark. His fury at the Romanov rule was already in full force

Lenin revealed his attitude to the Tsar's family quite early on. In 1903, the abolition of capital punishment was discussed at the Second Congress

And there was a voice from the audience. You mean that this relates to the Tsar too

We won't shoot him? Lenin was also present there, and together they passed a decision that it couldn't be like this

The Tsar must be shot. So from the very beginning, the Bolsheviks had this idea that the Tsar must be shot

But the final days of the Romanov family were still years away

While Lenin railed against Nicholas and all that he represented, the Tsar was unimpressed with Lenin or his newly formed Bolshevik party

In January of 1903, the Russian aristocracy held yet another opulent ball

in the Hermitage Theatre of the Winter Palace. It was the kind of excess which infuriated the radicals

But Nicky's sisters, Olga and Xenia, found the occasion unforgettable. All of us appeared in 17th-century court dress

Nicky wore the costume of Alexey, the second Roman of Zah. all raspberry, gold and silver

Alex was just stunning. She wore a seraphin of gold brocade, and her earrings were so heavy that she could not bend her head

Xenia's husband Sandro, the Grand Duke Alexander, was less gracious. For at least one night, Nicky wanted to be back in the glorious past of our family

but he was obviously not sufficiently tall to do justice to his magnificent garb

Also at the ball was a maid of honor to the empress, Olga Zinoviev

as her son Kirill remembers. She always felt herself rather awkward in her presence

because she always said that the empress seemed to feel awkward in the presence of her own maids of honour

her ladies-in-waiting or whatever it is. She did not feel quite at home with people

and felt rather shy and used to be covered with sort of red blushes all the time

A recluse by nature, Alexandra became increasingly alienated from Russian society and obsessed with her family

At last, at Peterhof Palace, outside St. Petersburg, the empress gave the Tsar what he most wanted

It was four years into the new century and almost ten since Nicholas and Alexandra were married

30th of July. For us, an unforgettable day on which God's goodness was so clearly visited upon us

At 1.15 this afternoon, Alex gave birth to a son, whom in prayer we named Alexei

Soon though, Nicholas' elation turned to ashes. 8th of September. Alex and I have been much worried

A hemorrhage began this morning without the slightest cause from the navel of our small Alexei

It was haemophilia Inherited from the baby's great-grandmother, Queen Victoria And carried by Alexandra

In those days, sufferers seldom reached adulthood On top of the family tragedy came political unrest

On what became known as Bloody Sunday, the 9th of January 1905

a march of loyal but disgruntled workers set out for the Winter Palace

to hand a petition to the Tsar. Such a demonstration was unprecedented in the Russia of the Romanovs

My mother was curious, and she and my father went there, but not with the demonstration

They were in the gardens nearby, and boys there were climbing trees to get a better view

to watch the demonstration. Despite the peaceful intentions of the marchers

the authorities panicked. To back up the Cossacks with their whips, they called out the infantry with their rifles

They raised their rifles a little, so as not to fire into the crowd, but over their heads

At this point, boys came tumbling out of the trees, and one boy in particular dropped like a bird, as my mother put it

not far from the spot where she was standing. already wounded, as he fell from the tree

Obviously, he died instantly. The second volley was aimed directly at the marchers

Several hundred were killed. The radical press grabbed the opportunity

to blacken the Tsar's name. On the 9th of January, or anyway

the very next day after Bloody Sunday, we in Odessa read in the newspapers

that the Tsar was holding a ball in the Winter Palace. This was a rumour, and a false one

The Tsar was secluded in the Alexander Palace, where he had been advised to stay at a safe distance

during the strikes and demonstrations which were rocking St. Petersburg. 9th of January

A distressing day. The troops have been forced to fire in several parts of the city

and there are many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and sad this is

But the damage was done. The whole of Odessa already knew what had happened on Palace Square

and called the Tsar Bloody Nikolashka. And I, too, began to hate the Tsar

Nicholas was not the only Romanov in the sights of the revolutionaries

Three weeks after Bloody Sunday, his uncle Sergei, the governor general of Moscow

was blown to bits at the gates of the Kremlin. Sergei and Ella had spent much time with the Romanovs

In fact, it was at their wedding that Nicky and Alex had met

After the explosion, Ella crawled amongst the remains of her husband, muttering

Sergei so disliked the mess. Sergei so disliked the sight of blood

In her grief Ella retreated from the world building a convent and becoming its abbess She would remain cloistered until 1918 when she was arrested by revolutionaries

and thrown alive down a mineshaft in Siberia, where she sang hymns for many hours until she died

In 1904, Nicholas had been drawn into a disastrous war with Japan

He dispatched his troops with his blessing, not that they knew where they were going or why

Japan, for us, was so far away that we had no notion of the existence of Japan

of such a land, of such an island, of such a nation

The Russian people believed the propaganda, which promised a short, sharp, victorious war

But the Japanese people believed their propaganda, which promised the same and proved to be right

It took the Russian Navy's Baltic fleet six months on the high seas

to make the engagement, only to be sunk in a single day at the Battle of Tsushima

The Tsar's reputation, too, was sinking. The Tsar's enemies spread rumors reporting his cool response

when told the news of the Tsushima disaster. Anyone for another set

But the family remember it differently, as Nicholas's sister Olga noted. I was at the palace when the telegram arrived

Both Alex and I were with Nikki. He turned ashen pale. Alex broke down and sobbed

The whole palace was plunged into mourning that day. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the summer of 1905

President Theodore Roosevelt hosted peace talks between Russia and Japan. The warring nations were financially exhausted by the conflict

and desperate to find peace. In the end, the U.S. brokered a face-saving deal

with each giving the other territory. But the little Japanese monkeys

as Nicholas called them in his diary, had shamed the mighty Russian bear

The Tsar's standing was diminished even more. peace abroad had come at a price

Peace at home would prove even more costly. In St. Petersburg, factories were closing every day

By October, there was a general strike. The attempted revolution of 1905 was underway

though it would not succeed. The authorities called on the troops

which only strengthened the strikers' determination and the radicals' demands. The Tsar's empire balanced on a knife edge

The emperor was really faced with an alternative, either to try and smash the opposition by the use of massive military force

or to make concessions to try and win back the moderates. He decided to try and win back the moderates

because he felt that even if he did smash the opposition now by using the army, it would be no permanent solution

A turning point came when the Tsar's own uncle, the army boss Grand Duke Nikolai

came out in support of a change from the Tsarist system to a constitutional monarchy

The idea of this constitutional manifesto came from the Tsar's chief minister, Sergei Vita

who recalled the Grand Duke's challenge. Grand Duke Nikolai took a revolver from his pocket and said

You see this revolver? I will now go to the Tsar and entreat him to sign the manifesto

and count Vita's proposal. Either he signs or in his presence I will blow my head off Nicholas believed that granting a constitution was an abomination and would destroy the Russian Empire

But he had no alternative. Nicholas bowed to fate. it was here in the grand ballroom at peterhoff palace that nicholas signed away his sacred

inheritance he would still be czar but no longer the absolute autocrat

17th of october invoking god's help i signed my only consolation is that such is the will of god

and that this grave decision will lead my dear Russia out of the intolerable chaos she has been in for nearly a year

Reluctantly creating the first ever elected Russian parliament, or Duma, Nicholas believed he had bought time

But the taste of freedom promised by the Constitution only intensified the appetite of the radicals

At the beginning of 1906, Nicholas wrote to his mother. My own dear Mama

how shameful it is to live through such a crisis in the eyes of the whole world

But this is God's will, and I must endure all troubles until the very end

Russia's hopes for stability lay in the constitution which Nikki so detested and the parliament it created

In April 1906, the Tsar and Tsarina came to the Winter Palace for the ceremonial opening of the First Duma

The procession wound its way up the formal Rustrelli staircase and entered the Hall of St. George

where the humbled Nicholas forced himself to speak. May my fervent hopes be fulfilled

to see my people happy and to bequeath to my son a stronger, better and more enlightened state

Until now, there had been no legal political parties in Russia. The Duma, with its elected representatives

from a spectrum of new parties marked an irreversible step in Russian political life

Governor of St. Petersburg at the time was Alexander Zinoviev. To my grandfather, of course, it did represent

if not a revolution, but at least a very radical change. The change from an autocracy to a constitutional

or more or less constitutional regime. There was no way back into absolute autocracy

It was Russia's tomorrow, in a way. The alliance between Nicholas and the Duma was uneasy at best

Whenever he felt the demands of the deputies went too far, he dissolved the Duma, only to reconvene a new, more obedient one

Hiding behind the smokescreen of the Duma and the Constitution, Nicholas and his ministers now set about stamping out radical political opposition

His new prime minister, Peter Stolipin, hanged hundreds of terrorists within weeks of his appointment

But Stolipin's necktie, as the noose became known, still claimed fewer victims than the revolutionaries' bonds

Stolipin's own house was targeted in 1906, but he escaped serious injury

Five years later, accompanying Nicholas and his family on an official visit to Kiev

Stolipin was caught on camera on the day of his death. That night at the opera, Stolipin was fatally shot

before the eyes of the Tsar and his family. Stolipin slowly turned his face towards me

and with his left hand made the sign of the cross in the air. His right hand and uniform were bloodstained. Olga and Tatiana saw what happened

Tatiana was very upset and wept bitterly. In the midst of Russia's chaos, the Grand Duchesses were growing up, though they took

second place to the younger Alexei who was the heir apparent He always followed close behind his father while his four older sisters brought up the rear The grand duchesses could not

by law, inherit the throne. In the family, they were known collectively by the initial

letters of their names, Olga, Tatyana, Maria, and Anastasia, Otma. Olga was by temperament closest to her father

honest and well-intentioned. But it was Tatiana who could wind Nicky round her little finger

Her sisters called her the governess. Maria was the most traditional, flirtatious, affectionate, and fond of children

Anastasia was impish and charming, always playing the fool. and young Alexei was the family's darling

and so it had to be admitted just a little spoiled. Every summer, affairs of state permitting

Nicholas retreated with his beloved family to the Crimea. In the fall of 1911

the newly rebuilt palace at Lavadia played host to a special ball

in honor of Grand Duchess Olga's 16th birthday. Olga, in her first ball gown, wore her parents' birthday gifts

a necklace of 32 diamonds and pearls and a matching diamond ring

All the grand families of Russia with sumptuous villas in the Crimea were invited

The nightmares and tears were swept away for the time being. The new miracle of movies caught the Russian popular imagination

The continuation of the Romanov line was there for all its subjects to see

It was a polished piece of publicity. In August 1912, the imperial regime seemed to have recovered its former glory as Russia

rejoiced in the centennial celebrations of the victory over Napoleon. It was a time of peace and prosperity

Industrial production was rising, harvests were bountiful, and modernization and new technology

were reaching out to all corners of the empire. But there was no scientific breakthrough in the one area

that mattered most to the Tsar and Tsarina, medicine. Alexei's hemophilia shadowed their every thought and action

And that summer of 1912 was to be the last time Alexei was still a normal, playful little boy

Soon the debilitating nature of the heir's illness could no longer be kept secret

The dynasty had a fatal flaw. For Nicholas and Alexandra, it seemed ever more apparent that Alexei's survival and the very salvation of Romanov rule lay in the hands of one man, Rasputin

The cure was to prove as deadly as the disease