Re: The Empress Alexandra Fights Back #1

Bob you can’t imagine how concerned I was when I entered the Alexander Palace website today and saw that you had contributed to this thread.  I thought for a minute that I might have done something quite amiss.  However my fears were soon put to rest as, instead, here is this wonderful contribution from you with information that is incredibly compelling.  I can’t thank you enough for your comments and for your contribution at a time when you are so incredibly busy with the details of this remarkable discovery of Alexis and Maria’s remains.  

I am so touched and deeply thank you for taking time away for all you are doing to keep all of us informed about all the aspects of this powerful historic event that has such profound historic consequences for Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, not to mention the Romanovs.  

I also wanted to say that I forgot to include Rob in my tribute to you and Margarita.  Please relay to him that this “ole beach bum” is really sorry for that omission.  Rob has been there for me on so many occasions and has always extended his tolerance of my intemperance and frivolity, especially in connection with the Rasputin trial.  I can’t help adding that I loved Rob’s remarks about the use of straightforward logic in terms of deciphering the authenticity of this momentous discovery of the remains of Alexis and Mraia. He is spot on.  

Bob, I still am pondering your remarks about what it was that caused Rasputin to start drinking so heavily in the late months of 1914.  Clearly you have thought through all of the standard explanations and none of them have made any sense to you.  What is unsaid is that you have access to an unlimited amount of first source information that you have clearly absorbed and examined, yet still this question remains.  That means an incredible amount to me and I can’t help feeling that when we are able to answer that question we will better understand the dynamic of this inscrutable Rasputin who was clearly falling apart not long before his assassination.  The interesting thing to ponder here is that even the Empress’ undying devotion to Rasputin could not counter her concerns about his downward spiral.  I think we will see this born out in the Empress’ war correspondence in 1916, when Alix expresses her concern over Rasputin’s demanding and abusive treatment of Ania.    

However, let’s get back to your current question, Bob, a question that is as challenging as it is enthralling:

Nicholas had full reports on how his own family had turned against him in the last year of his reign and the plots against him and his wife.  Nicholas was open with his wife about these reports.  I cannot understand how Nicholas and Alexandra continued to meet with members of the family right up until the end.  For example, when GD Alexander met with Nicholas and Alexandra at TS in the last days they knew he had been conspiring to get rid of both of them.

The question you ask will be answered when the key to the March o/s Revolution is solved.  At the same time your intensely intriguing question has helped us to reconsider how hard the Emperor and Empress worked to keep some sense of family solidarity together during a time when Nicky and Alix realized that the Romanov’s had abandoned them.    

This is why it is all the more important that we realize the that the war correspondence for the first half of 1915 exemplifies the Empress’ Christian character as  there is not a trace of animosity in Alix's comments about Ducky or Kyrill in 1915.  The Empress has left all of her disappointment and concerns about scandal behind long ago and is impressed with Ducky's efforts during the war.  Alix is proud of Ducky and feels that she deserves an official reward and recognition for all she is doing.  Alix even promotes Kyrill’s desire to be apart of the triumphal tour of Galicia, the same Kyrill that will abandon Alix and her sick children in March 1917 during the early stages of the March Revolution o/s by removing his sailor guard from Tsarskoe Selo and marching to Petrograd with his men as a tribute to the Provisional Government’s coup.   What a stupid, stupid man; a man’s whose infidelity was not just confined to his duty to the throne but in exile would eventually extend to his duty to his wife and cause her untimely death.  I can only hope that the legacy of Kyrill’s selfish and treasonous stupidity will eventually deflate the ambitions of his heirs.  

Again, the War Correspondence for the first half of 1915 shows that Alix was concerned that Nicky did not neglect his mother; Alix was happy that Nicky’s brother Michael was recognized for his bravery; Alix was delighted that the Grand Duke George was honored by Nicky; Alix even supports Prince Peter of Oldenburg’s secret love; and Alix wants to know that the Grand Duke Peter is well.  The only thing that concerns the Empress is the unwarranted issuing of honors to members of the Romanov family who clearly did not deserve them such as the Tatiana, the daughter of the Grand Duke Constantine, and the Grand Duchess Vladimir who was always finding a way to promote herself as the most important woman in the room.   It is clear that Alix and Nicky clearly loved respected Nicky's sister Olga for her devotion to nursing and Alix felt that Olga, like Ducky, deserved the honors that went instead to other less deserving Romanovs.  Alix is continually solicitous in her relations with Xenia and Irena .

It appears from the War Correspondence of 1915 that Nicky and Alix worked hard to keep the family together.  I think Nicky's continuous graciousness towards his Romanov relatives was summed up in the Christian charity that promoted his admonition to Alix, when Countess Hohenfelsen was pushing for the title of Princess Paley in a way that was offensive to Alix, ...a little goodwill on our side and the thing will be done...

“…a little goodwill…” bless Nicky’s heart, little did he understand that the Christian moral and ethical reform that his permeated his wife’s point of view was not going to work with the members of his reprobate eighteenth century Romanov kin.       

As I said in an earlier post about the author Peter Kruth, a first-rate historian who was betrayed by a fraud; “I can not help but feel that Kurth’s greatest contribution was the depth of his understanding of the Romanov family…If I might be allowed to edit Peter Kurth’s remarks about Anna Anderson and apply them to Alexandra and her relationship with the Romanov family:

It is about [a family]…blinded by a past they needed to believe was perfect, holding very deep grudges, and immobilized by uncertainty.  It is a story of “anguished indecision” and colossal misunderstanding.  Finally, above all, it is a story of a family in crisis, a…dynasty confronted with a problem its laws and traditions could not comprehend, a family…asked to accept as authentic…a…woman whom few could bring themselves to acknowledge as sane…The answer to the riddle of [Alexandra Feodorovna] does not lie in Russia, but in the heart of the Romanov family, where pride and appearances overruled compassion and condemned a human being to life in a bitter universe of imputation and doubt.    [Ref: Peter Kurth, “Anastasia, The Riddle Of Anna Anderson," p. ix]   

Well we have a great deal of careful analysis to do as we attempt to survive this tsunami of disapprobation and malice against the Empress that only gets more and more convoluted and tortuous in the year 1915.  Mrs. Eddy, an American religious leader who believed that she had found the mental laws of spiritual healing that Jesus had employed in his ministry, but who would have seriously doubted the spritural authenticity of Rasputin, none-the-less, seems to sum up the mis-treatment that Alix and Nicky have endured to this day:

Of old the cross was truth’s central sign, and it is to-day.  The modern lash is less material than the Roman scourge, but it is equally as cutting.  Cold distain, stubborn resistance, opposition from church, state laws, and the press, are still the harbingers of truth’s full-orbed appearing.  [Ref: Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Keyes to the Scriptures, p. 224]



 

Nicholas had full reports on how his own family had turned against him in the last year of his reign and the plots against him and his wife.  Nicholas was open with his wife about these reports.  I cannot understand how Nicholas and Alexandra continued to meet with members of the family right up until the end.  For example, when GD Alexander met with Nicholas and Alexandra at TS in the last days they knew he had been conspiring to get rid of both of them.

Bob

Bob, IMHO Nikolai proved to be the real tactician and diplomat in the Family. No matter how much grief his other family members had caused, he needed to maintain the semblance of family unity for the sake of Russia and the morale of the Russian troops who were fighting more intense battles in the field.

Thus, just days after burying Grigorii Rasputin, they gathered one final time for Christmas exchanging gifts ....

Margarita

Thanks for all your work here griffh.  What really surprised me reading Alexandra's own words is that the family wasn't as isolated from the rest of the Romanov's as some sources would lead you to believe.  The impression is often given that Nicholas and Alexandra cut themselves and their children off from all social contact w/ his kin.  Some I would expect contact w/, such as Paul, but you've recently posted about teas w/ Kyril and Miechen, this as late as 1915.
Which leads me to wonder, what is known or more probably surmised, about the Romanovs plotting against Alexandra and/or Nicholas?  I haven't found a thread here addressing that, maybe someone could point me in the right direction if they know of one.  Or perhaps I should start one, as that's going off on a tangent here.
T

Hey Margarita I woke up at 4am to thank you for your post.  I just want to add again how grateful I am to your wonderful contributions to this highly important historic drama that is unfolding hour by hour in Russia as the remains of Alexis and Maria are being examined.  I so appreciate your thorough scholarship and detailed research.  Thank you so much.  I did not see your post when I responded to Bob's comments but as usual we were in the same place sharing the same thoughts.  

Thank you Terence for your remarks.  Your idea would make for a very interesting thread and you are spot on about the absurd notion that the Emperor and Empress isolated themselves in Tsarskoe Selo.  This war correspondence will continue to expose the ridiculous assumptions that are still being written by historians about Nicky and Alix.  This correspondence holds the key to understanding the real truth of what Nicky and Alix faced and how hard they worked to save Russia, their dynasty, and win the war.  

I can't help finding late Princess of Wales remarks in her interview with Martin Bashir in November 1995 very compelling and applicable to what Nicky and especially Alix were facing.  

BASHIR: Do you really believe that a campaign was being waged against you?

DIANA: Yes I did, absolutely…

BASHIR: Why?

DIANA: …I was a problem, fullstop…what do we do with her?

BASHIR: Can't we pack her off to somewhere quietly rather than campaign against her?

DIANA: She won't go quietly, that's the problem. I'll fight to the end, because I believe that I have a role to fulfill, and I've got…children to bring up…people were…indicating that I was…unstable…and should be put in a home of some sort in order to get better. I was almost an embarrassment…there's no better way to dismantle a personality than to isolate it.

BASHIR: So you were isolated?

DIANA: …very much so.   [Ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/diana/panorama.html]

The kind of isolation I am trying to get at here by quoting the late Princess of Wales remarks is perfectly depicted in the French Ambassador’s description of the treatment the Empress, who was still recovering from her physical collapse in March, faced during the short ceremony of the transfer of the Grand Duke Constantine’s coffin to the catafalque in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul.   The ceremony was held on Saturday, June 19/6, 1915 and the Empress pushed herself beyond her endurance to be present.  Her efforts so exhausted her that she could not be present for the actual funeral on Monday, June 21/8, 1915.  I don’t think I have ever read a crueler description of the total indifference of an ailing woman in need of assistance written by an eyewitness who was in full agreement with the callous indifference of participants.  Maurice Paléologue proudly relates:

At six o'clock to-day the body was transferred with great pomp to the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, in the fortress, which is both the Bastille and Saint-Denis of the Romanovs.

The Emperor and all the Grand Dukes followed the funeral car on foot. They carried the huge coffin from the doorway of the church to the catafalque set up opposite the iconostasis.

The ceremony is only the prelude to the solemn obsequies and, for the orthodox liturgy, was comparatively short, though it took not less than an hour.

The Emperor, the Dowager Empress, the Empress, the Grand Dukes, Grand Duchesses and all the princes and princesses of the imperial family were there on the right of the catafalque; the diplomatic corps was grouped beside them.
I thus found myself within a few paces of the Emperor and had an excellent opportunity of observing him. He has changed materially during the three months since I saw him last. His hair is thinner and has turned grey in places; his face, too, is thinner, and there was a grave and distant look in his eyes.

On his left the Dowager Empress stood motionless, raising her head in a majestic and statuesque attitude which she never abandoned for a moment, for all her eight-and-sixty years. At her side the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna stood rigid, nervously working her hands. Her face was veined like marble and every now and then she turned deathly pale, and her uneven and jerky breathing made her bosom heave. Immediately next in the same row was the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, who held herself with the same statuesque dignity as her sister-in-law, the Dowager Empress.

Then came the Emperor's four daughters. Olga, the eldest, continually cast an anxious glance towards her mother.

By a departure from the usages of the Orthodox Church, three chairs had been placed behind the two Empresses and the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna. To the Empress Alexandra standing is torture, and four times was she compelled to sit down. On each occasion she covered her eyes with her hand, as if in apology for her weakness. Instead of giving way, the two ladies next to her held themselves better than ever - this mute protest contrasting the grand manner of the previous reign with the degeneration of the present Court.  [Ref: Maurice Paléologue, “An Ambassador’s Memoirs,” Vol. II, pp. 15-16]
 
That is the kind of isolation I am speaking of.  That kind of cruel behaviour can't be explained away as having anything to do with duty.  The Empress Dowager and the Grand Duchess were instructing court society how to behave toward the young Empress. 
 
BASHIR: So you were isolated?

DIANA: …very much so. 

[Rasputin, Personal Concerns, Government, Nikolasha, and Nicky's Sovereignty]

I must admit one thing about myself and it is this: I know that I it is not very professional of me to respond to every post as if it was meant for me personally.  I am sorry for this flaw in my character.  I am such an unrepentant “Chatty Cathy.” 

Please forgive me for this flaw.  I know that I sound like I am holding court instead of sharing research and I must apologize for this.  It is simply the result of the way I was bred.  I distinctly remember the very pointed rebuke of an American Space Scientist who told me at some reception, “If you mother dismisses me one more time, I shall tell her off.”  I remember thinking, “What are you talking about, my mother only rebukes the undeserving!”  It was only later, on my own in NYC that I learned rather rapidly, that being raised in privileged circumstances does not afford universal protection. 

Be that as it may, I will try my best to repent my overly chatty, and possibly pretentious ways, but as they say in “Show Business,” here in the good old US of A, “Don’t hold you breath.”   

Alas, after that rather lame and self-serving attempt at self-immolation, here is a quick update.  I am working on the sequence for posting the next themes which I hope to do by this weekend.  I want to include the themes, Rasputin, Personal Concerns, Government, Nikolasha, and Nicky's Sovereignty.  There is also the theme, Nicky’s Health , that is so important to post, but I am not sure where and when as of yet.

You see, here is the rub, certain excerpts from the June 1915 correspondence of the Empress has been widely used against Alix to prove that she was a dangerous, mentally unstable reactionary who, as the unthinking tool of Rasputin, was leading her husband and his country to doom.  I am hoping that we can glean a slightly different interpretation of Alix at full throttle when she is beset by fears of her own persecutiion.   

We know that by June 1915 the Empress is in serious trouble because of the Emperor’s honesty and integrity when he handed over Ernie’s letters and Masha’s letters to Sazonoff.  This action was turned against Alix and caused the spread of malicious rumors that she was heading a pro-German cabal.  These rumors not only permeated the government but sent a note of alarm to the Duma and General Headquarters. 

We also know that a certain Allied Ambassador was so concerned that he asked the Grand Duke Paul to question the Empress about the alleged rumors and we know from the Emperor and Empress’ correspondence in June 1915 that Nicky commends Alix for her clear and accurate response to Paul, a response Nicky says is so fine that it paraphrases the Transcript he is about to issue about his determination to fight the War to its victory.   

We also know from this same June 1915 correspondence that the Empress is no fool and already comprehends that she will soon be accused of being a German Spy. 

We that the Moscow riots, that were staged by the elder Prince Yusupov as evidence of the outcry against the supposed pro-German program of the Empress, called for the Grand Duke Nicholas to usurp the throne.   We know that this attempt to overthrow her husband had an impact on the Empress, who blamed the intrigue on the Grand Duke’s wife and sister-in-law more than on the Grand Duke himself, but that it eventually changed her privious positive attitude toward the Commander-and-Chief. 

We know that, prior to the Moscow Riots, even Rasputin’s fear of the Grand Duke Nicholas and his wife and sister-in-law had not meant anything to Alix and that she had even told Ania V. to quiet Rasputin about his fear of the Commander-and- Chief.  We also know that Alix advises her husband, who wants to take command of his army from the very beginning of the war, that this is not a good idea.  Even when the Empress’ confidence in the Commander-and-Chief falters, Alix still insists that Nicky’s greatest mission is not at General Headquarters, but is his duty to visit his troops which Nicky agrees to.  Even Alix' growing concerns in June of 1915 about the Nikolasha’s usurpation of power from Nicky, which Nicky has complained about does encourage Alix to advocate her husband's undying desire to take Command of his Army.

Of this I am sure, we have all been fairly amazed by the information that we have learned from the theme, Romanov Family, i.e., that no rupture had occurred in June 1915 with the Romanov and not only that but the Empress rejoices in the promotions and honors conferred on her Romanov in-laws; not to mention her constant solicitous concerns for her the Empress Dowager.  We hear how Alix wants Nicky to communicate more with his mother and how Alix reminds Nicky to tell “mother-dear” about the honors conferred on Michael for his heroism in battle.

I suppose, one might surmise, this is why I was so blindsided by the Empress Dowager’s heartless indifference to her daughter-in-law in the above post during the ceremony of the transference of the Grand Duke Constantine’s coffin to the SS. Peter and Paul’s cathedral in June 1915, the very period we have just covered. 

I have to tell you I can’t help wondering at the incredible good that would have resulted for the throne, the government, and the attiude of the Duma, not to mention the the suspicions of the British and French ambassadors, if the Empress Dowager had sat down next to the young Empress and comfortered her during the ceremony of the transfer of the Grand Duke Constantine's coffin to the cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul.  I can't help pondering the effect on publlic opinion if the Empress Dowager had even put her hand around her daughter-n-law sholders in a gesture of understanding and sympathy for someone she knew had not fully recovered from a total physical collapse in March.  She would have abashed critics like the French Ambassador who coldly attributed Alix’s discomfiture to a chronic problem with standing. 

The Empress Dowager, like her sister Queen Alexandra of England, was no slave to convention, and had acted in defiance of court etiquette on several occasions when she was moved by compassion, tact or humor.  How many times had Alexander III had done the same with her? 

What if the Empress Dowager had defied court etiquette, not to mention the menacing presence of her sister-in-law, Miechen, that terrifying battleaxe in brocade, and sat down next to her daughter-in-law and extended a mother’s love and comfort to the young Empress. 

I think that single act would have done more to turn public opinion in support of the young Empress and in support for the throne and would have quieted the rumors and malicious gossip faster than any other single act could possibly have achieved, politically, socially or religiously. 

Yes, yes, I well know that extending such generosity of spirit to the young Empress was a complete impossibility for the Empress Dowager.   It is not surprising that another individual knew equally well that this kind of kindness was an impossibility for the Empress Dowager and this individual turned out to be the Empress Dowager’s own mother, Queen Louise of Denmark.  Early on Queen Louise had warned her daughter:

For yours and Nicky’s sake start treating her [Alix] like your own child, without fear, right away.  I have done wrong by Louise (the queen’s daughter-in-law and wife of the Crown Prince Frederick) and therefore spoiled Freddy’s life, and she is pulling him away from me, this is where I am afraid for you; and therefore I am warning you—Pull her [Alix] towards you with love!  God help you if you lose Nicky’s trust and love, it will be the death of you.   [Ref: Julia P. Gelardi, “Born to Rule,” p. 59]

As I ponder Queen Louise’s advice I can’t but realise that the Danish Queen's curse was accurately foretold in mental death of her unrepentant daughter.  By that I mean this, i can’t help believing that the Empress Dowager’s mental death was revealed in the totally irrational way this very rational woman disallowed the death of her son and his family all through the anguished decade of her exile.  I don’t believe that the Empress Dowager’s state of denial was just a clever political stance, to me, it revealed her mental and emotional death, and was the result of severe mental repression.  I can't help but think it was the fulfillment of her mother’s curse.  What is that old saying?  "Guilt, the gift that goes on giving!"

Added to this is the Empress Dowager’s impact on the English public when she arrived in Britain in 1919.  I don’t believe the British public and press ever received a greater shock in a hundred years than the moment the the Empress Dowager arrived in London without her mourning attire. 

As you might surmise, I am not one of those individuals who bounced up and down in total delight when the Empress Dowager’s remains were recently interned in SS. Peter and Paul cathedral.  However, I must add, that my irritability and disapprobation of Marie Feodorovna is not so great that it expunges the deep grateful I feel for the belated joy I can’t help feeling that at long last Marie has come home to rest. 

[Nikolasha, Government]

I have been working very hard all weekend sorting through the various themes Nikolasha, Government, and Rasputin.  I almost despaired of not being able to post anything this weekend as I needed to really get a grasp of the order the themes should take.  I first realized that I needed to start with the theme Nikolasha as it involves a long discussion between the Emperor and Empress.  Then I realized that this discussion involves so many remarks about Rasputin that I would not need to post the theme Rasputin next but should follow Nikolasha with the theme Government.  Once I started organizing the theme Government I immediately realized that for the sake of clarity it would be necessary to break up the theme up into individual discussions between Nicky and Alix about each of the newly appointed Ministers which also involved remarks about Rasputin.   I realized that in this way, by the time I post the theme, Rasputin, we will have a clear sense of way the Empress uses the man to enforce her opposition to various political and religious appointments. 

After getting the sequence of themes worked out, I thought it might be best to post the theme Separation before we launch into the theme Nikolasha.  I made that decision based on the fact that the theme Separation, not only reveals the deep affection Nicky and Alix felt for each other and it points to the remarkable working partnership that Nicky and Alix had.  I wasn’t aware of the nature of Nicky and Alix’ working partnership until I happened to read something Major Hanbury-Williams wrote.  I was struck so forcibly about the nature of Nicky and Alix’s working relationship when I read the following statement Major General Sir John Hanbury-Williams made about a conversation he was having with the Emperor in December 1915.  After speaking of the campaign in Salonika,  the Emperor told Hanbury-Williams:

…how he got the last telegram from the Kaiser before the war, which was sent after the German Army was mobilised. He had made up his mind and was dog-tired when he went to bed.  Had done some of the ciphering himself, and that the Empress had been the greatest help to him throughout those anxious days and nights, working with him at the ciphers and as indignant as he was with the Germans. [Ref: Major General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, “Nicholas II, As I Knew Him,” Diary in Russia, 1915, Alexander Palace On-Line Book]

Besides pointing to Alix patriotism, Hanbury-Williams words indicate such a close working relationship between the Emperor and Empress.  I can just see Alix with her quick intelligence and deep sense of duty pouring over those ciphers in an attempt to lessen the burden of her husband, and I can just feel Alix’ abhorrence of the duplicity of the Kaiser and the ugly little cat and mouse game he was playing with Nicky at the eleventh hour. 

I believe one can feel in the following theme, Separation, not only the Empress’ longing for husband on the one hand, or her fearful concerns on the other hand; but one can also sense her sorrow over the loss of that working relationship with her husband that had been such a integral part of their marriage in the first year of the War.   

ALEXANDRA’S CORRESPONDENCE TO NICKY IN 1915
ARRANGED INTO THEMES

SEPARATION


Letter No. 34 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 21st, 1915
My very own beloved One, Once more I pen a letter to you wh. you will read when the train carries you away from us to-morrow. It's not for long, & yet it is painful, but I wont grumble, knowing it brings you comfort & a change & others intense joys.

Letter No. 34 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 21st, 1915
I get up to go to Church with you & see you off, hate that moment & can never get accustomed to it. –

Letter No. 35 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 22nd, 1915
- the room looks big & empty, as the tree has been taken away. - Sad without you, my Angel & seeing you leave was nasty. -

Letter No. 36 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 23rd, 1915
Sweetest one I miss you very much & long for your tender love. It is so silent & empty without you.

Letter No. 37 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 24th, 1915
My treasure, I miss you so much.

Letter No. 39 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 26th, 1915
We take tea there [Alexis’ room], wh. is cosy & not so sad as down in my mauve room without you.  One misses you dreadfully my love,

Letter No. 39 Tsarskoe Selo, Jan. 26th, 1915
Do you sit sometimes in my compartiment?

Telegram. Lopasnia. 1 February, 1915
Am looking forward to seeing you to-morrow…Nicky

Letter No. 45 Tsarskoe Selo, Feb. 27th, 1915
My Angel sweet, me no likes saying goodbye - but I wont be selfish they need you & you must have a change.
My work & prayer must help me over the separation - the nights are so lonely - & yet you are far lonelier, poor agooweeone!-

Letter No. 45 Tsarskoe Selo, Feb. 27th, 1915
Oh such pain saying goodbye! Feel so sad to-night - me does love you so intensely. God be with you. -

[Letter No. 46 Tsarskoe Selo, Feb. 28th, 1915]

Letter No. 46 Tsarskoe Selo, Feb. 28th, 1915
My very own One, It was sad seeing you go off in the train all alone, & my heart ached. –

Stavka. 28 February, 1915
MY BELOVED DARLING,
Although it is naturally very sad for me to leave you and the dear children, I am going this time with such calm in my soul that I am myself surprised. Whether it is because I had a talk with our Friend last night, or because of the newspapers which Buchanan gave me, telling of the death of Witte, or perhaps because of the feeling that something good will happen in the war - I cannot say, but in my heart reigns a truly paschal peace. How I wish that I could leave it with you too! - I was so happy to spend those two days at home - perhaps you noticed it, but I am foolish, and never speak of what I feel...Nicky

Letter No. 47 Tsarskoe Selo, March 1st, 1915
Yes, lovy mine, I saw you were happy to be home these 2 days again

Stavka. 28 February, 1915
What a nuisance it is to be always so busy and not to have an opportunity for sitting quietly together and having a talk I After dinner I cannot stay indoors, as I long to get out in the fresh air - and so all the free hours pass, and the old couple seldom get a chance of being together, especially now that A. is unwell and cannot come to us…Nicky  I shall always let you know where I am going.
 
Letter No. 51 Tsarskoe Selo, March 5th, 1915
I wish I were near you as I am sure you go through many difficult moments not knowing who speaks the exact truth, who is partial & so on - & personal offenses etc., which ought not to exist at such a time, just show themselves, alas, now in the rear, I fear.

Stavka. 7 March, 1915
We are all amazed here at the time going so quickly. The prolongation of my stay here has proved useful, as we had to discuss a number of serious and pressing questions; if I had not been here it would have taken much more time and an exchange of telegrams…Nicky

Letter No. 53 Tsarskoe Selo, March 7th, 1915
My own beloved One, A week to-day you left us - it seems much longer.

Stavka. 9 March. 1915
MY BELOVED SUNNY,
God grant that I may return by the 11th - probably at 10 o'clock in the morning. What joy to be again in one's own nestsnugly and closely (in every sense) together…I am tremendously happy to return home again…Nicky

Letter No. 54a Tsarskoe Selo, March 9th, 1915
My Huzy sweet Angel,
What happiness to know, that the day after to-morrow I shall be holding you tight in my arms again, listening to your dear voice and looking into your beloved eyes. Only for you I regret, that you won't have seen anything.

Letter No. 55 Tsarskoe Selo, April 4th, 1915
My very own Treasure,
Once more you are leaving us, and I think with gladness, because the life you had here, all excepting the work in the garden - is more than trying and tiring.

Telegram. Louga. 4 April, 1915
I have changed the beginning of my programme; am first going to the Stavka and then to the two other places which I wrote down in your pocket-book. Am feeling splendid...Nicky

Letter No. 55 Tsarskoe Selo, April 4th, 1915
…it seems I have not talked to you simply for ages (and Ania imagines hourly we do)!

Letter No. 55 Tsarskoe Selo, April 4th, 1915
We have seen next to nothing of each other through my having been lain up, Full many a thing have I not had time to ask, and when together only late in the evening, half the thoughts have flown away again.

Letter No.56 Tsarskoe Selo, April 4th 1915
It is so hard every time - it wrenches at one's heart and leaves such ache and endless longing - Ortipo too feels sad, and jumps up at every sound and watches for you. Yes Deary, when one really loves - one indeed loves!

Letter No.56 Tsarskoe Selo, April 4th 1915
Each child brought me your message - ah lovy mine, I cry now like a big baby - and see your sweet, sad eyes, so full of love before me. -

Stavka. 5 April, 1915
MY BELOVED SUNNY,
I was feeling so sad and downhearted, leaving you not quite well, and remained in that state until I fell asleep…Nicky

Letter No. 57 Tsarskoe Selo, April 5th, 1915 - the empty cushion beside me makes me, oh so sad!

Letter No. 57 Tsarskoe Selo, April 5th, 1915
Sweetest treasure - how I miss you ! Long and lonely days - so when head aches less copy out things of our friends, and then the time passes quicker.

Stavka. 6 April, 1915
MY PRECIOUS SUNNY,
All these changes will add only one extra day to the whole of my journey, so I hope that my Wify will not be very cross with me…Nicky

[Letter No. 58 Tsarskoe Selo, April 6th 1915]

Letter No. 58 Tsarskoe Selo, April 6th 1915
Sweetheart & comfort, as I miss you awfully…

Letter No. 59 Tsarskoe Selo, April 7th, 1915
May God Almighty make me a worthy helpmate of yours, my own sweet treasure, my sunshine, Sunbeam's Father! -

Stavka. 8 April, 1915
My PRECIOUS DARLING,
To-day I had no time to write to you before the courier's departure, as I was in a hurry with my usual papers. I am sending this letter to-morrow from the border station of Brody. I am afraid I shall not have time to write from Galicia, but I shall write later, from the South…Nicky

Letter No. 61 Tsarskoe Selo, April 9th, 1915
 - I keep thinking of you the whole time.

Letter 64 Tsarskoe Selo, April 12th, 1915
- Miss you sorely, precious Sunshine, our little home!-

Letter No. 71 Tsarskoe Selo, April 19th, 1915
…but missed you, my Angel, awfully –

Letter No. 71 Tsarskoe Selo, April 19th, 1915
Eagerly awaiting your return - lonely without you, my Sweetheart; & you will have such a lot to tell.-

Letter No. 72 Tsarskoe Selo, April 20th, 1915
Yes, my heart, I know you are lonely, and that makes me always so sad, that Sunbeam is not old enough to accompany you everywhere.

Letter No. 72 Tsarskoe Selo, April 20th, 1915
- What a jubilation when you return.

Letter No.73 Tsarskoe Selo, May 4th, 1915
- would that I could help you carrying, in prayers & thoughts I ever do. I yearn to lessen yr, burden so much you have had to suffer in those 20 years - & you were home the day of the longsuffering job too, my poor Sweetheart. But God will help, I feel sure, but still much heartache, anxiety, & hard work have to be got through bravely, with resignation & trust in God's mercy, and unfathomable wisdom.

Letter No.73 Tsarskoe Selo, May 4th, 1915
- remember Wify will praying & thinking of you, oh so much, & miss you quite terribly.

Letter No. 74 Tsarskoe Selo, May 5th, 1915
Slept badly - so lonely. -

Telegram. Stavka. 6 May, 1915
Am sorry that we are not together…Nicky

Letter No. 76 Tsarskoe Selo, May 7th, 1915
hate not being with you when trying times.

Letter No. 76 Tsarskoe Selo, May 7th, 1915
Its  h o r r i d  not being with you at a time so full of heartache & anxiety would to God I could be of help to you –

Letter No. 77 [aboard Alix’s train] May 8th, 1915
I hate not being near you, knowing your suffering.

Letter No. 79 Tsarskoe Selo, May 11th, 1915
To-day its a week you left us.

Stavka. 11 May, 1915
MY OWN DEAR LOVE,
It is exactly a week to-day since I went away. I am so sorry that I have not written to you since then! But, one way and another, it happens that I am just as busy here as at home.  The morning reports, as you can imagine, have been lengthy. Then church, nearly everyday, endless conversations and so forth. This took up nearly all my time, if one does not count half of the early evening, which is filled up with useful occupations. After tea there is a hasty survey of the papers, often vsenoshchnaia [vespers] and dinner - with the result that I have a headache in the evening and am completely exhausted. But that has all passed, and everything has become better and more normal, as it used to be…Nicky

Letter No. 80 [Tsarskoe Selo, no date]
How hard those days were, & I not near you & such hard work, much to do.

Letter No. 80 [Tsarskoe Selo, no date]
What joy if we meet really on Thursday !

Letter No. 81 Tsarskoe Selo, June 10th, 1915
My very own precious One,
It is with a heavy heart I let you leave this time

Letter No. 81 Tsarskoe Selo, June 10th, 1915
- everything is so serious & just now particularly painful & I long to be with you, to share your worries & anxieties. You bear all so bravely & by yourself - let me help you my Treasure. Surely there is some way in wh. a woman can be of help & use. I do so yearn. to make it easier for you…

[Letter No. 81 Tsarskoe Selo, June 10th, 1915]

Letter No. 81 Tsarskoe Selo, June 10th, 1915
- Sad not to pray together,

Letter No. 81 Tsarskoe Selo, June 10th, 1915
- How hard it is not to be with you, to talk over all quietly & to help you being firm. –

Letter No. 82 Tsarskoe Selo, June 11-th 1915
- speak out to yr. old wify - bride of the bygone share all with me, it may make it easier - tho' sometimes one has more strength carrying alone, not letting oneself get soft - the phisical heart gets so bad from it, I know it but too well.

Letter No. 82 Tsarskoe Selo, June 11-th 1915
My very own precious One,
All my tenderest thoughts surround you in love and longing. It was a lovely surprise, when you suddenly turned up again - I had been praying & crying & feeling wretched. You don't know how hard it is being without you & how  t e r r i b l y  I always miss you.

Telegram. Stavka. 12 June, 1915
I have a great deal of work to do, but shall try to write…Nicky

Letter No. 83 Tsarskoe Selo, June 12th, 1915
Such trials for you to bear my own Sunshine. I long to be with you, to know how you are feeling morally - brave & calm as usual, the pain hidden away as usual. God help you my very own sweet Sufferer & give you strength, trust & courage. Yr. reign has been one of sore trials, but the recompense must come some day, God is just.

Stavka. 12 June, 1915
BELOVED WIFY MINE,
This time I left with such a heavy heart! I thought of all the various and difficult questions - of the change of Ministers, of the Duma, of the 2nd Category, and so on...Nicky

Letter No. 84 Tsarskoe Selo, June 12th, 1915
Sweet, brave Soul how I wish one could rejoice your poor, tortured heart with something bright & hopeful. I long to hold you tightly clasped in my arms, with yr. sweet head resting upon my shoulder - then I could cover Lovy's face & eyes with kisses & murmer soft words of love.

Letter No. 84 Tsarskoe Selo, June 12th/13th, 1915
Feel sad & lowspirited, hate being separated fr. you, all the more so when you have so many worries. 

Letter No. 85 Tsarskoe Selo, June 14-th 1915
Beloved one, all my thoughts & prayers are with you the whole time & so much sorrow and anxiety fills the heart.

Letter No. 86 Tsarskoe Selo, June 14-th 1915
Forgive my bothering you so, poor weary Sweetheart, but one longs to be of help & perhaps I can be of some use giving over such messages. -

Letter No. 86 Tsarskoe Selo, June 14th /15th, 1915
- Do so long for news. - Wonder how long you will remain away,

Stavka. 15 June, 1915
Fortunately yesterday's conference was held in the large tent, and lasted from 2 till 5 o'clock. I was rather tired, but N. and all of them were greatly pleased. Old Gor. expressed the opinion that this conference here was more productive of results than three months of their ordinary work.
In my next letter I shall tell you some of the details of it; to-day I have no time. My papers are neglected, and I must look through them.
Somehow I miss you particularly in these days...Nicky

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th, 1915
- I suffer hideously being away from you. 20 years we shared all together, & now grave things are passing, I do not know your thoughts nor decisions, & its such pain.

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th, 1915
Oh, how I long to help you & give you faith in yourself.

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th, 1915
How long do you remain still?

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th/16th, 1915
- agoo wee one I hate being away fr. you, its my greatest punishment at this time especially

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th/16th, 1915
Oh, why are we not together to speak over all together & to help prevent things wh. I know ought not to be. Its not my brain wh. is clever, but I listen to my soul & I wish you would too my own sweetest One. -
I don't want to croak, but I only say all straight out to you.

Stavka. 16 June, 1915
The conference, which was held some days ago, dealt with three problems: the regime for the German and Austrian nationals who are still domiciled in Russia; the prisoners Of war; the text of the above-mentioned rescript; and finally the soldiers of the Second Category. When I told them of my wish, that the men of 1917 should be called up, all the Ministers heaved a sigh of relief. N. agreed at once…Nicky

[Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th/16th/17th, 1915]

Letter No. 87 Tsarskoe Selo, June, 15th/16th/17th, 1915
- Ah my Boy, my Boy, how I wish we were together - one is so tired at times, so weary from pain & anxiety - nigh upon 11 months - but then it was only the war, & now the interior questions wh. absorb one & the bad luck at the war, but God will help, when all seems blackest, I am sure better, sunnier days will come.

Telegram. Stavka. 17 June, 1915
Please do not worry, and see Goremykin, who will calm you…Nicky

Letter No. 89 Tsarskoe Selo, June 17-th 1915
Such grateful thanks for dear telegram, have at once asked Goremykin to come tomorrow, Thursday, & shall be happy to listen to the dear old man, & to him I can speak quite frankly, I know him ever since I married & he is so utterly devoted to you & will understand me.

Letter No. No.90 Tsarskoe Selo, June 18-th 1915
Dear old Goremykin sat for an hour with me & I think we touched many questions.
God grant him life!...He sees & understands all so clearly, that its a pleasure speaking to him …I wish others had his sound mind. -

Stavka. 19 June, 1915
I am glad that you have seen the old man. Has he reassured you?  I have decided to leave here on Tuesday, and with God's help we shall see each other at last....Nicky

Letter No. 91 Tsarskoe Selo, June 20-th 1915
My beloved Nicky dear,
All my thoughts are ever near you in tender love & loneliness.

Letter No. 91 Tsarskoe Selo, June 20-th 1915
- He [Benkendorf] said one had written that you were perhaps returning the 24-th - is it really true? What joy to have you safely back again.

Letter No. 92 Tsarskoe Selo, June 21-th 1915
- What joy to have you back again! You precious One, Wify is lonely & has a heavy heart.

Telegram. Stavka. 21 June, 1915
I think I ought to stay here for a little longer, for military considerations…Nicky

Letter No. 93 Tsarskoe Selo, June 22-nd 1915
So you have put off your return back - well, nothing is to be, done; - if you could at least profit & see some troops. Cant you flie off Again, as tho' to Bielovezh but go another way, without telling anybody.

Letter No. 94 Tsarskoe Selo, June 22/23, 1915
Sweetheart, me is so lonely without you, agoo wee one

Letter No. 95 Tsarskoe Selo, June 24th, 1915
when do you return? to-day two weeks - seems at least a month - (& our Friend begged for quite short, knowing things wld. not be as they ought if one kept you & profitted of your kindness).

Letter No. 95 Tsarskoe Selo, June 24th, 1915
- You cannot imagine the cruel suffering of not being with you - I know I could help & guard off things sometimes & here I am, eating out my heart fr. far, feeling my inability of being any use, only writing disagreable letters to you, my Love.

Letter No. 96 Tsarskoe Selo, June 25th, 1915
- I here, incapable of helping, have rarely gone through such a time of wretchedness - feeling & realising things are not done as they should be, - & helpless to be of use - its bitterly hard;

Letter No. 96 Tsarskoe Selo, June 25th, 1915
- Well, I must not tire you any longer, only I want my conscience to clear, whatever happens.

Telegram. Stavka. 25 June, 1915
I hope to return on Sunday after dinner…Nicky

Letter No.97 Tsarskoe Selo, June 25th, 1915
My very Own,
Oh, what joy, if You really return on Sunday

Letter No.97 Tsarskoe Selo, June 25-26th, 1915
Sweety, from heart & soul I beg your tender forgiveness for any word or action of mine wh. may have hurt or grieved you; & beleive it was not intentional. Am longing for this moment, to get strength & help. Am not without courage, Lovy, oh no, only such pain in heart & soul from so much sorrow all around & misery at not being able to help.

Telegram. Stavka. 26 June, 1915
Am inexpressibly happy to be going home to-morrow...Nicky

Letter No.97 Tsarskoe Selo, June 25-26th, 1915
What intense happiness to having you back soon - but I still tremble it may not be

Stavka. 26 June, 1915
This is my last letter to you, my dear little Birdy - I am truly happy to be returning home to my family…I hope to arrive on Saturday at 5 o'clock in the evening…Nicky

Alexandra was seen as a German spy simply because she was German and her brother was a ruling Grand Duke in an enemy empire. She was considered guilty by association and besides this her own unpopularity was largely due to her own making.

Dmitri I am not sure that the confusion and fear that surrounded the Empress could be found in the fact that she was German and had a close relative in the enemy camp.  There was probably not a single ruling house where certain members were not in exactly the same position as the Empress because there wasn’t a single Allied throne that wasn't German or closely connected to Germany when the Great War broke out.  The British Royal family were German; the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish thrones were all descended from German houses; the Romanian throne was German; the Greek throne was German; the Belgium throne was German, and on and on and on; even the Spanish throne was such a mix of Bourbon and Hapsburg blood that it was almost impossible to tell whether it was German or French, not unlike the mix of Russian and German blood that comprised the Romanov throne, in fact Nicky was probably more German the Alix. 

I don't think the fact Alix was German or that her close relatives were fighting on the enemy's side that had anything to do with the accusations about her being a German Spy and remember those accusations came as early as the Spring of 1915 when the Empress had done nothing but work herself into a state of physical collapse because of her untiring with War and Refugee Relief , coordination of Hospital units, trains, supplies, and inspection tours, orphan and child-care, improved housing and schedule for convalescing officers and enlisted men, and benevolence for poor wives and mothers which allowed them the means to be by the side of their wounded husbands and sons. 

I think the real issue for the unwarranted persecution of the Empress lay in the minds and personal character of the majority of Russian men who formed the circles of political, military, ecclesiastic and dynastic power; men who were offended by female interference in their male dominated political, religious, and dynastic institutions, men who became increasingly greedy to take the power into their own hands.  I think it was these men the wanted to get rid of the Empress as they say that her strength posed a tremendous threat.  They not only perceived that she was someone they would have to fight to get that power, but that she the strength to take their power away from them. 

There is a new series on the telly in American called Damages with Glen Close who pays a very strong woman lawyer who has survived a near fatal attack from a high-powdered financer that she destroyed in court.  She says something like “I learned it was very dangerous for a woman to take power away from a man.”  The only difference is that in Glen Close’s case it was deliberate, with Alix it wasn’t. 

I can’t help returning to the Late Princess of Wales interview with Martin Bashir in November 1995:

DIANA: …I am a very strong person and I know that causes complications in the system that I live in.


BASHIR: But you really believe that it was out of jealousy that they wanted to undermine you?

DIANA: I think it was out of fear, because here was a strong woman doing her bit, and where was she getting her strength from to continue?


BASHIR: Why do they see you as a threat?

DIANA: I think every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path, and I think it's the strength that causes the confusion and the fear.

Why is she strong? Where does she get it from? Where is she taking it?
Where is she going to use it?    [Ref:http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/diana/panorama.html]

I think that Alix was all these things to the male dominated power structure of her day and I can’t help thinking that the continual portrayal of her as being responsible for the obliteration of Russia is the distant echo of those shattered male ego’s of long-ago howling in the night; the echo of broken men embittered by their own impotence; echoes of that unruly gaggle of Russian politicians who let the power, they so ruthlessly tore from Nicky’s hand in the middle of the War, slip away into a hundred years of chaos and devastation.  They can’t blame themselves, so the blame a woman.

Even that cunning detractor of Alexandra, Sir George Buchanan, was eventually forced to admit:

Her Majesty, unfortunately, was under the impression that it was her mission to save Russia.  She believed—and, in principle, as subsequent events have shown, she was not altogether wrong—that the autocracy was the only régime that could hold the Empire together.   [Ref: Sir George Buchanan, “My Mission to Russia,” Vol. II, p. 31]