Alexei and Hemophilia

[Katja74]

I know that the tsar and tsarita made a secret out of Alexeis hemophilia and did not tell the public about his true illness, even after the Spala crisis. But now I ve read a book by a Russian author who make a note about the fact, that people at Russia got to know Alexeis illness in 1914.
I can imagine that it was a big deal to tell the public that the heir to the throne was a hemophiliac before the WW I, because it was an illness of which most boys died during those days. Can you help me?
And is it true that Alix lost a baby before Alexeis birth, a baby son in 1902? Erickson says she just thought that she was pregnant again and others say she had lost the baby.

Thanks!

[Laura Mabee]

During 1902, Alix (in my opinion) was influenced by M. Philippe. Philippe was trying to influence Alix to have a son with his mystics.
When this phantom pregnancy took place, there was no gender to it, as there was no pregnancy.

Here are some excerpts from A Lifelong Passion.
-------

Xenia to Aprak [August 19th, 1902]
[Dowager Empress Marie's Papa]
Dear Aprak,
We have all felt so terribly disappointed since yesterday. Can you imagine anything so awful, it seems poor A.F. [Alix] isn[ch8217]t pregnant after all [ch8211] for 9 months she had nothing, then suddenly it came, but completely normally, without pain. The day before yesterday, Ott [Doctor] saw her for the first time and confirmed that there was no pregnancy, but that luckily everything internally was all right. He says that such cases do happen, and are caused by anaemia. It[ch8217]s so awful, we can[ch8217]t think of anything else, how terrible for them, painful and sad. All that long, tiresome waiting has ended in nothing[ch8230]

KR [ch8211] Diary [August 20th]
[Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov [ch8211] Nicky[ch8217]s cousin]
I don[ch8217]t remember if I already noted this in the diary, but from the 8 August we have been waiting every day for a confirmation of the Empress[ch8217]s pregnancy. Now we have suddenly learnt that she is not pregnant, indeed that there never was any pregnancy, and that the symptoms that led one to suppose it were in fact only anaemia! [ch8230] Alix cried a lot when doctors Ott and Girsh, who were at last admitted to see her, determined that not only was there no pregnancy, but there never had been.

Xenia to Aprak [August 20th]
In a few words my dear Aprak, in addition to yesterday. This morning A. F. [Alix] had a minor miscarriage [ch8211] if it could be called a miscarriage at all! [ch8211] that is to say a tiny ovule came out! Yesterday evening she had pains, and at night too, by morning it was all over when this event happened! Now at least it will be possible to make an announcement and tomorrow a bulletin will be published in the papers [ch8211] with information about what happened. At last a natural way out of this unfortunate situation has been found[ch8230]

KR [ch8211] Diary [August 22nd]
[ch8230] Yesterday the following bulletin appeared in the newspapers, signed by the royal accoucheur Professor Ott and the royal surgeon Girsh. [ch8216]A few months ago, the state of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna underwent changes, which pointed to a pregnancy. At the present time, thanks to the departure from the normal course, the interrupted pregnancy has resulted in a miscarriage, which occurred without any danger, the temperature and pulse remaining normal. Peterhof, 20 August 1902[ch8217]

-----
Needless to say, there was no pregnancy, but for the sake of the public they made it seem that there was. I believe it[ch8217]s even a higher stretch to say that this phantom pregnancy was a boy.

[Mie]

What I know about this pregnancy is this:

Mr. Philippe was introduced to the IF by their relatives wifes from Montenegro (sorry for spelling! And I do not remember their names or titles   )
(They -I believe- introuced Rasputin too to them and they were very fascinated by *magicaly* things...  and wanted to help Alix for having a boy...)
Well Rasputin was a cheater and so was Mr. Philippe... he did some *odd* things(nothing sickening -but things what were not anything to do with a real medicine) to Alix and he insisted that no doctor was allowed to *help* Alix... (I hope this what I´m writing makes sence...)
And soon Mr. Philippe said that she´ll have a boy and is pregnant -they wanted believe he and no doctor were able to  check the situation out couse Mr. Philippe did not allowed it.

Well... six months passed by and all really believed she was pregnant! Even foreign land´s magasines informed that in Russia´s IF is about to be a child... But then I believe Alix´s menses starded and then finally doc. checked her out and took a note she never were pregnant....

I do not remember did the puplic in some point know about the illnes(I do not believe so) but I think withing time they knew Aleksey was not healthy: that brought up many questions and gosspis about that the tsarevitch was an invalid --> was he able to be even an emperor.... but so many gossips were born before the revolution and their job was to blame the tsar etc..

ps. Laura thanks for your post. It was really interesting

[Laura Mabee]

Mr. Philippe was introduced to the IF by their relatives wifes from Montenegro

Indeed, it was the King of Montenegro's two daughters (Grand Duchess Militsa and Grand Duchess Stana) who introduced M.Philippe (and later Rasputin) to Alix and Nicky. These two sisters were known as 'the black peril', because of thier interest in the occult.. M.Philippe was a frenchman from Lyons, he was known to have a cure for nervous diseases through hypnosis. He died in 1905 however.  Alix and Nicky would meet M.Philippe at Znamenka, which was the resdence of Grand Duchess Militsa and her husband.

To point out how off the mark these sisters could be here is a tidbit:

Felix Yusupov, Memiors
One day as my father was walking by the seaside in the Crimea, he met the Grand Duchess Militsa driving with a stranger. My father bowed, but she did not respond. Meeting her by chance a few days later, he asked her why she had cut him. "You could not have seen me," said the Grand Duchess "for I was with doctor Philippe, and when he wears a hat he is invisible and so are those who are with him."

Also, in A Lifelong Passions there is this interesting tidbit -

A year before Philippe had worked upon the imagination of the Empress that she and all around her were convinced that she was with child [ch8211] until the illusion was exposed by the Empress[ch8217]s doctors.
Philippe explained what had occurred by her lack of faith and falling into a trance prophesised anew that the wish of the Empress to have a son would be gratified if she asked for the protection of St Serafim of Sarov. The saint was unknown in the Orthodox calendar [ch8230]. The Emporer ordered the Holy Synod to canonize Sarafim without delay. Pobedonostsev, The Head of the Synod, tried to explain that a man could not be proclaimed a saint by Imperial order, but he was told by the Empress Alexandra herself: [ch8220]The Emperor can do anything.[ch8221] Serafim was canonized at Sarov with great pomp in the presence of Nicholas and Alexandra. By the order of Philippe, the Empress bathed at the dead of night in the spring, which was said to have been blessed by the saint. The promised miracle had been preformed. [From V. Poliakov[ch8217]s biography of Empress Marie]

ps. Laura thanks for your post. It was really interesting

Anytime.  

[Bob_the_builder]

I imagine most hemophiliacs don't WANT to make children, in fear of passing on the disease. But most of them don't live past 30, atleast back in the earlier part of the twentith century.

[RealAnastasia]

Well...Not necessarily. There are different grades of hemophilia, and the milder types of it allowed you to live beyond 30's or so. We have some examples of European Royals who lived beyond this age.

Oh...and for instance, we have an hemophiliac heroe, here in Argentina. He was born in the XVIII Century and was death at first of the XIX one. It was our warrior of Independence Don Martin Miguel de Güemes. He was an hemophiliac (he suffered from important bleedings and had had hemarthrosis..You must know that the difference between other bleeding desorders and hemophilia is precissely hemarthrosis), however he was an independence warrior. He was even a soldier! He died at 36. And why? His enemies would knew about his bleeding disease, and payed some men to shoot him by behing. A single bullet reached a very important artery in his back and he bleed until he dead. Since he was little this man suffered from internal bleedings (yes.. his disease was found when a sister he loved a lot, find him bleeding by the navel), but it didn't avoid him to be a soldier (he was General) in the Independence war.

RealAnastasia.

 

[dmitri]

No descendants currently have the disease.

[Karlie]

I have a few questions about hemophilia. I’ve tried to do research and all I got was a bunch of medical babble, maybe you could help?

If Alexei fell, how long would it take for his hemophilia to kick in?

Would it always act up?

And could there be any variation on the degree of pain? (like if he bruised his knee one day and it got really bad and then latter it got the same sized burse would the attack only be slight?) 

[CorisCapnSkip]

I'm not trying to be rude or annoying to anyone, but if Alexei's hemophilia was only episodic as you say, then wouldn't that in itself suggest that it could've been something else he had?  If it was really hemophilia then it would be there all the time, not just off and on.  Like any normal kid, Alexei most likely got bruised quite often from playing.  In hemophilia, even if the person gets the slightest bruise or cut, it is a disastrous problem.

There are different levels of hemophilia:  mild, moderate, and severe.  Has anyone figured out which one Alexei had?  Now that his remains have been located, will testing yield clues as to the nature of his condition?

[pandora]

This is just general post concerning hemophilla and I will take no offense at any correction -  there a 3 types of hemophilla: Hemophilla A, Hemophilla B and von Willebrand disease. Overall, each type is severe but in quickly reading about them, von Willebrand seems less severe of the three but I'm sure for the person who suffers from this, it isn't. Joint destruction also seems to be a evident with each type.
As far as how quickly a sufferer exhibits the outward signs of a fall, bump, etc., I couldn't find a concrete answer but I'm thinking as with many illnesses, it is determined by the individual's physical make-up.   

[dolgoruky18]

From all the available evidence, it is clear that Alexei suffered from the haemophilia inherited from his carrier mother, the Empress. She in turn inherited it from her own mother, Alice, who inherited it from Queen Victoria who originated the mutant gene. Mutant genes can occur spontaneously. As an example we can cite Nicholas II himself. An examination of his remains revealed what is described as a "heteroplasmy". On discovery, this created some difficulty in the positive identification of his bones until the exhumation and examination of his brother, Drand Duke George, revealed the same condition.

The true cause of the Heir's illness was regarded as a State Secret right up until the end. A book published in 1915 entitled "A Bishop in Siberia" by Herbert Bury DD, the Anglican Bishop of Northern Europe, gives details of his reception in private audience by Nicholas II. At the end of the audience, an un-named courtier assured Bishop Bury that the Heir suffered from an unusual skin ailment. The true position was, of course, known to some important courtiers, the Imperial doctors in attendance and, of course, most members of the Imperial Family and other reigning families. A suggestion that Olga Nicholaievna might marry the Rumanian Crown Prince was skilfully avoided by Queen Marie who thought that Olga might be a carrier.

The imortant thing to remember is that Alexei's illness did affect aspects of his father's policies. Publicity might have affected the stability of International Finance before World War I if there had been doubts about the Succession.

Nicholas II did not make up his mind about the Succession until the last possible moment  -  and then only after a long discussion with one of his doctors. Then he abdicated on behalf of himself and his son  -  an act of dubious legality. He named his younger brother Michael Alexandrovich as his successor  -  this despite a total lack of consultation with his brother and the latter's morganatic marriage and the illegitimacy of his only son.

When Nicholas II suffered a serious illness in 1900, before Alexei was born, the question of the Succession was mooted among ministers and a draft ukaz prepared making it possible once again for females to succeed. This was never promulgated because Nicholas recovered.

Following Nicholas' abdication and that of his brother, the Throne was offered to Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich  -  and even Prince Yussupov. Both, for their own reasons, rejected the idea.

[dmitri]

The illness of Alexis is all too often given as a reason for the downfall of the Russian Empire. It is a side issue. The importance of his illness is often overstated. Mirsule and revolution made the abdication necessary. It was not due to Alexis. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He first abdicated for himself in favour of Alexis. After consulting with Doctors, he decided after his legal abdication, to amend the original abdication and to abdicate for Alexis as well. It is difficult to imagine the legality of the amendment as from the time of his original abdication he no longer held any position in the governance of Russia. He was merely the former Tsar. He had no legal authority to do anything. I think once Michael avoided taking up the poisoned chalice of Tsar after the monarchy had been effectively overthrown, no person wished the position. Power had passed already to the Provisional Government. Romanov rule was at an end. It is a great shame that female rule was not pursued as some of the very best rulers of Russia were women.

[pandora]

The illness of Alexis is all too often given as a reason for the downfall of the Russian Empire. It is a side issue. The importance of his illness is often overstated. Mirsule and revolution made the abdication necessary. It was not due to Alexis. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He first abdicated for himself in favour of Alexis. After consulting with Doctors, he decided after his legal abdication, to amend the original abdication and to abdicate for Alexis as well. It is difficult to imagine the legality of the amendment as from the time of his original abdication he no longer held any position in the governance of Russia. He was merely the former Tsar. He had no legal authority to do anything. I think once Michael avoided taking up the poisoned chalice of Tsar after the monarchy had been effectively overthrown, no person wished the position. Power had passed already to the Provisional Government. Romanov rule was at an end. It is a great shame that female rule was not pursued as some of the very best rulers of Russia were women.

My thoughts exactly, Dmitri. Thank you. Alexis' illness was only a serious point of concern for the future of N & A's line of succession. 

[anna11]

I'm not trying to be rude or annoying to anyone, but if Alexei's hemophilia was only episodic as you say, then wouldn't that in itself suggest that it could've been something else he had?  If it was really hemophilia then it would be there all the time, not just off and on.  Like any normal kid, Alexei most likely got bruised quite often from playing.  In hemophilia, even if the person gets the slightest bruise or cut, it is a disastrous problem

Alexei, at one time could be as normal as any child if he had no cuts or bruises. It was 'on and off' because sometimes, rarely he would not have any bruises or bumps. Hemophilia is not a disease like asparagus, where the sufferer is constantly affected. For example, is a sufferer is kept in a cushioned, quarantined room for his whole life he may not ever have anything wrong with him.

And some of his bruises would have been a lot like the bruises normal people get, just purple bumps that don't really have any affect.

If Alexei fell, how long would it take for his hemophilia to kick in?

It depends, as long as the bleeding took to start, which could be anywhere from a few days to only minutes.

Would it always act up?

Again, it depends. A big blow might by chance not cause internal bleeding, but if hit in the wrong place even a little it could be a disaster.

And could there be any variation on the degree of pain? (like if he bruised his knee one day and it got really bad and then latter it got the same sized burse would the attack only be slight?)

I don't really get the question, but I don't think so. If he bruised himself exactly the same way twice, I think the pain would be the same.

[Terence]

And could there be any variation on the degree of pain? (like if he bruised his knee one day and it got really bad and then latter it got the same sized burse would the attack only be slight?)

I don't really get the question, but I don't think so. If he bruised himself exactly the same way twice, I think the pain would be the same.

Actually, from what I just read recently, a repeat injury to the same spot would be worse, if it was a joint affected.  That was his problem w/ the knee at the end that crippled him.  The internal bleeding from a first injury would do damage to the structure of the joint, thus the damage the second time was worse and caused more severe pain.

Just what I got out of reading something, probably here lately.  I can't verify it's true, I'm no doctor, but the way it was written it made sense.

Terry