Dear Martyn
My Russian isn't great - it would have taken me around eighteen years, seven months and three and a half weeks to read, so I relied on a friend reading it aloud in translation - a real luxury... apart from the fact that, with the exception of the title, it was rather superficial.
A paperback, I think it must have been around 1996 when I purchased it in St Petersburg. It now resides in Gibraltar with the Russian friend who skimmed a translation.
Now that I have remembered, and thought, about it again, I realize perhaps it was an opportunity lost. The similarities and contrasts between these three ladies and their fates are worthy of serious study.
tsaria
Indeed. Even reading the title of that book made me want to read it. It's unfortunate it was superficial. I think someone should do a better job in English of writing such a book. Alexandra identified with Marie Antoinette, and there is much there to discuss. In addition, Mary, Queen of Scots blood ran in the veins of Alexandra, and the Radzinsky bio of Nicholas II does a good job talking about that. I am curious, though does anyone know if Marie Antoinette and Mary, Queen of Scots were related at all? I think that would be an interesting link, but I can't see that she would be descended from her, except perhaps through that sister of Charles II, who married a French royal, and had two daughters, I think. But, that is unlikely. I am no expert on genealogy of MA, so would be happy if someone could help me out.
Imperial Angel
The Last Tsar does mention the "dark blood of Mary Stuart stirring" in AF veins. I think I understand the geneology of this but how does these two women relate to Charlemagne? i know i read that. And I know you are pretty well versed in Mary Stuart. Can you help?
Lori
Through Charlemagne came the Normans . . . I think. I'm not positive about that, but some way or another, the first royal house of England came through Charlemagne. William the Conqueror, hence his name, conquered England, through him came Queen Matilda who married Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, they had a son Henry II and through him and Eleanor of Aquitaine came Edward III and his sons. Edward's grandchildren spent most of their time fighting over the throne, and whoever took the throne of England never had a secure grasp on it. Edward III's son, John of Gaunt, had a great-granddaughter named Margaret Beaufort. Margaret Beaufort was married at twelve to Edmund Tudor, and they had a son together, name Henry Tudor. Henry Tudor claimed the throne of England, became King Henry VII and found a whole new dynasty. He already was Plantagenet (though half-royal), but Elizabeth of York (a woman who came through another one of Edward III's sons) had a more reasonable claim to the throne than he did. He married her to strenghthen his own claim to the throne, thus uniting the English houses of Lancaster and York. They had eight children, three surviving to adulthood, one of them being Margaret Tudor. Margaret was married to James IV of Scotland, and they had James V of Scotland whose daughter was Mary, Queen of Scots. After Elizabeth I died, Mary's son (Margaret's great-grandson) became King of England and therefore King of all of Britain. Through him came the houses of Hanover (and a Russian marriage in between, which makes Nicholas II a descendant of the Tudors and Stuarts) or Windsor, and so Alix, being Queen Victoria's granddaugher, had Stuart/Tudor/Plantagenet/Charlemagne blood in her veins, as did her children, and even her husband because of that Romanov marriage.
That being explained, now all you have to do is tell me you understood it
. if you go to wikipedia, they have fabulous family trees there (though a bit inaccurate, though it will let you get a better sense out of what I just said). Just type in:
Category:Family Trees in the search box.
