Xenia's diary tells the story well, alas. Although we have no proof of it, Nicholas probably felt the loss not only of his closest brother, but also of a man in his generation in whom he could have confided, sought help, and leaned upon when necessary. So politically it was a big loss. GD Olga, I believe, comments that Gyorgy was quite intelligent. And in the book Romanov Autumn, Zeepvat makes the interesting point that NII started his reign with basically no male sibling support and young, dominating uncles. His father had 4 healthy adult brothers at the beginning of his reign, all younger than himself, thus he was able to break free from his uncles' influence. I wonder if AP Forum has ever discussed the bullying of uncles. (?)
