What if N&A had gone public with Alexei's Hemophilia

[STKF]

Hello,

My name is Shari. I may be a newbie to this sight, which I think is wonderful. But I have been reading and studying about Alexandra and Nicholas since I was 17.
I want to know what you all think about . "That if Alexandra and Nicholas had told the Russian people about Alexei's hemophilia, that it would have saved them a host of heartache and explained so much. Certainly would have explained Rasputin.

Thank you,
Shari

[blessOTMA]

An interesting question...I sometimes think it wasn't the Russian people they didn't want to know so much as other Romanovs! The pressure for another heir to be named would have been very intense.  But really it seems the mystery of Rasputin's influence was preferable to them than  letting the certainty of Alexei's hemophilia be known... Even if there was no revolution, Alexei really couldn't serve as Tsar.  His health simply wouldn't permit it. But I believe his parents  kept hoping for a miracle and a cure ...as most parents would , just to keep going. They faced his illness fully in the day to day battle to keep Alexei  well  and yet  shielded their eyes from  its eventual consequence as well....

[Clemence]

the one thing I really never understand is why a man who totally believed in fate like Nicholas was never able to accept that it was not meant fot Alexei to rule. Alexandra I can see would be ready to fight for her sun to the end - but why would Nicholas support her in this against all? Why couln't he take the decition he eventually took when it was too late and retire? That way they might all be alive and there might be a different Russia as well ...

[blessOTMA]

Clemence...excellent point. I think at least part of your answer is here

Alexandra I can see would be ready to fight for her son to the end....

As Nicholas often stated , "As my wife wishes" and I wonder if in 1918 Alexandra went with Nicholas instead of staying with Alexei  in part because she did not want him alone in what would be a pivotal time....I think she regretted she was not there to stop him when Nicholas did abdicate for himself and Alexei. I believe giving up on the dream of Tsar Alexei would in her mind, mean the end for them all....whether the Revolution came or not. 

[voyageroffreedom]

We should also keep in mind that Nicholas was a very religious person, as a result he was endowed with a strong sense of faith and patience. As a devoted Christian, he knew life rarely goes without sufferance, but with your faith and patience God will not abandon you. Baroness Sophie Buhsgevden said: "Carefully hidden heir to the disease explains a lot in life of the imperial couple, a hereditary disease Tsarevich Alexei hemophilia. - They always hoped that would be found a remedy to treat illness. This was the ordeal - the constant concern for the life of a loved child, which in addition, they had to conceal and even to smile. Learning to be the emperor helped him in this. Restraint was the second of its kind. Many asked, if he gave all aware of the tragic nature of certain events? - So quiet was his attitude, so secretive were his expression. In fact it was a mask. " Nicholas favorite prayer was thy will be done, was his way of asking God to be with him in his sufferance that’s why nicholas at some point hoped for miracle or cure for Alexei disease.

[blessOTMA]

Nice post voyageroffreedom ...I was thinking the other day that at Ipatiev House the rest of the family had to live  the kind of life Alexei
had had to endure for most of his and which was totally new for them.  Expect for an hour in the courtyard, they lived a life of physical inactivity. The girls and Nicholas  always  thrived on a great deal of physical exercise. Certainly Nicholas keenly felt the lack. 

[Constantinople]

if they had announced that Alexei had hemophilia, most Russians wouldnt have understood it.  Those who did would have blamed the mother increasing the hatred against the German born Tsaritsa.  She would have been seen to be undermining the Russian throne and the augures of the deaths at the coronation would have been seen to have been realized.