What would They Have Done if They Had Survived?

[James_Davidov]

I have often thought about this, and how their lives would have played out…

As everyone knows the IF wanted to set up in England… I view them living in a similar way as Ex-King Constantine and his family (obviously in a different manner).  I suppose Nicholas and Alexandra would have retired to a little manor-house in the English country side, whilst the GD would have entered the younger British aristocratic ‘sets’, which Alexandra may have been much more approving of.  I also envisage Alexei attending school and wearing one of the English public school uniforms !  
However as we know, George V was not particularly accommodating, but other heads of state were. I don’t imagine they would have settled in Germany, Nicholas may have been dethroned by his own citizens, yet living in Germany would not only have provided validation for those against him, but would have further alienated him from those Russians who still remained loyal or partial. So I would think that they would have chosen Denmark or France, Denmark because the Dowager Empress was there, and France because they were a great ally of Nicholas II, and it’s a fairly desirable place to live.  
I could not imagine Nicholas and Alexandra establishing themselves in the US, even if it would have provided an ideal environment in which to begin new lives.  Nicholas and Alexandra were aged monarchs; I think that moving to the US, so far removed from Europe and her royal circles would have been a major culture-shock.  I could defiantly see Marie, Anastasia or Alexei living quite happily, like their Aunt Olga, somewhere in North America (I think they all possessed social skills which would have permitted them all to live rather successfully as ordinary citizens)…
I’m not usually interested in the ‘what if’ scenarios, however, I suppose just what the IF  would most likely have done with themselves had they not been executed is historically significant  

James.

[rskkiya]

As everyone knows the IF wanted to set up in England…
James.

I will have to disagree with that point.
I don't think that they "wanted to set up in England" because I don't think that Nicholas was ever seriously convinced that he would "have to go." (to leave Russia.)

I would guess that the "English refuge" myth comes from some of  Massie's works.

rskkiya

[Dandywell]

They should have come down here to Texas! Goodness knows we already have enough illegal aliens to prove that it isn't hard!

[Mary]

I like to imagine Nicky opening a little Ice Cream Fountain someplace like, oh I dunno, Winnetka IL or Davenport IA--you know, that Middle America thing.

The soda shop would go over great, so well in fact that Nicky would become known as

"The Ice Cream Tsar of Chicago"

Olga would marry a nice young doctor who was dedicated to improving the conditions in the slums.
Little Dickie Battenberg would make the crossing to sit on the porch swing with Marie and Alexei would perch on the steps winking and grinning to make them uncomfortable.

Alexandra would set them all to sewing lovely slipcovers and curtains for the furniture and all would go merry as a marriage bell.

Oh yes, and at the wedding receptions, why there'd be the grandest ice cream cakes you ever saw!

[Dandywell]

That sounds so nice!

[Anastasia_R]

They'd probably leave Russia,like was said by others.I think they probably would'nt even BE in Europe,considering the fact that if they escaped,people all over the place would look for them!

[etonexile]

N and A would most likely have looked for a quiet place in Britain or Europe to settle quietly....Thinking only of the situations of their children.....

[pinklady]

I think the girls would have all made good marriages somewhere in Europe and Nicky and Alix would have led the quiet life in England or Denmark like other displaced Royals.
Hard to say about Alexei, it would depend on his survival.

[lexi4]

They should have come down here to Texas! Goodness knows we already have enough illegal aliens to prove that it isn't hard!

As a former texan, lmao  

[CatherineNY]

For reasons I can't quite explain at the moment (long day!), I can't see Alexandra in the US. But if they did come here, they may have ended up in the NY metropolitan area, like a lot of White Russian aristocrats s did. They could have worshipped at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral on the upper East Side, but they might have preferred to live on the north shore of Long Island (where AA ended up for a while), or perhaps in Connecticut. As mentioned above, Alexei probably would not have enjoyed a long life, but at least he would have had state of the art medical care in NY, and might have lived long enough to marry and father heirs, as did Leopold, Duke of Albany, before his untimely death -- and he enjoyed less good medical care than Alexei would have had in NY in the 1920s-30s.

Much nicer to speculate like this than to reflect on what really happened...

[Robert_Hall]

I agree. I am softening a bit and see that innocent hypothecial fantasy is better than the  concentration on  the violence and/or the endless chase for  non-existant survivors.
On that note, my scenario would be their [whoever was left] continued move Eastward, into China and eventual evacuation to either Vancouver, B.C. or San Francisco, where there already was an established Russian [pre-revolutionary] community.
After that- ?  Perhaps a very quiet, secluded life within an extremely close inner circle.

[TheAce1918]

I'm not so sure about the US.  Between the American attitude towards monarchs, and how connected they were to Europe, I would figure Western Europe.  If they did land in the States, like CatherineNY, I would assume they would live in New York or in states with heavy Russian areas.  Maybe even Chicago and Cleveland, they have several Russian districts with many gorgeous cathedrals.  But like it has been said, it is all 'what -if'.  

[granduchess_leah]

they would move to england and otmaa will ggrow up and marry 

[Bach]

I have thought of this, and I think it would have been improbable that all of the family would have gotten out.

I think that the Emperor and Empress would have had to remain behind and would have suffered the same fate - death.

England was out of the question, as I believe the US would have been.  The Fall of Eagles throughout Europe would have made any country unstable for heirs to a fallen throne.

I imagined that a remote area of Canada, a farm-style life, would have been best.  I, like Robert Hall, considered the Vancouver area where the Russian emigre community was well-established would be a possibility.  I think of someplace like Brasova, a self-contained estate, perhaps in Saskatchewan, Alberta, or British Columbia.  While they would have still been nominally under the protection and as guests of the British Crown, they would be in a remote-enough area that "out of sight, out of mind" would have quelled the worst of the anti-Russian feeling of the British public.

I can envision Alexi proclaiming himself as Alexander IV, then immediately setting about to provide for the succession not by marrying, which would have been nearly impossible, but for the children of his sisters to inherit the throne in a similar fashion as the Fundamental Laws: first the sons of Olga, then those of Tatiana, then Maria, then Anastasia, provided they made equal marriages.  Then the daughters of Olga, etc.  (This is providing, of course, that all made it out.  I'm of the opinion that only two or three of the Grand Duchesses would have actually made it out.)

We would still have a similarly murky inheritance picture as now: some of those sons and daughters would have married willy-nilly for money or love but not title.  Others might marry into ex-ruling houses but insist that those "count."  One or two would waddle their way to the front of the camera, wear absurd little crowns, and live off relatives.  But at least the immediate opinion about inheritance would be answered to the generation of the grandchildren of the last Tsar.

I hope Maria would have married a soldier and renounced her rights.  She did so want to marry a soldier.

[Tania]

I could imagine if they were able to leave, that they might choose one of two places in the world to live quietly. That would be either in Paris, France, or San Francisco, California, where a large emigree of their community had already come to stay. I don't imagine their lives would be filled with the usual of the past, but would be that much more in privacy, and who could blame them...

Tatiana+