Nicholas's Height

[LauraO]

Okay i'm really sorry if this is already a topic and i'm sure its been mentioned somewhere else on various occasions, but i was having a conversation with someone today who was insistant that Nicholas was 5'3 and i was pretty sure that he was about 5'7, as i mean..surely the height difference between him and alix to say the least would have been far greater. i know that they would "adjust" heights slightly in photos but i'm fairly certain that even for a conservative estimate 5'3 is far too short. He would have been DRASTICALLY shorter than alix and the children. I had a quick research and it keeps coming up with 5'7 which is what i thought but i wondered if anyone could verify that or correct me of course if i'm wrong!
thanks!

[edubs31]

Okay i'm really sorry if this is already a topic and i'm sure its been mentioned somewhere else on various occasions, but i was having a conversation with someone today who was insistant that Nicholas was 5'3 and i was pretty sure that he was about 5'7, as i mean..surely the height difference between him and alix to say the least would have been far greater. i know that they would "adjust" heights slightly in photos but i'm fairly certain that even for a conservative estimate 5'3 is far too short. He would have been DRASTICALLY shorter than alix and the children. I had a quick research and it keeps coming up with 5'7 which is what i thought but i wondered if anyone could verify that or correct me of course if i'm wrong!
thanks!

From everything that I've read he's been measured at 5'7''. Perhaps just over that.

No way is he 5'3''. You can tell just by looking at the photographs of him standing next to people. 5'7'' was a pretty average size for men in that era...it has since grown about two or three inches. Still he was short for a Romanov and particularly short when considering his father was Alexander III.

[Jen_94]

I've read he was 5f6/5ft7!

Must of inherited his Mother's height surely...?

[Kalafrana]

'Must of inherited his Mother's height surely...?'

Indeed. Mikhail was much taller - certainly over 6ft. He took after their father in height, though he was much leaner.

Ann

[Alan]

I once went to a display of postcards about Nicholas II and we were told that he was 5 ft, 5 inches. A smalll figure just like his mother.
He had her looks too. He was really handsome when he first came to the throne but the worry of being the Emperor (which he did not want) took away his good looks.
Alan

[edubs31]

You can pretty well prove he was around 5' 7" just by looking at photographs and comparing him to others he's standing next to. We know the heights of several others in Nicholas's inner circle so unless they were all lying and adding a couple of inches to their height...

[feodorovna]

In the picture of him with his cousin George V, both men are of similar height. Most of the Windsor men suffered with "ducks disease" so I would have expected that their heights were between 5'6.5" and 5'8".

[Jen_94]

George V was around 5ft6 inches I think. As seen here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-994-S4t8xAc/TblD7Rz3iwI/AAAAAAAAAxw/7Ep0VKv7E3s/s1600/92832291.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Tsar_Nicholas_II_%26_King_George_V.JPG

You can see he is slightly shorter than Nicholas.

[feodorovna]

I'll bet that tiny 1/2 inch made all the difference in the world to Nicholass self esteem.

[Kalafrana]

The Kaiser was 5ft 9 and in a photograph taken at the time of Victoria Louise's wedding he is quite noticeably taller than George V.

But he was another who was sensitive about his height, since he was short for a Hohenzollern.

Ann

[Jen_94]

A example of the Kaiser and George's height difference can clearly be seen in this photo.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/149/profimedia0077959983.jpg/

[Kalafrana]

That is the picture I'm thinking of.

Wilhelm is an example of the genetic principle of regression to the mean. His father was 6ft, his mother was no more than 5ft 1. Result, a Kaiser slightly above the average height for the day, but no more.

Ann

[Kalafrana]

Incidentally, the Kaiser is garbed as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Dragoons, and George as Colonel-in-Chief of a Prussian regiment.

Ann

[Erika]

As you all have said, he was clearly not 5'3. According to KR, the height difference between Alix and Nicky wasn't that big.

K.R stated in his diary.
(...)The Emperor is just a little shorter than his bride, but not so much as to be noticeable(...).

[Jen_94]

As you all have said, he was clearly not 5'3. According to KR, the height difference between Alix and Nicky wasn't that big.

K.R stated in his diary.
(...)The Emperor is just a little shorter than his bride, but not so much as to be noticeable(...).

Yes, Alix, in terms of height, would have been around 5ft7 and a half if Nicholas was half an inch taller than King George at 5ft6, making Nihcolas 5ft6 and a half.