Shirt he wore during execution

[sunbeam]

There is a story that Alexei wore a shirt with precious gems during his execution. These gems protected his body from the bullets.
Does anyone know more about this shirt, how it was made exactly and so on? I want to use the image of this shirt in one of my poems.
Thanks

[Forum Admin]

You confuse stories. Alexei didn't have diamonds in his shirt. The girls had them quilted into their undershirts worn under their corsets. It was Maria (I believe. Am not home to double check) who was not immediately killed by the first shots because of the stones). Alexei was wearing one of the Standart sailors shirts.

[Rodney_G.]

You confuse stories. Alexei didn't have diamonds in his shirt. The girls had them quilted into their undershirts worn under their corsets. It was Maria (I believe. Am not home to double check) who was not immediately killed by the first shots because of the stones). Alexei was wearing one of the Standart sailors shirts.

It's true Alexei didn't have gems  concealed in his shirt; the Standart sailor's shirt he was wearing was taken from his body sometime in the course of the burial(s) . It's not known if it had bullet holes in it. Quite possibly, though he definitely didn't die from shots to his torso.

Marie was found not to have diamonds or gems in her shirt,but none of the daughters died from shots to the body , either at first volley, or even in the end.

Sunbeam, Alexei's sailor suit/shirt is a well known image, and he died in it. I can't imagine why using an image of it in a poem would be a problem, and might be quite poignant and evocative.

[Forum Admin]

Actually. Remains of the sailor shirt were found in the grave with his remains

[Rodney_G.]

Actually. Remains of the sailor shirt were found in the grave with his remains

You are correct, sir; I was recalling members of the reburial detail commenting on it.

[Inok Nikolai]

Actually. Remains of the sailor shirt were found in the grave with his remains

Yes. In the book The Imperial Passionbearers: Their Posthumous Fate (Царственные страстотерпцы. Посмертная судьба) by the historian Natalia Rozanova, among the color photographs found between pages 480 and 481, there is one of a portion of Tsarevich Alexis' burnt sailor shirt. The alternating stripes are discernible. The piece is about 8 cm. x 6 cm.

I believe that that book is reviewed somewhere on the Forum.

Perhaps someone can find the photo on-line for us.

[Lady Macduff]

That sounds invaluable, Nikolai. Thanks!

[sunbeam]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. The topic took an unexpected turn. I too would be quite interested in a picture of the remains of said shirt.
(Btw when I say using an image in a poem I meant not an actual photographic image or illustration to go alongside it but to use the imagery in words. Just to be clear on that

I am still confused about one thing though. The Wikipedia article on the Tsarevich has this:

'Unbeknownst to the killing squad, the Tsarevich's torso was protected by a shirt wrapped in precious gems that he wore beneath his tunic. Finally Yurovsky fired two shots into the boy's head, and he fell silent.'

The second of these two sentences has a footnote which gives as source: Greg King and Penny Wilson, The Fate of the Romanovs, John Wiley and Sons, 2003, pp. 309-310.

Now, I do not own a copy of this book and was wondering if only the second sentence is derived from it or also the first, with the mention of gems in his shirt.
Even so, perhaps King and Wilson might have confused stories (or is that unlikely? - I am still very new to Romanov history and don't know how King and Wilson's book is regarded in terms of credibility and research standard).

Thoughts on this are most welcome!
(I must admit that the notion of Alexei being protected by gems in his shirt would fit the thematic thread of my poems perfectly... which is why I am so keen on being sure about this

[Forum Admin]

Wikipedia is wrong and the K & W book doesn't say that at all 

[Sarushka]

FOTR, page 310:
"None of the assassins knew that, beneath his tunic, the tsesarevich wore a shirt wrapped with jewels, which shielded his torso from both bullets and Ermakov's bayonet."

[Forum Admin]

Thanks Sarah, for showing that they did say it. My bad. However that was never the case and goes into the file of errors that sadly riddled that book. We have long ago had that discussion that FOTR was not the most accurate book published.

[Sarushka]

It's attributed to Yurovsky's 1922 statement. However, that detail about Aleksei's garments doesn't appear in the English translation on the main APTM site, and the images of the Russian version won't load for me. If I recall correctly, that was an edited version from a magazine anyway. However, my Russian version in Ispoved Tsareubiits, which purports to be complete, also does not mention anything about Aleksei being shielded by jewels.

[rgt9w]

Sunbeam,

The July 2008 edition of National Geographic Magazine has a small picture of the shirt fragment shown next to a picture of Alexandra and Alexei, as well as some preliminary information of items found in the second grave site. The article is in the Archaeology section of the magazine, roughly on page 20 (the pages are mixed with ads and are not all numbered).  The cover of this particular magazine has a picture of a gorilla's face with the title "Who Killed the Mountain Gorillas?" if you search for a copy of it.

[sunbeam]

Sunbeam,

The July 2008 edition of National Geographic Magazine has a small picture of the shirt fragment shown next to a picture of Alexandra and Alexei, as well as some preliminary information of items found in the second grave site. The article is in the Archaeology section of the magazine, roughly on page 20 (the pages are mixed with ads and are not all numbered).  The cover of this particular magazine has a picture of a gorilla's face with the title "Who Killed the Mountain Gorillas?" if you search for a copy of it.

Ha, I'm taking care of a neighbour's cat only until tomorrow and she has practically a complete Nat Geo archive in her living room... I'll look for that picture
On Alexei's birthday no less...

[nena]

This had been prevously discussed, take a look:

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=10840.75



Part of Alexei's sailor suit he wore on his last day under his uniform. Found in 2007.