I agree almost ephatically with the above article
Grand Duke posted.
In planning to write a book on Alexei, I have had to do serious research, and continue to have to reel back any notes I've compiled because of new information and inconcisties in information from supposed reliable sources.
Alexei's illness for one, is something that you have to travel back to Queen Victoria's father for the answer.
The current theory on Hemaophelia in the British royal line is related in recent studies that suggest the older a man is when he impregnates a woman, the more likely the child is to have a deficancy or carry a hereditary disease.
It has something to do with the age of a man's seed, which ages as a man does, unlike a woman's womb which constantly renews itself.
So for years they blamed Victoria's mother, when in fact it was her fifty-four year old father and not her mother, who was only in her mid-thirties!
This is once cause to how they believe Hemaophelia could have developed in that line, however, (and this brings up the quintisential however part, bear with me.)
There are more studies to believe that this is not the case, that hemaophelia is a genetic disease, going back in families through the paternal side, reguardless of age!
So, there are no records of Hemaophelia in the line of George the I or any of his children, it's not carried through the maternal line of the paternal, so what did the children and Grandchildren of Victoria have?
One theory suggests that it was a very mild disorder, that Empress Alexandra had herself had, that merely brought a rush of blood to the face and very red marks when bruised!
Rasputin, so many sources believe and I trust these ones, was a student of Asian medicine from suspcious teachers, and practices most unconventional.
One source believes the magic medicine with which he used to treat Alexei, was pure Asprin. Asprin, in it's pure bark form, he would have most likely crushed it himself, can cause bleeding of the stomach lining, causing nose-bleeds and joint discomfort!
So poor Alexei, who might have bleed a tiny bit after his umbelical cord was cut, (which we know is not unusual now,) causing alarm, and a few red marks when he bruised, was at the mercy of Rasputin's coniving mind.
Ana Vorynoba is to be blamed as well, she was very supceptable to fads and Alexandra was a desperate woman, (as you can see by how fast she aged!)
Weather or not it was hemaophelia or a related, less intense blood disorder, Rasputin obviously aggrivated it to make it seem more extreme and to make him look important when he managed to stop it.
Recall the incident at Mogliv when Alexei hurt himself, and the message from Rasputin was: "leave him alone and he'll be fine." ?!
Alexei, who had completely relied on Rasputin's medicine in previous attacks, recovered after a few days and Nicholas began to fume. He knew something had been going on with his poor son, who seemed to be in fairly good health now.
He sent Alexandra home, warned her not to send Rasputin here, kept an eye on his son and did not let Alexei go home for a visit until Rasputin's death!
Apart from the rumoured sledding incident in confinement, (which I don't believe,) Alexei's years after Rasputin and before his imprisonment and recorded death,were fairly good ones.
He played with his pets, swam in lakes, and was a normal, active boy and later teenager.
I think I mentioned this in another thread, but there's a painting, I think it's in Anastasia's album, which is curious in that it shows Alexei, tall and pale, falling back against his father, rather then screaming in Nicholas arms in pain!
So, I believe that the incident of him and his sled is only a myth, and that Alexei was maturing into a healthy young man with a mild blood disorder, and nothing as extreme as people have claimed.
(Sorry for all the writting.
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