Michael Gray - Blood Relative - The Tsars grandson?

[kaatje]

Hi All,

This is my 1st posting, so please be gentle  .

Looking at this section, there doesn't seem to be any  mention of Michael Gray's 'Blood Relative'

So I'm wondering what the general view is of this book, on this forum?

I read the book a few years ago, found it would be persuasive to lay readers, yet it also contained some important/silly errors.  Another bad point was the choice of photos, they all seemed to slightly out of focus.  I found this to be very suspect, when you consider the amount of photos there are available to Alexei!

Anyway just checking what others think.

Dag,

Katie

ps This is a really good forum, so glad I found it  

[Alexa]

As one Newbie to another, Welcome!

I don't think I"ve heard of this book.  Could you let me know more about it?  Thanks!

Alexa

[tea_rose]

  I have this book. I bought it from a remainder catalog with the full knowledge that it was bogus. It is a fun read-but unconvincing. Actually, I don't remember that much about it! I will have to drag it back out from my everything but the kitchen sink book collection-so that I can give you a better precis!

[kaatje]

Hi here's a bit of what I know, in extremely condensed form

Michael Gray claims that he is the illegitimate son of Alexei, so obviously Alexei is supposed to have survived, according to Gray.  Er he also states that his mother was Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent's mother!!, though of course he was adopted by a family in Ireland, and forgotten.
Plus much more too...

It really sounds like he is a loony, doesn't it, but the strange thing is his story afforded a article in the British newspaper 'The Guardian' a broadsheet, with a good reputation unlikely to use purely sensational stuff.

Of course nothing has come of all this, but its quite a good read all the same, if that is you already know something about the Romanovs beforehand.

Katie

[Alexa]

Somehow I can't really see Alexi surviving an onslaught of bulletts, nor can I see Marina hooking up with him even if he did.  But I'll check it ou some time.  I always find "claimants" to be intersting.  Thanks for letting me know about it.

Alexa

[Utah1]

I am new here so if this subject has previously been raised I apologise.

I have seen numerous posts on Anna Andersons claims however I have not seen anything referring to this book or the Authors claims to be grandson of the Tsar.

I would appreciate any comments or opinions.

[Forum Admin]

Never heard of it, and of course, the claims are baseless as Nicholas II had no grandchildren.

[Utah1]

As advertised on Amazon

Synopsis
Michael Gray is the author's adopted name. He does not know what his real Christian name would have been. He does, however know that his surname would have been Romanov. Gray's contention is that his father was Tsarevich Alexei and his grandparents were Nicholas and Alexandria.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The basis of this story is that Michael Gray is the illegitimate son of the Tsarevich Alexei who was rescued on the HMS Marlborough had an affair with Princes Marina and the Tareveich Alexei then lived out the rest of his life in Ireland under the name Nicholai Chebotarev putting Michael Gray up for adoption.

Fascinating book very well researched however pure fantasy I feel.

Surprised nobody on this site has mentioned it.

[Annie]

That is one strange story! I have never heard it before, but at least it's a new one and not AA again!

It is totally ridiculous, of course. There is no way Alexei was on the Marlborough, since he was dead the year before and if any member of the IF were with Marie F. you know we'd have heard about it. (besides the bones of Alexei are now found)

Ireland, huh? Where do these people get these theories? Surely this book does not claim to be nonfiction?

[Forum Admin]

Well, that settles it then. We have the passenger manifesto of everyone who embarked on the Marlborough with Marie Feodorovna, and Tsarevich Alexei was NOT on the passenger list, nor mentioned at all in the book about the voyage, written by Sir Francis Pridham, who was in charge of the Imperial passengers for the entire voyage.  Of all people HE would have known, and how could Alexei be on board without his grandmother knowing... Lets not even GET to how he survived Ekaterinburg, crossed into Bolshevik Russia to Yalta, and got on board... LORD.....

Please see:

http://alexanderpalace.org/palace/marlborough.html

We may thus conclude without even reading the book that these claims are bogus.

[Constantinople]

I am surprised that even this much consideration has been given it.  How could a publisher even consider publishing a book based on these premises unless the author had had his DNA tested?  Of course the Author doesnt know his past.  He used to and then he passed the pub and the temptation grew too strong and then Bingo!!!! he is the grandson of someone who died at puberty or just past puberty.  I may have an interesting property deal for the author.  I have just acquired the deed to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.  It used to belong to a banker in Nigeria but he was killed in a plane crash.

[stepan]

I read this book when it was published almost ten years ago. It was very fascinating and interesting. Michael Grey is a pseudonym and the author´s real name is William Llavery. He is a retired school headmaster living in Northern Ireland. The book tells about a man Nicholas Chebotarev, a Russian emigreé who lived most of his life  in France and England. This Russian seems to have had a mysterious past and for some reasons the author believes him to have been tsarevich Alexej. The book also describes the Russian emigrant colony in Northern Ireland and its dfferent personalities. It´s been rather silent about the book and the author since its publication. Perhaps not surprisingly as there was too much imagination and fantasy in it. But it´s well written and I really enjoyed reading it as it was somehow fascinating. I´d like to know more about this man Nicholas Chebotarev but I haven´t seen any more information about him anywhere. There was an article in Royalty magazine about this story No 10,volume 15, 1998.

[Robert_Hall]

I read this book when it came out as well.  I bought my copy in the UK, I do not know if it was ever published in the USA. It was sort of a "one-hit wonder" as it came and went  No one took it  very seriously, except those  mentioned in the text who threatened lawsuits. I agree- it is better written than most of these fantasy tales, and an entertaining read. eemed to me to be an excersise in fiction.

[Utah1]

Glad I'm not the only one who has read it I was beginning to wonder.

Well if you havent I would recommend it as it is totally fascinating and backed up by such a lot of research.  However please enjoy it as the work of fiction it surely is.

Thank you for your comments I really am enjoying this site.

[lexi4]

Interesting.  I tried to find the book on Amazon, but was unable to do so.