Michael Gray - Blood Relative - The Tsars grandson?

[Phil_tomaselli]

Well here we go again - we can conclude, without having read the book that it is bogus.........................

Curiously, in my copy I can find no reference to HMS Marlborough in the index nor, after a cursory glance, in the text.  But never mind, it must be bogus.........sorry it is bogus because we say so.

Actually, it is rubbish, but interesting nevertheless.   The author, if nothing else, unearths a curious group of White Russians living in Northern Ireland (not a country one associates with the White Russian diaspora) including a photo of "Nikolai Alexandrovich" taken in Ireland in 1948.  Quite who they really were might be worthy of investigation if only one had the time.

I would urge people to read this book with an open but critical mind, if only as an example of where wishful thinking can obscure logic and remove ones critical faculties.  I particularly enjoyed his argument that he was being watched and bugged by the Special Branch because he was a descendant of the Tsar (forgetting for the moment that he was in constant communication with Prince Michael of Kent while at the same time living in Northern Ireland during "the troubles") and his attempt to explain how an RAF aeroplane could fly from Ekaterinberg to the Caucasus in summer of 1918 using RAF bases not established until the summer of the following year.

Copies shouldbe fairly cheaply available - bookshops in hay on Wye had them at about £3 each last time I was there a couple of years ago.

Phil Tomaselli

[helenazar]

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

Here it is: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Relative-Michael-Gray/dp/0575066083/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196804220&sr=1-3

[Robert_Hall]

Bookfinders has  several copies available from $8 to $60 [!!!!!]. They are all UK editions, which  seems to confirm my thought that there it was never published in the US. It might be worth  the 8 [maybe] but 60- no way.

[helenazar]

I say get it in the library if you must read it....

[Phil_tomaselli]

I paid £20 for my copy ($40) 10 years ago on the basis that the book was discussed seriously on BBC Radio 4 so it must be worthwhile - a big mistake & I've regretted that £20 ever since - BUT it is probably worth the $8 provided you don't expect to learn anything about the Romanovs and treat it as an unsolved mystery - not whether the author is Alexei's son but who was Nikolai Chebotarev (the man the author claims was Alexei) and what were the strange White Russians doing in Ireland.  Also as a great example of how wishful thinking can influence someone's thought processes.

Phil T

[Utah1]

I only paid about £3.00 about a month ago from Amazon.co.uk as a pre-owned book.

Worth £3.00 not £20 I agree.

Still its a nice change from Anna Anderson isnt it?

[Kurt Steiner]

Gosh. Let's hope that Dan Brown doesn't get a copy of this book, or I'm pretty sure that I know the topic of this next "bet-seller"...

[Utah1]

Some reviews of the book:-

Just when we thought we had laid the Romanovs to rest, we are confronted with the surprising news that Alexei has been resurrected.
In "Blood Relative" the Alexei was brought to safty on board of HMS Marlborough in the retinue of the Dowager Empress. And then this "imperial cat" really got the "royal cream" - an affair with and a natural son by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who even wanted to run away with Alexei, at least with her jewels. Some common sense seems to have prevailed. At least, she had been recently widowed and was the mother of three young children. Damm! all the biographies of Princess Mariana missed this truly romantic and exciting story. How could they???
What about proof? Yes of couse - photos showing a resemblance with royalty. Did not we see that all in the Anastasia saga? Conveniently the "real Alexei" has died and his descendants now proclaim their case. Of course, DNA test were not carried out.

Do these books not play with our need for mystery in which we could indulge in the days of pre-DNA-testing? And now, just a little DNA and all the nice and romatic illusions disappear.

But I have a little favour to ask - give me a little time to digest this book before the real Alexei will make his appearence!

Not worthwhile reading at all !!!

This well composed volume careens between two premises. First of all, is it not plausible that if anyone in the Russian Imperial family had escaped the worst of the holocaust, they would never have admitted it? The claims of Mr. Gray on behalf of the mysterious Mr. Chebotarev are aided and abetted by this factor. Secondly, assuming that the Tsarevich suffered martyrdom with the rest of his family and that he was burnt to ashes, any claims that he in fact did not would form the basis of an interesting pathological study or at least a gripping romance. On such grounds, either possibility would appeal to the sort of person that could not 'accept' the overwhelming evidence that the entire family was slain. This would be an entirely engrossing romance if it limited itself to the discussion of the mysterious Chebotarev, lured people with the title 'But I Am Also Alexei', and then left the reader to form his or her own rightful conclusions. From a scientific point of view, some weaknesses emerge. How can one assume that the Tsarevich had inherited certain crucial genetic material if the boy was missing? And why didn't any genetic analysis of the man on whose behalf the claim is made figure more strongly into the picture? Here is where the fantasy and the pathology lie. A well written and strongly persuasive one, to be sure, reading far more smoothly than the recent 'Escape of Alexei' to English speaking readers. But so long as the child's bones have not been produced, we no doubt will have more books like this. An audience fascinated with the real, sad, romantic tale of this tragic child is out there to devour them


If you're looking for a good, well writen read about something you've probably never read before then 'Blood Relative' is for you. If you want to believe it, it is not. This book makes for a very interesting read but it is ONLY that. It comes over as pure fiction written in a style that would suggest that the truth is anything but what you are reading. The bare bones of a semi-true story is there but it is bolstered by too much guess-work, heresay, wishful thinking and downright fantasy to be anything other than the product of a very good imagination.  


 Blood relative
Excellent, and casts doubts on information we have been fed over the past about the story of the last Russian Tsar and hisFamily. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2004  

 blood relatives
Please pass a message to Michael Gray, I have read Blood Relatives and I cannot begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed it, it is the best book I have ever read - and at the age... Read more
Published on 24 Jul 2004 by margaret clements  

 A fantastic and convincing read, recommended!
I have read this book from cover to cover 3 times now and am still addicted. The author unfolds his story with intricate detail and a sense of suspense that is gripping. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2003  

 A really exiting book
I really thougt all was said and done after the DNA-analysis in 1994 concerning the tsar and his family. Then I came across this fascinating reading by mr Gray. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2000  

 A great read with new insight on the Romanovs
The author does a superb job assimilated research from his past and the factual record to build a case. The reader is left to judge the merits. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 1999 by tsgdd@aol.com  

 ...
Move over, Michal Goleniewski, Prince Alexis of Scottsdale, Heino Tammet (of the Internet), and Oleg Filatov. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 1999  

 An excellent book that is entirely plausible
As an A Level teacher of History, with the added responsibility of teaching at G.C.S.E. level, I am always on the lookout for new information that relates to the set topics for... Read more
 
  

[helenazar]

Blood relative
Excellent, and casts doubts on information we have been fed over the past about the story of the last Russian Tsar and hisFamily. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2004  

 blood relatives
Please pass a message to Michael Gray, I have read Blood Relatives and I cannot begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed it, it is the best book I have ever read - and at the age... Read more
Published on 24 Jul 2004 by margaret clements  

 A fantastic and convincing read, recommended!
I have read this book from cover to cover 3 times now and am still addicted. The author unfolds his story with intricate detail and a sense of suspense that is gripping. Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2003  

 A really exiting book
I really thougt all was said and done after the DNA-analysis in 1994 concerning the tsar and his family. Then I came across this fascinating reading by mr Gray. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2000  

 A great read with new insight on the Romanovs
The author does a superb job assimilated research from his past and the factual record to build a case. The reader is left to judge the merits. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 1999 by tsgdd@aol.com  

 ...
Move over, Michal Goleniewski, Prince Alexis of Scottsdale, Heino Tammet (of the Internet), and Oleg Filatov. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 1999  

 An excellent book that is entirely plausible
As an A Level teacher of History, with the added responsibility of teaching at G.C.S.E. level, I am always on the lookout for new information that relates to the set topics for...

Yeah.... just figures.... 

[Phil_tomaselli]

Yes, it's rubbish BUT in the immortal words of Oliver Cromwell:

"I beseech thee, in the Bowels of Christ, think it possible that you might be mistaken".

In other words stop being so absolutely certain of your position that you are unprepared to learn anything at all.  If nothing else there are interesting matters raised in this book about human psychology and White Russian communities, hopes and ambitions.

Why not try looking for information that might finally identify Nikolai Chebotarev - that way you could successfully rubbish the story AND provide something positive.

Phil Tomaselli 

[LisaDavidson]

Yes, it's rubbish BUT in the immortal words of Oliver Cromwell:

"I beseech thee, in the Bowels of Christ, think it possible that you might be mistaken".

In other words stop being so absolutely certain of your position that you are unprepared to learn anything at all.  If nothing else there are interesting matters raised in this book about human psychology and White Russian communities, hopes and ambitions.

Why not try looking for information that might finally identify Nikolai Chebotarev - that way you could successfully rubbish the story AND provide something positive.

Phil Tomaselli 

Hi Phil: I see your point, however, with there being so many claimants, nearly all of their stories have something we can learn. I think it is a reasonable position after nearly a century of false claimants for some to say after hearing so many crazy stories - enough!

The Michael Gray story was unique as it was the only one where Alexei actually married equally under the Fundamental Law.

[Belochka]

... with there being so many claimants, nearly all of their stories have something we can learn.

The only thing that can be gained from such material is the author is assured that his bank account is enriched.

[LisaDavidson]

... with there being so many claimants, nearly all of their stories have something we can learn.

The only thing that can be gained from such material is the author is assured that his bank account is enriched.

I think it is perhaps this type of attitude which prompted Phil's earlier remark.

Honestly, Margarita, apart from a few well connected celebrities, writing books is not a terribly enriching circumstance!

And, these claimants' stories do have information that can be interesting. Peter Kurth's Anastasia is all prefaced by - it's a story of immigrants.  I think it's also a story of people who lose everything material they have and how vulnerable they can be to outlandish cliams. Something can be learned in such circumstances, but a person has to keep an open mind to do so.

[Robert_Hall]

I think I mentioned lawsuits? There was, I am sure, little or no profit gained from this story. As I recall, there was not even a claim to any Romanov fortune! Unique in itself!

[lexi4]

Well here we go again - we can conclude, without having read the book that it is bogus.........................

Curiously, in my copy I can find no reference to HMS Marlborough in the index nor, after a cursory glance, in the text.  But never mind, it must be bogus.........sorry it is bogus because we say so.

Actually, it is rubbish, but interesting nevertheless.   The author, if nothing else, unearths a curious group of White Russians living in Northern Ireland (not a country one associates with the White Russian diaspora) including a photo of "Nikolai Alexandrovich" taken in Ireland in 1948.  Quite who they really were might be worthy of investigation if only one had the time.

I would urge people to read this book with an open but critical mind, if only as an example of where wishful thinking can obscure logic and remove ones critical faculties.  I particularly enjoyed his argument that he was being watched and bugged by the Special Branch because he was a descendant of the Tsar (forgetting for the moment that he was in constant communication with Prince Michael of Kent while at the same time living in Northern Ireland during "the troubles") and his attempt to explain how an RAF aeroplane could fly from Ekaterinberg to the Caucasus in summer of 1918 using RAF bases not established until the summer of the following year.

Copies shouldbe fairly cheaply available - bookshops in hay on Wye had them at about £3 each last time I was there a couple of years ago.

Phil Tomaselli

I would love to read it Phil, but am unable to find it. Do you happen to know if it was published in the U.S.?