The end of monarchy in Russia was a time of tumultuous change for many. While Tsar Nicholas II faced much controversy during his reign, one place he found solace and welcoming comfort was in his marriage and family. The closeness and friendship Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra, shared were unique among royal couples of the time. Despite their passion for one another, their admirable relationship would play a key role in the conclusion of Russian autocracy, the growth of revolution, and the demise of their entire family.

The Last Tsar

Nicholas II (left) and his cousin George V, who was the first British king of the Windsor dynasty, photographed in Berlin in 1913. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Nikolai Aleksandreovich Romanov, more commonly known as Nicholas II, was born in 1868. He was the son of the Russian tsar (or czar) Alexander III. Upon his father’s death in 1894, Nicholas ascended to the throne. Little did he know he would be the last tsar of the Russian Empire.

At first, Nicholas was a favorite of the Russian peasants, the majority of the country’s citizens. Despite his massive wealth and fame, the tsar traditionally held a favorable position among the country’s poor. The idea of “divine right” that was present in the Russian Orthodox Church supported the rights of the monarchy. The ruler was viewed as benevolent and even accessible, with the populace granted the prerogative to write letters and send petitions directly to the tsar.

Despite the love that the peasants had for Nicholas, he was less popular among many nobles and government officials. He was often seen as a weak ruler, conceding to opposition too easily and making poor choices for his country.

Princess Alexandra in 1899. Source: A. Pasetti via Wikimedia Commons

The same year he became emperor, Nicholas married the love of his life: Princess Alexandra Feodorovna of Hesse-Darmstadt (now a region of Germany), often called Alix.

Like many European royals of the age, the two were related through several branches of the monarchial family tree. Alix was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, and Nicholas’ mother, Marie, was the sister of future King Edward VII’s wife, also named Alexandra. Nicholas’ uncle Serge was married to Alix’s sister, Ella. The husband and wife were also related through a German ancestor.

Despite these connections, the marriage was not a favorable one in the eyes of many. Many Russian nobles looked down on the fact that Alix was German and Protestant, and she refused to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.

The two had met as children, and Nicholas was instantly smitten. In 1892, he wrote in his diary, “My dream is some day to marry Alix H. I have loved her a long while…” (Massie, 1995).

His parents were less enthused, hoping to instead pair their son with a woman who could help secure alliances and was more palatable to the Russian people. However, his affection for her grew stronger, and his parents eventually consented to the match.

A Rare Love

The happy couple aboard their yacht in 1908. Source: The Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons

As Nicholas and Alix’s relationship developed, they cultivated a relationship of friendship and love, which was somewhat unusual for royal families at the time. Marriages among royals were often made for convenience or alliance, and love was hardly a factor. The pair wrote one another letters daily when apart, Alix fondly referring to her husband as “Nicky.”

Despite how Nicholas felt about his wife, the Russian public struggled to accept her. A quiet, solemn woman, her presence seemed standoffish to many. Shy Alix preferred to stay out of the spotlight and enjoy the company of family rather than performing her royal duties, but this gave the public the impression that she was arrogant and considered herself above the Russian people.

The outbreak of World War I led to additional suspicion of the German queen.

The Russian royal family in 1913. Source: The Hermitage Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Public opinion of the empress further deteriorated as the couple began having children. As was the case among most European royals at the time, the desire for a son and heir was paramount. However, the couple’s first child was a daughter, Olga, born in 1895. Not disappointed, Nicholas reveled in his infant daughter, saying, “We are grateful she was a daughter; if she was a boy she would have belonged to the people, being a girl she belongs to us.”

The couple had three more daughters, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, in quick succession. They were finally blessed with a son, Alexei, in 1904. Alexei was granted the title of Tsarevitch, meaning he was intended to inherit the throne.

Nicholas proved to be an attentive father and devoted husband. Rather than recording state matters as intended, his journals often detailed his children’s exploits and achievements. Alexandra was also devoted to their family, continuing to exchange daily letters filled with endearments with her husband when he was away and staying involved in her children’s lives.

This would be especially true in the case of Alexei, who received a devastating diagnosis shortly after birth. The boy began bleeding from his navel, and the flow refused to ebb. The family realized that the young prince was afflicted with the “Coburg disease,” or hemophilia. Hemophilia is an inherited blood disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. If bleeding occurs from a routine injury or cut, it could prove devastating for a hemophilia patient. The disorder may also cause chronic joint pain and seizures as a result of internal bleeding, though it is now very treatable in the modern era.

Alexei feeding a sheep in an undated photo. Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

The hereditary disease was known as the “Coburg disease,” as it was known to be present in Alexandra’s German line, stemming from Queen Victoria herself (Massie, 1995). Women are generally not afflicted, though it is not impossible, and instead carry the disorder with the risk of passing it to their children. Though they knew where the calamity had originated, there was little that the Russian royal family or the world at large understood about hemophilia at the time of Alexei’s birth in 1904.

Nicholas and Alix kept their son’s disease a state secret until 1912 when it was leaked after a particularly profound attack in which the boy almost perished. They did not want the future ruler of Russia to appear disabled or weak. Alexei was prohibited from typical childhood endeavors, such as rough play and horseback riding, in an effort by his parents to minimize his risk of dangerous bleeding.

Nicholas and Alexandra doted on their son and supported one another through his struggles. Alexandra, in particular, was devoted to the boy, spending hours by his bedside as he struggled through bleeding episodes or periods of debilitating joint pain that would prevent his mobility.

A Welcome Interloper

An anti-monarchy leaflet depicting Rasputin in control of the Tsar and Tsarina. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1906, Nicholas received a man who would become incredibly influential over his future as Tsar. Grigori Rasputin visited the tsar and tsarina, and as Nicholas later recorded in his journals, the man made a strong impression on both of them. A man of religious fervor, Rasputin was charismatic and quickly became popular with the noble class.

He encouraged Nicholas to have more confidence in his monarchical role and soon became a persuasive voice in the royals’ ear, leading to his falling out of favor with others in the noble class. Rasputin also branded himself a faith healer, and after he seemed to soothe Alexei’s pain and bleeding when doctors couldn’t, Alexandra became more enamored with the man. Rumors began to swirl that the two were having an affair, but despite this, Nicholas stood by Rasputin and continued to listen to his advice.

Nicholas greeting an unknown official aboard his yacht, the Standart. Source: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University

In the meantime, Nicholas was struggling with his role as tsar beyond his affiliation with Rasputin. His empire encompassed one-sixth of the world’s land mass, and there were many issues that needed attention. However, Nicholas was not a forceful manager and often found himself at odds with his ministers and other nobles (Massie, 1995).

While World War I briefly strengthened Nicholas’ role in Russian society when he took direct command of the Russian military in 1915, every loss or failure by the army resulted in more blame piled on the monarch, weakening his reputation among the Russian people. Wartime hardships led to food shortages and hyperinflation in the Russian economy, pushing more and more people into already rampant poverty.

The murder of Rasputin at the end of 1916 did little to improve the public standing of the royal family among the dissatisfied populace. In 1917, large-scale protests began, and Nicholas found that the army no longer believed in him.

The Ending

The Tsar and Tsarina with their children in an undated photo. Source: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University

With Russia’s faith in him disintegrating and no military to support him, Nicholas decided to abdicate from the throne in 1917. His decision ended approximately 300 years of Russian autocracy, and the entire family was immediately imprisoned.

The family was moved to various homes throughout the Russian countryside, but it is said that Nicholas was quite content during this internment. Without the pressures and stresses of his role as tsar, he could be something he had always desired: a private family man.

The Romanovs hoped that a foreign government, perhaps that of Nicholas’ cousin George of England, would offer them asylum. However, these hopes were dashed as the Bolshevik party seized power from Russia’s interim government. The communist revolutionaries tightened the freedoms of the tsar and his family, restricting them to a villa in Ekaterinburg. A high fence was added around the home to prevent the public from seeing their fallen king.

In the early morning of July 17, 1918, the Romanov family was told to dress quickly and assemble in the home’s basement to prepare for yet another move. Instead, once they gathered, the doors were locked, and soldiers opened fire on the tsar, tsarina, their five children, and several close associates.

The murders were later said to be brutal, as Alix and her daughters had sewn jewels into their clothing for safekeeping, deterring bullets. As a result, they were bayoneted or bludgeoned after the initial onslaught failed. Though rumors of survival, especially involving Anastasia and Alexei, ran rampant throughout the twentieth century, the entire family was killed.

A painting of the wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra by Laurits Tuxen, commissioned by Queen Victoria, finished in 1899. Source: Royal Collection Trust

Despite a marriage that was faced with challenges from the very beginning, there is no doubt that Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, and Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt were a couple devoted to one another and their children. Their marriage was fraught with politics, heartbreak, and sometimes scandal, but the two never wavered. It was a unique relationship that varied in many ways from a typical royal marriage; the two shared love and enjoyed one another’s company. Despite their roles as the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicky and Alix preserved a loving union for the ages.

Recommended Reading:

Massie, R.K. (1995).* Nicholas and Alexandra: The Story of the Love That Ended an Empire*. New York: Ballantine Books.