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For other people named 'Romanov see Romanov (disambiguation). {{Royal house||surname =House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov|estate =Russia|coat of arms =|country =Russia|titles =Emperor|founder =[Peter III of Russia|final ruler =Nicholas II of Russia|current head = Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia or
Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia ) was the second and last [monarchy dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country for five generations from 1613 to 1761. From 1761 to 1917, Russia was ruled by a line of the House of Oldenburg descended from the marriage of a Romanov grand duchess to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. This line was officially also called Romanov, although genealogists sometimes style it, more accurately, Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.

Origins The Romanovs share their origin with two dozen other Russian noble families. Their earliest common ancestor is one Andrei Kobyla, attested as a boyar in the service of Simeon of Russia. Later generations assigned to Kobyla the most illustrious pedigrees. An 18th century genealogy book claimed that he was the son of the Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans. Indeed, one of the leaders of the Prussian rebellion of 1260-1274 against the Teutonic order was named Glande.

Possibly, Kobyla's origins were less spectacular. Not only is Kobyla Russian language for mare, but some his relatives were also nicknamed after horses and other house animals, thus perhaps suggesting descent from one of the Konyushy. One of Kobyla's sons, Fyodor Koshka, a boyar in the Duma of Dmitri Donskoi, was nicknamed Koshka (cat). His descendants took the surname Koshkin, then changed it to Zakharin, which family later split into two branches: Zakharin-Yakovlev and Zakharin-Yuriev. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the former family became known as Yakovlev (Alexander Herzen being the most illustrious of them), whereas grandchildren of Roman Zakharin-Yuriev changed their name to Romanov.

Rise to power The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter, Anastacia of Russia, married the young Ivan IV of Russia in February 1547. When her husband assumed the title of tsar, she was crowned the very first tsaritsa. Their marriage was an exceedingly happy one, but her untimely and mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for the worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, the tsar started Oprichnina against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the elder (Ivan) was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the younger Feodor I of Russia, a pious and lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death.

Throughout Fyodor's reign, the Russian government was contested between his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, and his Romanov cousins. Upon the death of childless Fyodor, the 700-year-old line of Moscow Rurik Dynasty came to an end. After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and the former was elected new tsar. Godunov's revenge to the Romanovs was terrible: all the family and its relatives were deported to remote corners of the Russian North and Ural (region), where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader, Feodor Nikitich Romanov, was exiled to the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and forced to take monastic vows with the name Patriarch Filaret (Feodor Romanov).

The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in 1606. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov was valued by several impostors who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during the Time of Troubles. False Dmitriy I made him a metropolitan bishop, and False Dmitriy II raised him to the dignity of patriarch. Upon expulsion of Poles from Moscow in 1612, the Zemsky Sobor offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid and Gediminid princes, but all of them declined the honour of it., near the Kremlin.On being offered the Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old son Mikhail I of Russia, then living at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma, burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his mother Kseniya Ivanovna Shestova, who blessed him with the holy image of Our Lady of St. Theodore. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to stress his ties with the last Rurikid tsars and sought advice from the Assembly of the Land on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally loved by the population as in-laws of Ivan the Terrible and innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath.

The era of dynastic crises Mikhail was succeeded by his only son Aleksey I of Russia, who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon his death, there was a period of dynastic struggles between his children by his first wife (Feodor III of Russia, Sofia of Russia, Ivan V of Russia) and his son by his second wife, Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, the future Peter I of Russia. New dynastic struggles followed the death of Peter, who had his only son Alexius Petrovich executed and never named another heir. The Romanov male line actually expired in 1730, with the death of Peter II of Russia on the very day of his projected wedding. The last female Romanovs were his aunts, Empresses Anna I of Russia (1693-1740) and Elizabeth of Russia (1709-1762), who reigned successively for most of the period from 1730 to 1762.

As neither Anna nor Elizabeth produced a male heir, the succession could devolve either on a Brunswick-Lüneburg grand-nephew of Anna (Ivan VI of Russia) or on a Holstein nephew of Elizabeth (Peter III of Russia), who was also an heir presumptive to the throne of Sweden. Elizabeth naturally favoured her own nephew, although he was of petulant character. With the accession of Karl Peter Ulrich as Emperor Peter III in 1762 the new reigning dynasty of Holstein-Gottorp, or Oldenburg-Romanov, began.

The Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Dynasty The Holstein-Gottorps of Russia, however, kept the surname Romanov and sought to emphasise their female-line descent from Peter I of Russia. Paul I of Russia was particularly proud to be great-grandson of the illustrious Russian monarch, although his German-born mother, Catherine II of Russia (of the House of Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst), insinuated in her memoirs that Paul's real father had been her lover Serge Saltykov. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul established the house law of the Romanovs, one of the strictest in Europe, basing the succession to agnatic primogeniture, as well as requiring Eastern Orthodox Church from the monarch and dynasts, as well as from the consort of emperor and from those of first heirs in line. Later, Alexander I, facing prospect of a Morganatic marriage alliance of his brother and heir, added the requirement that consorts of Russian dynasts had to be of equal birth (i.e., born to a royal or sovereignty house). Otherwise their children forfeited all rights to the throne.

Paul I was murdered in his palace in Saint Petersburg. Alexander I succeeded him on the throne, and later died without having left a male heir. Nicholas I, a brother of the latter monarch, was surprised to find himself on the throne. His era, like the one of Paul I, was marked by enormous attention to the army. Nonetheless, Russia lost the Crimean War, although it had some brilliant admirals on its side, including Pavel Nakhimov. Nicholas I fathered four sons, all of whom, he thought, could one day face the challenge of ruling Russia. Trying to prepare all the boys for the future, he provided an excellent education, especially a military one, for all of them.

Alexander II became the next Russian emperor. Alexander was an educated, intelligent man, who held that his task was to keep peace in Europe and Russia. However, he believed only a country with a strong army could keep the peace. By paying attention to the army, giving much freedom to Finland, and freeing the serfs in 1861, he gained much support (Finns still dearly remember him). His family life was not so happy- his beloved wife Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) had serious problems with her lungs, which led to her death and to the dissolution of the close-knit family. On March 13, 1881, Alexander was killed after returning from a military parade. Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, and Panslavist ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, drawing the dynasty to look more 'Russian'. Yet tighter commitment to orthodox faith was required of Romanovs. Several marriages were contracted with princesses from other Slavic monarchies and other orthodox kingdoms, and even a couple of cadet-line princesses were allowed to marry Russian high noblemen - when until 1850s, practically all marriages had been with German princelings.

Alexander II was succeeded by his son Alexander III of Russia. A gigantic and imposing, if somewhat dull man, with great stamina, great lethargy, and poor manners. Alexander, fearful of the fate which had befallen his father, strengthened autocratic rule in Russia. Many of the reforms the more liberal Alexander II had pushed through were reversed. Alexander, at his Nicholas Alexandrovich's death, not only inherited the throne, but also a betrothed - Scandinavian princess Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark). Despite contrasting natures and size, the pair got on famously, and produced six children.

The eldest, Nicholas, became Tsar upon his father's sudden death (due to kidney disease) at age 49. Unready to inherit the throne, Nicholas reputedly said, "I am not ready, I do not want it. I am not a Tsar." Though an intelligent and kind-hearted man, lacking any preparation to rule, he continued his father's harsh polices. His Tsarina, the emotionally fragile German princess Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse), was also a liability. While the Tsar bustled about on the front lines during World War I, the stubborn, traditionalist Tsarina held sway in court and in government.

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, although sometimes counted among Russian monarchs, were not crowned and never reigned. They both married morganatically, as did Alexander II with his second wife. Six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line include: Paul of Russia (1796-1801), Alexander I of Russia (1801-1826), Nicholas I of Russia (1826-56), Alexander II of Russia (1856-81), Alexander III of Russia (1881-94), and Nicholas II of Russia (1894-1917).

Downfall 's "All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land," built on the spot where the last Tsar and his family were executed.All these emperors (except Alexander III) had German-born consorts, a circumstance that cost the Romanovs their popularity during World War I. Nicholas's wife Alexandra of Hesse, although devoutly Russian Orthodox Church, was particularly hated by the populace.

Alexandra Fyodorovna had Haemophilia in European royalty from her grandmother, Victoria of the United Kingdom, which caused her son, the long-awaited heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei of Russia's hemophilia. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters (Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia).

When the Romanov family celebrated the tercentenary of its rule, in 1913, the solemnities were clouded by numerous bad omens. The face of Our Lady of St. Theodore, the patron icon of the family, became badly blackened. Grigori Rasputin proclaimed that the Romanov's power would not last two years after his death if a Romanov caused his death. He was murdered by a group of nobles, including Nicholas II's nephew by marriage, on 16 December 1916. Two months later, the February Revolution of 1917 resulted in abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. The latter declined to accept the throne, terminating Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia.

After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest. Several members of royal family, including Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia, managed to establish good relations with the interim government and eventually fled the country during the October Revolution.

On July 17, 1918, Bolshevik authorities, led by Yakov Yurovsky, shot Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and four servant members in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The family was told that they would be photographed to prove to the people that they were still alive. The family was arranged appropriately and left alone for several minutes. Soon the very people that were protecting them entered and shot them. At first the girls did not die because of the jewels sewn into their corsets. These jewels were for protection but also so that the family could have some money for when they fled the country. The shooters were horrified at how the girls were able to withstand the bullets and feared that the family really was in power due to divine right (the theory that Kings and Queens are placed on the throne by God). To solve that problem, the shooters tried to stab them with bayonets. That failed, too, because of the jewels, so then, they were shot in the head at close range. Ironically, the Ipatiev House has the same name as the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, where Mikhail Romanov had been offered the Russian crown in 1613. The spot where the Ipatiev House once stood has recently been commemorated by a magnificent cathedral "on the blood." After years of controversy, Nikolai II and his family were proclaimed passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox church in 2000. (In orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killed because of his faith like a martyr but died in faith at the hand of murderers.)s presented by Nicholas II to his wife.

In 1991, the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, along with three of their five children and four of their servants, were exhumed (although some question the authenticity of these bones despite DNA testing). Because two bodies were not present, many people believe that two Romanov children escaped the killings. Ever since, there has been much debate as to which two children's bodies are missing. A Russian scientist made photographic superimpositions and determined that Maria and Alexei were not accounted for. Later, an American scientist concluded from dental, vertebral, and other remnants that it was Anastasia and Alexei that were missing. Much mystery surrounds Anastasia's fate. Several films have been produced, including the full length animated feature Anastasia (1997 film) by Twentieth Century Fox, suggesting that she lived on.

After the bodies were exhumed in June, 1991, they sat in laboratories until 1998, while there was a debate as to whether they should be reburied in Yekaterinburg or St. Petersburg. A commission eventually chose St. Petersburg, so they (along with several loyal servants who died with them) were interred in a special chapel in the Peter and Paul Cathedral near the tombs of their ancestors.

In September 2006, Empress Marie Fedorovna, the consort of Alexander III, was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral beside her husband. Having fled Russia at the time of the Revolution, she had spent her remaining years in exile in her native Denmark, where she was initially buried in Roskilde Cathedral. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by elaborate ceremonies, including at Saint Isaac's Cathedral officiated by the Patriarch. For monarchists, the reburial of the Empress in the former imperial capital, so many years after her death, further underscored the downfall of the dynasty.

In September of 2007 the skeletal remains of two bodies were found in a burned field near Ekaterinburg. There is speculation that these are the bodies of the missing Romanov children. These claims have yet to be substantiated. Hamilton Spectator, early October [1st or 2nd I believe 2007.

Contemporary Romanovs The Romanov family continues to exist today. The proper line of succession to the Russian throne is contested, but despite the History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991), it seems unlikely that the Romanovs will regain the throne in the near future. The Russian people have so far evidenced little popular support for the resurrection of a Russian monarchy, even on a Constitutional monarchy basis.

Further reading
  • Bergamini, John D. The Tragic Dynasty: A History of the Romanovs. Putnam, 1969.
  • Crankshaw, Edward. "The Shadow of the Winter Palace: Russia's Drift to Revolution, 1825-1917"
  • Dunning, Chester S.L. Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty, Penn State Press, 2001 ISBN 0-271-02074-1
  • Lincoln, Bruce. "The Romanovs".
  • Lincoln, Bruce. "Nicholas I: Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias".
  • Massie, Robert K. "Peter The Great".
  • Massie, Robert K. "Nicholas and Alexandra".
  • Troyat, Henri "Catherine the Great".
  • Troyat, Henri "Alexander I".
  • Radzinsky, Edvard "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar".
  • Radzinsky, Edvard "The life and death of Nicholas II".
  • Van der Kiste, John. The Romanovs, 1818-1959: Alexander II of Russia and His Family. Sutton Publishing, 1998.


See also

External links
  • The Romanov Memorial
  • Frozentears.org -- A media library of the Last Imperial Family.
  • The Romanov fund for Russia -- The official website for Romanov fund.
  • The Romanov Family Association-- The Romanov Family Association's official website.
  • Alexander Palace Time Machine-- Imperial Russia History Site.
  • Family Tree of the ruling Romanovs
  • The Romanovs Today About the Romanov Family Association.
  • Romanov Family Album - From "The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library", a collection of family photographs.
  • Genealogy of the Imperial House of Russia (Requires Java)
  • The Russian Imperial Succession Supports the claims of the descendants of the Grand Duke Kirill.
  • The Romanovs: Their Empire, Their Books, New York Public Library.
  • The Murder of Russia's Imperial Family, Nicolay Sokolov. Investigation of murder of the Romanov Imperial Family in 1918. In Russian
  • Nikolay II - Live and Death, Edvard Radzinski. Nicholas II - "Live and Death". In Russian
  • Mother of Last Russian Tsar to Be Reburied, by Moscow News
  • Romanov’s Dynasty
  • The Romanovs in Film A complete filmography of the Romanovs.
  • All Russian Monarchist Center
  • Official website of Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia
  • Official website of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia
  • Russian History Magazine Articles about the Romanovs from Atlantis magazine.


For other people named 'Romanov see Romanov (disambiguation). {{Royal house||surname =House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov|estate =Russia|coat of arms =|country =Russia|titles =Emperor|founder =[Peter III of Russia|final ruler =Nicholas II of Russia|current head = Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia or
Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia ) was the second and last [monarchy dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country for five generations from 1613 to 1761. From 1761 to 1917, Russia was ruled by a line of the House of Oldenburg descended from the marriage of a Romanov grand duchess to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. This line was officially also called Romanov, although genealogists sometimes style it, more accurately, Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.

Origins The Romanovs share their origin with two dozen other Russian noble families. Their earliest common ancestor is one Andrei Kobyla, attested as a boyar in the service of Simeon of Russia. Later generations assigned to Kobyla the most illustrious pedigrees. An 18th century genealogy book claimed that he was the son of the Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans. Indeed, one of the leaders of the Prussian rebellion of 1260-1274 against the Teutonic order was named Glande.

Possibly, Kobyla's origins were less spectacular. Not only is Kobyla Russian language for mare, but some his relatives were also nicknamed after horses and other house animals, thus perhaps suggesting descent from one of the Konyushy. One of Kobyla's sons, Fyodor Koshka, a boyar in the Duma of Dmitri Donskoi, was nicknamed Koshka (cat). His descendants took the surname Koshkin, then changed it to Zakharin, which family later split into two branches: Zakharin-Yakovlev and Zakharin-Yuriev. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the former family became known as Yakovlev (Alexander Herzen being the most illustrious of them), whereas grandchildren of Roman Zakharin-Yuriev changed their name to Romanov.

Rise to power The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter, Anastacia of Russia, married the young Ivan IV of Russia in February 1547. When her husband assumed the title of tsar, she was crowned the very first tsaritsa. Their marriage was an exceedingly happy one, but her untimely and mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for the worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, the tsar started Oprichnina against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the elder (Ivan) was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the younger Feodor I of Russia, a pious and lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death.

Throughout Fyodor's reign, the Russian government was contested between his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, and his Romanov cousins. Upon the death of childless Fyodor, the 700-year-old line of Moscow Rurik Dynasty came to an end. After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and the former was elected new tsar. Godunov's revenge to the Romanovs was terrible: all the family and its relatives were deported to remote corners of the Russian North and Ural (region), where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader, Feodor Nikitich Romanov, was exiled to the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and forced to take monastic vows with the name Patriarch Filaret (Feodor Romanov).

The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in 1606. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov was valued by several impostors who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during the Time of Troubles. False Dmitriy I made him a metropolitan bishop, and False Dmitriy II raised him to the dignity of patriarch. Upon expulsion of Poles from Moscow in 1612, the Zemsky Sobor offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid and Gediminid princes, but all of them declined the honour of it., near the Kremlin.On being offered the Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old son Mikhail I of Russia, then living at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma, burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his mother Kseniya Ivanovna Shestova, who blessed him with the holy image of Our Lady of St. Theodore. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to stress his ties with the last Rurikid tsars and sought advice from the Assembly of the Land on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally loved by the population as in-laws of Ivan the Terrible and innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath.

The era of dynastic crises Mikhail was succeeded by his only son Aleksey I of Russia, who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon his death, there was a period of dynastic struggles between his children by his first wife (Feodor III of Russia, Sofia of Russia, Ivan V of Russia) and his son by his second wife, Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, the future Peter I of Russia. New dynastic struggles followed the death of Peter, who had his only son Alexius Petrovich executed and never named another heir. The Romanov male line actually expired in 1730, with the death of Peter II of Russia on the very day of his projected wedding. The last female Romanovs were his aunts, Empresses Anna I of Russia (1693-1740) and Elizabeth of Russia (1709-1762), who reigned successively for most of the period from 1730 to 1762.

As neither Anna nor Elizabeth produced a male heir, the succession could devolve either on a Brunswick-Lüneburg grand-nephew of Anna (Ivan VI of Russia) or on a Holstein nephew of Elizabeth (Peter III of Russia), who was also an heir presumptive to the throne of Sweden. Elizabeth naturally favoured her own nephew, although he was of petulant character. With the accession of Karl Peter Ulrich as Emperor Peter III in 1762 the new reigning dynasty of Holstein-Gottorp, or Oldenburg-Romanov, began.

The Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Dynasty The Holstein-Gottorps of Russia, however, kept the surname Romanov and sought to emphasise their female-line descent from Peter I of Russia. Paul I of Russia was particularly proud to be great-grandson of the illustrious Russian monarch, although his German-born mother, Catherine II of Russia (of the House of Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst), insinuated in her memoirs that Paul's real father had been her lover Serge Saltykov. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul established the house law of the Romanovs, one of the strictest in Europe, basing the succession to agnatic primogeniture, as well as requiring Eastern Orthodox Church from the monarch and dynasts, as well as from the consort of emperor and from those of first heirs in line. Later, Alexander I, facing prospect of a Morganatic marriage alliance of his brother and heir, added the requirement that consorts of Russian dynasts had to be of equal birth (i.e., born to a royal or sovereignty house). Otherwise their children forfeited all rights to the throne.

Paul I was murdered in his palace in Saint Petersburg. Alexander I succeeded him on the throne, and later died without having left a male heir. Nicholas I, a brother of the latter monarch, was surprised to find himself on the throne. His era, like the one of Paul I, was marked by enormous attention to the army. Nonetheless, Russia lost the Crimean War, although it had some brilliant admirals on its side, including Pavel Nakhimov. Nicholas I fathered four sons, all of whom, he thought, could one day face the challenge of ruling Russia. Trying to prepare all the boys for the future, he provided an excellent education, especially a military one, for all of them.

Alexander II became the next Russian emperor. Alexander was an educated, intelligent man, who held that his task was to keep peace in Europe and Russia. However, he believed only a country with a strong army could keep the peace. By paying attention to the army, giving much freedom to Finland, and freeing the serfs in 1861, he gained much support (Finns still dearly remember him). His family life was not so happy- his beloved wife Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) had serious problems with her lungs, which led to her death and to the dissolution of the close-knit family. On March 13, 1881, Alexander was killed after returning from a military parade. Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, and Panslavist ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, drawing the dynasty to look more 'Russian'. Yet tighter commitment to orthodox faith was required of Romanovs. Several marriages were contracted with princesses from other Slavic monarchies and other orthodox kingdoms, and even a couple of cadet-line princesses were allowed to marry Russian high noblemen - when until 1850s, practically all marriages had been with German princelings.

Alexander II was succeeded by his son Alexander III of Russia. A gigantic and imposing, if somewhat dull man, with great stamina, great lethargy, and poor manners. Alexander, fearful of the fate which had befallen his father, strengthened autocratic rule in Russia. Many of the reforms the more liberal Alexander II had pushed through were reversed. Alexander, at his Nicholas Alexandrovich's death, not only inherited the throne, but also a betrothed - Scandinavian princess Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark). Despite contrasting natures and size, the pair got on famously, and produced six children.

The eldest, Nicholas, became Tsar upon his father's sudden death (due to kidney disease) at age 49. Unready to inherit the throne, Nicholas reputedly said, "I am not ready, I do not want it. I am not a Tsar." Though an intelligent and kind-hearted man, lacking any preparation to rule, he continued his father's harsh polices. His Tsarina, the emotionally fragile German princess Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse), was also a liability. While the Tsar bustled about on the front lines during World War I, the stubborn, traditionalist Tsarina held sway in court and in government.

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, although sometimes counted among Russian monarchs, were not crowned and never reigned. They both married morganatically, as did Alexander II with his second wife. Six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line include: Paul of Russia (1796-1801), Alexander I of Russia (1801-1826), Nicholas I of Russia (1826-56), Alexander II of Russia (1856-81), Alexander III of Russia (1881-94), and Nicholas II of Russia (1894-1917).

Downfall 's "All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land," built on the spot where the last Tsar and his family were executed.All these emperors (except Alexander III) had German-born consorts, a circumstance that cost the Romanovs their popularity during World War I. Nicholas's wife Alexandra of Hesse, although devoutly Russian Orthodox Church, was particularly hated by the populace.

Alexandra Fyodorovna had Haemophilia in European royalty from her grandmother, Victoria of the United Kingdom, which caused her son, the long-awaited heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei of Russia's hemophilia. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters (Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia).

When the Romanov family celebrated the tercentenary of its rule, in 1913, the solemnities were clouded by numerous bad omens. The face of Our Lady of St. Theodore, the patron icon of the family, became badly blackened. Grigori Rasputin proclaimed that the Romanov's power would not last two years after his death if a Romanov caused his death. He was murdered by a group of nobles, including Nicholas II's nephew by marriage, on 16 December 1916. Two months later, the February Revolution of 1917 resulted in abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. The latter declined to accept the throne, terminating Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia.

After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest. Several members of royal family, including Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia, managed to establish good relations with the interim government and eventually fled the country during the October Revolution.

On July 17, 1918, Bolshevik authorities, led by Yakov Yurovsky, shot Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and four servant members in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The family was told that they would be photographed to prove to the people that they were still alive. The family was arranged appropriately and left alone for several minutes. Soon the very people that were protecting them entered and shot them. At first the girls did not die because of the jewels sewn into their corsets. These jewels were for protection but also so that the family could have some money for when they fled the country. The shooters were horrified at how the girls were able to withstand the bullets and feared that the family really was in power due to divine right (the theory that Kings and Queens are placed on the throne by God). To solve that problem, the shooters tried to stab them with bayonets. That failed, too, because of the jewels, so then, they were shot in the head at close range. Ironically, the Ipatiev House has the same name as the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, where Mikhail Romanov had been offered the Russian crown in 1613. The spot where the Ipatiev House once stood has recently been commemorated by a magnificent cathedral "on the blood." After years of controversy, Nikolai II and his family were proclaimed passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox church in 2000. (In orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killed because of his faith like a martyr but died in faith at the hand of murderers.)s presented by Nicholas II to his wife.

In 1991, the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, along with three of their five children and four of their servants, were exhumed (although some question the authenticity of these bones despite DNA testing). Because two bodies were not present, many people believe that two Romanov children escaped the killings. Ever since, there has been much debate as to which two children's bodies are missing. A Russian scientist made photographic superimpositions and determined that Maria and Alexei were not accounted for. Later, an American scientist concluded from dental, vertebral, and other remnants that it was Anastasia and Alexei that were missing. Much mystery surrounds Anastasia's fate. Several films have been produced, including the full length animated feature Anastasia (1997 film) by Twentieth Century Fox, suggesting that she lived on.

After the bodies were exhumed in June, 1991, they sat in laboratories until 1998, while there was a debate as to whether they should be reburied in Yekaterinburg or St. Petersburg. A commission eventually chose St. Petersburg, so they (along with several loyal servants who died with them) were interred in a special chapel in the Peter and Paul Cathedral near the tombs of their ancestors.

In September 2006, Empress Marie Fedorovna, the consort of Alexander III, was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral beside her husband. Having fled Russia at the time of the Revolution, she had spent her remaining years in exile in her native Denmark, where she was initially buried in Roskilde Cathedral. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by elaborate ceremonies, including at Saint Isaac's Cathedral officiated by the Patriarch. For monarchists, the reburial of the Empress in the former imperial capital, so many years after her death, further underscored the downfall of the dynasty.

In September of 2007 the skeletal remains of two bodies were found in a burned field near Ekaterinburg. There is speculation that these are the bodies of the missing Romanov children. These claims have yet to be substantiated. Hamilton Spectator, early October [1st or 2nd I believe 2007.

Contemporary Romanovs The Romanov family continues to exist today. The proper line of succession to the Russian throne is contested, but despite the History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991), it seems unlikely that the Romanovs will regain the throne in the near future. The Russian people have so far evidenced little popular support for the resurrection of a Russian monarchy, even on a Constitutional monarchy basis.

Further reading
  • Bergamini, John D. The Tragic Dynasty: A History of the Romanovs. Putnam, 1969.
  • Crankshaw, Edward. "The Shadow of the Winter Palace: Russia's Drift to Revolution, 1825-1917"
  • Dunning, Chester S.L. Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty, Penn State Press, 2001 ISBN 0-271-02074-1
  • Lincoln, Bruce. "The Romanovs".
  • Lincoln, Bruce. "Nicholas I: Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias".
  • Massie, Robert K. "Peter The Great".
  • Massie, Robert K. "Nicholas and Alexandra".
  • Troyat, Henri "Catherine the Great".
  • Troyat, Henri "Alexander I".
  • Radzinsky, Edvard "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar".
  • Radzinsky, Edvard "The life and death of Nicholas II".
  • Van der Kiste, John. The Romanovs, 1818-1959: Alexander II of Russia and His Family. Sutton Publishing, 1998.


See also

External links
  • The Romanov Memorial
  • Frozentears.org -- A media library of the Last Imperial Family.
  • The Romanov fund for Russia -- The official website for Romanov fund.
  • The Romanov Family Association-- The Romanov Family Association's official website.
  • Alexander Palace Time Machine-- Imperial Russia History Site.
  • Family Tree of the ruling Romanovs
  • The Romanovs Today About the Romanov Family Association.
  • Romanov Family Album - From "The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library", a collection of family photographs.
  • Genealogy of the Imperial House of Russia (Requires Java)
  • The Russian Imperial Succession Supports the claims of the descendants of the Grand Duke Kirill.
  • The Romanovs: Their Empire, Their Books, New York Public Library.
  • The Murder of Russia's Imperial Family, Nicolay Sokolov. Investigation of murder of the Romanov Imperial Family in 1918. In Russian
  • Nikolay II - Live and Death, Edvard Radzinski. Nicholas II - "Live and Death". In Russian
  • Mother of Last Russian Tsar to Be Reburied, by Moscow News
  • Romanov’s Dynasty
  • The Romanovs in Film A complete filmography of the Romanovs.
  • All Russian Monarchist Center
  • Official website of Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia
  • Official website of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia
  • Russian History Magazine Articles about the Romanovs from Atlantis magazine.




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