by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, the long-awaited son and heir to the Russian throne, was finally born on August 12, 1904, at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the only son and the youngest of the five children of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna). Alexei was christened in the Peterhof Palace church on September 3, 1904. He had an impressive set of godparents:

• Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, his paternal grandmother
• Wilhelm II, German Emperor, his mother’s maternal first cousin
• King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, his mother’s maternal uncle
• King Christian IX of Denmark, his paternal great-grandfather
• Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, his maternal uncle
• Victoria Melita, former Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, his mother’s maternal first cousin
• Great Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, his paternal great uncle
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia, wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia
• Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia

Alexei had four older sisters:

• Grand Duchess Olga (1895-1918)
• Grand Duchess Tatiana (1897-1918)
• Grand Duchess Maria (1899-1918)
• Grand Duchess Anastasia (1901-1918)

See Unofficial Royalty: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, Grand Duchesses of Russia

Alexei’s mother Empress Alexandra, born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, was the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Before Alexei’s birth, Queen Victoria’s son Prince Leopold, two of her grandsons, and two of her great-grandsons had been born with hemophilia, a genetic disease that prevents the blood from clotting properly. One of the grandsons was Empress Alexandra’s brother Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (Frittie) who died of a brain hemorrhage at age 2 ½ after falling out a low window to the ground below. Therefore, there was a risk that Empress Alexandra was a hemophilia carrier. Even before Alexei was two months old, when he suffered severe bleeding from his navel, it was evident that he too had been born with hemophilia. After Alexei’s birth, three more great-grandsons of Queen Victoria would also be diagnosed with the disease.

• Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants

In 2009, DNA analysis done on the remains of Empress Alexandra, Alexei, and his sister Anastasia, the only sister who was a carrier, revealed that Alexei suffered from the rare, severe form of hemophilia, known as Hemophilia B or Christmas Disease. Throughout his short life, Alexei suffered greatly. Every bruise that caused the rupture of even the tiniest blood vessel resulted in internal, continuous bleeding. Slowly the blood seeped into the surrounding muscles and other tissues and a painful hematoma the size of a large apple formed. Alexei also constantly suffered from hemorrhages in the joints. The blood accumulates in the closed space of the elbow, knee, and ankle joints. This causes pressure on the nerve, resulting in severe pain. Eventually, this resulted in some destruction of bones, tendons, and other tissues.

Alexei was intelligent but his education was often interrupted by the effects of his hemophilia. However, he made progress in his studies, particularly with languages. Alexei was always accompanied by one of two sailors, Andrei Derevenko or Klementy Nagorny, whose job was to minimize the risk of injury. Alexei was a naturally active child but was prohibited from riding a bicycle or playing too roughly.

Alexei’s illness was guarded as a state secret in his early years until Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Empress Alexandra’s first cousin, discovered it on a visit to Russia. A large bruise on Alexei’s forehead did not disappear during Wilhelm’s visit. Wilhelm was very well acquainted with hemophilia, as two sons of his brother Heinrich also suffered from it. Heinrich had married Empress Alexandra’s sister Irene and it was through their mother that Heinrich’s sons got hemophilia.

Nicholas, Alexandra, and their five children lived mostly at Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, a short distance from St. Petersburg, where they occupied only a part of the several dozen rooms. The children spoke English with their mother, Russian with their father, German with their mother’s relatives, and also learned French.

In the middle of June, the family went on trips on the Imperial yacht Standart, usually sailing through the Finnish skerries, small rocky islands too small for human habitation. During the summer, the family would spend some time at Livadia Palace in the Crimea on the Black Sea. There the family bathed in the warm sea, built sandcastles, and sometimes went into the city to ride or walk through the streets and visit shops. They could never have such freedom in St. Petersburg where their appearance would create a big commotion.

After working with many physicians to help Alexei, Empress Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Several times he appeared to have brought Alexei back from the brink of death, further cementing Alexandra’s reliance. There were many rumors about Rasputin’s relationship with Alexandra and her children. Rasputin’s friendship with the children was evident in some of the messages he sent to them. While Rasputin’s visits to the children were, by all accounts, completely innocent in nature, the family was scandalized. To many historians and experts, the Imperial Family’s relationship with Rasputin would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy.

• Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin

The reign of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia would see the first Russian Constitution in 1906 which established a parliament of sorts but his reign also saw a steady decline in his popularity and support. Nicholas’ decision to fully mobilize the Russian troops in 1914 led to Russia’s entrance into World War I. By 1917, his authority had diminished, and on March 15, 1917, he was forced from the throne. He formally abdicated for himself and Alexei, making his younger brother Michael the new Emperor. Michael refused to accept until the Russian people decided whether to continue the monarchy or establish a republic. Of course, this never happened.

Nicholas returned to the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo where he and his family were held in protective custody. A few months later, in August, the family was moved to the city of Tobolsk, where they lived in the Governor’s Mansion under heavy guard. Their final move, in April 1918, was to Yekaterinburg where they were housed in the Ipatiev House, known as the “house of special purpose.” It was here, in the early hours of July 17, 1918, that Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei, the family doctor Dr. Yevgeny Botkin, the maid Anna Demidova, the cook Ivan Kharitonov, and the footman Alexei Trupp were killed by the Bolsheviks who had come to power during the Russian Revolution. Their bodies were initially thrown down a mine, but fearing discovery, they were mutilated and hastily buried beneath some tracks.

• Unofficial Royalty: July 17, 1918 – Execution by Firing Squad of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and His Family

In 1934, Yakov Yurovsky, the commandant of the Ipatiev House, produced an account of the execution and disposal of the bodies. His account later matched the remains of nine bodies found north of Yekaterinburg in 1991. In 1994, when the bodies of the Romanovs were exhumed, two were missing – one daughter, either Maria or Anastasia, and Alexei. The remains of the nine bodies recovered were confirmed as those of the three servants, Dr. Botkin, Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters. The remains of Olga and Tatiana were identified based on the expected skeletal structure of young women of their age. The remains of the third daughter were either Maria or Anastasia.

The family and their servants were canonized as new martyrs in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1981, and as passion bearers in the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Formal burial of Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Dr. Botkin, and the three servants took place on July 17, 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths, in St. Catherine Chapel at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Saint Petersburg, the traditional burial place of the Romanovs.

On August 24, 2007, a Russian team of archaeologists announced that they had found the remains of Alexei and his missing sister. In 2009, DNA and skeletal analysis identified the remains found in 2007 as Alexei and his sister Maria. The remains of Alexei and Maria have not yet been buried. The Russian Orthodox Church has questioned whether the remains are authentic and blocked the burial.

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Works Cited

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• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of All Russia. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/princess-alix-of-hesse-and-by-rhine-empress-alexandra-feodorovna-of-russia/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2018].
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