NOTE: All of the articles pertaining to Nicholas II and his family which were originally published in my Royal Russia News blog, have been moved to this Nicholas II blog. This article was originally posted on 18 April 2018 in my Royal Russia News blog – PG

The year 2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the publication of The Romanovs: Love, Power & Tragedy, the first of Royalty Magazine’s (Leppi Publications) historic publishing collaborations.

The timing of it’s publication in 1993 was unprecedented. Combining the extraordinary source material with the highest production values and some of the finest and most beautiful photographic reproduction, The Romanovs, Love, Power & Tragedy was an immediate success, hailed as a unique work which brought the story of the last Tsar and his family to life as never before.

This coffee-table sized book tells the story of Russia’s last Imperial family through their private diaries and family photograph albums. It features 320 pages, and richly illustrated throughout with HUNDREDS of unique historic colour / black and white / and sepia photographs.

The official presentation of The Romanovs, Love, Power & Tragedy (above) was made to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Moscow during her first visit to Russia in October of 1994. To Her Majesty’s left is President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, and (right) Royalty Magazine Founding Editor Bob Houston.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the hitherto unseen Romanov archives were opened and Royalty Magazine was given world exclusive access to the complete collection. It soon became clear that it was an historic moment – the Soviets were meticulous in their record keeping – and called for a project that would do justice to the historic photographs, letters and family albums kept hidden during seven decades of communist rule.

Researching the Romanov archive was the first step in a project that took three years to complete. Working with the state archivists every photograph, letter and document was photographed and catalogued.

The book is divided into 14 chapters, each with a carefully researched article by Romanov experts and historians: four Russian and one German:

Alexander Bokhanov (1944-2019) is a Professor of History, a specialist in 19th and 20th century Russian history. He is the author of more than 30 books and 200 articles. A graduate of Moscow University, he is a leading scientific researcher of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he began to adhere to monarchical views. He was also the first historian in post-communist Russia to publish a series of books about the fate of Emperor Nicholas II, and has since become one of Russia’s leading experts on the life and reign of Russia’s last emperor and tsar. In September 2013, Alexander Bokhanov suffered a double stroke, but after treatment, has returned to writing about Russian history.

Zinaida Peregudova has worked in the State Archives of the Russian Federation since graduating from Moscow University in 1957. Head of the Archives’s Russian History Department, she has written numerous books and articles on Russian revolutionary movements in Tsarist Russia.

Lybov Tyutyunnik has worked at the State Archives since graduating from Moscow University in 1972. Currently she is Chief of Depository of its Personal Funds and Archival Collections; and author of several publications on political development in Tsarist Russia.

Vladimir Oustimenko is a graduate of Kiev University, taught Marxim-Leninism in Moscow before taking a post-graduate course in the subject between 1988-90. Since 1990, he is the director of Stop-Kadr which organizes exhibitions of Russian and Soviet history.

Dr Manfred Knodt served as a pastor of the Lutheran City Church in Darmstadt and chaplain to the Grand Ducal family of Hesse. A specialist in Hessian ducal history and biographer of the last Grand Duke, Empress Alexandra’s brother Ernst Ludwig, he served as chaplain in German POW camps in Britain between 1945-48. He served as Chairman of the Hessian Family History Association from 1984-1995. He died on 29th October 1995.

An introduction is written by Professor of History and Director of the State Archives of the Russian Federation Dr Sergei V. Mironenko. The entire book has been beautifully translated into English by Lyudmila Xenofontova.

For many Romanovphiles and collectors – myself included – The Romanovs: Love, Power & Tragedy remains the classic title on the life of Russia’s last Tsar and Tsarina.

© Paul Gilbert. 12 December 2019