Following the 1917 Revolution, a number of prominent persons who served at the Court of Emperor Nicholas II, as well as members of the Russian nobility wrote their memoirs in exile. Their writings provided curious readers in Britain, Europe and America with eyewitness accounts of the private world of the last Tsar and his family, and life in Imperial Russia.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the subsequent discovery of the remains of the Imperial Family, a whole new generation of Romanovphiles emerged. Their quest for knowledge was often met with disappointment, as by the 1990s, those memoirs which were originally published in the 1920s and 1930s were long out of print.

As a result, I embarked on a new series of 12 of the most popular titles and aptly named them as my Russian Royal Classics series. Each title was copied exactly from its original, complete with photos. I had the series published as library editions: a hard cover book having a superior quality of paper, binding, but without a dust jacket.

The series proved popular with Romanovophiles, so much so that out of the 12 original titles published, I have copies of only 3 remaining in stock. Once they are gone, there will be no reprints.

Below, I have provided a summary of each of these titles, and links to order in either US or Canadian dollars. In addition, I have provided a link to download and print an order form, for those who prefer to pay by personal check. The books are priced at $25 each + shipping and handling. Order information located at the bottom of this page.

LIFE & TRAGEDY OF ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA
by Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden

*THIS EDITION IS A HARD-COVER REPRINT OF THE ORIGINAL 1928 EDITION

Hard Cover Edition. 360 pages. Illustrated with 18 black and white photographs!

The intimate life of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna is told by the Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden who became acquainted with the Empress in 1904, and appointed a lady-in-waiting in 1913.

From the outbreak of the Revolution, the Baroness shared the captivity of the Imperial Family at the Alexander Palace, remaining with them till May 1918 — just before the regicide at Ekaterinburg — when, with other members of the household, she was forcibly separated from them.

This book is in part a vindication of the Empress, contrasting her devotion to her husband and his country and the affection felt for her by those who really knew her, with the widespread rumours of her unpopularity and the part she played in bringing about the calamity which had overwhelmed Russia.

Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden (1883-1956), served as a lady in waiting to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She was often chosen by the Empress to accompany the four grand duchesses on official duties. Sophie Buxhoeveden was the author of two other memoirs about the Imperial family and about her own escape from Russia: Left Behind: Fourteen Months in Siberia. December 1917-February 1919 (1929) and Before the Storm (1938).

MY RUSSIAN LIFE
by Princess Marie Bariatinsky

*THIS EDITION IS A HARD-COVER REPRINT OF THE ORIGINAL 1923 EDITION

Hard Cover Edition. 351 pages. Illustrated with 18 black and white photographs!

This remains one of the most interesting memoirs written by a member of the Russian aristocracy, featuring fascinating details about Princess Marie Bariatinsky’s (1876-1933) life in Tsarist Russia, and her impressions of the Imperial Family.
The author’s husband was a personal friend of Tsar Nicholas II, so that both Prince and Princess Bariatinsky attended all the important Court functions. The Tsar’s Coronation, the magnificent ball that followed, the Emperor’s historic visit to Paris in 1901, the Bariatsinky’s life in Manchuria, regimental duties in Tashkent, home life on the vast Bariatinsky estate are all vividly depicted in these reminiscences.

The personalities of the Tsar and Tsarina, Grand Dukes and Russian Generals are intimately portrayed. During the First World War the Princess superintended a hospital at Kiev, once invaded by the Bolsheviks.

As a writer, Princess Bariatinsky possesses a distinct gift of graphic eye-witness description, while a lively style adds to the attractiveness of her reminiscences.

AT THE COURT OF THE LAST TSAR
by A.A. Mossolov

*THIS EDITION IS A HARD-COVER REPRINT OF THE ORIGINAL 1935 EDITION

Hard Cover Edition. 273 pages. Illustrated with 14 black and white photographs!

Alexander Alexandrovich Mosolov (1854-1939), was a Russian military commander, diplomat, and Lieutenant-General. From 1900-1916, he served as permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Imperial Court – his immediate superior was the Minister of the Imperial Court, Count Vladimir Fredericks. He was the head of court censorship (department of the office of the Ministry of the Court), that is, he carried out a preliminary censorship of materials in which persons of the Imperial family were mentioned.

During his sixteen years at the Imperial Court, General Alexander Mossolov, was in close personal touch with the Russian Court. He was among the close circle of Emperor Nicholas II, and here describes the intimate life of the Emperor and Empress and their children, and reveals the strange relations between the Tsar and his Ministers and the foibles and difficult nature of the Empress.

His memoirs provide an interesting picture of foreign affairs as seen from the court of the Father of all the Russians: what “Nicky” thought of the Kaiser’s little ways and how he dealt with his visits and that of King Edward VII. A notable feature is General Mossolov’s authoritative account of the battle fought in a vain attempt to break the demoniacal influence of Rasputin, with descriptions of personal interviews with him.

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Click HERE to order any of these 3 titles and pay in US DOLLARS – payment can be made securely online with a CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL

For those of you who prefer to pay for your order by PERSONAL CHECK or MONEY ORDER, please click HERE to download and print an ORDER FORM. Payment can be made in either US or CANADIAN DOLLARS.

© Paul Gilbert. 19 June 2021