Nicholas II

Faithful to the Tsar and his family: Pierre Gilliard (1879-1962)

PHOTO: Pierre Gilliard (1879-1962)

Pierre Gilliard was born near Lausanne, Switzerland on 16th May 1879. He was one eight children born to the landowner-winemaker Edmond André David Gilliard and Marie Gilliard-Malherbe (1848-1911). In total, there were six sons and two daughters, but it was Pierre who is most famous for entering the inner circle of the Russian Imperial Family, and sharing many happy years as tutor to the August children of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

After graduating from the University of Lausanne in 1904, he was invited to Russia to teach French to the children of Prince Sergei Georgievich Romanowsky, 8th Duke of Leuchtenberg (1890-1974). The young teacher had established himself, not only as an excellent tutor, but also as a modest, decent and noble person.

In September 1905, he was invited to teach French to Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nikolaevna – the eldest daughters of the Russian tsar. The two elder sisters were later joined by the two younger daughters: Maria and Anastasia, and Tsesarevich Alexei. This is how Pierre Gilliard, who was affectionately called “Zhilik” in the family, described his students:

PHOTO: Pierre Gilliard with Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, on the deck of the Imperial Yacht ‘Standart‘. 1914

“Alexei Nikolayevich was the centre of this united family, the focus of all its hopes and affections. His sisters worshipped him and he was his parents’ pride and joy. When he was well the palace was, as it were, transformed. Everyone and everything seemed bathed in sunshine. Endowed with a naturally happy disposition, he would have developed quite regularly and successfully had he not been kept back by his infirmity.. <… >

” He was rather tall for his age. He had a long, finely chiselled face, delicate features, auburn hair with a coppery glint in it, and large blue-grey eyes like his mother’s. He thoroughly enjoyed life – when it let him – and was a happy, romping boy. Very simple in his tastes, he extracted no false satisfaction from the fact that he was the Heir – there was nothing he thought about less <… >

“The Grand-Duchesses were charming – the picture of freshness and health. It would have been difficult to find four sisters with characters more dissimilar and yet so perfectly blended in an affection which did not exclude personal independence, and, in spite of contrasting temperaments, kept them a most united family. With the initials of their Christian names they had formed a composite Christian name, Otma, and under this common signature they frequently gave their presents or sent letters written by one of them on behalf of all.

“In short, the whole charm, difficult though it was to define, of these four sisters was their extreme simplicity, candour, freshness, and instinctive kindness of heart.”

PHOTO: (above) Pierre Gilliard with Grand Duchesses Olga (left) and Tatiana (right) Nikolaevna, on the balcony of the Livadia Palace, Crimea. 1911; (below) Gilliard with Grand Duchesses Anastasia (left) and Maria (right) Nikolaevna, on the balcony of the Livadia Palace, Crimea. 1912.

From 1905 to 1918, Pierre Gilliard served not just as a tutor for the August Children, but also as a friend and mentor. He became a part of the Imperial Family’s inner circle, and was invited to join them on their journeys onboard the Imperial Yacht ‘Standart‘ to Crimea, where they stayed at their white limestone palace of Livadia. Gilliard shares his impressions of Crimea:

“In the spring of 1914 the Imperial Family went to the Crimea, as in preceding years. We arrived at Livadia on April 13th, a bright, sunny day. In fact, we were almost dazzled by the sunshine, which bathed the high, steep cliffs, the little Tartar villages half buried in the bare sides of the mountains, and the staring white mosques which stood out sharply against the old cypresses in the cemeteries. The contrast with the landscapes we had just left was so striking that, although this new country was familiar, it seemed quite fairylike and unreal in its wondrous beauty under this halo of sunshine.

“These spring days in the Crimea were a delicious relief after the interminable St. Petersburg winter, and we looked forward to them months before they came.”

In the autumn of 1914, the First World War broke out, which resulted in the death of millions of people, revolutions and the overthrow of monarchies in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia. After the February Revolution of 1917, Emperor Nicholas II was forced to abdicate.

PHOTO: Pierre Gilliard and Nicholas II saw wood during their house arrest in Tobolsk. Winter 1917-18

During the fiery whirlwind of historical events which unfolded, Pierre Gilliard did not abandon the Imperial Family. To the best of his ability, trying to preserve the same daily routine, he continued to teach French to the August Children. In August 1917, he voluntarily went into exile with the Imperial Family to Tobolsk, where they were held under house arrest from August 1917 to April 1918. Gilliard endured the same hardships as those of the Tsar and his family, he supported the prisoners, still continuing with his lessons.

Gilliard was prevented from living in the Ipatiev House and was forbidden to visit the Imperial Family. He left Ekaterinburg some time later for Tyumen, where he was arrested on his arrival, but was released shortly afterwards.

It was only his foreign citizenship which saved him from sharing the same horrible death in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg on the morning of 17th July 1918.

On 20th July 1918, the Czechs captured Tyumen. Gilliard then came out of hiding and discovered an official communiqué plastered on the walls around the city: “The death sentence against the ex-Emperor Nicholas Romanov was carried out on the night of 16/17 July, the Empress and the children were evacuated and transferred to a safe place.” Gilliard hurried to Ekaterinburg to find the Imperial Children whom everyone at the time believed to still be alive. His efforts were in vain.

On his arrival in Ekaterinburg in August 1918 – where he offered his assistance to the investigator Nikolai Sokolov – Gilliard visited the Ipatiev House, and recalls his impressions:

“I entered the room in which perhaps–I was still in doubt–they had met their death. Its appearance was sinister beyond expression. The only light filtered through a barred window at the height of a man’s head. The walls and floor showed numerous traces of bullets and bayonet scars. The first glance showed that an odious crime had been perpetrated there and that several people had been done to death. But who? How?

“I became convinced that the Tsar had perished and, granting that, I could not believe that the Tsarina had survived him. At Tobolsk, when Commissary Yakovlev had come to take away the Tsar, I had seen her throw herself in where the danger seemed to her greatest. I had seen her, broken-hearted after hours of mental torture, torn desperately between her feelings as a wife and a mother, abandon her sick boy to follow the husband whose life seemed in danger. Yes, it was possible they might have died together, the victims of these brutes. But the children? They too massacred? I could not believe it. My whole being revolted at the idea.” <… >

PHOTO: Pierre Gilliard and Alexandra Tegleva. Switzerland, 1922

In 1919, Gilliard married Alexandra Tegleva and in November of the same year, along with thousands of other people, including ministers and government officials of the old regime, they fled Siberia and headed east on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In April 1920, after a six-month journey, they arrived in Vladivostok. They then sailed on an American ship to San Francisco, and from there traveled by boat along the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal, across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea to Trieste. In August 1920, they returned to his parents’ home in Switzerland, which he had left some sixteen years earlier

Upon his return to his native Switzerland, Pierre Gilliard resumed his studies, which he had interrupted in 1904. In 1925, he obtained a degree in literature in Lausanne and from 1926, he taught French at the School of Modern French of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne, which he then became it’s director until 1949, and finally honourary professor in 1950.

PHOTO: Pierre Gilliard. taken shortly before his death in 1962

In 1921, Gilliard published in Paris, Le tragique destin de Nicolas II et de sa famille, and in 1929 his second work, La Fausse Anastasie, histoire d’une alleged Grand-Duchesse de Russie. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour and winner of the Marcelin-Guérin Prize for his book on Nicholas II.

His book Thirteen Years at the Russian Court: A Personal Record of the Last Years and Death of the Czar Nicholas II and his Family was first published in English i 1921. It was initially published by Hutchinson & Co in London. The book was translated by F.A. Holt.

Alexandra Alexandrovna Tegleva died in Switzerland on 21st March 1955. In 1958, Pierre Gilliard was severely injured in a car accident in Lausanne. He never fully recovered and died four years later on 30th May 1962, at the age of 83. His remains were cremated in the privacy of his family at the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery in Lausanne. According to the burial service of the city of Lausanne there is no grave or burial in his name. His ashes were probably scattered elsewhere.‎

Gilliard was a keen photographer and he took hundreds of images while in Russia, including many informal photographs of the Imperial Family. These are now held by the Musée de l’Élysée, a photography museum in Lausanne. In 2005 Daniel Girardin, an art historian who worked at the Musee de l’Elysee as a curator until 2017, published a pictorial biography of Gilliard’s time in Russia based on his works in the museum’s collection. It is titled Précepteur des Romanov – Le destin russe de Pierre Gilliard [Tutor of the Romanovs: The Russian Destiny of Pierre Gilliard].

He lived a long life, was eyewitness to events which changed Russia dramatically and violently, and his name will forever remain inscribed in the pages of history next to the names of the Imperial Family, for whose sake he put his life in danger and whom he loved so much.

FURTHER READING:

Ekaterinburg: the Survivors

St. Petersburg hosts one-day exhibit of Pierre Gilliard’s photographs of the Tsar’s family

Documentary: the Return of Pierre Gilliard

Auction: Tatiana Botkin Collection – 15 May 2025

Posted on May 14 by Paul Gilbert

VIEW CATALOGUE – 29 pages. 79 lots.

On 15th May 2025, the Coutau-Bégarie Auction House (Paris) will hold one of the most interesting Romanov auctions in recent memory: the Tatiana Botkin Collection (1898-1986). The auction will feature valuable historical memories of the Russian Imperial Family during their captivity in Tobolsk, preserved by the daughter of the Tsar’s private physician, Dr. Eugene Sergeyevich Botkin (1865-1918).

The auction offers 79 lots, including photographs of the Botkin family and the family of Emperor Nicholas II; correspondence of Tatiana Botkina; transcripts from Tatiana’s book of reminiscences of the Tsar’s family and their life before and after the Revolution; personal items of the Botkin family, including beautiful objets d’art; icons; Gleb Botkin’s watercolours and more!

The catalogue is published in French only, the Tatiana Botkin Collection consists of 29 pages. It can be viewed – as a PDF document only – by clicking on the link above.

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Tatiana Evgenievna Botkina (1898-1986)

Tatiana Evgenievna Botkina was born in Vladivostock on 28th August 1898, she was the fourth child and only daughter of Dr. Eugene Sergeyevich Botkin and his wife Olga Vladimirovna Botkina (1872-1945). She had four brothers Sergei (1892-1893), Dmitri (1894-1914), Yuri (1895-1941), and Gleb (1900-1969). Her parents divorced in 1910 under the strain of her father’s devotion to the Imperial Family and the long hours he spent at court and her mother’s affair with a German tutor. Eugene Botkin retained custody of the children following the divorce. Tatiana’s older brother Dmitri was killed in action during World War I.

Tatiana and her brothers spent their early childhood in St. Petersburg. After their father’s appointment as a court physician, they moved to Tsarskoye Selo, first to the Catherine Palace and then to Sadovaya Street, very close to the Alexander Palace Park. She received a good education and spoke four languages fluently: English, French, German and Russian.

The Botkin children were sometimes received at the Alexander Palace, where they became playmates of the imperial children, of whom they were the same age. They first met the imperial children in 1911 and, thereafter, sometimes played with them when they were on vacation in the Crimea.

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Tatiana’s father supervised the hospitals that the Empress had opened at Tsarskoye Selo to treat the seriously wounded. In addition, he transformed his house into a hospital for convalescents, where Tatiana served as a nurse.

In August 1917, Dr. Botkin followed the Imperial Family into exile to Tobolsk in Siberia. Tatiana and her brother Gleb later joined their father, moving into the Kornilov House, situated opposite the Governor’s House where the Imperial Family where being held under house arrest. They were not allowed to visit the Imperial Family, so instead Tatiana wrote notes, which her father smuggled to the grand duchesses in his overcoat.

When the Imperial Family was transferred from Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg in April 1918, the Botkin children were not permitted to accompany their father. As a result, the Botkin children decided to remain behind in Tobolsk. Tatiana regretted this decision all her life.

On 17th July 1918, the Tsar and his family, along with Dr. Botkin and three other faithful retainers were murdered by members of the Ural Soviet in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. Several years later, when Tatiana heard the conclusion of the Sokolov Report, that the Tsar, his family and their servants had been killed, her sole consolation was the fact that her father had died trying to shield the Tsar.

The murder of her father and the Imperial Family caused her inconsolable pain. In 1941, her brother Yuri was imprisoned by the Nazis and then executed. Her mother died of malnutrition in Berlin in 1945.

In the fall of 1918, Tatiana married Konstantin Semenovitch Melnik (1893 – 1977), an officer of the 5th Siberian Rifle Regiment, who was wounded in battle and was treated in the Tsarskoye Selo infirmary, where he met the Botkins. The couple had three children: Elena (1921-2005), Konstantin (1927-2014) and Evgeny (year of birth and death unknown).

In 1919, during the retreat of the Eastern Front, Melnik took Tatyana and her brother Gleb to Vladivostok. From here, they escaped Russia, settling first in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. In 1920, they moved to France, where they settled in Rives, a town near Grenoble. Tatiana divorced her husband and moved to Nice, where she raised her children alone.

In later years, Tatiana, along with her brother Gleb, were staunch supporters of Anna Anderson’s claim that she was the surviving Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II.

PHOTO: Tatiana Botkina’s grave in the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois

Tatiana eventually settled near Paris, where she lived the rest of her life. A few years before her death, with the help of her granddaughter Catherine Melnick-Duhamel, she wrote her memoirs entitled Au temps des Tsars (1980), followed by a second: Anastasie retrouvée (1985).

She died on 1st April 1986, at the age of 88. She was buried at the Russian Orthodox cemetery, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, situated in the southern suburbs of Paris, France.

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CLICK TO VIEW CURRENT CATALOGUE

“I do not shake the hands of murderers” – General Zhukov to Yermakov

Posted on May 13 by Paul Gilbert

On 9th May 2025, Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. In recognition of this solemn day, I would like to draw attention to one of Russia’s most celebrated war heroes: Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974).

Zhukov is among the many famous Soviet marshals and generals who impressed the world with their victories and heroism during the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). What many do not realize, is that they were once officers of the Russian Imperial Army – which from August 1915 to March 1917, was under the command of Emperor Nicholas II. Zhukov was awarded the St. George Cross twice for military merit, and promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his bravery in battle. Following the war, Zhukov commanded the Ural Military District [the district headquarters was located in Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg].

According to his friends living in the Ural capital, Zhukov was fascinated by the history of Sverdlovsk [Ekaterinburg]. In particular, he took a great interest in the final days and subsequent execution of Russia’s last Tsar and his family. Zhukov’s friends claim that he was sympathetic to Nicholas II, and believed that the lives of the monarch and his family should have been spared.

Zhukov’s position was quite simple: he considered the regicide as “nothing short of a disgrace”. He was disgusted by the fact that local men had become executioners. After all, the Tsar posed no threat to the Bolsheviks, nor did he resist. As for the Ipatiev House, where the murders took place, Marshal Zhukov “despised it”.

According to Zhukov’s daughter, Margarita Georgievna Zhukova (1929-2010):

“Being the commander of the Ural Military District in Sverdlovsk, my father visited the “Ipatiev House”.

“This is how my elder sister Ella (1937-2009) recalls it . . . I remember the notorious Ipatiev House, where we were taken with special permission. The topic of the execution of the Imperial Family was forbidden in those years, and it was only during this visit that I learned about this tragedy for the first time. In the house at the entrance there was a small exposition with copies of some documents, red slogans and portraits of leaders hung on the walls. It was disgusting for my father to be there, surrounded by posters of Soviet propaganda whitewashing the murderers. Below, was the dreaded basement, where I did not want to go down. The atmosphere in the house was oppressive… I did not talk to my father about this.”

Source: M. G. Zhukova, “Маршал Жуков – мой отец / Marshal Zhukov – My Father“, Sretensky Monastery, 1999

PHOTO: in the 1920s, the murderer Pyotr Yermakov returned to Porosenkov Log.
On the reverse of this photo, he wrote: “I am standing on the grave of the Tsar”.

“SHAME ON THE REGICIDE!”

It was also during Zhukov’s years as Commander of the Ural Military District, that he would come face to face with one of the regicides: Pyotr Zakharovich Yermakov (1884-1952).

Zhukov had heard about Yermakov from the newspapers, and he looked at all these honours with disgust. He did not understand how a murderer could be so exalted. But at that time, Yermakov seemed to many to be a hero, a liberator. He regularly met with groups of workers and bragged about how he had taken part in the murders, and how he pulled the trigger of the gun, which killed the Tsar.

According to Zhukov’s daughter, Margarita Georgievna Zhukova (1929-2010), the meeting took place on 1st May 1951, when the May Day parade was being held in Sverdlovsk [Ekaterinburg].

“What was really going on in my father’s soul can be understood from an episode that occurred later. I was told about it during my trip to the Urals by old-timers. It was at a solemn reception, where the entire local party elite had gathered. Yermakov, as before, spoke about his “heroic feats”, and decided to approach my father to shake hands as equals. Introducing himself, he announced that he was the same Yermakov who participated in the execution of the Imperial Family, and stretched out his hand. He expected surprise, questions, delight, but Yermakov was surprised by my father’s response, who disgusted and gritting his teeth, said firmly: “I do not shake the hands with the murderers!”.

Source: M. G. Zhukova, “Маршал Жуков – мой отец / Marshal Zhukov – My Father“, Sretensky Monastery, 1999

Yermakov shrugged his shoulders and walked away. That was the end of the conversation. Zhukov was sure that he had said everything he wanted. Moreover, he wanted to believe that Yermakov had at least learned something from this meeting.

Yermakov died in Sverdlovsk on 22nd May 1952 from cancer at the age of 67, he was buried in Ivanovo Cemetery in Ekaterinburg. In the 1960s, a street was named after Yermakov in Sverdlovsk [Ekaterinburg], however, during the 1990s, the street was renamed Ulitsa Klyuchevskaya.

Every year, since the 1990s, Yermakov’s grave has been vandalized by local monarchists, who douse his gravestone with red paint, symbolizing the blood which this evil man spilled, and his involvement in the murder of the Holy Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918.

New monument to Nicholas II to be installed in the Urals

Posted on May 7 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Verkhneuralsk

A new equestrian monument to Emperor Nicholas II will be installed and consecrated later this year, in the Ural city of Verkhneuralsk. The city is located on the left bank of the Ural River, 230 km south of Chelyabinsk and 450 km south of Ekaterinburg.

The monument will be installed in front of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker – the only Orthodox church in Verkhneuralsk which survived the years of Soviet power. The grounds around the church are currently being developed. The monument will be installed and consecrated here upon completion of the landscaping and gardens.

PHOTO: a plaque marks the visit of Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich [future Emperor Nicholas II] to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Verkhneuralsk, on 4th August (O.S. 23rd July) 1891.

The monument is in memory of Nicholas II’s visit to Verkhneuralsk on 4th August (O.S. 23rd July) 1891, during a trip across the Russian Empire following his Eastern Journey. The Eastern Journey (1890-1891) of Tsesearvich Nicholas Alexandrovich took him to Egypt, India, Ceylon, Siam, China, and Japan – where an assassination attempt was made on his life. The total length of the journey exceeded 51,000 kilometres, including 15,000 km of railway and 22,000 km of sea routes.

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in the Russian-Byzantine Style in 1870, and consecrated on 5th May 1875. The money for it’s construction was allocated by a local merchant Nikolai Petrovich Rytov (1818-1879), cost 6100 rubles. The church was erected according to the project of the famous Russian architect Konstantin Ton (1794-1881), who challenged classicism and established the Russian Style, which included outstanding palace and church architecture.

PHOTO: the grounds around the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker are currently being developed. The monument to Nicholas II, will be installed and consecrated here upon completion of the landscaping and gardens.

The northern altar of this cathedral – in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos – was built on benevolent donations in memory of the salvation of Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, following an assassination attempt on his life in Otsu, Japan. The altar was consecrated on 18th November 1897.

In the 1930s, the church was closed and used as a grain warehouse, reopened in 1942. In the early 20th century, there were 7 Orthodox churches in Verkhneuralsk, however the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, is the only one to have survived the years of Soviet power, the rest were destroyed.

It is interesting to note that in 1904, Emperor Nicholas II visited a number of Ural cities including Verkhneuralsk. He was accompanied by his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.

The Upper Nikolaev Baths, named after Nicholas II in Yessentuki

Posted on May 6 by Paul Gilbert

With the opening of the Mineralnye Vody-Kislovodsk railway line in May 1894, the flow of vacationers to the region in search of balneological treatments[1] increased significantly. In 1896, construction of the Upper Nikolaev [Nicholas] Baths, named after Emperor Nicholas II in Yessentuki [2] began.

The construction of the building began in October 1895 after the decree of the Administration of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, when the demand for mineral and mud baths greatly increased. The building was constructed according to the project of architect Nikolai Vsevolodovich Dmitriev (1856-1936) and engineer B.K. Pravzdik.

The one-story building – made of local light yellow brick – was constructed in late Russian Classicism Style with elements of Baroque. It is a square structure [see photo at the end of this post], with a ring-shaped pavilion in the courtyard, connected to the main building by four corridors.

PHOTO: early 20th century view of the Upper Nikolaev [Nicholas] Baths, Yessentuki

The entire square part of the building is divided into two parts: the right side is reserved for women, the left side is for men. Each of the halves has a separate entrance from the main façade, in the center of which there is a waiting room for procedures.

The baths catered to the wealthy aristocracy, so they met the highest standards. The interior decoration of the waiting and recreation halls were admired by their magnificence. The bathing tubs in the cabins were made of solid pieces of light gray Carrera marble, specially brought from Italy.

The courtyards were decorated with ancient Greek sculptures and beautiful flower beds, providing the perfect ambiance for rest and relaxation.

In the summer of 1898, the Upper Nikolaev Baths welcomed its first visitors.

PHOTO: the Bath building of Nicholas II (Upper Baths) as it looks today
Above the entrance is written ‘Императора Николая II / Emperor Nicholas II’

The project provided for nineteen rooms allocated for balneological treatments [1], and fifteen (located in the circular part of the building) for mud bath treatments.

In terms of technical equipment, the Nikolaev Baths were in no way inferior to the most popular European spas, and the miraculous properties of local springs and mud made them unsurpassed.

Emperor Nicholas II was no stranger to the Caucasus region. In 1903, he had a hunting lodge built in the village of Krasnaya Polyana. It was during his visits to the region – particularly during World War One – that the Emperor and his entourage could enjoy the bath’s healing waters.

PHOTO: aerial view of the mineral springs at Yessentuki, the circular Bath building of Nicholas II (Upper Baths)

Today, the Upper Nikolaev Baths have retained much of it’s historical elements, and is recognized as an architectural monument of federal significance. It is part of the invaluable historical and cultural heritage of the Yessentuki resort, which dispense over 2000 treatments per day.

NOTES:

[1] Balneotherapy is a natural therapy that involves bathing in mineral-rich waters to treat various health conditions, improve circulation, and promote overall well-being. It is often used for pain relief, stress reduction, and the management of chronic skin and joint disorders.

[2] part of the resort region of the North Caucasus region.

On this day – Nicholas II is handed over to the Ural Soviet in Ekaterinburg

Posted on April 30 by Paul Gilbert

прибытие святой царской семьи в екатеринбуре. 30 април 1918 год. великий вторник старстной седмицы. 78 дней до убиения святых царственных страстотерпцев.

Arrival of the Holy Royal Family in Yekaterinburg. April 30, 1918. Great Tuesday of Holy Week. 78 days before the murder of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

Today marks a very sad anniversary . . . it was on this day – 30th April (O.S. 17th April) 1918, Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Maria were handed over to the Ural Soviets in Ekaterinburg

Nicholas II wrote the following in his diary:

“At 8.40 we arrived in Ekaterinburg. We stood for three hours in one station. There was a heated dispute between the local commissars and our own. In the end, the first prevailed and the train was moved to another goods terminal. After standing there for an hour and a half, we got off the train. Yakovlev handed us over to the local regional commissar, with whom we drove by motor through empty streets to the accommodation which has been prepared for us—the Ipatiev house. Slowly our people and our things began to arrive, but they would not let Valia through.

“The home is pleasant and clean. We have been given four large rooms. We were not able to unpack our things for a long time, as the commissar, the commandant and the guards captain had not had time to inspect our trunks. Then the inspection was like a customs search, just as strict, right down to the last capsule in Alix’s travelling medicine kit. This annoyed me so much that I expressed my opinion sharply to the commissar. By 9 o’clock we had at last settled in.

“This is how we installed ourselves: Alix, Maria and I together in the bedroom, sharing the dressing room, Demidova in the dining room, Botkin, Chemodurov and Sednev in the hall. The duty officer’s room is by the entrance. In order to go to the bathroom of W.C., it was necessary to go past the sentry at the door of the duty office. There is a very high wooden pallisade built all around the house, about two sajens from the windows, all along there was a line of sentries, in the little garden also.”

PHOTO: “Transfer of the Romanov family to the Ural Soviet” (1927)
Artist: Vladimir Nikolayevich Pchelin (1869-1941)

Father Vasiliev: Confessor to the Imperial Family

Posted on April 29 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and
Archpriest Alexander Petrovich Vasiliev. Livadia, 1912

Alexander Petrovich Vasiliev (1868-1918), was an archpriest, tutor to the children of Tsar Nicholas II, confessor of the Imperial Family, and monarchist.

He was born into a peasant family in the village of Shepotovo, Smolensk Province. He was orphaned at an early age. He studied at the school of the famous pedagogue Sergei Aleksandrovich Rachinsky (1833-1902).

After graduating from school, Rachinsky facilitated Vasiliev’s admission to the Belsk Theological School, after which Alexander Petrovich entered the Bethany Theological Seminary, and then the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In 1893, he graduated with the degree of Candidate of Theology.

While studying at the Academy, he married Olga Ivanovna. The couple had seven children.

On 19th July 1892, he was ordained to the priesthood and sent to St. Nicholas Church, where he served as rector, in the village of Yam-Izhora, Tsarskoye Selo District.

While studying at the Academy, and following the example of his first teacher S.A. Rachinsky, Vasiliev founded a temperance society. The first sermons on sobriety were delivered in the Church of the Righteous Prince Alexander Nevsky at the famous Vargunin paper mill in Maly Rybatskoye, a village located on the southeastern outskirts of St. Petersburg. Alexander Vasiliev’s sermons inspired the Vargunin workers to create a temperance society at the church. The first meeting was attended by 60 people, the second attracted 146 people.

PHOTO: Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich with his tutors among others . . . from left to right: Assistant Chief of the Palace Police, Colonel N.P. Shepel; Alexei’s “sailor-nanny” A.E. Derevenko; French tutor Pierre Gilliard; Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich; Russian language and literature tutor Pyotr Petrov and Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev. Spala 1912

In May 1894, he was transferred to the Church of the Presentation of the Lord in Polyustrovo, and from 7th September of the same year he combined his service in Sretensky Church with the rectorship of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Holy Cross Community of Sisters of Mercy.

In 1910, Father Alexander was appointed spiritual father and tutor to the children of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

According to eyewitnesses, members of the Imperial Family were very fond of the divine services performed by Father Alexander Vasiliev.

In his memoirs, Protopresbyter Georgy Ivanovich Shavelsky (1871-1951) reflected on Fr. Alexander Vasiliev: “Before his appointment to the Imperial Court, he enjoyed fame in St. Petersburg as an excellent public preacher, a practical teacher of law, and a beloved spiritual father. His excellent spiritual qualities, kindness, sympathy, simplicity, honesty, zeal for carrying out God’s work, and affability endeared him to both his disciples and his flock. …”

PHOTO: unidentified man (left), Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev (center) and Russian language and literature tutor Pyotr Petrov (right). Livadia Palace, Crimea. 1913

In 1913, he became an archpriest and first rector of the Feodorovsky Sovereign Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo. In 1914, he was appointed as confessor to the Imperial Family.

He took an active part in the right-wing monarchist movement; in 1910 he was elected a member of the Russian People’s Union of the Archangel Michael (RNSMA). He attended the opening of the Conference of Monarchists, held in Petrograd on 21-23 November 1915.

In 1915, through the efforts of Father Alexander, a wooden church was built at the Tsarkoselskoye Brethren Cemetery, where soldiers of the Tsarskoye Selo garrison and soldiers who died in the hospitals of Tsarskoye Selo were buried.

On 7th September 1916, his son Sergei Alexandrovich, an officer of the Pavlovsk Regiment, died at the Front. Out of sympathy for her spiritual father’s grief, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna offered to transfer his other sons from combat units to the rear, but he refused, but his son’s death undermined his health.

PHOTO: Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev in
Fedorovsky Gorodok in Tsarskoye Selo. 1916

Following the February 1917 Revolution and the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, the head of the new Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky (1881-1970) decided to send the Imperial Family into exile to Siberia.

On the evening before their departure, Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev served a parting moleben before the Znamensky Icon of the Mother of God. With the departure of the Imperial Family to Tobolsk, the priest’s health began to deteriorate noticeably, and he began to experience severe pain in the heart.

In early 1918, he was appointed rector of the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Yekateringof. The monumental 5-domed church featured an altar and two side-chapels: the northern one dedicated to the Martyr Alexandra and the southern one to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The iconostasis was made by the Novgorod iconographer Chistyakov. The bell tower was built according to the project of the architect Vasily Dorogulin in 1871-1873. The church was destroyed by the Soviets in 1929.

On 29th August 1918, Father Alexander Vasiliev was arrested by the Cheka in Petrograd. On 5th September – the first day of the Red Terror – Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev was shot by a Bolshevik firing squad, along with the clergy of St. Catherine’s Church. Like so many victims of Lenin’s Red Terror, Vasiliev’s remains were most likely thrown into an unmarked mass grave and forgotten.

Memory Eternal! Вечная Память!

On this day – Nicholas II embarks on his final journey

Posted on April 26 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
and their daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna

On this day – 26th (O.S. 13th) April 1918 – Emperor Nicholas II along with members of his family were transferred from Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg. It was on this day, that they embarked on their final journey to Golgotha.

Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, along with their daughter Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna departed Tobolsk for Ekaterinburg. They were accompanied by several members of their retinue: Prince Vasily Aleksandrovich Dolgorukov (1868-1918), Dr. Eugene Botkin (1865-1918), Anna Demidova (1878-1918), Terenty Chemodurov (1849-1919), and Ivan Sednev (1881-1918). All but one of their faithful retainers would survive the dreadful fate which awaited them.

In the early morning hours of 26th (O.S. 13th) April 1918 they departed Tobolsk under the escort of Vasily Yakovlev’s detachment, which comprised of a convoy of nineteen tarantasses (four-wheeled carriages). Yakovlev was acting on order from the Bolshevik leadership to “deliver Nicholas II to the red capital of the Urals” – Ekaterinburg.

PHOTO: A very sad photo . . . the tarantasses which transported Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna from Tobolsk to Tyumen, and then by train to Ekaterinburg. This photo was hastily shot by Charles Sydney Gibbes from the window of the Governor’s Mansion on the morning of 26th (O.S. 13th) April 1918.

As Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was very ill, he remained in Tobolsk, with his three sisters Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia, as well as Pierre Gilliard, Charles Sydney Gibbes and other members of the family’s retinue. They reunited with their parents and sister in Ekaterinburg the following month.

Nicholas II wrote the following entry in his diary that day: “At 4 o’clock in the morning we said goodbye to our dear children and climbed into the tarantases. The weather was cold, with an unpleasant wind, the road was very rough with terrible jolts from a seized-up wheel.”

FURTHER READING:

Regicide in Ekaterinburg

Obituary: Greg King (1964-2025)

Posted on April 26 by Paul Gilbert

On the night of 24/25th April 2025, American author Greg King died, aged 61. The cause of death was cardiovascular disease.

King is the author of more than a dozen biographies of prominent historical figures, but he is perhaps best known for his writings about Russia’s last tsar Nicholas II (2006), Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1994), the Grand Dukes Konstantinovich (2006), Prince Felix Yusupov (1996) and Anastasia/Anna Anderson (2010).

His works on European and British royalty include biographies on King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1996), Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Wallis Simpson Duchess of Windsor (1999) and the Court of Queen Victoria (2007).

His non-royalty works included studies of the Luisitania (2015) and the Andrea Doria (2020).

A number of King’s works were co-authored by his long-time friend Penny Wilson.

In addition, Greg King was a frequent onscreen expert and commentator for historical documentaries, his work has appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, Majesty Magazine, and Royalty Magazine.

On a personal note, I only met Greg on one occasion, and that was in the mid-1990s. He was among the first group of American and Canadian travellers who took part in my first organized tour of Russia: The World of Nicholas and Alexandra. We communicated by telephone and email for some years after that, and then we parted ways. I continued to follow his work.

My favourite book written by King is The Court of the Last Tsar: Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II (2006). I recall him telling me of his plans to write this particular book, during our visit to St. Petersburg and Moscow all those many years ago. In addition, is his book A Life for the Tsar: Triumph and Tragedy at the Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (2016).

While I did not agree with some of Greg’s research, I have to give credit where credit is due. He had a large and dedicated following and his passing will leave a large void in research on the life and reign of Russia’s last Tsar and his family. His death at such an early age is indeed tragic, may he rest in peace.

Obituary: Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli (1934-2025)

Posted on April 22 by Paul Gilbert

PHOTO: Zurab Tsereteli standing in front of his sculptoral composition ‘Night at the Ipatiev House’, depicting Nicholas II and his family, at the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery in Moscow – see photo at the end of this post for a full view

On Tuesday, 22nd April 2025, the famous Russian-Georgian sculptor and President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli died in Moscow, after a lengthy illness, at the age of 91. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) on 4th January 1934. He studied at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, graduating in 1958. The same year, he married Inessa Alexandrovna Andronikashvili (1937-1998), a princess from a noble Georgian family that claimed patrilineal descent from Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (1118-1185).

The sculptor has been the president of the Russian Academy of Arts since 1997. Tsereteli is known for his works not only within Russia, but in many countries around the world. Among them are monuments to Nikolai Gogol (Rome, 2002), St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Bari, Italy, 2003), Pope John Paul II (Ploermel, France, 2006), “The Three Musketeers” (Condom, France, 2010), monument to Marina Tsvetaeva (Saint-Gilles Croix de Vi, France, 2012), the Apostle Paul (Veria, Greece, 2013), a monument to Nicholas II (Republika Srpska, 2014), “The Birth of the New World” (Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 2016) and others. In 2018, Tsereteli donated a monument to the poet Alexander Griboyedov to the Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Griboyedov in Tbilisi.

PHOTO: the ‘Alley of Rulers’ in Moscow, features bust-monuments of Russia’s political leaders and emperors, including Nicholas II

In Russia, some of Zurab Tsereteli’s most famous works are “Night at the Ipatiev House” (Moscow, 2007), Princess Olga (Pskov, 2003), “Wives of the Decembrists, The Gates of Destiny” (Moscow, 2008), among many others. On 31st May 2024, a magnificent equestrian monument to Emperor Alexander III was unveiled and consecrated in the city of Kemerovo, the capital of Kuzbass, situated in Western Siberia.

In 1997, by order of the Moscow government, a 98-meter monument to Peter the Great was opened at the western confluence of the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal in central Moscow. The then mayor Yuri Luzhkov (1936-2019) criticized the monument for it’s “gigantism and bad taste”. There were protests demanding the dismantling of the sculpture. In 2008, the monument was included in the list of the ugliest man-made structures in the world.

On 1st October 2024, the ‘Alley of the Rulers of Russia’ opened at Boldino, the former estate of the outstanding statesman and historian Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686-1750), near Moscow. This sculptural composition by Zurab Tsereteli consists of 43 busts of historical figures who have led Russia over its more than 1,000 year history – from Prince Rurik to the Romanovs to the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin.

PHOTO: Zurab Tsereteli at the unveiling of his bust-monument to Nicholas II, in Banja Luka, the capital of the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), on 21st June 2014

Tsereteli was the Founder of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (1995), the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery (2000) and the Museum of Modern Art in Tbilisi (Georgia, 2012). He is the author of more than 5 thousand works of painting, graphics, sculpture, frescoes and mosaics, however, he gained the greatest fame as a sculptor-monumentalist. In 1995–2000, he participated in the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

According to the sculptor’s grandson Vasily Tsereteli, a farewell to Tsereteli, will be held on 23rd April, in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Tsereteli will be buried on Sunday, 27th April, in the Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures in Tbilisi, Georgia where his wife rests.

PHOTO: Zurab Tsereteli’s ‘Night at the Ipatiev House’ (2007), depicting Emperor Nicholas II and his family, at the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery in Moscow

In a statement issued by Maria Zakharova, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry: Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli will be remembered as a world-renowned artist and sculptor, a public figure who knew “neither borders nor obstacles in strengthening peace and supporting creativity.

“He will live on, not only in our hearts, but also through his works: in stained glass windows and enamels decorating foreign missions, and in monuments and sculptures installed in different parts of the world,” she added.

Memory Eternal! Вечная Память!