TSAR NICHOLAS II (1868-1918), WAS A COUSIN OF GERMAN KAISER WILHELM II,AND KING GEORGE V OF ENGLAND.HIS MOTHER WAS A DANISH PRINCESS,WHOSE SISTER BECAME QUEEN ALEXANDRA OF ENGLAND,THE WIFE OF EDWARD VII. AND THE ASSASSINATION OF THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL ROMANOV FAMILY ON JULY 16,1918.

Alexander II succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father in 1855. The first year of his reign was devoted to the prosecution of the Crimean War and, after the fall of Sevastopol, to negotiations for peace led by his trusted counsellor Prince Alexander Gorchakov. The country had been exhausted and humiliated by the war. Bribe-taking, theft and corruption were everywhere.Encouraged by public opinion he began a period of radical reforms, including an attempt to not depend on a landed aristocracy controlling the poor, a move to developing Russia's natural resources and to reform all branches of the administration.On ,14.10.1894,wedding of Russian Emperor Nicholas II (1868-1918) and Grand Princess Alexandra Fedorovna (1872-1918) at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace.

Nicholas II (born 1868, ruled 1894-1917) was the great-grandson of Nicholas I and the oldest son of Alexander III. Known as bloody Nicholas by his subjects.Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia. He was deposed during the Russian Revolution and executed by the Bolsheviks.Nicholas was born in the Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (formerly Princess Dagmar of Denmark). He had five younger siblings: Alexander (1869–1870), George (1871–1899), Xenia (1875–1960), Michael (1878–1918) and Olga (1882–1960). Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexander's death in 1894. He was also very close to his mother, as revealed in their published letters to each other.His paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna (born Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine). His maternal grandparents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark. Nicholas was of primarily German and Danish descent, his last ethnically Russian ancestor being Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1708-1728), daughter of Peter the Great.Emperor Nicholas II of Russia with his physically similar cousin, King George V of the United Kingdom , in German military uniforms in Berlin before the war; 1913.Nicholas was related to several monarchs in Europe. His mother's siblings included Kings Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece, as well as the United Kingdom's Queen Alexandra (consort of King Edward VII). Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and Wilhelm II, German Emperor were all first cousins of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas was also a first cousin of both Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales, as well as King Constantine I of Greece. Nicholas and Wilhelm II were in turn second cousins-once-removed, as each descended from King Frederick William III of Prussia, as well as third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandsons of Tsar Paul I of Russia. In addition to being second cousins through descent from Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and his wife Princess Wilhelmine of Baden, Nicholas and Alexandra were also third cousins-once-removed, as they were both descendants of King Frederick William II of Prussia.Tsar Nicholas II was the first cousin-once-removed of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich. To distinguish between them the Grand Duke was often known within the Imperial family as "Nikolasha" and "Nicholas the Tall", while the Tsar was "Nicholas the Short".n his childhood, Nicholas, his parents and siblings made annual visits to the Danish royal palaces of Fredensborg and Bernstorff to visit his grandparents, the king and queen. The visits also served as family reunions, as his mother's siblings would also come from the United Kingdom, Germany and Greece with their respective families. It was there in 1883, that he had a flirtation with one of his English first cousins, Princess Victoria. In 1873, Nicholas also accompanied his parents and younger brother, two-year-old George, on a two-month, semi-official visit to England.In London, Nicholas and his family stayed at Marlborough House, as guests of his "Uncle Bertie" and "Aunt Alix," the Prince and Princess of Wales, where he was spoiled by his uncle.Determined that Russia should not be left out in the scramble for colonial possessions, Nicholas encouraged Russian expansion in Manchuria. This provoked war with Japan in 1904. The resulting Russian defeat led to strikes and riots. In January 1905, on 'Bloody Sunday', the army in St Petersburg shot at a crowd demanding radical reforms. Opposition to the tsar grew and Nicholas was forced to grant a constitution and establish a parliament, the Duma.Nicholas's concessions were only limited. Changes were made in the voting laws to prevent the election of radicals and the secret police continued to crush opposition. However, the Duma did give many more people, especially the middle classes, a voice in government.The outbreak of World War One in 1914 temporarily strengthened the monarchy, with Russia allied to France and Britain against Austria-Hungary and Germany. In mid-1915 Nicholas made the disastrous decision to take direct command of the Russian armies. From then on, every military failure was directly associated with him.He didn't want to be tsar and preferred family matters to affair of state. He was polite and soft spoken, a devoted husband and father and a man of religious faith and passionate Russian patriotism.Like other European princes of his day, Nicholas rode elegantly and danced gracefully, played tennis and was an excellent shot. He spoke French and German an his English accent was so good that in London he was mistaken for a native. Nicholas was quite comfortable with his Russian roots. He liked to relax around the house in Russian peasant clothes and was fond of traditional Russian dishes such as borscht, kasha and blini and had a tattoo. Nicholas was also a deeply religious man. He once said, " I have a firm, an absolute conviction that he destiny of Russia that my own fate and that of my family is in the hands of God, who has placed me where I am.”Nicholas II was born in 1802. He grew up uneventfully into a strong 5 foot seven young man. He had received a proper education in the arts and recreational activities but was thoroughly untrained and unprepared to govern country that covered one six of the world's land area. Known in royal circles as "Nicky," Nicholas II was a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany ("Willy") and King George V of England ("Georgy"). Nicholas II's mother was a Danish princess, whose sister became Queen Alexandra of England, the wife of Edward VII. Britain's Prince Philip is the grandson of Princess Victoria, the sister of Nicholas II's wife. Nicholas II married Alexandra Fyodorovna, the German-born princess and favorite granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria. Alexandra was also related to Alexander III's wife and Marie Fyodorovna, a consort of King Edward VII of England. Nicholas II was madly in love with his wife. Photographs from the 1890s show Nicholas II engaged in a passionate kiss with his wife while his brother-in-law fondles his sisters crotch and kisses her breast and daughter Olga prances around with a bag on her head. In their bedroom they sleep in separate beds. Nicholas he English to his German wife even though French was the court language and spoke Russian with his ministers and aides.Nicholas II and Alexandra had one son and four daughters: Tsarevich Alexei (the hemophiliac crown prince), the Grand Duchesses Olga, Maria, Tatiana and Anastasia (the youngest daughter). Nicholas II was very much a family man. He liked nothing more than spending time with his family and children in the countryside.In 1894, after giving birth to four girls, Alexandra finally produced a son, Alexi, who was diagnosed at five months as having hemophilia, a hereditary blood disease linked to the family of Queen Victoria. It caused painful swelling and internal hemorrhaging every time he suffered a minor injury or fall. A typical entry from Alexandra's dairy read : "Alexi took his first bath since Tobolsk; his knee is getting better but he cannot straighten it completely." Court physicians were unable to help the boy and the mystic Rasputin was brought in to help. He was the only one who was able to stop the boy's bleeding.The tsar and his family ate swan for dinner on Christmas day. One princess used to get pulled through the snow on a sleigh pulled by dwarfs. After the four Romanov daughters came down with measles, Alexandra had their heads shaves to help their hair grow back.Matilda Kshesinskaya was a great ballerina and the great love of Nicholas II before he got married. She lived in St. Petersburg in house bought for her for by the tsar until he had her own mansion built. It was later taken over by Lenin, who gave speeches from the mansion's balcony.

The wedding of Nicholas II of Russia to Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) occurred on November 14/26, 1894 at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace.On 19 April 1894, Tsarevich Nicholas was at the wedding of Ernst Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse to their mutual cousin, Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Nicholas had also obtained permission from his parents, Tsar Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna to propose to Ernst's younger sister, Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, one of the favorite granddaughters of Queen Victoria. The Emperor and Empress had initially had been opposed to the match. However, Nicholas, who had first met Alix a decade earlier in St. Petersburg when Alix's sister, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt married Nicholas's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was not to be dissuaded. Furthermore, Tsar Alexander's health was beginning to fail.One week prior the royal wedding of Nicholas and Alexandra, Emperor Alexander III, Nicholas's father, died. The Imperial Family all assembled at St. Petersburg to meet the funeral train, and Princess Alix's first entrance into her future capital was in a weary funeral procession.Princess Alix was dressed for her wedding in the Malachite drawing-room of the Winter Palace. Her hair was done in the traditional long side curls, in front of the famous gold mirror of the Empress Anna Ioannovna, before which every Russian Grand Duchess dresses on her wedding day. The chief dressers of the ladies of the Imperial Family assisted, and handed the crown jewels, which lay on red velvet cushions. She wore numerous splendid diamond ornaments and her dress was a heavy Russian Court dress of real silver tissue, with an immensely long train edged with ermine. The train was so heavy that, when it was not carried by the chamberlains, she was almost pinned to the ground by its weight.The Emperor's marriage had been arranged so suddenly that no preparations had been made for the young couple. No festivities of any kind followed the marriage ceremony. It took place in the morning, and immediately afterwards the young Imperial couple drove to the Anichkov Palace, enthusiastically cheered by the huge crowds which lined their route.The next morning (November 7) the new Emperor, the Dowager-Empress, and Princess Alix went to Holy Communion in the Livadia chapel. It was, perhaps, the most momentous day in Princess Alix's life, for she had that morning been received into the Orthodox Church by Father Yanishev.The body of Alexander III lay in state at Livadia for nearly a week, while the complicated funeral ceremonies were being planned and prepared in Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to an Ukase of the Emperor, Princess Alix had become "the truly believing Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna" and her name, as the Emperor's betrothed, was coupled with his in the litanies of the Church. The new Emperor was overburdened with work and with the weight of overwhelming new responsibilities. He clung to Princess Alix, and would not hear of her returning to Darmstadt, as had been planned, to wait for a wedding in the spring. The question of an immediate marriage was raised, and, feeling that it would have been the wish of the late Emperor, the Dowager-Empress wanted it to take place before Alexander III's funeral. The Emperor's uncles, however, opposed this, considering the event to be of too great importance in the eyes of the nation for such a private ceremony. The Ministers supported this opinion, and it was settled that the marriage should take place at the earliest possible date, at the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, and that the Princess should not return to Hesse.On November 8th the funeral cortége left Livadia, the Black Sea fleet acting as convoy. Princess Alix went with the young Emperor and the Dowager-Empress in the Imperial train which took Alexander III's body from Sebastopol to Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was a long, sad journey lasting several days. At every large station, and every town, immense crowds, headed by the local authorities, were waiting. The Imperial Family left the train and long, solemn funeral ceremonies were held.The Imperial Family all assembled at St. Petersburg to meet the funeral train, and Princess Alix's first entrance into her future capital was in a weary funeral procession. It was a contrast to the usual state entrance of a Grand Ducal bride. The remembrance of the Grand Duchess Serge's fairy-like procession must have struck Princess Alix, as she sat in her mourning coach, rocking on its cee-springs like a ship in distress, for the long four-hours' drive. The sorrowful atmosphere could not fail to depress her, and seemed to her like a bad omen for the new reign. The body of the late Emperor now lay in state in the cathedral at the fortress. Services were held twice daily. The endless litanies, incomprehensible to her, the woeful chants and prayers of the complicated funeral ceremonial seemed to Princess Alix like a long, sad dream, through which she felt that she must keep up her courage for the sake of her fiancé, and her very genuine grief made her show the warm side of her nature to her new relations. But that whole time was always blurred in her memory.The Princess could, of course, see very little of the young Emperor at St. Petersburg, as State duties claimed him between the church services. She waited impatiently for the fast approaching day of her wedding, when she would be able to be with him constantly and be a real help to him. The severing of her home ties was thus made easier to her than would have been the case under ordinary conditions. She did not return to Darmstadt, but spent the twelve days before her marriage with the Grand Duchess Serge. The wedding took place on November 26th, a week after the funeral. It happened to be the Dowager-Empress's birthday, and so a relaxation of Court mourning for the day was allowed. Many princes, who had come for the funeral, remained for the wedding; among them the bride's brother, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the Prince and Princess of Wales (Edward VII), and Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia.On the wedding morning, the Dowager-Empress, a pathetic figure dressed, like the bride, in white took her future daughter-in-law from the Serge Palace to the Winter Palace, in the great chapel of which the ceremony was to take place. Princess Alix was dressed for her wedding in the Malachite drawing-room of the Winter Palace. Her hair was done in the traditional long side curls, in front of the famous gold mirror of the Empress Anna Ioannovna, before which every Russian Grand Duchess dresses on her wedding day. The chief dressers of the ladies of the Imperial Family assisted, and handed the crown jewels, which lay on red velvet cushions. The Dowager-Empress herself placed the diamond nuptial crown on the bride's head. She wore numerous splendid diamond ornaments and her dress was a heavy Russian Court dress of real silver tissue, with an immensely long train edged with ermine. From her shoulders flowed the Imperial mantle of cloth of gold, lined with the same royal fur. These robes were carried by chamberlains, and so heavy were they that, when the marriage ceremony was over, and the Imperial Family, with their guests, had retired to the Malachite room, the Grand Duke of Hesse saw his sister standing motionless and alone in the middle of the room (the Emperor had left her for a moment), unable to move a step! The train was so heavy that, when it was not carried by the chamberlains, she was almost pinned to the ground by its weight.

Nicholas II ascended to the Russian throne after his father Alexander III died suddenly at the age 49 of nephritis in 1894. When the 26-year-old Nicholas was informed that he was going to be tsar, Nicholas said, "The very worst thing has happened to me...I am not prepared to be a tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling."Nicholas took power at a bad time. There was no Parliament, no elections and laws were made by imperial decrees. Russia was going through great changes while it was divided by space and ethnicity held together with the thinnest of threads.Nicholas was out of touch with his country and its people. He responded by crises and calls for reform with a certain resignation that went they were beyond his control and in the hands of God. He often let Alexandra make decisions even though she was even more out of touch than she was.In 1915, when Nicholas moved to the army headquarters near the Polish border, he gave Alexandra the power to run Russia. She relied on Rasputin (see Below) for advise and both she, Rasputin and Nicholas resisted pleas by aides and advisors to appoint a more responsible government. Using his influence on the empress, Rasputin maneuvered ministers favorable to him into key positions and effectively ran the country for about a year and a half. Nicholas II's family kept more than 15,000 personal servants. Their sumptuous Winter Palace in St. Petersburg had more than 1,000 rooms. Tsarist treasures included spun-gold and brocade robes, 17th century velvet boots covered with swirling designs made from tiny pearls, silk gowns embroidered with gold and military uniform trimmed with sable and gold braid.The Romanovs lived in luxury rivaled only by the Bourbons of France, the Hapsburgs of Austria, the Moguls of India and the emperors of China. Nicholas II purchased two 1913 Roll Royce's in Paris and had them shipped to Paris. The interiors were carpeted and upholstered with pure silk.The most important gem in the royal jewel collection of the Russian Empire is the Star oft he order of St. Andrew, a diamond-encrusted ceremonial badge created in 1720 by Peter the Great. The Romanov jewel collection also includes the Portain Diamond, a 27-carat giant placed over a portrait of Alexander I. It is said to be the world's largest table-cut diamond.Perhaps the most impressive piece is a broach with a 260-carat Ceylon sapphire encircled by 56 carats of diamonds (purchased in 1862 by Alexander II for his misstress). Equally impressive is an egg-sized 52 carat rubellitte tourmaline known as Caesar's Ruby (once though to have been a possession of Caesar) and later cut in the shape of a bunch of grapes and given to Catherine the Great in 1777 by King Gustav of Sweden.Other piece of note include a diamond-studded hair ornament in the shape of a cornucopia worn by Catherine the Great; a diamond diadem and pin shape of bees and flowed owned tsarina Elizabeth. There are also strings of megapearls, jewel-encrusted ecclesiastical objects, 17th century pendants carved from sapphires and diamonds, and dozens of Faberage eggs.  Nicholas II foolishly got Russia involved the Russo-Japanese War and reluctantly made some reforms after the was over. After a general strike that climaxed with the Revolution of 1905, Nicholas established a parliament called the Duma and called for elections. Duma members were allowed to debate issues but not allowed to make decisions; representatives included members of the middle class and academics but no workers or peasants.Nicholas II hired capable and independent-minded prime minister to led the Duma. Sergei Witte was fired in 1906. Sergei Stolyipin was assassinated in 1911 before he could be fired. Ultimately the Duma was not very successful and did little to reduce public discontent. The year 1913, one of the last years of tsarist rule, was the only year that Russia exported grain.Under Nicholas II corruption increased and the discontent, particularly in the cities grew. He won his nickname of Bloody Nicholas by violently crushing peaceful protests movements. Nicholas II resisted further reforms partly because he believed that it was the will of God for him to rule Russia. It seemed as Russia's problems worsened he responded by retreating from public affairs and leaving decision making to his wife and her aides. In March 1917, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II Romanov abdicated. A year and a half later his life and the lives of his family were cut short at the hands of the Bolsheviks. The details of the execution of the Romanovs may have remained in shadow forever had it not been for the investigative work carried out by Nikolai Sokolov, whose papers later formed the basis for a further probe by the Russian authorities after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Following the February Revolution, the Romanov family and their loyal servants were imprisoned in the Alexander Palace before being moved to Tobolsk and then Ekaterinburg, where they were killed by the Ural Regional Soviet, allegedly at the express command of Vladimir Lenin. Despite being informed that "the entire family suffered the same fate as its head", the Bolsheviks only announced Nicholas's death,[with the official press release that "Nicholas Romanov's wife and son have been sent to a secure place." For over eight years,the Soviet leadership maintained a systematic web of disinformation as to the fate of the family, from claiming in September 1919 that they were murdered by left-wing revolutionaries to denying outright in April 1922 that they were dead. They acknowledged the murders in 1926 following the publication of an investigation by a White émigré, but maintained that the bodies were destroyed and that Lenin's Cabinet was not responsible. The emergence of Romanov impostors drew media attention away from Soviet Russia, and discussion regarding the fate of the family was suppressed by Joseph Stalin from 1938.The burial site was discovered in 1979 by an amateur sleuth but the existence of the remains was not made public until 1989, during the glasnost period. The identity of the remains was confirmed by forensic and DNA investigation. They were reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg in 1998, 80 years after they were killed, in a funeral that was not attended by key members of the Russian Orthodox Church, who disputed the authenticity of the remains. A second, smaller grave containing the remains of two Romanov children missing from the larger grave was discovered by amateur archaeologists in 2007.However, their remains are kept in a state repository pending further DNA tests.In 2008, after considerable and protracted legal wrangling, the Russian Prosecutor General's office rehabilitated the Romanov family as "victims of political repressions".A criminal case was opened by the post-Soviet government in 1993, but nobody was prosecuted on the basis that the perpetrators were dead.

The tsar Nicholas II, -tsarina Alexandra, their five children, and their four remaining servants, including the loyal family doctor, Eugene Botkin were awoken by their Bolshevik captors and told they must dress and gather their belongings for a swift nocturnal departure. The White armies, which supported the tsar, were approaching; the prisoners could already hear the boom of the big guns. They gathered in the cellar of the mansion, standing together almost as if they were posing for a family portrait. Alexandra, who was sick, asked for a chair, and Nicholas asked for another one for his only son, 13-year-old Alexei. Two were brought down. They waited there until, suddenly, 11 or 12 heavily armed men filed ominously into the room.What happened next the slaughter of the family and servants was one of the seminal events of the 20th century, a wanton massacre that shocked the world.