0:00:02 > 0:00:04On the 17th of July 1918,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07these four girls in white dresses were brutally murdered
0:00:07 > 0:00:11in the bloody climax to the Russian Revolution.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14The girls' names may not be remembered,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17but their alluring mix of beauty and innocence
0:00:17 > 0:00:20holds an enduring fascination.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24They are emblems of a world that vanished for ever in the revolution.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32In Russia today, the Tsar's four daughters -
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia -
0:00:37 > 0:00:41have literally become icons and are worshipped as holy martyrs.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46The first programme in this two-part series
0:00:46 > 0:00:50will tell their story in their own words...
0:00:50 > 0:00:52My whole body shakes. I love him.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I want to fling myself at him.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00..and it will reveal the real girls behind the saintly images.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23In 1913, Tsar Nicholas II and his family
0:01:23 > 0:01:25celebrated 300 years of Romanov rule.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31The lavish state occasions of the tercentenary
0:01:31 > 0:01:34were designed to show off the enduring power and imperial might
0:01:34 > 0:01:36of this ancient dynasty.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40But at the heart of this virtually medieval monarchy
0:01:40 > 0:01:43was a surprisingly modern family.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47The tercentenary offered the public a rare glimpse of their royals
0:01:47 > 0:01:50and the crowds were captivated by the sight
0:01:50 > 0:01:53of the Tsar's four daughters.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55In their identical white dresses and matching hats,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58the girls were picture-perfect princesses.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02They have this enduring fascination
0:02:02 > 0:02:07because they are stuck in this time warp, having died young,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12of innocence, beauty, untainted, unmarried, virginal.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Little was known about them, really. They were viewed with fascination,
0:02:16 > 0:02:21because they appeared so beautiful, almost like fairy-tale princesses.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24I think there's an inherent similarity with Diana,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27being the most photographed princesses of their time,
0:02:27 > 0:02:32the most marriageable, attractive, desirable young royal princesses
0:02:32 > 0:02:33in Europe.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39The girls' lives were dominated, and all too often overshadowed,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42by their mother, the Empress Alexandra.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47In the Romanov family drama, it was her formidable character,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49more than any other,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52which ultimately sealed her daughters' fates.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Alexandra's story began a world away
0:02:54 > 0:02:57from the pomp and ceremony of imperial Russia -
0:02:57 > 0:03:01in the tiny German duchy of Hesse And By Rhine.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06On her maternal side, she boasted impeccable royal credentials -
0:03:06 > 0:03:11her mother was Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's second daughter.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15By contrast, her good-looking father, the Grand Duke Louis,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17came some way down the royal pecking order.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23The Hesses were a happy and close-knit family,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27but in 1878 they suffered a double tragedy
0:03:27 > 0:03:31when diphtheria killed both Alexandra's little sister, May,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and her beloved mother, Alice.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Alexandra was just six at the time
0:03:36 > 0:03:39and profoundly traumatised by their deaths.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44She was always very shy, which didn't help things.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46But the death of her mother and her sister
0:03:46 > 0:03:49really did have a change in her personality.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55And it was the start, really, of this deep introspection.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57And in the nursery, she was alone.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59She didn't even have her familiar toys around,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03because they'd been burnt or were away to be disinfected.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07So all of that, I mean there was a huge cloud of mourning
0:04:07 > 0:04:10over the palace and over her childhood.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14In the wake of Alice's untimely death,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Alexandra's grandmother, Queen Victoria,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19stepped into the breach
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and took a very hands-on role in her grandchildren's upbringing.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27With Alix, in particular, because she was so young when her mother died,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Queen Victoria took her on as her own.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And she really did take on the role of surrogate mother
0:04:34 > 0:04:37in a very serious and determined manner.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42She had the nurse prepare monthly reports
0:04:42 > 0:04:45on what Alix and the girls were doing.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Queen Victoria would go through all of the points,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51she would initial them.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56It was a very close, very loving relationship.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Alexandra was raised in her grandmother's image,
0:04:59 > 0:05:04with the same solidly English tastes and strict Victorian morality.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06Alexandra was very English.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09I mean, it's often said she was the German woman,
0:05:09 > 0:05:10but actually her Englishness
0:05:10 > 0:05:13was her most pronounced sort of characteristic,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16as she had been brought up in a very English manner.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Queen Victoria, her grandmother, had had a big influence on that -
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Alexandra was one of her favourites.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24It was very much, sort of, austere Victorian upbringing -
0:05:24 > 0:05:27she had an English nursemaid, she had an English governess,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31she was taught to fold hospital corners, make her own bed.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36In 1884, when she was 12 years old,
0:05:36 > 0:05:41Alexandra had visited St Petersburg for her elder sister's wedding.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42There she met Nicholas,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46the 16-year-old son and heir of Tsar Alexander III.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Nicholas would one day be absolute ruler
0:05:50 > 0:05:53of one sixth of the earth's surface
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and the richest monarch in the world.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Other dynasties paled into insignificance next to the Romanovs.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03As royal matches went,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07the Tsar-to-be was the greatest prize going.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Within a few years, the pair were head over heels in love,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15though neither Alexandra's grandmother, nor Nicholas' parents
0:06:15 > 0:06:18considered it a match made in heaven.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The Queen was very concerned, of course,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23when Alexandra announced
0:06:23 > 0:06:26she wanted to marry Nicky, the Tsarevitch Of Russia.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29She was terribly worried about Russia,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32which seemed a very long away place,
0:06:32 > 0:06:39very alien, very unsettled and almost dangerous throne to occupy.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Neither Marie Feodorovna or her husband, Alexander III,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47wanted this marriage to take place.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50They seriously did not like anything German.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52They didn't like Germany.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58They didn't want this modest, shy, awkward German princess marrying
0:06:58 > 0:07:02the heir to this vast empire.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04They wanted a much bigger catch.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08And it wasn't just Nicholas' choice of bride
0:07:08 > 0:07:09that was a cause for concern,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12but his ability to fill his father's shoes.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Alexander III himself, the father,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21was a bear-like figure with a huge beard down to here. Immensely strong.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24He could tear a pack of cards like that.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Alexander III was the true autocrat.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31He was a giant of a man at six foot three, he knew his will,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34he was decisive, he knew how to command his ministers,
0:07:34 > 0:07:40and he looked upon Nicholas, his son, whom he called "girlie",
0:07:40 > 0:07:44as a bit of a lost cause, really,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47in so far as the succession was concerned.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Count Witte, who was then the minister of finance,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54suggested that Nicholas might be instructed in the means of statehood
0:07:54 > 0:07:59and Alexander replied, "Hadn't you noticed? Nicky's a bit of a dunce."
0:07:59 > 0:08:04And the future Tsar did little to confound his father's fears.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05The horseplay of his youth
0:08:05 > 0:08:09was probably quite commonplace amongst the aristocracy.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14But I'm slightly shocked to read in his diary in 1894 when he was,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16what, 25, 26 and about to ascend the throne
0:08:16 > 0:08:19that he just spent the day in a giant chestnut fight
0:08:19 > 0:08:22in the park with Prince George of Greece,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and, in fact, later on in the diary, maybe he's already on the throne,
0:08:26 > 0:08:31he writes about a similar fight with pine cones.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34So this is a man who wasn't taking
0:08:34 > 0:08:38the responsibilities of learning kingship particularly seriously.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44And the challenges Nicholas would face upon becoming Tsar
0:08:44 > 0:08:45were immense.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51At the end of the 19th century, Russia was a vast empire
0:08:51 > 0:08:54caught between the medieval and the modern.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Serfdom had been abolished 30 years earlier,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00but most Russians continued to work the land
0:09:00 > 0:09:02and live in grinding poverty.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05At the same time,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09rapid industrialisation was transforming the country,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12though the imperial regime seemed unable to keep up
0:09:12 > 0:09:14with the dizzying pace of change.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Whilst the might of Europe's other monarchies had waned,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Nicholas would inherit the same absolute power
0:09:22 > 0:09:27as every Tsar had wielded for the past 300 years.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29And in the autumn of 1894,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32the Tsar-in-waiting found himself put to the test
0:09:32 > 0:09:35far sooner than expected.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Whilst visiting his new fiancee in Germany,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Nicholas was suddenly summoned home to his father's sick bed.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Alexander had been taken ill with a disease of the kidneys
0:09:46 > 0:09:51and died on the 20th of October, leaving his son utterly distraught.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56He is on record as saying, long before he became Tsar,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59"I dread the day when this will have to happen."
0:09:59 > 0:10:02But nobody thought it would happen as soon as it did.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05I mean, the father was 49, so if he'd lived to be 69,
0:10:05 > 0:10:11that was 20 years later. So he was caught on the hop
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and horrified with the responsibility that was on his shoulders.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17When Alexander died, Nicholas burst into tears and said,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21"I don't want to be king, a tsar, I can't.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23"I don't even know how to talk to the ministers."
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Just a week after he buried his father,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Nicholas married Alexandra in a lavish ceremony
0:10:33 > 0:10:35at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Faced with the horror of becoming Tsar,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Nicholas' one consolation was his new wife.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49The pair wrote to each other in English, their best common language.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54"My own precious little sunny. My love for you is unspeakable.
0:10:54 > 0:11:00"It fills me utterly and makes the darkness of these days bright."
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And his bride was also smitten.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08"Never did I believe there could be such utter happiness in this world,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12"such a feeling of unity between two mortal beings.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17"I love you. Those three words have my life in them."
0:11:17 > 0:11:20It was lucky she was so in love,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22because far from home, at a foreign court,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26she found little comfort other than in Nicholas' arms.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Alexandra had a pretty tough time when she first arrived
0:11:31 > 0:11:32at the Russian Imperial Court.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34One thing one has to remember -
0:11:34 > 0:11:39that it happened far more quickly that she'd anticipated or desired.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Her hope was, and indeed Nicholas' expectation was,
0:11:44 > 0:11:49that she would learn Russian, she'd learn about Russian Orthodoxy,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51she would learn how the court worked.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54In fact, what happened was Nicholas is catapulted onto the throne,
0:11:54 > 0:12:00Alix is called to Russia, they marry, and there's no preparation.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04She only knows a little bit of Russian when she arrives.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Alexandra was no stranger to the world of royalty,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16but even being a granddaughter of Queen Victoria was no preparation
0:12:16 > 0:12:18for the Imperial Court.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25They were much grander than any other court in Europe
0:12:25 > 0:12:28and whenever there was a state occasion, for example,
0:12:28 > 0:12:35there'd be more food, more people invited, more servants, more style.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Everything was very exaggerated.
0:12:37 > 0:12:44Queen Victoria formed the impression in the 1880s, 1890s,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47that the Russians were really, you know, a bit much.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55In the Great Procession, the most impressive of all court ceremonies,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58the entire imperial family and their leading courtiers
0:12:58 > 0:13:00processed in strict order of precedence
0:13:00 > 0:13:03through the vast halls of the Winter Palace,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06each one packed with hundreds of civil servants,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09military officials and other guests.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15One lucky invitee remarked,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17"There was hardly elbow room
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"and to enjoy oneself was quite out of the question."
0:13:25 > 0:13:29The Russian Court was incredibly opulent.
0:13:31 > 0:13:37The protocol, the ceremonial was rigid, rigid, rigid.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42There were rules and rules were not bent.
0:13:42 > 0:13:43These rules were not broken.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47If they were, you paid the price.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53In this world of unimaginable excess and unbearable rigmarole,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Alexandra completely lost her bearings.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02She'd come from a very modest, little German backwater.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07And here she is in the centre of St Petersburg society,
0:14:07 > 0:14:08and she couldn't cope with it.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11She was the kind of person who if she got something wrong
0:14:11 > 0:14:13would be mortified.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18And her remedy was to run away, to have a headache
0:14:18 > 0:14:20and retire to her bedroom.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23To make matters worse,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Nicholas' mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30had set her daughter-in-law a daunting example to live up to.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35For Alexandra, her glamorous, vivacious,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37highly sociable mother-in-law
0:14:37 > 0:14:41was a constant reminder of everything she was not.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43The Dowager's view was that an empress
0:14:43 > 0:14:46had to be visible, that was her job.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51She should be out there in society, shaking hands, smiling,
0:14:51 > 0:14:56at receptions and balls and doing all the things empresses of Russia did,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59which she of course had done with supreme confidence.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03But Alexandra was not like Maria Feodorovna
0:15:03 > 0:15:07and the Empress was very annoyed and disgruntled
0:15:07 > 0:15:09that her daughter-in-law was not,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12as she saw it, fulfilling her proper function.
0:15:14 > 0:15:21What she fails to see is that, in marrying Nicholas,
0:15:21 > 0:15:28she hasn't just married the man, she's married the institution.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32And this is one enormous institution.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36From what she wore to the way she spoke,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Alexandra could do nothing right -
0:15:39 > 0:15:42her Russian was almost non-existent
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and her French, the official language of the court,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47did not pass muster either.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53The Russian Court is totally unimpressed with Alexandra.
0:15:53 > 0:16:00They talk, they laugh, they send her up behind her back.
0:16:00 > 0:16:06She is regarded as gauche, as awkward, as badly dressed.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Apparently, she speaks French with a bad accent.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13This is somebody who isn't well liked at all.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18And Alexandra doesn't go out of her way to try and change that.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20She retreats even more.
0:16:20 > 0:16:26She is shy, she is awkward, and she doesn't fulfil her role as Empress.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Nicholas and Alexandra found sanctuary
0:16:33 > 0:16:36from the demands of court life at Tsarskoye Selo -
0:16:36 > 0:16:40a series of royal residences secluded in beautiful parkland,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43which lay 15 miles south of the capital.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51This imperial haven had been a favourite of Catherine The Great,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54who had added the Chinese pagodas and bridges,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59which gave the place the air of an enchanted fairyland.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Tsarskoye Selo was a complex of palaces.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09It had begun in the 18th century as a sort of copy of Versailles,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and was similar in many ways.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16It was a retreat, where they could live away from the capital,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20untroubled by their ministers and by the problems of state.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26I think they envision life as sort of country squires.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28They wanted to live away from society,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31they didn't want to move in elite society,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35they wanted to live in a sort of cocoon - a bubble, if you will.
0:17:36 > 0:17:37For the newlyweds,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40the Alexander Palace represented a break with the past
0:17:40 > 0:17:44and the beginning of a new chapter in imperial life.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Alexandra rejected the gilt and grandeur of other imperial palaces
0:17:49 > 0:17:52in favour of a far more homely look.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58At Tsarskoye Selo, they didn't have imperial furniture -
0:17:58 > 0:18:01they bought directly import from Maples,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03the sort of middle-class store of London,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07and that was very much the sort of cosy domestic environment
0:18:07 > 0:18:08they wanted.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13They called each other "hubby" and "wifey"
0:18:13 > 0:18:17in that sort of domestic language of Victorian sensibility.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Every room was stuffed with favourite trinkets,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25every surface covered with family photographs,
0:18:25 > 0:18:30and examples of her personal emblem - the owl -
0:18:30 > 0:18:31were to be spotted everywhere.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37People thought the Alexander Palace interiors were very, er...
0:18:37 > 0:18:40rather down-market for an empress,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42they were terribly modest and bourgeois -
0:18:42 > 0:18:44there was no grandeur about them,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and this was a beautiful, classical building,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52and yet its interiors were like, in some people's eyes,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54a sort of second-rate hotel.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03The cosiness of Nicholas and Alexandra's domestic arrangements
0:19:03 > 0:19:07reflected their deep emotional and physical bond -
0:19:07 > 0:19:11the pair had eyes only for each other.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Theirs was a very tight, close, passionate,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17co-dependent relationship.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Alexandra could not bear it
0:19:20 > 0:19:22when Nicholas went away on official business.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25She didn't like him being out of her sight.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29She had this intense need for his love and his support.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32And, equally, he had for hers.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37In Nicholas and Alix's letters,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40there's always a sense of longing for one another.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42They have a sexual element.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47Nicholas would refer to "boysey", which is his penis, actually.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50And "lady" would be her equivalent, so...
0:19:50 > 0:19:52And they have, sort of, a bit of sexual innuendo.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54"Oh, boysey's really missing lady,"
0:19:54 > 0:19:57or "Boysey isn't having any attention paid to him."
0:19:58 > 0:20:01However overwhelming their private passions,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03the Tsar and Tsarina could not
0:20:03 > 0:20:07completely evade their public duties.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12In May 1896, Nicholas' coronation took place in Moscow.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The eyes of the world were on the new Tsar and Tsarina.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Not only had vast crowds gathered for the celebrations,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35but this was one of the very first public occasions to be filmed.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45The hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians
0:20:45 > 0:20:49who lined the streets reinforced Nicholas' faith
0:20:49 > 0:20:54in an ancient and enduring bond between the Tsar and his people.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Nicholas believes in that divine mystical link
0:20:58 > 0:21:00between Tsar and people.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04That he ruled only in accordance with his conscience before God
0:21:04 > 0:21:08and that he need not take account of public opinion.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11He took it for granted that the people revered him,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13worshipped him as a god,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17and this was part of tsarism's ideology
0:21:17 > 0:21:19going back to medieval times.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24But a few days after the coronation,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28a tragedy unfolded that called into question this relationship
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and suggested that Nicholas, in fact, took not just the loyalty,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34but the lives of his people for granted.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40On the 18th of May, half a million people turned out
0:21:40 > 0:21:43at a coronation fair held at Khodynka Field
0:21:43 > 0:21:44in the suburbs of Moscow.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Souvenir tankards and biscuits were to be handed out to the crowds,
0:21:51 > 0:21:52but when a rumour went round
0:21:52 > 0:21:54that there would not be enough for everyone,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56there was a stampede.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04By the end of the day, 1,400 were dead, 600 were wounded.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12That evening, Nicholas goes to a ball at the French Embassy.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15During the coronation, the usual festivities,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18banquets, balls, continue -
0:22:18 > 0:22:20and the whole thing's sort of hushed up.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23It caused damage.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It was a very good example of Nicholas' inability
0:22:26 > 0:22:30to give out a good impression,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and in later years Nicholas would look back on that incident
0:22:32 > 0:22:34as a bad omen.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38With his coronation out of the way,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Nicholas was delighted that life could return to normal,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43as he wrote in his diary...
0:22:43 > 0:22:46"Awoke with the wonderful realisation
0:22:46 > 0:22:51"that everything is over and that it is now possible to live for oneself,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54"quietly and peacefully."
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Alexandra was as relieved as her husband
0:22:56 > 0:22:58to withdraw from public view,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and saw no need to indulge her subjects
0:23:00 > 0:23:03with the usual royal charm offensives.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08She took the view that as Empress of Russia,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11she didn't need to win people's respect -
0:23:11 > 0:23:13and, in fact, Queen Victoria, her grandmother,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16learning of her problems did write to her,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19suggesting, in her wisdom,
0:23:19 > 0:23:25that she might help her earn the love and respect of her citizens.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29And Alexandra wrote back, "You're mistaken, Grandma -
0:23:29 > 0:23:32"this is Russia, not England,
0:23:32 > 0:23:37"in Russia the people worship their tsars as divine beings
0:23:37 > 0:23:41"and we don't need to earn their love and respect."
0:23:41 > 0:23:45And she took the same view of St Petersburg society.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49She thought, as did Nicholas, that public opinion counted for nothing.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Instead, the couple's attention was focused much closer to home.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58On the 15th of November 1895,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Alexandra had given birth to their first child, Olga.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Two years later, another daughter, Tatiana, was born,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10and two years after that a third daughter, Maria, arrived.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Far from subscribing to Victorian stereotype
0:24:15 > 0:24:19and leaving their offspring to be brought up by maids and governesses,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21the Emperor and Empress were determined
0:24:21 > 0:24:24to raise their children themselves.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Alexandra had a very clear plan in her mind
0:24:27 > 0:24:30of what family life was going to be.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Family life was going to be private mothering
0:24:32 > 0:24:34with her controlling everything
0:24:34 > 0:24:37right from the moment her children were born -
0:24:37 > 0:24:38which meant she breast-fed them,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42which was unheard of in Russian aristocratic circles.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44People were appalled
0:24:44 > 0:24:47when they discovered that the Empress of Russia
0:24:47 > 0:24:49was breast-feeding her children
0:24:49 > 0:24:52But any criticism fell on deaf ears.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56The Empress knew best how to raise her girls.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Alexandra always liked to say and remind Nicholas
0:25:00 > 0:25:03that it was she who wore the trousers,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and I think she was definitely the, sort of...
0:25:06 > 0:25:10the boss of that relationship, and the boss of that family.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12In the royal nursery,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Alexandra disregarded the eye-watering wealth of the Romanovs
0:25:16 > 0:25:21and displayed a very un-imperial zeal for economising.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24She saw to it that her girls had the same modest,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28relatively Spartan upbringing as she had had.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31They tidied their rooms, they made their beds.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34It was early to bed, plain nursery food,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36cold baths in the morning.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39She never for a moment spoilt her four daughters.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41They had hand-me-downs,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44each passed on her clothes to the next one
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and there are accounts of having frocks let out and skirts let down.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51They had very modest amounts of pocket money,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55they lived very simple and unostentatious lives.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Nowhere is the Romanovs' surprisingly ordinary
0:25:59 > 0:26:02and down-to-earth lifestyle more apparent
0:26:02 > 0:26:05than in their remarkable private family photographs,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08which capture royalty at its most relaxed.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14These were probably the most photographed royal princesses
0:26:14 > 0:26:17in history - even more so than the British royals,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19who took an awful lot of pictures of themselves -
0:26:19 > 0:26:22because they all had Box Brownie cameras,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and they were constantly snapping each other.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29I think the wonderful fascination about those girls
0:26:29 > 0:26:33is you see them not just as royal princesses -
0:26:33 > 0:26:36you see them as an informal family group,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39loving, laughing, sharing things,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41making pratfalls in the sand.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46You see them as normal human beings.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Although Nicholas and Alexandra were delighted
0:26:49 > 0:26:50with their little princesses,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54there was no escaping the fact that the Tsarina had so far failed
0:26:54 > 0:26:57in her most crucial duty as Empress -
0:26:57 > 0:27:01providing her husband with a son and successor.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05The Romanov rules of succession are the strictest in Europe
0:27:05 > 0:27:10in terms of insisting on the elder son taking over
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and not allowing any choice in the matter.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18So there was huge pressure on Alexandra to bear a son.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Even within the imperial family, great rejoicing when Olga,
0:27:23 > 0:27:24the eldest daughter, was born.
0:27:26 > 0:27:32Not quite so delighted when second child, Tatiana, is a daughter.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36The Tsar's sisters are saying, "Oh, God forbid us
0:27:36 > 0:27:39"for not being thrilled to bits with this baby -
0:27:39 > 0:27:41"but it's another daughter."
0:27:44 > 0:27:47On the 5th of June 1901,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Alexandra gave birth to her fourth child,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53but instead of the longed-for son and heir
0:27:53 > 0:27:57it was another daughter - Anastasia.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58In the Tsarina's mind,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01one little girl seemed to be as good as another
0:28:01 > 0:28:05and she treated her daughters more as a homogenous mass
0:28:05 > 0:28:08than as four distinct characters.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Their mother split them into two groups,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13the big pair and the little pair,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17and often didn't refer to the girls by their names individually.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20And she tended to dress them in these pairs -
0:28:20 > 0:28:24sometimes all four girls wore the same clothes.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27You see endless photographs of them all in a line
0:28:27 > 0:28:30in the same white frocks and big hats.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35And it kind of emphasised this sense of them being just anonymous,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39not having any individual personalities of their own.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50This group mentality was even reinforced by the girls -
0:28:50 > 0:28:52they referred to themselves as OTMA,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56from the initial letters of their four names -
0:28:56 > 0:29:01Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06But behind the convenient acronym and the identical outfits,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10four very different personalities were taking shape.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Olga was the most sensitive of the four daughters.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18She was very independent, she was very strong minded.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24Shy. Compassionate. Had a temper.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Olga was temperamental, she had moods,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29and really was, I think, of all the girls
0:29:29 > 0:29:33the one who answered back and could be quite hard to handle.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39I always see Tatiana as a beautiful enigma.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41She was sphinx-like in her beauty,
0:29:41 > 0:29:45with those gorgeous aristocratic features,
0:29:45 > 0:29:47but there was something very closed off about her,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49she was very reserved, like her mother,
0:29:49 > 0:29:54very dutiful, very good at organising and getting things done.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57So much so that her sisters found her bossy
0:29:57 > 0:29:59and called her The Governess.
0:30:01 > 0:30:02And then there was Maria,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and her sisters used to be slightly cruel to her,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08and call her Fat Little Bow-wow.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13But she had a wonderful generosity of spirit that was quite her own.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15In fact, at one point Nicholas said of her
0:30:15 > 0:30:17that he was worried she was almost too perfect,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21so he liked to be told when she was actually naughty.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26And Anastasia, she was the mischievous one.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28She was the one that would play the pranks.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31She was the one that would stick her tongue out behind people's backs.
0:30:31 > 0:30:32She was the tomboy, really.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40But by 1904, the Romanovs' treasured family life looked,
0:30:40 > 0:30:43to the outside world, like an abject failure.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49As the American magazine, Bystander, commented...
0:30:49 > 0:30:51"There are four of these little girls.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54"They are bright, intelligent children,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58"but nobody in Russia wants them, unless it be their parents."
0:31:03 > 0:31:07On July the 30th 1904, Nicholas and Alexandra's
0:31:07 > 0:31:09luck finally seemed to change.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14CANNON BOOMS
0:31:14 > 0:31:17That afternoon, the cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress
0:31:17 > 0:31:20fired a 301-gun salute to announce
0:31:20 > 0:31:23the birth of a son and heir - Alexei.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27The capital's streets erupted in celebrations
0:31:27 > 0:31:30and the sound of church bells was almost deafening.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33CHURCH BELLS RING
0:31:37 > 0:31:40But the imperial couple's joy was very short lived.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45Almost immediately after his birth,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47there was bleeding from Alexei's navel
0:31:47 > 0:31:49and his mother's worst nightmare
0:31:49 > 0:31:53began to unfold before her very eyes.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57Shortly after Alexei's birth, she took one of her ladies aside,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01absolutely distraught and weeping and she said to her,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06"You don't know how much I have been praying that our child would not
0:32:06 > 0:32:08"have our inherited curse."
0:32:08 > 0:32:11That's what she called it.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14She had clearly, throughout that pregnancy,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19been longing for a son, yet dreading the thought that this boy she'd
0:32:19 > 0:32:24been waiting for for nearly ten years might have haemophilia.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28The Tsarina had inherited haemophilia from
0:32:28 > 0:32:30her mother, Princess Alice,
0:32:30 > 0:32:33who in turn had inherited it from her mother, Queen Victoria.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38They didn't know why it happened. They couldn't test blood for it.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41They had no way of confirming the diagnosis,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44and, most critically of all, they didn't have any way to treat it.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47It was regarded as an early death sentence.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Up until about 1950,
0:32:50 > 0:32:56the mean age of death of a young man with severe haemophilia was 16.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00What makes it even more difficult for Alexandra to cope with
0:33:00 > 0:33:05is that nobody can know that the boy suffers from haemophilia.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10It would have meant that this is a boy with bad blood.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12This was not going to redound to Alexandra's credit
0:33:12 > 0:33:14in any way, shape or form.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19And they could not have an imperfect heir on the throne.
0:33:19 > 0:33:25It reflected on the dynasty and it was an ill omen.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Alexandra would for ever live in the shadow of her son's illness,
0:33:34 > 0:33:39but Alexei's birth also transformed the lives of his four sisters.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia lost their places
0:33:46 > 0:33:50in the family hierarchy. From now on, they would always take
0:33:50 > 0:33:52second place to their little brother.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58The whole dynamic of the Romanov family changed the minute
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Alexei was born because suddenly those four girls very much
0:34:03 > 0:34:07became secondary to a whole focus on that
0:34:07 > 0:34:12precious, frail, haemophiliac child -
0:34:12 > 0:34:15of the emphasis of everyone's time and attention.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18And the girls, immediately, from a very young age,
0:34:18 > 0:34:24are sucked into this sense of caring and protecting and cocooning Alexei.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40Whilst Alexandra had insisted that her daughters
0:34:40 > 0:34:44be treated as ordinary girls rather than imperial princesses,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48it was a very different matter when it came to her precious son.
0:34:53 > 0:34:59Alexei becomes incredibly precocious.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03He's spoiled, incredibly, by both his parents -
0:35:03 > 0:35:08well, in fact, by his sisters, too.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10And I suppose it is...
0:35:10 > 0:35:15Alexandra, of course, is going to do everything she possibly can.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19She's going to give in every way to this boy.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21You know - he's Baby. He's known as Baby.
0:35:21 > 0:35:27Even when he's 12 years old, he's Babykins.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31You know, this is a little treasure that has to be kept in cotton wool.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Alexei's haemophilia meant that any knock or bump
0:35:38 > 0:35:42could trigger a potentially fatal bleed.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Here, as his playmates launch themselves into the water,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48he is forced to watch from the safety of the pier.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54To make up for all the restrictions placed on him,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58the little Tsarevich was frequently allowed to get away with murder.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07He got away with some absolutely appalling bad behaviour,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10which a normal child, a normal, healthy child,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13would never have been allowed to get away with.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15He would be very peremptory, he would like people
0:36:15 > 0:36:17kissing his hand and bowing and scraping
0:36:17 > 0:36:19to him when he was a little boy.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And especially on board the imperial yacht, the Standart,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25he had a penchant for commanding that
0:36:25 > 0:36:29the band play for him at unsociable hours.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32And there were people in the entourage who actually really
0:36:32 > 0:36:36didn't like Alexei - they thought he was a dreadful spoilt brat.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Here, a lady makes the mistake of turning her back on the heir
0:36:41 > 0:36:45to the throne and is rewarded with a vigorous shove to the bottom.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50And here, Alexei, standing third from the right,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53slaps his companion in the face.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58He's very aware from an early age, he's the important one.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01He can be very dismissive of his sisters, who adore him,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04but he knows he's going to be the Tsar.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07After Alexei's birth,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11his parents guarded their family's privacy more fiercely than ever,
0:37:11 > 0:37:16determined that his haemophilia should remain an absolute secret.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20And, in 1905, the year after his birth,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23a new crisis drove the family even closer together
0:37:23 > 0:37:27and isolated them still further from the outside world.
0:37:30 > 0:37:31On Sunday the 9th of January,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35a crowd in St Petersburg marched on the Winter Palace.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37They were protesting against Russia's disastrous war
0:37:37 > 0:37:41with Japan, against their terrible working conditions
0:37:41 > 0:37:46and against the autocratic regime's failure to offer any kind of reform.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53The protesters hoped to present their petition to the Tsar,
0:37:53 > 0:37:57but instead troops outside the palace fired on them,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00killing 200 and wounding a further 800.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05I think we can say that Bloody Sunday,
0:38:05 > 0:38:10the massacre of protesting workers and women and children,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13was the end of the popular myth of the benevolent Tsar.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16People no longer believe that the Tsar was
0:38:16 > 0:38:18governing in their interests.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23Nicholas was not in St Petersburg that Sunday.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Instead, as he so often did,
0:38:25 > 0:38:30he was spending the weekend with his family at the Alexander Palace.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Amidst the peace and tranquillity of his private retreat,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37he was virtually oblivious to the seriousness of events
0:38:37 > 0:38:41unfolding in his capital just 15 miles away.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45When Bulygin, the Minister Of Interior,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50suggested to him that some political concessions might be required,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Nicholas said to him, "My God, man, anyone would think
0:38:53 > 0:38:55"you're afraid a revolution will break out."
0:38:55 > 0:38:57To which Bulygin replied,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00"Your Majesty, the Revolution has already begun."
0:39:08 > 0:39:13He didn't ever really grasp the true nature of the situation.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16So if you look at his diary entries for 1905, for example,
0:39:16 > 0:39:21I mean, it's full of the usual stuff about, you know, how many deer
0:39:21 > 0:39:26he shot at hunting, who was at afternoon tea, games of dominoes,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29the reading on the barometer, et cetera, et cetera.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34He seems completely removed from political power,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37and that's very much part of the problem.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Bloody Sunday, as it became known, was only the beginning of a
0:39:41 > 0:39:44year of revolutionary upheaval,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48and as the safety of the imperial family was called into question,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50their security was dramatically increased.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56The Tsarina was terrified that Nicholas might be killed
0:39:56 > 0:39:58or Alexei kidnapped and she became obsessed
0:39:58 > 0:40:02with keeping her family out of harm's way.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07Their mother's siege mentality had a profound impact on her daughters.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11When they travelled on the imperial train, for example,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15she was once described as insisting all the blinds be pulled down.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18And there are the little children, trying to peep out at this
0:40:18 > 0:40:21extraordinary world outside that they didn't know,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24that they had so little experience of.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28And she even forbade Nicholas from going too close to the train windows.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32She didn't want people to see into their privacy,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35into their little, enclosed world.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45After 1905, the imperial children rarely appeared in public.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48They were most likely to be spotted through
0:40:48 > 0:40:51the fence of the Alexander Park playing in the palace grounds,
0:40:51 > 0:40:53where they had their own
0:40:53 > 0:40:55little house on what was known as Children's Island.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01It was in the park that Alexei - then aged three -
0:41:01 > 0:41:05had his worst accident yet, when he fell and hurt his leg.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11He was in excruciating pain and the doctors seemed unable to help.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16In desperation, the Tsarina turned to a mystical healer,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Grigori Rasputin, who she had met a couple of years earlier.
0:41:21 > 0:41:27Rasputin had already sort of made a name for himself as a mystic,
0:41:27 > 0:41:32and in the high society circles of St Petersburg at that time,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35there was a search for sort of mystical men,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38for some sort of spirituality - there were seances.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Rasputin, with his supernatural powers, his eyes,
0:41:42 > 0:41:48his charisma, undoubtedly, had a hold over aristocratic ladies,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51and, indeed, over some high churchmen,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54who recommended Rasputin to the Tsarina.
0:41:54 > 0:42:00And she genuinely believes that he has some sort of mystical ability
0:42:00 > 0:42:04to cure, or at least relieve the suffering of her son.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Rasputin was a wandering pilgrim from Siberia, who came to
0:42:10 > 0:42:15St Petersburg in 1903 and gained a reputation for his mystical powers.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19When he was first summoned to Alexei's sick-bed
0:42:19 > 0:42:22he simply prayed for the boy and reassured him
0:42:22 > 0:42:26that his pain would go and the next morning his fever had gone
0:42:26 > 0:42:30and the swelling in his leg had also disappeared.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34The encounter seemed to confirm Rasputin's remarkable abilities,
0:42:34 > 0:42:40to ease both Alexei's suffering and the Tsarina's frayed nerves.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45It is well known that particularly with pain and distress,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47and the interplay of pain and distress in the child,
0:42:47 > 0:42:53with distress and emotional pain in the mother, that for someone
0:42:53 > 0:42:58to enter the situation and express in terms of great confidence,
0:42:58 > 0:43:03that everything will be all right, is sometimes extremely effective.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06It works.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11I think Alexandra saw in Rasputin elements of what her grandmother
0:43:11 > 0:43:14saw in John Brown - the kind of noble savage.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19There was a brutal, rough, crude simplicity about Rasputin
0:43:19 > 0:43:21that there was in John Brown.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26He had this peasant understanding about life and belief in a way
0:43:26 > 0:43:30that was untrammelled by the sophistication
0:43:30 > 0:43:32of the world of St Petersburg.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36She saw in him someone sent by God to help them,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40to save Alexei, to keep her boy alive.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47But Alexandra prided herself on her strict Victorian morals,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50and she knew that the family's relationship with Rasputin
0:43:50 > 0:43:53was fraught with danger.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56If his personal habits were unappealing,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59he was often drunk, and ate everything, even soup,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01with his hands,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05then his debauchery was far worse - he visited prostitutes
0:44:05 > 0:44:09and indulged in orgies with his aristocratic patrons.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14It was not a reputation that sat easily with the imperial family's
0:44:14 > 0:44:18wholesome image, so the Tsarina drilled her daughters
0:44:18 > 0:44:21never to mention his name in public.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26Alexandra was very aware of the gossip and scandal
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and innuendos surrounding Rasputin,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32and his bad reputation.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36And she did not want that to attach to the family or to the girls.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39They kept his visits private, they didn't discuss them
0:44:39 > 0:44:42with other people, and Alexandra instructed her
0:44:42 > 0:44:45daughters never to discuss Rasputin with others.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49He was their friend, their family confidante,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51and it stayed within the family.
0:44:58 > 0:45:03In 1909, the four daughters enjoyed a brief respite from the family's
0:45:03 > 0:45:05self-imposed retreat at the Alexander Palace.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10That summer, Nicholas took his family to
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Britain to visit King Edward VII and
0:45:13 > 0:45:16their other royal relations during the Cowes Sailing Regatta.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24Nicholas' and the future George V's mothers were sisters,
0:45:24 > 0:45:26making the pair first cousins,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and a striking family resemblance was clear.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33But this was not the average family holiday
0:45:33 > 0:45:36and, even well beyond the borders of his empire,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40the Tsar had to remain vigilant to the threat of assassination.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44The British royals, and in fact the British aristocracy,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47were absolutely horrified at the amount of security
0:45:47 > 0:45:49required to protect the Tsar of Russia.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52But there were so many threats against him,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55even extremist groups in Britain,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58that they didn't actually stay on land -
0:45:58 > 0:46:02they stayed on their yacht, moored off Cowes.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04The future Edward VIII,
0:46:04 > 0:46:06who was quite a young man at the time
0:46:06 > 0:46:10and was appointed to escort his royal cousins around,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13was absolutely horrified at the levels of security.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17He said it wasn't worth being a prince for.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19But for the girls, the Isle of Wight provided
0:46:19 > 0:46:21a brief taste of a kind of freedom
0:46:21 > 0:46:24they would never be allowed within Russia.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28And it was, for the girls, like being let out of jail.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31This was a whole new world,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34this "outside life", as they later referred to it,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37that they had had no experience of.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39It was extraordinary.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44All of the children came ashore to go shopping in West Cowes
0:46:44 > 0:46:47and look around the shops, but particularly Olga and Tatiana
0:46:47 > 0:46:50with their little bit of pocket money going around the shops and
0:46:50 > 0:46:54buying postcards, even of their own parents, that were on sale in Cowes.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58It was such a revelation for those children to be allowed out.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03There is a delightful story of the two elder girls,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Olga and Tatiana, escaping.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Not literally, cos their guards were behind them.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12But they had some time off and they did things like
0:47:12 > 0:47:15they bought tickets for the ferry for themselves, which was great.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18They'd never done that before, other people would deal with money
0:47:18 > 0:47:20or there would be no money anywhere.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22They couldn't keep it up for very long
0:47:22 > 0:47:23because people began to realise -
0:47:23 > 0:47:26"Who are these young ladies walking around
0:47:26 > 0:47:28"who look very pretty and like one another?"
0:47:28 > 0:47:30"Oh, they're the Tsar's daughters!"
0:47:30 > 0:47:33They must have rather missed it when they came back
0:47:33 > 0:47:36but I think it was a highlight for them
0:47:36 > 0:47:41and does demonstrate how constrained their lives were normally.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48The trip to Cowes was the last time the two royal families would meet.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51From the glitz and glamour of Edwardian England,
0:47:51 > 0:47:53the girls returned to a life in Russia
0:47:53 > 0:47:56that was becoming ever more suffocating
0:47:56 > 0:48:00and a childhood that was now blighted by both Alexei's
0:48:00 > 0:48:02and their mother's failing health.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06Alexandra had suffered from agonising sciatica -
0:48:06 > 0:48:09pain in the lower back - since she was a teenager,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12and five pregnancies in quick succession
0:48:12 > 0:48:13had left her a physical wreck.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15When she returned home from Cowes,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18she was suffering from extreme exhaustion.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21From photographs of Alexandra,
0:48:21 > 0:48:25she so often seems to be either lying down on her sofa,
0:48:25 > 0:48:31in her bedroom, in a wheelchair, rarely moving around.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34She's basically an invalid.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39She suffered from palpitations,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42she was convinced she had an enlarged heart,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47she had ear problems, otitis, she had migraines, she had headaches,
0:48:47 > 0:48:52she suffered from swollen legs, from bouts of extreme exhaustion.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55It wasn't just a matter of her physical ailments
0:48:55 > 0:48:57that incapacitated her -
0:48:57 > 0:49:00it was the huge and constant mental strain,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03first of all worrying that her husband might be murdered
0:49:03 > 0:49:07or assassinated, secondly that her son could die.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09This longed-for child could die.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19But the Tsarina's numerous detractors put her ill health
0:49:19 > 0:49:23down more to hypochondria and hysteria than any genuine ailment.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28There was a kind of total selfishness there.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33She was very self absorbed when it came to these illnesses.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36You know, the sciatica? OK, fine.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38The enlarged heart? Well, all right,
0:49:38 > 0:49:40she'd have had some problems there, perhaps.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43But there was an awful lot that was psychosomatic.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46There was an awful lot there that somebody,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49if they'd been brave enough, might have said,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51"Think about your husband. Think about your children.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53"Stop thinking about yourself."
0:49:56 > 0:49:59Although Alexandra and her daughters shared a house,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02when their mother's health was at its worst
0:50:02 > 0:50:05the girls scarcely got to see her.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07The Tsarina shut herself away in her room
0:50:07 > 0:50:11and refused either to come out or to allow her daughters in.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18She's not there as the mother that she should be.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23The girls constantly made reference in their letters -
0:50:23 > 0:50:27it's almost a monotonous, painful litany -
0:50:27 > 0:50:31about, "What a shame, Mama is at her bed."
0:50:31 > 0:50:35"Mama came down very briefly, she took to her bed."
0:50:35 > 0:50:38"Mama was too tired to attend this..."
0:50:38 > 0:50:42You know, it's a constant refrain through the lives of these girls.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49The girls' one form of communication with their absent mother
0:50:49 > 0:50:53were plaintive notes written in their imperfect English.
0:50:53 > 0:50:5713-year-old Olga was clearly missing Alexandra.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01"So sorry never to see you alone, Mama dear.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03"Cannot talk so shall try to write to you
0:51:03 > 0:51:06"what could course better say."
0:51:06 > 0:51:09And so was her 11-year-old sister, Tatiana.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15"I hope you won't be today very tied and that you can get up for dinner.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17"I am always so awfully sorry
0:51:17 > 0:51:20"when you are tied and when you can't get up."
0:51:20 > 0:51:23But if her children were seeking comfort or reassurance,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25they were in short supply.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28Instead, their mother used the excuse of her ill health
0:51:28 > 0:51:31to keep her daughters firmly under the thumb.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34"Try to be as good as you can and not cause me worries,
0:51:34 > 0:51:36"then I will be content.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41"Be an example of what a good little obedient girlie ought to be.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44"Learn to make others happy, think of yourself last of all."
0:51:46 > 0:51:50She kind of, in a way, manipulated the girls with her ill health,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52because they couldn't distress Mama.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56Mama wasn't feeling well, you know, they couldn't upset her,
0:51:56 > 0:52:00so therefore they had to be good and do what Mama wanted.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03And it was a way of kind of keeping them down.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09Alexandra made sure her daughters always knew just how ill she was.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12She devised a code for her heart pain,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15rating it on a scale of one - the mildest -
0:52:15 > 0:52:17to three - the most severe.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21And the girls were all well aware of how the code worked.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24"I'm so sorry that your heart is number two.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26"I'm so sorry not to see you today,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29"but certainly it's better for you to rest.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32"1,000 kisses from your own loving Maria."
0:52:32 > 0:52:34She would write a letter to the girls saying,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36"Oh, my heart's number two today."
0:52:36 > 0:52:39They would creep around and be quiet and be very solicitous.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41And they were very aware, all the time,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43that Mama's heart troubled her,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48and that if it was number three they really had to keep the lid
0:52:48 > 0:52:50on any demands they made on her.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Alexandra was so absorbed with her own ill health
0:52:54 > 0:52:58and that of Alexei that she was unable - or unwilling -
0:52:58 > 0:53:01to provide the emotional support and motherly advice
0:53:01 > 0:53:02her daughters so craved.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07So the girls turned instead to one of the very few people
0:53:07 > 0:53:10who had managed to breach the family's strict defences
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and grow genuinely close to them -
0:53:13 > 0:53:14Rasputin.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18I think it's incredible the degree to which Rasputin was taken
0:53:18 > 0:53:22into the heart of the royal family, and it happened relatively quickly.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27They were first introduced in 1905 and it doesn't take that long
0:53:27 > 0:53:31before Alexandra is literally bringing Rasputin
0:53:31 > 0:53:33into the girls' bedrooms, into the nursery,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36allowing him to pray with them.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39The relationship of the four Romanov sisters with Rasputin
0:53:39 > 0:53:44is interesting because they clearly followed the parent's line.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48They saw Grigori, as they called him - Father Grigori -
0:53:48 > 0:53:50as a wise owl, a guru, a teacher.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Someone, even as young teenage girls, that they could confide in.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58They wrote letters to him, even asking his advice,
0:53:58 > 0:53:59almost like an agony aunt.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03They asked his advice about their teenage pashes.
0:54:03 > 0:54:09They trusted him implicitly with a, kind of, total unworldly innocence.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14Alexandra had always fought to preserve her daughters' innocence
0:54:14 > 0:54:18but, beneath their unruffled exteriors, private passions seethed.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22In December 1909, the 14-year-old Olga
0:54:22 > 0:54:25was in the grip of one of her first teenage crushes
0:54:25 > 0:54:31on a man who was probably an officer in the imperial entourage.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34She poured out her heart to Rasputin.
0:54:34 > 0:54:35"It's hard without you.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38"I have no-one to turn to with my worries
0:54:38 > 0:54:40"and there are so very many of them.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43"Here is my torment. Nikolay is driving me crazy.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47"I have only to go to St Sophia Cathedral and see him
0:54:47 > 0:54:50"and could climb the wall. My whole body shakes.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53"I love him. I want to fling myself at him.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55"You advised me to be cautious.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58"But how can I be when I cannot control myself?"
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Among their Romanov relations, there was mounting concern
0:55:04 > 0:55:06about the exact nature of the relationship
0:55:06 > 0:55:10between four young and very innocent girls
0:55:10 > 0:55:14and a man notorious for his sexual appetites.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18In March 1910, Nicholas' mother and his two sisters
0:55:18 > 0:55:24heard that Rasputin had taken advantage of the two elder sisters,
0:55:24 > 0:55:25Olga and Tatiana.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33Within the wider Romanov family there is some horror over Rasputin
0:55:33 > 0:55:36and how close he appears to be to the family,
0:55:36 > 0:55:39particularly to the two elder daughters.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44There was an incident when their governess came to Nicholas
0:55:44 > 0:55:48and complained that Rasputin was actually in the bedroom
0:55:48 > 0:55:51of the girls saying good night to them.
0:55:51 > 0:55:57And there was, certainly within the wider family and those who knew
0:55:57 > 0:56:03about this, there were fears of what we would term sexual abuse.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07Nicholas' mother was so concerned about her granddaughters
0:56:07 > 0:56:09and about the future of the Romanov line
0:56:09 > 0:56:14that she confided in the Prime Minister, Vladimir Kokovtsov.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18"My poor daughter-in-law is ruining the dynasty and herself.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21"She sincerely believes in the holiness of an adventurer,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25"and we are powerless to ward off the misfortune that is sure to come."
0:56:25 > 0:56:28When people start to approach Nicholas and Alexandra
0:56:28 > 0:56:30with the rumours that they're hearing about Rasputin,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33the reaction that both Nicholas and Alexandra give
0:56:33 > 0:56:35are "This is our private life."
0:56:35 > 0:56:38"These are our private, personal family matters
0:56:38 > 0:56:41"and do not concern the state and do not concern the public,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45"and we will have no further conversation about it."
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Rasputin dismissed all accusations of impropriety
0:56:48 > 0:56:53with the pithy riposte, "Nobody fouls where they eat".
0:56:53 > 0:56:57And there is no evidence that he was guilty of any abuse.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01But, with the family's private life so shrouded in mystery,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05even the most outlandish rumours seemed all too plausible.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12But, in 1913, the Russian public did enjoy a rare sighting
0:57:12 > 0:57:14of their reclusive royals.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18That year's Romanov tercentenary demanded that the family
0:57:18 > 0:57:22show their faces at a series of grand state occasions.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26For Nicholas and Alexandra, the tercentenary seemed to confirm
0:57:26 > 0:57:28that their long absence from public view
0:57:28 > 0:57:33had left their popularity undimmed, and the couple remained oblivious
0:57:33 > 0:57:37to the political storm threatening to engulf their family.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44The Romanov tercentenary of 1913 was a huge propaganda operation
0:57:44 > 0:57:48and, to a large extent, Nicholas and Alexandra
0:57:48 > 0:57:50fell prey to their own propaganda.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52They are extremely cut off
0:57:52 > 0:57:55from the political reality that is engulfing them.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00There's a retreat from any idea of political reform.
0:58:00 > 0:58:01Nothing is done about Rasputin,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05nothing is done to halt the drift towards revolution,
0:58:05 > 0:58:07which everybody feels.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Aleksandr Blok, the great poet, described living in Russia in 1913
0:58:11 > 0:58:13as like living on a volcano.
0:58:15 > 0:58:20At the time, none of the Romanov sisters would have realised it,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24but this was a volcano that was about to erupt so violently
0:58:24 > 0:58:27that it would destroy all trace of the world they knew.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34The second part of Russia's Lost Princesses
0:58:34 > 0:58:38will trace the girls' lives through war and revolution.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41It will reveal how Olga and Tatiana's war work
0:58:41 > 0:58:45finally gave them a taste of real life
0:58:45 > 0:58:48and real love beyond the palace gates.
0:58:50 > 0:58:54And it will uncover the story of the sisters' final days in exile
0:58:54 > 0:58:59in Siberia, watching and waiting as the world closed in upon them.