Alexei Nikolayevich Romanov
Alexei Nikolaevich ( Russian Алексей Николаевич Романов * July 30 jul. / 12. August 1904 greg. In Peterhof ; † 17th July 1918 in Yekaterinburg ) was the only son of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II. Of the House of Romanov Holstein-Gottorp and his wife Alexandra Fjodorowna , formerly Alix von Hessen-Darmstadt . He was the last tsarevich and is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. His sisters were Olga , Tatjana , Maria and Anastasia .
Life
Childhood and illness
Alexei was baptized on September 3, 1904 in the chapel in Peterhof Palace . His most important godparents were his grandmother and his great-uncle, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich . His other godparents were his eldest sister Olga , his great-grandfather King Christian IX. of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, the Prince of Wales and the German Emperor Wilhelm II. The sermon was given by John of Kronstadt and the child was brought to the baptismal font by Princess Galitzine, mistress of the robes. As a precaution, she had rubber soles so she wouldn't trip and drop him.
From his mother he had hemophilia inherited (hemophilia B). This disease can be traced back to his maternal great grandmother, Queen Victoria . Alexei often had to stay in bed and avoid even the smallest injury. Due to internal bleeding and aggressive medication, he was often in great pain.
The little boy was carried by strong sailors at many public events so that the risk of injuries was avoided as much as possible. Those sailors were Nagorny and Derewenko. Alexei made fun of the burly Derewenko and mocked him for not keeping up with the nimble Nagorny.
In the first few years, his illness was guarded as a state secret, until the German Kaiser Wilhelm II discovered a large bruise on the boy's forehead on a state visit and this did not disappear during the days of the state visit. Wilhelm was very familiar with hemophilia, as two of his brother Heinrich's sons also suffered from it.
The children of the tsar grew up in a sheltered and familiar atmosphere, as the parents attached great importance to the fact that the children were not raised by governesses, as was common in most royal houses of that time. His parents and sisters loved him, and he was known as the "baby" in the family. Later he was also affectionately called Aljoscha (Алёша) and Lyoschka (Лёшка). Many photographs have survived from his childhood, as one of the great hobbies of the tsarist family was photography.
"Alexei was the center of this united family, he was the center of all their hopes and feelings," wrote his teacher, Pierre Gilliard . “His sisters adored him. He was the pride and joy of his parents. When he was in a good mood the palace was transformed. Everyone and everything seemed bathed in the sun. ”Gilliard mentioned a striking resemblance between the boy and his mother. He was tall for his age, with "a long, finely cut face, fine features, brown hair with a coppery sheen and large gray-blue eyes like his mother". Although intelligent and affectionate, his education was frequently interrupted by outbreaks of hemophilia. As a child, Alexei, like all men of the Romanovs, wore a sailor's uniform and played war games.
He was forbidden to ride a bike or play wildly. Despite the limitations of his activity, Alexei was active and lively by nature, and had simple tastes. He refused to speak anything other than Russian and enjoyed wearing a Russian costume. As a young child, he occasionally played pranks at the guests' expense. The teacher Gilliard discussed with Alexei's parents to finally convince them that greater child autonomy would contribute to the development of better self-control. The growing Alexei took advantage of this unfamiliar freedom and began to outgrow some of his previous weaknesses. Courtiers reported that his illness made him sensitive to the pain of others. Tsarevich Alexei was one of the first scouts in Russia.
The Tsar's ADC , Colonel Mordinov, recalled Alexei:
“He had what we Russians usually call a 'golden heart'. He bonded with people easily, liked them and tried to do his best to help them, especially when it seemed to him that someone was wrongly hurt. His love, like that of his parents, was primarily based on compassion. Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was terribly lazy, but quite a capable boy (I think he was lazy, precisely because he was capable), he understood everything quickly, became thoughtful and passionate about his years ... Despite his good nature and his pity, he undoubtedly promised, to have a stable and independent character in the future. "
In several cases of bleeding in the tsar's son, the healer and traveling preacher Rasputin , who was known at the imperial court , was called in to help, first in 1907 on the advice of Grand Duchess Anastasia , and another time in 1912 through the mediation of the lady-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova . Both women belonged to the circle of followers of the Siberian "miracle healer". After Rasputin's presence always resulted in the rest of the tsar's son, this boosted his fame and his position in St. Petersburg society.
War and revolution
During the First World War, when his father was in command of the Russian Army , he stayed with him at the headquarters in Mahiljou and observed military life. In December 1916, the head of the British military on Stavka, Major-General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, received news of his son's death. Tsar Nicholas sent the twelve-year-old Alexei to the grieving father to sit with him. "Papa told me to sit with you because he thought you would feel alone tonight," Alexei told the general.
During the October Revolution of 1917, he and his family were initially imprisoned by the Bolsheviks in Tobolsk , but slipped so badly in his groin that he was dependent on a wheelchair. On May 23, 1918, he was transported with his family to Yekaterinburg , where he was held in heavily guarded captivity in the Villa Ipatiev until his death .
death
On the night of July 17, 1918 he was at the age of 13 years with the rest of the former royal family shot . The first firing squad killed Nikolaus, the Tsarina and the two male servants. The boy remained alive despite being shot at, and the killers tried to bayonet him several times. “Nothing seemed to work,” Jurowski wrote later. “Although he was injured, he lived on.” Unnoticed by the murderers, the tsarevich's upper body was protected by a shirt with precious gemstones that he wore under his robe. The officer in charge of the execution reported that the boy was shot twice in the head before he finally fell silent.
The whereabouts of the remains of Alexeis and his sister Maria was uncertain for decades because they could not be found despite a large-scale search. However, in the summer of 2007 they were discovered by a team of archaeologists. The result of the DNA analysis, which was published on April 30, 2008, confirmed that the bones are beyond doubt the bones of Alexei and Maria. Around 90 years after the murder of the tsarist family, their fate was finally clarified.
ancestors
| Pedigree of Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great-great-grandparents |
Tsar |
Grand Duke |
Duke |
Landgrave |
Grand Duke |
Prince |
Duke |
Prince |
| Great grandparents |
Tsar Alexander II of Russia |
King Christian IX of Denmark |
Prince Karl of Hesse and by the Rhine |
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
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| Grandparents |
Tsar Alexander III of Russia (1845–1894) |
Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt (1837–1892) |
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| parents |
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918) |
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|
Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanow (1904–1918) |
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Honor
In August 2000, Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanow and his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as carriers of suffering (Strastoterpez). In Orthodoxy, those who bear suffering are those saints who, unlike martyrs, did not die for their Christian faith, but only went straight to death as Christians.
literature
- Elisabeth Heresch: Alexej, the son of the last tsar: "Why can't I be like other children ..." . Langen-Müller, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7844-2587-9
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Welt : Apparently the bones of the Tsar's son discovered , August 24, 2007, accessed April 27, 2013
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Romanov, Alexei Nikolajewitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Николаевич, Алексей |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian heir to the throne, Crown Prince, son of Tsar Nicholas II. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 12, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Peterhof |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 17, 1918 |
| Place of death | Ekaterinburg |