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Haunting last picture before execution of the boy born to be Russia’s tsar

By The Siberian Times reporter
11 June 2018

Image goes on display at new Tobolsk museum dedicated to the exile of Nikolai II and family shortly before they were shot.

Last picture of Tsarevich Alexei and sister Olga Nikolayevna was taken either on, or shortly after 20 May 2018, on board of Rus riverboat. Picture: Tobolsk History Museum

This image shows heir Alexei on his river trip to death, aged 13 and nine months old, around eight weeks before he was murdered with the rest of his family by a Bolshevik execution squad.

The museum - part of a new trail for tourists and royal enthusiasts  following the route of the Romanovs in exile after Nikolai’s abdication in 1917 - has confirmed this image is the last known photograph of the Tsarevich.

It was taken as he left the historic Siberian town of Tobolsk where the family were held in the so-called Governor’s House from August 2017.

In April, Nikolai, his former empress Alexandra and one of their daughters, Maria, moved to Yekaterinburg. 

Alexei, a haemophiliac, had been ill, and he remained in Tobolsk in their care of his three other sisters, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia, and 26 servants. 

They left by riverboat on 20 May 1918, two months before they would be killed. 

The picture was taken on board the riverboat called Rus.

Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar
Tsarevich Alexei pctured with sisters in Tobolsk, Siberia, and on his own during 2017-2018 exile; last picture shows the house where Romanov family stayed during their exile in Tobolsk. Pictures: Tobolsk History Museum, Vesti Rossiya


Alexei health had caused acute concern to the royal family before the revolution, contributing to their obsession with ‘crazed’ monk Gregory Rasputin who was seen as a healer. 

As Nikolai’s sole male heir, Alexei was born to inherit from his father the following formidable and colourful titles as an absolute ruler: Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Chersonese Taurian, Tsar of Georgia; Lord of Pskov and Grand Prince of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, Finland; Prince of Estland, Livland, Courland, Semigalia, Samogitia, Belostok, Karelia, Tver, Yugorsky land, Perm, Vyatka, Bolgar and others; Lord and Grand Prince of Nizhny Nogorod, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersk, Udorsky land, Obdorsk, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav, and all of the northern countries Master; and Lord of Iberia, Kartli, and Kabardia lands and Armenian provinces; hereditary Sovereign and ruler of the Circassian and Mountainous Princes and of others; Lord of Turkestan; Heir of Norway; Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, and Oldenburg, and others, and others, and others.

It was not to be, of course. 

Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar
The execution site of Romanov family inside the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg; Tsarevich Alexei pictured with favourite spaniel Joy, sisters, and mother Alexandra. Pictures: Tobolsk History Museum


The new Tobolsk museum The Imperial Route project, which charts the Romanov family’s stay or transfer after Nikolai’s abdication through  St Petersburg , Moscow,  Tyumen, Perm, Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg. 

The museum is in the old Governor’s House with 13 rooms preserved as well as possible from a century ago. 

Items have been gifted by the descendants of Briton Charles Gibbes, Alexei’s tutor, who went with the family into exile before finding his way out of the revolution maelstrom via China. 

Pictures below show reconstruction and picture of Alexei's room in the house in Tobolsk, Alexei with a cat and his favourite spaniel Joy, and Alexei with tutor Charles Gibbes

Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Haunting last picture before execution of  the boy born to be Russia’s tsar


Comments (47)

Very sad and tragic end for this royal family. I wish they could resolve their differences in Russia long enough to see the remains of Alexei and his sister Maria returned to the final resting place of the rest of the family.. Remains have still not been respectfully interred pending more investigation. They’ve been identified by DNA - let them join their family in eternal rest.
Noreen Farrell, USA
14/07/2019 08:29
16
0
Such a crime what was done to this sophisticated family! Executing CHILDREN is completely unacceptable and barbarian! Obviously, there were forces wanting them out. Yes, there were problems, but I don't believe this is what the people wanted. Horrible brutality!
Maria Adams, Denver, CO
08/07/2019 16:03
30
0
They should fled with their grandmother to England or Denmark and nothing of this would had happened in the first place, but he’s russian pride could more than his duty of protecting his family.
Nydia Velazquez, Puerto Rico
08/07/2019 06:20
6
8
Gosh you americans are some strange people with your comments. The reincarnation hahaha
John, UK
02/05/2019 23:47
15
10
This is such a sad story I can’t even describe how sad it is
Olivia, Texas
29/04/2019 22:50
21
0
Yea, being the reincarnation of Maria. I hate what happned. It was horrid and it all had. een horrible some dont understand what we had gone through but I know the reincarnation of Aleksey. I agree with you all and quite frankly I dont understand why they wanted them back after they had killed them.
Maria, USA
14/04/2019 09:49
3
29
I love this family, and wanted so much for them to be saved, truly.
Mary Mulhall, Dagenham United Kingdom
11/04/2019 17:02
19
0
My Dearest Sweet Alyosha, I pray to you daily. You were so brave in the face of the worst events. I wish I had known you, sweet child. What a wonderful life you could have had. We still weep for you, and ourselves.
Mary G Hughes, United States
27/02/2019 18:28
13
2
Alyosha, we do not know if you are still there somewhere, or if you can hear us. Still we ask for your forgiveness. Your short life was full of immense pain and suffering from your terrible illness and from the cruelest hatreds. We cannot imagine how scared you must have been in your last moments with your parents and sisters being brutally killed around you, sitting in a chair, crippled and unable to defend them or yourself. Despite everything you always tried to be cheerful, bold, strong and active, until the end. You would perhaps have been one of the greatest leaders of Russia. Today we cannot look at your face, always handsome and bright, without our eyes being wet with grief and repentance. God bless you Alyosha. We will never forget you.
Yulia, UK
17/01/2019 00:59
28
1
And it was only 100 years ago, imagine how much has changed
Ken Field, Deptford NJ IUSA
22/12/2018 21:27
5
1
Evil lenin and bolshoveik gangsters murdered innocent romanov family including children and girls. Really shameful
Shubh arora, India
29/11/2018 17:04
26
0
The first image was not taken in May 2018.
Dorf, Oxford
29/06/2018 09:59
14
1
Darrel Hoffman, Israel is far more to blame for the Bolsheviks than Russia is, if we are going to blame whole countries. Check the names and the ethnicity of most of their leaders (including Lenin, by his mother). And the founder of Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, was Polish. And Lenin's bodyguards and the most elite armed unit of the Reds, were Latvian Sharpshooters. "Russians" didn't make Soviet Union. All kinds of people did.
Sergey,
15/06/2018 07:07
28
20
So sad and unfair
Florencia, Bs as Argentina
15/06/2018 00:38
22
1
My heart breaks for this precious boy so brutally murdered. It just wasn't necessary. The blood of the Imperial Family will forever be on Russia's head.
Darrel Hoffman, Detroit, Mi. USA
14/06/2018 19:46
37
4

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