Grand Duke Michael: Brother of the Last Tsar

First of all, thank you

michael

and hannah and thank you to the museum for asking me to speak today. I have to apologize in a somewhat amusing way for the fact that my co-author Helen Azar isn't around today, she lives outside of Sydney, Australia, where it's around five in the morning tomorrow and, like anyone who knows her nose, she's really a night owl, but she sends the best she can and if at the end we have some crazy questions that I can't answer. I'm happy to pass them along or you can check out her Facebook page at The Footsteps of the Romanovs and see many of the wonderful things she's been posting.

I think I have to start by talking a little bit about the handwritten diary uh Michael Ramanov who as everyone knows was the youngest was a younger

brother

of Nicholas II the

last

Tsar of Russia kept a diary but he didn't keep it in the same way that most of the Romanovs he kept notebooks and he wrote things down little by little every day and at the end of the day he gave them to his secretary Nikolai Johnson, who was a Russian of British origin, and he typed them up and the next day Michael took notes in the margins or slight. corrections and then the documents would be joined to those manuscripts after the death of Grand Duke Michael, which we will review at the end of the lecture.

Those manuscripts were returned to his wife Natalia Brasova and she smuggled them from Russia to England, where they remained with her family for many years. Natalia kept the manuscripts with her in Paris and they were inherited by her daughter Natalie Mamante Mamantova Gray Majorie was married several times whoever found the manuscripts propping up his mother's bed after her death the manuscripts were sold by the family privately through a dealer he eventually sold them to the Forbes collection in New York where they remained for many years no one was ever made translation of them and the first actual appearance of sections of um's diaries was known in the book by Michael and Rosemary Crawford.

michael

the

last

tsar

michael ii the last

tsar

but the book had never been published in English in its entirety and Forbes sold it in 2009 to the national archives of Russia, where the manuscript exists today and where my colleague Helen found them.

Several years ago on her last trip to Russia, she then said that what we should do is translate an annotated translation of these diaries in the same way that we had done for Grand Duchess Tatiana and that she had also done for Grand Duchess Olga and, um, we. I thought great, but work held us back and it really wasn't until the pandemic that I was able to complete my end of the deal and do the annotation research, so the book came out this year, this conference we're about to have is We'll Cover a A huge amount of material and probably the last third will be the most dedicated to the work we did on the book, but I felt it was very important for everyone to have an overview of the life of Grand Duke Michael. and without further ado I will begin the conference like this Michael was born on November 22, 1878 in the Anchov Palace in Saint Petersburg, he was the fifth and penultimate son of Alexander the Third and his wife the Empress Maria Feodarovna, he was 10 years younger than his older

brother

Nicholas II and seven years younger than what his older brother gave George when his children a decade makes a big difference, so Michael was much more frequently in the company of his big sister's car, who was three years older, and the big duchess olga, who was three and a half years younger than the

grand

duke

mikhail was known in the family as misha you can see here a wonderful family group of photographs that now belongs to the russian history museum is in our collection descended within the council family sufif and was a gift to the museum in 2009.

Michael was a cheerful little boy who enjoyed torturing his sisters. His family and close relatives universally adored him and he was known for being so affable, natural and unaffected, Count Vita noted. and he observed the imperial family very closely for many years. He said that most of all Emperor Alexander III loved his son Mikhail Alexandrovich why someone loves one person more than another is a mystery of the soul and therefore it would be difficult to explain why Alexander III loved his son Misha a lot but the fact is that he loved him above all without a doubt all the children of Alexander the Third I will not say that they were terrified of their father but they were humble before him and felt his supreme authority only Mikhail Alexandrovich was the one who was completely natural and had no afraid of his father in no way and for this the emperor was grateful, the teenage Michael was therefore a bit cuddled and was certainly the favorite baby of the family, although as he grew older he began to exhibit this kind of gruff toughness, huh , that was a hallmark of men's rahman, he adapted well to private tuition at home and began to chafe at restrictions on his freedoms, he had a tendency to walk noisily through palaces and irritated his sister Branducci's Olga by barging in in his room and throwing it. he sat on chairs or on his bed, she began to call him floppy in English for his behavior and, uh, the nickname stayed in the family in 1894, Mikhail was only 16 years old and was preparing to enter military school when his father Alexander III became seriously ill and finally died in Crimea at the ancient palace of Lavagia on October 19.

He was only 49 years old. His son Nicholas was only 26. Mikhail found himself second in line to the throne after his older brother Caesarevich. and

grand

duke

george alexandrovic after the death of alexander iii maria fiodarovna and her family permanently retired to the anitch of the palace and left the imperial suites in the winter palace to nicholas and alexandra, the new emperor and empress mikhail then 17 years they joined the imperial artillery school and joined the artillery lifeguards for the military training that was so crucial to the education of every russian grand duke mikhail was not that of a great student, but he was an excellent and instinctive soldier and They impressed all their colleagues with their kind of natural physical abilities.

Miphail became a magnificent equestrian, an almost professional marksman and was greatly encouraged. By older members of the family, such as Grand Duke Vladimir and awarded to Nikolai Nikolaj, who urged him to work hard to serve the Emperor. In the early 1920s, Mikhail was one of the rising members of the Roman family. and very useful as Nicholas II traveled. He was widely the public face of the family at family events and became well known among members of the extended international Romanus family, which included the royal houses of Great Britain, Denmark, Greece, Hesse and Prussia, and became acquainted with relatives such as his cousins ​​in Saksakoba. gota hess darmstadt saxa altenborg and elsewhere in 1898 there was a huge change, however, when michael's older brother, the czech grand duke george, died as a result of a motorcycle accident near abbas pumani in georgia, where he had lived for several years as a result of tuberculosis he acquired on a trip to asia with his brother in the 1890s george's funeral proved to be a turning point for mikhail because with daesh the death of george alexandrovich mikhail was now cesariovich and great duke his brother's heir with this responsibility michael was thrown into a political world in which he had never been destined to navigate, but in the midst of which he would remain uneasy for the rest of his life in nineteen hundred which says that ivig mikhail alexandrovich was in The center of everything in Saint Petersburg.

He was young, he was handsome, he was powerful, he was next in line for the throne, he loved the admiration of his family, he was respected by his regiment, and he behaved very lightly on the political scene, and he had no enemies, he seemed to need nothing, and to ask for nothing, it was a soldier who served his brother and although honors came to him he never strived for anything the very cunning great constant constant constant misha stays away from affairs of state he never offers his opinions and perhaps hides behind the public perception of him as a kind and ordinary child, it was precisely this quality of Michael that made him such an interesting subject to Helen and me publicly.

Michael was always very quiet and reluctant to speak for himself or be quoted. He left a very small record. of official statements or public appearances oh oh people ask me to speak slower and I'm sorry, it's going to be difficult because there's a lot of material to cover as a result um the fate of your diaries was uh as we mentioned they were unknown for 50 years, I don't know They published for almost 100 years and as a result, people have and continue to project onto Michael what they want to believe about him. As a result, there are many myths and lies even from the people closest to him.

For him our translation of his diaries from the most important period of his life, the war and the revolution until his death, is a way of trying to get away from that and give him back his voice and his opinions and eliminate some of the myths that follow him Around the rise of Mikhail coincided with the height of power and influence of the Romanovs here is another piece from the collection of the museum of Russian history we have a copy of the extraordinary book of photographs that Sergey Levitsky compiled of the guests at the last great ball held in the winter palace known as the boyar fett from 1903 and this is a detail of michael's sumptuous costume as the 17th century cesarevic in his hat this is a curious fact he wears two important pieces of the russian imperial crown jewels that They were borrowed for the occasion from his mother and he has gone down in history for having lost the large spray diamond seen at the top.

His sister Olga was quoted in her memoir as saying that Michael lost him. He must have fallen off his cap while he was dancing. My mother and he were there. in absolute desperation, the clip was from the crown jewels, all the halls of the palace were searched that same night at dawn, the detectives searched from the basement to the attic, the diamond clip was never found, poor mikhail was He's blamed enough um over the years, so in fact, I'd like to absolve him of this once and for all. You can see here a photo in the side box of the jewel in question.

You can compare it. You can see it's the same one he's wearing on his cap. This photograph was taken. in 1924 by the Soviets, so we know that the slime was definitely returned to the diamond hoard between 1903 and 1914, when the crown jewels were sent to Moscow for safekeeping during the First World War. I have to thank my Instagram friend, Underlined Russian Treasure, for bringing it up. this to my attention, if you don't follow me, I think you should, there is a lot of wonderful Russian jewelry history happening there. Aside from that event, it was to be the last ball at the Winter Palace which no one knew about at the time in 1903, Grand Michael.

He was considering his future and the possibility of marriage. Marriage was an important moment in the lives of the male members of the imperial family and the fundamental laws of the Russian state stated that the grand dukes could only marry women of equal birth who were members of a reigning kingdom or formerly sovereign house and at that time mikhail had met and fallen in love with such a woman, princess beatrix of saksakoba gangota was, on the surface, a perfect match, she was the granddaughter of queen victoria and granddaughter of alexander ii , his father had been the duke. of Edinburgh and had inherited the dukedom of Sax Codeberg in 1893 Baby B, as she was known, was the youngest of four beautiful sisters and Mikhail and Beatrice had a passionate epistolary relationship that lasted for years, they were madly in love but there was an impediment to them being first cousins.

The Russian Orthodox Church prohibits marriage between relatives up to the seventh degree, this means a complete ban on marriages between siblings aunts and uncles cousins ​​siblings first cousins ​​once removed second cousins ​​and second cousins ​​once removed family members are also included spiritual, meaning that you cannot marry a godchild of one of your parents, even if they are not related to you by blood, this religious cannon, however, was debatable whether the marriage was allowed by the emperor first cousins ​​first cousins ​​once removed and married second cousins ​​all the time in the house of Romanov, in fact, Nicholas and Alexandra were second cousins, Grand Duchess Elizabeth and her husband, Grand Ducey, were first cousins ​​once removed and, in fact, most of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov's relatives had married in defiance of this canon, but with the permission of the emperor as supreme episcopal. authority of the Russian Orthodox Church such a marriage was possible, although Nicholas II might have approved this marriage, Randall refused Mikhail and Princess Beatrice were heartbroken, they wanted nothing more than to be together, but Nicholas stood firm and refused to allow That first cousin marriage was probably the first occasion when Michael was not prohibited from marrying his, but he turned his attention elsewhere and things took a turn for the worse.

In 1901, the Dowager Empress had appointed a lady-in-waiting for the Grand Duchess. Olga, the first woman you see. Here Alexander of Nakasikovskaya, known as Dina, replaced Mrs. Franklin, nanny to the Grand Duchess, and became a figurecentral within the family circle and soon caught Michael's attention. She wasn't a cousin, but she was a commoner and a completely unacceptable choice for a grand duke after two years. of a covert relationship that culminated in rumors that an elopement was imminent the empress dowager finally fired kasich again mikhail was affected by the loss of his election but was distracted because in 1904 nicolas ii and empress alexandre fudorovna had finally had a son who says and alex and graham duke alexis nikolaj michael was no longer cesariovic he was third in line nicholas made him standby regent in case something happened to the young heir and also made him regent godfather michael was very relieved not to having to bear the burden of immediate succession and with that in mind, Miphail's perspective began to change.

If B had been an inappropriate choice and Dina had been illegal, what came next was going to surprise everyone. to the core and, in fact, have serious ramifications for the entire imperial family. In this photograph Grant Mikhail can be seen in front and his sister, Grand Duchess Olga, on the hill in the rear, circa 1907. Next to Grant Mikhails is Natalia Sergey de Novulfort, Natasha as she was known, generally recognized as one of the great Russian beauties of her generation, born into a family of minor service nobility, she was the daughter of Seville Shermytinsky, a well-known Moscow jurist and lawyer, eminently respectable, her first marriage was to Sergey.

Mamentov, who was the nephew of Moscow industrialist and famous art collector Savan Mamentov, while Sasha was happy with her first husband's social access, she later noted that she was not very happy with her financial situation, the They both had a daughter also named Natalia, but known as and although Sergi's uncle was fabulously rich, he was not and his social prestige depended on his relationship with artists and musicians, many of whom, such as Fyodor Yapin and Mikhail Varubil, were Natasha Devotees Natasha, however, was dissatisfied and began an affair with an aristocratic Petropolitan. the guard Vladimir Vladimirovich Wolfer and finally filed for divorce.

For many of you who have read Anna Karenina, you know that divorce was impossible for women in imperial Russia and, in fact, her husband Mamantov posed as the culprit in an adultery case so that she would be granted the divorce without any scandal he maintained that he was the culprit and the divorce was finally granted she married uh wilford immediately and natasha and her daughter moved to saint petersburg where they were quickly drawn into the imperial circle as you can see in this photo, she was in the center of everything, she is sitting here next to Grant Mikhail and behind them, at the top of the hill, you can see Grand Duchess Olga sitting with Colonel Nikolai Kulakovsky, who would eventually become her husband in 1916 with the permission of his brother in 1912 all of these people would be living a very different life the relationship progressed quite quickly and although it was not consummated for some time rumors had reached Petersburg society that Natasha and Michael were in the Gate were so involved with each other that offended Captain Wilford challenged Brandon Mikhail to a duel and Nicholas II sent Graham Duke to join another regiment.

However, it is clear that Michael and Natasha had become lovers in 1909 and by December of that year she was pregnant with their son, although she was still married to Wolfford. Mikhail appealed to Nicholas II who was horrified but helped arrange a negotiation with Wolford who agreed, like her first husband, to present herself as the adulterous party and divorce before the birth of her son, the divorce was not actually finalized in time and Natasha gave birth to her son Kyodovich on July 24, 1910 the divorce by Nicholas II's instructions were retroactive so that his son would not be considered Wolford's son but as Natasha's illegitimate son and therefore, under his full legal guardianship, the Emperor granted Natasha and George the right to live on Michael's estate in moscow, brassova, and to use the name brassava as a surname mikhail promised nicholas the second that he would never marry natasha, he promised him that she would stay out of moscow and that she would never be a source of problems for the imperial family, but in 1912, in A trip to Western Europe, the two were married in the Serbian Orthodox Church of Vienna, in White Gaza, which is still there today.

You can see a postcard photo of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava on the left and a photo on the right where you can see that it has practically not changed. There is a note on the postcard written in Michael's own hand that says in the church where we were married. As you can see, the church has not changed, as you can also remember. Another thing that did not change was the rule about the grand duke's marriage without permission. Mikhail wrote to Nicholas II about the marriage and said that I know that a punishment awaits me for this act and that I am ready to endure it. the empress dowager received a similar letter and wrote to nicolas this has completely killed me i am broken maria fielder suggested that the entire wedding should be kept secret and the marriage should also be kept secret because unequal marriages of the imperial family had existed in the past but it was too late and the consequences were Swift Michael and his wife, seen here with their dog, were banished from Russia.

His military rank and positions were revoked. His palace, which had been under renovation since 1910, was confiscated. His funds from the Imperial Appanach were suspended. Their marriage was not recognized. His son was not recognized and he. He was stripped of the role of regent of the Caesarevich, rapid decisions precipitated his move to Great Britain, his cousin George V allowed him to go into exile and his relative Brandon Mikhail Mikhailic o already lived there with his own morganatic life, wife the Countess of Torbi and their children in the first cousin. of mikhail, the grand kiril, had just been allowed to return to his wife, who was actually saxa koberg's older sister, she had finally been recognized as grand duchess and her daughter was recognized as a princess of imperial blood, the fact He singled out Mikhail and seemed to show that no matter what his punishment would only be temporary, Michael and his family settled into what would appear to be a very pleasant exile. they rented nepworth house nebworth house in hartfordshire in 1913 and here you can see the life of the new the married couple was far from unpleasant michael and natasha settled into an established society on a cycle of society visits, although the british aristocracy generally looked down on natasha and it was generally said that they preferred to receive only the Grand Duke, they spent most of their time with their children and their Personal very close here you can see Grand Duke Miguel playing his guitar at Networth.

He had an Italian guitar teacher named Domenici who traveled with him and his diary records guitar lessons almost daily. It is completely unknown who Domenic was and what happened to him. he is one of those mysteries and victims of war grand michael and natasha brassova also joined the ranks of the thousands of wealthy russians who frequented the riviera and paris in the period before the first world war here you can see from left to right uh natalia brassova and mikhail alexandrovich with an unknown woman and mikhail's secretary nikolai johnson are at kittis anglais in Nice here is the elegant natasha sitting with secretary johnson on that same trip to the riviera johnson was responsible for the diary as we mentioned Previously at the end of 1914, however, once war was declared in August, Mikhail wrote a passionate plea to Nicholas II begging him to allow him to return to Russia.

I cannot bear the thought of not being able to serve my country at a time like this, I beg you, he wrote, let me do it. I did my duty in this picture you can see that Nicholas gave in here, the whole family gathered on the balcony of the imperial family rooms in the Alexander palace. Michael's return, however, was politically difficult and uncomfortable for everyone involved, although he was still allowed to return there. indignities his funds were limited he was not restored to his position as regent of the cesarevic he was not allowed to return to his own regiment instead being assigned to a dagestani regiment known as the savage furthermore his unfinished palace was not returned to him and he and natalya They were limited to living on the Brazil estate in an ambiguous final act.

Nicholas recognized George Brassif as Michael's son and granted him the title of Count Brassov in accordance with what had been done with the illegitimate children of family members. imperial in the past, although contrary to Western views, it appears that Nicholas II never granted the title of countess to the child's mother, although people called Natasha countess out of courtesy, it appears that she had no legal right to that title, the imperial family still refused to receive her and she was persona non grata even during the war, Mikhail, on the other hand, was quickly reintegrated into the imperial family and taken into service during the war.

Here you can see him reunited with his mother, Empress Dowdra Maria Fiorovna and his sister, granddaughter and her children. her children, neither the dowager empress nor michael's sister knew natalya, they refused to call her countess or even madame brassova in family correspondence, she only referred to her as that woman, his wife or even the brassava, of the same like the lovers of French kings. or the actresses have been called the dubari and the bernhardt mikhail returned to his fairly normal activities even in wartime when an avid photographer made frequent trips to the petrograd kodak score kodak store, which was located at 19 balshaya clinician street. you can see it here in front of the kodak store um it's actually quite surprising how normal life was during the beginning of the war, natalia however was basically confined to brassova.

The estate near the estate had been inherited by Mikhail from his brother, Grand Duke George, and was a pleasant country estate or as the Russians say, it was modest and beautifully cited outside of Moscow, the couple made many improvements and He decorated without sparing expense. It was full of objects from the imperial collections but organized in an informal way. Here are some views of the interior, you can clearly see the works. by bharavikovsky kanova and others, while mikhail spent as much time as he could there, natalia was there alone with her children, receiving a flood of sympathetic visitors from moscow, including her family and friends, who were full of gossip about the state of the country and They noticed how quickly conditions were deteriorating.

Mikhail participated in the war effort and was awarded the Saint Vladimir medal with swords for his participation in the second court of cavalry during the Brazilian offensive. He visited the troops wherever he went in a effort to lift the declining morale of The Man Who Served during one of those visits, in fact, may have featured a clock like this one that is in the collection of the Russian history museum. This clock by Pavel Beret, who was the supplier of clocks to the armed forces at court, appears to have been made during the period 1914-1918. More research is absolutely necessary, but here you can see the cipher of Michael's imperial crown in the presentation watch, although michael fought very well and very hard for the war effort, he was often able to escape from time to time to rest and see his wife, son and stepdaughter in december 1916, michael was able to escape to a place that he and natasha really loved celebrating christmas and new year which you can see here.

Natalya also contributed to the war effort by financing hospitals with her own funds. Crimea was one of Imperial Russia's most beautiful resorts on the Black Sea coast and since the mid-19th century the imperial family and aristocracy had built spectacular homes on it. beautiful place now in Ukraine through this house that Seeing the Swallow's Nest was not a Romanov house, it is the backdrop with which our translation of Michael's diaries begins. At that time he belonged to the family of one of Michael and Natalya's dear friends, Shilla Putins, he and Natasha had been staying in the Crimea around December 1916 when the newspapers opened, they had just finished their vacation and were returning to brassova when they learned of the murder of Grigori Rasputin from the newspapers on the train heading to Moscow Michael and Natasha spent a worried Christmas in Brasov learning little by little about the chaos that had broken out after the death of the spiritual friend of the Empress Alexandra murdered by a group that included his relatives grand duke dimitri and prince felix yusuf the collective relations of the ramana family were beginning to disintegrate nicolas and alejandra were horrified by the murder but even more so by a letter written and signed by many members of The family who asked for clemency for the two young men the request was denied no one has the right to commit murder Nicholas responded I am surprised that you made this request after Christmas on December 30 Mikhail and Natasha moved into a rented house in Gachina that he had rented for him and his family to be morenear the capital and tried to understand the changing situation in Petrograd the situation was becoming desperate morale was at its highest point At the lowest point there were open rumors of dissent against the government and, more particularly and aggressively, against the empress, who was believed to have extensive influence throughout the government from the small house in Gachina.

Michael and Natasha would become increasingly aware that the situation was disintegrating throughout the month of January. On January 1, Michael traveled from Gachin to Alexander's Palace to meet Nicholas II and together the two men went here to the reception of Emperor's New Year at Catherine's Grand Palace in Saskatchewan Michael noticed that the reception there was held as if in ancient times. Sometimes, although the Empress did not appear after the reception, Michael went to the house of his cousin Baris in Baris's English-style house. Michael Records met with him and his cousins ​​Kiril and Andrew Dimirevich, who, although Michael does not mention him, probably knew him. feelings regarding the family situation everyone had signed the letter asking for mercy for Dimitri Pavlovich and Felix and everyone felt the sting of the emperor's anger and the response to their requests the Vladimir cousins ​​perhaps asked Michael to visit their mother the grand duchess maria pavlovn del mayory two days later, on the third of january, michael did so according to his diaries.

Michael met with Brenda's Maria Pavlovna and her children at Vladimir's Palace on the English Embankment. the family was concerned, they said, and suggested he try to get a more complete picture of the disorders. and the difficulties of the speaker of the duma mikhail rezianko michael could also have discussed natasha and the refusal of the women of the imperial family to receive her michael went from vladimir's palace to the highland house of the grand duke's game and from there The two went to meet with Miguel Retzianco at the meeting Michael asked Radianco if he believed there would be a revolution and Redzianko stated that the situation was extremely serious and asked Michael to try to arrange a meeting with Nicholas II to establish a government of confidence for try to replace officials. in whom the public did not have confidence, he noticed that the one who should be placed at the head of this new government was himself.

Michael returned to the house in Gachina and spent the next few days treating his son George, who had a serious case of influenza, and receiving visitors. from petrograd, including prince and princess paul putiaten, who brought him news of the gradual disintegration of the quality of life in the capital, there was talk of revolution everywhere and the situation was worsening on january 12, as he had promised, rudzianco Michael went to Alexander's palace and I had breakfast with Nicholas and Alexandra here in Palo Sander's room and then he went to have a private conversation with Nicholas at two o'clock Nicholas had a formal meeting with Michael as well as with Princess Constantine and Igor Constantinovic but there is no record of their conversation that day in petrograd michael and natasha went to see aunt mihim on the 14th it was the first time that a woman from the imperial family bothered to receive michael's wife the news of the meeting spread st petersburg elizabeth zizi narish a trusted confidant of the empress (you can see it below on the right) wrote i believe that the danger comes from an unexpected source mikhail his wife natalia is largely a member of the intelligentsia and as such lacks any restrictions anymore he has made his way to maria pavlovna his box in the theater he is teaming up with the grand dukes, they will conspire with maria bavana, she will see to it that natalya is accepted by the empress dowager and the emperor, i feel that everyone is conspiring, mikhail, Despite himself, he will be involved in this plot. first he will be regent then he will be emperor they will achieve all this kind of gossip did not dampen the hopes of either michael or natasha they thought things would really get better and it is interesting to note narishkina's point of view because you can see that through their writings, almost everyone in St.

Petersburg was convinced that there was a plot. At the end of January 17, Michael was working. He was sent to Moscow and he took Natasha, leaving her there while he served a final tour of active duty that included time in kyiv. with the empress dowager and other members of the imperial family who were working hard to help the wounded on the german polish ukrainian front michael visited the second regiment and reviewed the troops and when he returned to pittsburgh on february 6 he was able to see the situation in the capital was eroding in mid-february the family's perception was that the empress was the problem the entire family, from the empress dowager to all branches, were convinced that alexander's influence over nicolas was misguided and dangerous now we know that The empress's role was significantly smaller than anyone thought and that she was, in fact, innocent of such intrigues, but the gulf between Nicholas and Alexandra and the rest of the family had grown so wide that the family was getting their news from the same sources as the general population, which was newspapers, so they suffered the same misinformation about the Empress and her role as others Brandon Mikhail, Grand Duke Paul and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhail, who met with the Empress in different moments and were shocked by what they felt was her apparent indifference to events that she refused to consider that there was any problem in russia that could not be resolved at the end of the war on 22 february michael joined and nicholas and alexander had breakfast and He stayed until Nicholas the second left for Mogulev.

On February 25th, disorders began in the capital. Michael noticed that there were blockades in the street, that grenades were thrown and that in general there was disorder at all levels. That day the riot broke out. first strike in response to rumors of a lack of bread and the appearance of unrest in the street ninety thousand workers went on strike and took to the streets on the first day, the next day one hundred thousand workers and the next day two hundred thousand more michael left gauchina immediately and He arrived in Petrograd on February 26 and went at Radzianco's request to a The council of ministers meeting on February 27 was the worst anyone had ever seen and Michael's diary says: February 27: Monday, beginning of total anarchy in Gachina and Petrograd at five o'clock.

Johnson and I went to Petrograd on the extra train at the Marinsky Palace. confirmed with Retiancon Nekrassov the savage Dimitryukov then Prince Khalidson General Goliath and Traionsky arrived when we arrived in Petrograd it seemed calm but at nine o'clock the shooting had started in the streets and almost all the troops became revolutionary the old power no longer due At this point, a provisional executive committee was formed that began to issue orders and decrees to maintain the fragile order. This committee was made up of a few members of the State Duma under the presidency of Razianco. At nine o'clock I went to the Moyca to the Minister of War and transmitted via radio device to General Alexiev to convey to Nikki the steps that needed to be taken immediately to calm the brewing revolution, specifically the resignation of the entire cabinet and entrusting Prince Love with the election of a new one in accordance with at his own discretion, I added that the answer should be given immediately since time does not wait and every hour is precious.

The answer was this: do not make any changes until my arrival, Michael and his team tried to get rooms in the winter. palace but they were forced to leave, there were huge riots and finally they found refuge in the house of 12 millionaires of Princess Putiyatina, where they lay down on the sofas to get some sleep, at that time the older members of the imperial family felt that things they really needed to be taken. In his own hands Grand Duke Mikhail Brandu Kirill and Brandu Paul, representing the most senior members of the House of Romanov, worked together to try to preserve the throne for Nicholas.

They could see that in the capital the imperial government was losing its authority so quickly that waiting because Nicholas's return could mean losing everything, a draft of a petition called the manifesto of the grand dukes was drafted, it is not clear if the first draft was from Retsianco or whether it was originally drafted by Ivanov, a lawyer for Grand Duke Paul, but on February 28 the document had been drafted and signed by Grand Duke Paul and the Grand Duke's plan appeared to be to send the signed manifesto to Radianco for transmission to the emperor for approval the men had to join the provisional committee in the duma the first or second grand duke michael wrote to natasha early in the morning of the first i signed a manifesto that is supposed to be signed by the sovereign on it they were already the signatures of Babel and Kirill and now mine as elder, above all, the grand dukes with this manifesto will begin the new existence of Russia.

It is possible that he will go to the State Duma today or maybe tomorrow. Michael did not go to the State Duma that day and it is not clear what prevented him from doing so. But Grand Duke Kirill, a signatory of the manifesto, arrived at the Duma at 4:15 in the afternoon with the additional troops that had been requested that same morning. He found the place of chaos at the meeting with Radzianco and made the declaration that he was there. to help the duma and provide security and support for which Redianco thanked him but rumors began to circulate that Michael would be appointed regent on the afternoon of that day Grand Duke Paul wrote to Kirill this new and sudden willingness to make Misha regent I really dislike it is absolutely unacceptable and it is possible that it is simply Brassova's scheming or just talking, however we must be on our guard and continue to do everything in our power to preserve the throne for Nikki if Nikki signs this manifesto in which We have sanctioned the demands of the The people and the provisional government will be satisfied, please discuss this with Radzianco and show him this letter, but neither Paul nor Kirill nor Michael knew that the manifesto had already been discarded by Pavel Milkov and that elsewhere of the building were the plans for the abdication of the the emperor was being presented with Michael his regent on March 2nd the morning brought the news that the provisional committee had sidelined Rodzianko and of all his plans the committee had decided to urge the emperor to abdicate in favor of his son with Miguel as regent.

The fact that Miguel had been stripped of the right to regency in 1912 did not concern the provisional committee. Nicholas was pressured from all sides, including Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaj, and abdicated in favor of his son at 3 p.m. Kirill responded to Pablo's letter from the previous day with a letter on the matter that concerns him, I can only echo his feelings, I absolutely share his opinion, but despite my interest in working together and in accordance with the ideas from our family, misha communicates with rodzianko, I have been left absolutely alone these days to take responsibility for Nikki and the country to save the situation.

I am forced to recognize that the provisional government. Michael had been contacted by Razianco that morning by telegram, but the content of the telegram is unknown in swaff. Concerned about his son's health and the possibility of Alexis being removed from his custody caused him to rewrite the abdication in favor of Michael at 11 pm the document was changed with Nicholas abdicating in favor of his brother the 11 pm document was rescheduled at 3 At six in the morning on day three, Nicolás was no longer there. Emperor Michael was awakened in Pujatin's apartment at six in the morning by a phone call from Kidinski that the Soviet of Ministers would arrive at the apartment within the hour.

In fact, they arrived at nine. At 30 in the morning the ministers arrived to plan the future, there were an enormous number of consequences to weigh and the stability of the provisional government was in doubt. Questions included whether it was legal for the emperor to abdicate on behalf of his son, could Michael accept the throne? throne were the acts of the provisional government even legitimate or legal two lawyers present vladimir nabokov the father of the famous author and the baron of paris buddis nolda prepared several preliminary drafts the meetings lasted all morning and princess fusiatina was forced to serve lunch to the entire provisional government meeting in the living room of his apartment the final version of the document was not an abdication per se but a postponement of the acceptance of power until such time as the Russian people could, through free and fair elections, choose a new system of government up to that point Michael would say that he placed all power firmly in the hands of the provisional government Michael copied the declaration in his own hand and signed it saying inspired in common with all the people by the belief that the well-being of our country must be Above all, I have made the firm decision to assume supreme power only if and when our great people have elected by universal suffrage a constituent assembly to determine the form of government and establish the fundamental laws of the new Russian state, investigate me of such power by invoking the God's blessing, thereforeI request that all citizens of the Russian Empire submit to the provisional government established and invested with full authority by the Duma until this constituent assembly is elected in the shortest possible time. by universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage he will express the will of the people when deciding on this new form of government he signed it after the provisional government left it seems that Michael, who is no longer considered emperor, received a late telegraph from Nicholas II which had been transmitted at three o'clock the telegram read to his imperial majesty stoned the events of the last few days have forced me to decide that I am resigned to this extreme step forgive me if this bothers you and I did not have time to warn you in advance, I will continue to be forever your loyal and faithful brother.

I return to Staffka, from where after a few days I hope to reach Saskatchewan. I desperately pray to God to help you and our country. Yours, Nikki. It was too little too late to find out about Michael. abdication that same day Nicholas wrote in his diary Alicia has arrived with the latest news from Radzianco it seems that Misha has abdicated his manifesto ends with something about the elections for a constituent assembly God knows who advised him who advised him to sign something so vile rubbish the answer to that question who had asked him to sign it was the team led by radzianco prince lev milkov and karensky michael returned once again to the small house in gachino where he was received by natasha on march 12 he noticed that red flags were flying over gachina To his displeasure, he and Natasha settled into a quiet and fairly discreet life in their home outside the capitol.

They toured Gachina Park in one of Michael's many cars. They often went to the silent cinema in Petrograd and waited for news from their friends. and his relatives Nicholas returned to Alexander's palace on March 9 and his entire family was arrested on March 12 Miguel and Natasha learned that Grand Duchess Maria Pavlona had been arrested in Kislevsk and that Boris had also been placed under arrest domiciliary on March 25 March the dowager empress granit the English Embankment, which apparently was now available to him. They saw that few people went to Petrograd infrequently and tried to follow the progress of the war with little success as the news was infrequent and inaccurate.

Nicholas and his family were sent to Tobolsk in May 1917. The Empress Dowager was subjected to searches in Crimea later that month. Grand Jury Mikhailovic left for Finland in early June followed by Grand Kiril and his family later that month in July the Bolshevik demonstrations against the provisional government were increasing and Michael and Natasha found themselves increasingly restricted in In August, he and Natasha were arrested, although they were released in September for reasons as mysterious as the initial arrest when the October Revolution came . Michael was quite ill and weakened by the progress of a stomach ulcer. the throne was attained and immediately dissolved michael was no longer useful to the government and in fact constituted a threat sitting in gachna sick and depressed michael stopped keeping his diary on march 11, 1918 michael was arrested and deported to the siberian city of Pyeong Natasha fought bravely for his release in Petra but was only able to obtain permission to visit him during Easter.

It was not until May 1918 that his diary resumed with his visit to Pierre. They celebrated Easter together and she stayed with him in his rooms at the Korevsky Hotel until his departure in May, she wrote. She got up around 8 a.m. and at nine-thirty, Natasha and I took a taxi to the second station of the pyramid behind us, Road Johnson and Yekaterina de Nilova, there we waited for the train on the platform for a long time. In the end the Siberian Express arrived 36 hours late as it was supposed to arrive on the afternoon of the third day.

Unfortunately, Natasha got a seat in a small compartment of the international car with an unknown lady. The train arrived at twelve o'clock ten minutes later. Zdamiorovskaya Natasha also traveled via Moscow and returned in a horse cap with Johnson detained by the militia. Then I sat for a while in the small garden of the theater after dinner. Johnson went to see Borugar without success while Namiorowski stayed another half hour. I played the guitar. just the weather was nice partly cloudy and 14 degrees i felt very sad after Natasha's departure so empty and everything feels different and the room looks different michael was allowed to walk around in the afternoon quite freely and here he is seen with his friend the old police chief of the gauchina palace piotr ludwig who was also in pian this photograph is the last photo of michael that he wrote down in his diary in june after breakfast i walked around the city with namiorovsky we also stopped at the wax figures of the panopticon International After t Johnson and I crossed to The Other Side of the Chamber, where we took a short walk in the woods and returned by speedboat at night, I played the guitar.

Zdanierovsky and the Grand Duke saw each other a lot in recent days until Michael was called to testify before the chika. Throughout the month of May he was forced to check in every morning with them and noticed that his ulcer pains were returning on the 11th. He learned that Natasha was safe in Gachina and finished a diary entry on the 12th noting that the weather was partly sunny and that it rained a little on the night of the 12th the grand duke's rooms were raided and he and nikolai johnson disappeared the bolsheviks placed a story in the local newspaper telling of the kidnapping of michael ramanath on the night of the 12th to June 13 at At the beginning of the first hour of new time, three unidentified men in soldier uniforms arrived armed at the royal chambers where Michael Ramanov lived, entered Romano's office and presented him with an arrest warrant which was read by Romano's secretary, Johnson, after Romanov was asked to go with the new arrivals he and Johnson were forcibly removed, placed in a closed phaeton and taken down Trade Street towards Abhiskeya.

Members of the emergency committee alerted by telephone arrived at the rooms for a few minutes after the kidnapping. An order was immediately issued to arrest Romanov. Horse-drawn police units were sent to all the roads, but no trace of him could be found. A search of Romanov Johnson's home and the premises of the two servants turned up no clues. The kidnapping was immediately reported to the Council of People's Commissars. The Petrograd Commune and the Euro. Vigorous regional council searches are underway, as Michael Alexanderovich and Nicholas Johnson were executed outside Pyeong in the early hours of June 13, 1918. Their remains have never been recovered, the search for Michael actually continues today; you can see here captain peter salandinaki and his team, the search team, used ground penetrating radar and has been working to try to find the remains of grand duke michael since 2009.

This summer they will return to the piano to search for him again and today the memory of Grand Duke Michael is indeed very much highlighted in the city of pm, a wonderful memorial chapel was built in his honor and is visited every year during the satsuki days and the royal days in July, when they mourn the imperial family This brings us to the end of our conference. And it's a good time to answer questions. I apologize to everyone for speaking so quickly, but there was so much material that I just didn't know how to include it.

I will now stop sharing and return to Michael.