The Last Tsar - Chapter Twenty Empress in Trouble

Chapter Twenty
Empress in Trouble

On Thursday March 8th, after the departure of the Tsar for Stavka, both Olga, the eldest daughter of the Tsar and Tsarvitch Alexis became ill and bedridden with measles.

Olga and Alexis were followed to bed by Tatiana, then by Marie and Anastesia last of all.

On 12th March the conditions of Olga and Alexis became worse. They were being treated by two court physicians Dr. Botkin and Dr. Drevenko. On the same day the Empress came to know that violent disturbances had started in the capital. Later she learned that the Litovsky Regiment had mutinied, followed by the Volinsky Regiment and other regiments, including Preobrazansky, the finest, most sophisticated and most loyal of all.

As the day wore on the news got worse. She tried to contact the Tsar but failed, as the telephones were out of order. At night the electricity and water supply lines were cut off. Rodzianko, the President of Duma (Parliament) instructed that the Empress and children should leave Tsarskoe Selo as soon as possible, as they were in danger. The Empress refused as the children were invalids, could not be moved. Besides the workers refused to mobilise a train meant for any member of the Imperial family. Until then the Empress was not very frightened, as the most devoted troop, the 'Garde Equipage' was guarding the Palace.

'We could not leave as the entire network of railways around Petrograd was in the hands of revolutionaries', wrote Gilliard, Tsarvitch's tutor.

Alexandra's decision not to leave Tsarskoe Selo might lead to calamity. A crowd of mutinous soldiers came to Tsarskoe Selo by truck. Their motive was to catch the German woman (the Tsarina) and her son (Alexis) and put them in the fortress of Peter and Paul.

The night was spent awaiting an attack. At 9 p.m. the rebels were on the way to the Palace. A moment later a sentry was shot, less than five hundred yards from the Palace.

From the Palace window the Empress looked down on Gen. Rissine, Commander of the Defence Force, standing in the courtyard before his men. The Empress, with her third daughter Marie and Count Beckendorff, Master of the Court Ceremonies, walked out of the palace into the bitter cold night.

'The scene was unforgettable', wrote Sophie Buxhoevediu, the lady-in-waiting of the Empress. 'The figures of the Empress and her daughter passed from line to line, the white Palace looming a ghostly mass in the background. Walking from man to man she told them that she trusted them completely and the life of the heir was in their hands.'

The night was filled with confusion. Mutinous soldiers had arrived near the Palace, but hearing rumours that the Alexander Palace was well defended by a strong band of regiment and the machine guns had been installed on the roof, their courage failed and withdrew. On 15th March, the troops guarding the Palace deserted. On 16th March another blizzard roared in, the temperature fell terribly low. At 7 p.m. the Grand Duke Paul, the Tsar's uncle, came straight to the Empress and told her everything about the Tsar's abdication. She was overwhelmed with grief.

Her friend, Lili Dehn, recalled - 'The door opened and the Empress appeared, she was tottering rather than walking, her eyes were full of tears, only whispered 'Abdique'.'

'That night,' wrote Gilliard 'I saw her in Alexis Nicholavitch' room - - - her face was terrible to see.'

The officers and soldiers, who were guarding the Palace, absolved by the abdication from their oath to the Tsar, swore allegiance to the Provisional Government. On March 17th the Tsar was allowed to telephone his wife. On 18th March, Alexander Guchkove, now Minister of War in the Provisional Government and General Kormilove, came to Alexander Palace to put the Empress under arrest. During the days which preceded the Tsar's return, the Empress began burning her diaries and letters, some of them were written by Queen Victoria, her grandmother. Kormilove informed her that with the exception of the kitchen and the main entrance, the Palace would be sealed. General Rissini, former Commander of the Palace Guards, left. Captain Kotzebue was assigned as Palace Commander. The new soldiers guarding the Palace were rude, untidy, noisy and quarrelsome - wrote Count Beckendorff. They reproached the household staff for wearing livery and for the attention they paid to the Imperial family. They roamed about the Palace and every room.

On the morning of 22nd March, the Tsar returned. It was a cold and grey morning. Everybody, with the exception of Prince Vasil Dolugoruky, the stepson of Count Beckendorff, left Nicholas on the platform of Tsarosello station. Vasily Dolugoruky chose to accompany his former sovereign to whatever awaited him at the Alexander Palace. In Ekaterinburg the Prince was later executed by Bolshevicks. At the Palace gate Nicholas was humiliated by a sentry deliberately, who asked who was inside the car. The officer replied - 'Let him go, he is Citizen Romanov.'

Inside the Palace Nicholas was taken through the crowds of soldiers, who did not care to show him a bit of respect by removing their caps.

At last he entered the private apartment, where the Tsarina and children were waiting for him. Nicholas finally broke down. He sobbed like a child. Everyone knew that Nicholas had wept and for everyone the anchor was gone. Then he recovered his self-control once again, which was almost superhuman, and his bearing became once again the anchor.