Tsarevich Alexey year of birth. What was Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich like?

The only son of Emperor Nicholas II, given by God in response to a long, diligent parental prayer, probably, without exaggeration, can be called the most attractive and most mysterious child figure in Russian history. “During the baptism of the baby, a remarkable incident occurred that attracted the attention of all those present,” wrote Abbot Seraphim (Kuznetsov). “When the newborn Tsarevich was anointed with holy myrrh, he raised his hand and extended his fingers, as if blessing those present.” What could this boy have become if he had lived to adulthood? One can only assume that for Russia it was begged for great king. But history does not know the “if” phrase. And although we understand that the figure of the young Tsarevich Alexei is too bright and unusual, we still turn to his bright image, wanting to find an example for teaching and imitation in the relationship of this boy with the outside world.

Attitude towards women - this is The best way test the nobility of a man. He must treat every woman with respect, regardless of whether she is rich or poor, high or low in social position, and show her every sign of respect,” Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote in her diary. She could write similar words confidently: an example of male nobility, a chivalrous attitude towards a woman was always before her eyes - her husband, Emperor Nicholas P.

It is very important that from childhood the little Tsarevich Alexei could see respectful attitude towards women from a man whose authority was undeniable for him. The Emperor did not ignore even the little things, thanks to which it was possible to teach his son a lesson.

Claudia Mikhailovna Bitner, who gave lessons to the heir in Tobolsk, recalled him: he combined the features of his father and mother. From his father he inherited his simplicity. There was no complacency, arrogance or arrogance in him at all. He was simple. But he had a great will and would never submit to outside influence. Now, the sovereign, if he took power again, I am sure, he would forget and forgive the actions of those soldiers who were known in this regard. Alexey Nikolaevich, if he received power, would never forget or forgive them for this and would draw the appropriate conclusions.

He understood a lot and understood people. But he was closed and reserved. He was terribly patient, very careful, disciplined and demanding of himself and others. He was kind, like his father, in the sense that he did not have the ability in his heart to cause unnecessary harm. At the same time, he was thrifty. One day he was sick, he was served a dish that was shared with the whole family, which he did not eat because he did not like this dish. I was indignant. How can they not prepare a separate meal for a child when he is sick? I said something. He answered me: “Well, here’s another thing. You don’t have to spend money just because of me.”

Anna Taneyeva: “The life of Alexei Nikolaevich was one of the most tragic in the history of the royal children. He was a charming, affectionate boy, the most beautiful of all children. Parents and his nanny Maria Vishnyakova in early childhood he was very pampered. And this is understandable, since it was very difficult to see the constant suffering of the little one; Whether he hit his head or his hand on the furniture, a huge blue tumor would immediately appear, indicating an internal hemorrhage that was causing him great suffering. As he began to grow up, his parents explained his illness to him, asking him to be careful. But the heir was very lively, loved the games and fun of boys, and it was often impossible to restrain him. “Give me a bicycle,” he asked his mother. “Alexey, you know you can’t!” - “I want to learn to play tennis like my sisters!” “You know you don’t dare play.” Sometimes Alexey Nikolaevich cried, repeating: “Why am I not like all the boys?”

He needed to be surrounded with special care and concern. That is why, on doctors’ orders, two sailors from the imperial yacht were assigned to him as bodyguards: the boatswain Derevenko and his assistant Nagorny. His teacher and mentor Pierre Gilliard recalls: “Alexey Nikolaevich had great agility of mind and judgment and a lot of thoughtfulness. He sometimes amazed me with questions above his age, which testified to a delicate and sensitive soul. In the little capricious creature that he seemed at first, I discovered a child with a heart that was naturally loving and sensitive to suffering, because he himself had already suffered a lot.”
The upbringing of any boy as the future head of the family should consist of instilling responsibility, independence, and the ability to the right situation make a decision without looking at anyone. At the same time, it is necessary to cultivate compassion and sensitivity and important property- the ability to listen to the opinions of other people. The boy needs to be prepared for the role of husband, father and master of the house. For Tsarevich Alexei, all of Russia was such a home.

“The queen inspired her son that everyone is equal before God and that one should not be proud of one’s position, but one must be able to behave nobly without humiliating one’s position” (Hegumen Seraphim (Kuznetsov). “Orthodox Tsar-Martyr”). If the mother had not made efforts to do this, then the position of the heir’s teacher, which was already difficult, would have become even more difficult.

“I understood more clearly than ever how much environmental conditions were hindering the success of my efforts. I had to contend with the servility of the servants and the absurd admiration of some of those around me. And I was even very surprised to see how the natural simplicity of Alexei Nikolaevich resisted these immoderate praises.

I remember how a deputation of peasants from one of the central provinces of Russia once came to bring gifts to the heir to the crown prince. The three men of whom it consisted, by order given in a whisper by the boatswain Derevenko, knelt before Alexei Nikolaevich to present him with their offerings. I noticed the embarrassment of the child, who blushed crimson. As soon as we were alone, I asked him if he was pleased to see these people kneeling in front of him. “Oh no! But Derevenko says that’s how it’s supposed to be!”

I then spoke with the boatswain, and the child was delighted that he was freed from what was a real nuisance for him.”

I. Stepanov recalls: “In the last days of January 1917, I was in the Tsar’s Alexander Palace with the tutor of the heir Gilliard, and we went with him to the Tsarevich. Alexey Nikolaevich and some cadet were animatedly playing a game near a large toy fortress. They positioned soldiers, fired cannons, and their whole lively conversation was full of modern military terms: machine gun, airplane, heavy artillery, trenches, etc. However, the game soon ended, and the heir and the cadet began to look at some books. Then she came in Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna... All this furnishings of the heir’s two children’s rooms were simple and did not give any idea that the future Russian Tsar lived here and received his initial upbringing and education. There were maps hanging on the walls, there were cabinets with books, there were several tables and chairs, but all this was simple, modest to the point of extremes.

Alexei Nikolaevich, speaking to me, recalled our conversation with him when he was on the train with the sovereign in the fall of 1915 in the south of Russia: “Remember, you told me that in Novorossiya Catherine the Great, Potemkin and Suvorov tied the Russian influence And Turkish Sultan lost its importance forever in the Crimea and the southern steppes. I liked this expression, and then I told my dad about it. I always tell him what I like."

It was especially clearly demonstrated that the boy cared a lot about Russia, but little about himself, in the episode told by Gilliard. However, the little prince’s modesty did not at all interfere with his awareness of himself as the heir to the throne. The episode that S. Ya. Ofrosimova told about is quite well known: “The Tsarevich was not a proud child, although the idea that he future king, filled his entire being with the consciousness of his highest destiny. When he was in the company of noble people and people close to the sovereign, he became aware of his royalty.

One day the Tsarevich entered the office of the sovereign, who at that time was talking with the minister. When the heir entered, the sovereign’s interlocutor did not find it necessary to stand up, but only, rising from his chair, offered his hand to the crown prince. The heir, offended, stopped in front of him and silently put his hands behind his back; this gesture did not give him an arrogant appearance, but only a regal, expectant pose. The minister involuntarily stood up and straightened up to his full height in front of the crown prince. The Tsarevich responded to this with a polite handshake. Having told the sovereign something about his walk, he slowly left the office, the sovereign looked after him for a long time and finally said with sadness and pride: “Yes. It will not be as easy for you to cope with him as with me.”

According to the memoirs of Yulia Den, Alexei, while still a very small boy, already realized that he was the heir: “Her Majesty insisted that the Tsarevich, like his sisters, be raised completely naturally. IN Everyday life For the heir, everything happened casually, without any ceremony, he was the son of his parents and the brother of his sisters, although sometimes it was funny to watch him pretend to be an adult. One day, when he was playing with the Grand Duchesses, he was informed that officers from his sponsored regiment had come to the palace and asked permission to see the Tsarevich. The six-year-old child, immediately leaving the fuss with his sisters, important look declared: “Girls, go away, the heir will have a reception.”

Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner said: “I don’t know if he thought about power. I had a conversation with him about this. I told him: “What if you reign?” He answered me: “No, it’s over forever.” I told him: “Well, what if it happens again, if you reign?” He answered me: “Then we need to arrange it so that I know more about what is going on around me.” I once asked him what he would do with me then. He said that he would build a large hospital, appoint me to manage it, but he would come himself and “interrogate” everything, whether everything was in order. I’m sure that with him there would be order.”

Yes, one can assume that under Emperor Alexei Nikolaevich there would be order. This king could be very popular among the people, since his will, discipline and awareness of his own high position The nature of the son of Nicholas II was combined with kindness and love for people.

A. A. Taneyeva: “The heir took an ardent part if the servants experienced any grief. His Majesty was also compassionate, but did not actively express it, while Alexey Nikolaevich did not calm down until he immediately helped. I remember the case of a cook who for some reason was denied a position. Alexey Nikolaevich somehow found out about this and pestered his parents all day until they ordered the cook to be taken back again. He defended and stood up for all his people.”

Y. Ofrosimova: “The heir Tsarevich had a very soft and kind heart. He was passionately attached not only to those close to him, but also to the ordinary employees around him. None of them saw arrogance or harsh behavior from him. He especially quickly and passionately became attached to ordinary people. His love for Uncle Derevenko was tender, hot and touching. One of his greatest pleasures was playing with his uncle's children and being among ordinary soldiers. He looked at life with interest and deep attention. ordinary people, and often an exclamation escaped him: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy, I want everyone to be happy.”

The Tsarevich’s favorite food was “cabbage soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat,” as he always said. Every day they brought him sampler and porridge from the soldiers’ kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment; The Tsarevich ate everything and still licked the spoon. Beaming with pleasure, he said: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.” Sometimes, eating almost nothing at the royal table, he quietly made his way with his dog to the buildings of the royal kitchen and, knocking on the glass windows, asked the cooks for a hunk of black bread and secretly shared it with his curly-haired favorite.”

P. Gilliard: “We set out immediately after breakfast, often stopping at the exit of oncoming villages to watch how the peasants worked. Alexey Nikolaevich loved to question them; they answered him with the good nature and simplicity characteristic of a Russian peasant, completely unaware of who they were talking to.”

Emperor Nicholas himself did an enormous amount to instill in his son attention and compassion for people. Gilliard recalled the time when the Tsarevich was with the sovereign at Headquarters: “On the way back, having learned from General Ivanov that there was an advanced dressing station nearby, the sovereign decided to go straight there.

We drove into a dense forest and soon noticed a small building, dimly lit by the red light of torches. The Emperor, accompanied by Alexei Nikolaevich, entered the house, approached all the wounded and talked to them with great kindness. His sudden visit at such a time late hour and so close to the front line caused amazement to be expressed on all faces. One of the soldiers, who had just been put back to bed after bandaging, looked intently at the sovereign, and when the latter bent over him, he raised his only healthy hand to touch his clothes and make sure that before him is really a king, and not a vision. Alexey Nikolaevich stood slightly behind his father. He was deeply shocked by the groans he heard and the suffering he sensed around him.”

The heir adored his father, and the sovereign “ happy Days“I dreamed of raising my son myself. But for a number of reasons this was impossible, and Mr. Gibbs and Monsieur Gilliard became Alexei Nikolaevich’s first mentors. Subsequently, when circumstances changed, the sovereign managed to fulfill his desire.

He gave lessons to the crown prince in a gloomy house in Tobolsk. The lessons continued in the poverty and squalor of Yekaterinburg captivity. But perhaps the most important lesson that the heir and the rest of the family learned was the lesson of faith. It was faith in God that supported them and gave them strength at a time when they were deprived of their treasures, when their friends abandoned them, when they found themselves betrayed by that very country, more important than which nothing in the world existed for them.

Sovereign Nicholas II with his son, 1904

Nicholas II on the shore Gulf of Finland. On the left is Tsarevich Alexei, on the right is Grand Duchess Anastasia, photo 1907.

Laying logs, photo 1908

Alexey sweeps the path in the park. (Tsarskoe Selo), photo 1908

Alexey in naval uniform. Petersburg, photo 1909

On a bench in Alexander Park (Tsarskoe Selo), photo 1909

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Alexey Nikolaevich in the uniform of a corporal

On August 1, 1903, the district town of Sarov in the north of the Tambov province became a place of national pilgrimage. Three hundred thousand people various classes people from all over Russia came here to take part in the celebration of the glorification of the Venerable Elder Seraphim. Among the pilgrims was Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov with his wife Alexandra Fedorovna and four daughters. The Diveyevo Monastery was also involved in the series of celebrations, whose sisters especially revered Seraphim of Sarov. In this monastery, an unusual meeting awaited the crowned family, which mysteriously reflected the future fate of the Romanovs.

Blessed Pasha of Sarov, perspicacious in her foolishness for Christ's sake, seeing a high delegation on the threshold of her modest cell, asked only the king and queen to stay. Having seated the imperial couple on the floor and treated them to jacket potatoes, the old lady told her guests something that made the empress close to fainting. Hearing prophecies about the horrors that awaited Russia and themselves, Alexandra Feodorovna exclaimed that she could not believe it. Then Paraskeva Ivanovna handed the queen a red piece of cloth with the words: “This is for your son’s pants. He will be born and you will believe in my words.”

The question of the birth of a son at that time was very acute in the royal family - girls were born one after another, but there was still no heir to the throne. The Tsarevich was soon born - this happened exactly a year after the Sarov celebrations.

The long-awaited boy, who was named Alexei, immediately became everyone's favorite in the imperial house. However, the joy that his birth gave was soon overshadowed - when the Tsarevich was two months old, it turned out that he had inherited on his mother’s side serious illness, hemophilia. A fall, a nosebleed, a simple cut - everything that would have been a trifle for an ordinary child could have been fatal for Alexei Nikolaevich.

Due to illness, the heir to the throne was created special conditions- he was constantly accompanied, trying to prevent every wrong step, first by his nanny, Maria Vishnyakova, and later by his uncle, sailor Andrei Derevenko. It would seem that such attention could damage the child’s character, making him overly demanding and capricious. However, this did not happen. The Tsarevich grew up modest and cheerful, loved noisy games with his peers and his favorite spaniel named Joy. When it came to food he was modest and unpretentious. Alexey liked it when they brought him cabbage soup and porridge from the soldiers’ kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment to try. The boy ate everything and said, beaming with pleasure: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.”

The disease caused the king's son incredible suffering. It happened that he could not move due to pain for many days. However, this did not harden the boy, but, on the contrary, made him sympathetic to the troubles of other people and taught him to appreciate every moment of a prosperous life. One summer, the elder sister, Princess Olga, found Alyosha lying on the grass in the park - his serious gaze was fixed on the sky.

Olga:

Alyosha, don't you miss me?

Alexei:

Not at all! I like to think and reflect.

Olga:

What are you thinking about, brother? If, of course, this is not a secret.

Alexei:

Oh, a lot of things! Now I’m glad that I can enjoy the sun and the beauty of summer. Who knows, maybe the day will come soon when I won't be able to do this anymore.

The boy hardly knew about the prophecies of Pasha of Sarov, which frightened his mother in the summer of 1903. However, clouds were gathering over the Romanov house and over the country, and Alexey, with his subtly perceptive soul, could not help but feel this.

The Tsarevich took his royal destiny very seriously; he saw it, first of all, in ensuring that everyone in need of help received it. “When I become a king,” Alyosha once exclaimed, “I will try to make everyone happy!” After Nikolai Alexandrovich signed the abdication of the throne for himself and for his son, his relatives were afraid to tell the boy about this, fearing that the collapse of his hopes would be an unbearable blow for him. However, the reaction of yesterday's heir was surprising. He asked only one question: “But if there is no tsar, who will rule Russia?” He thought about his homeland.

Thirteen-year-old Alexei Nikolaevich went into exile in Siberia with his relatives, no longer as a crown prince, but as the son of citizen Romanov. Despite the bitter circumstances, much remained the same in the royal family. And first of all - careful attitude to each other. Parents and sisters used every opportunity to console and cheer Alyosha. And he was having fun - maybe he was also trying to support his loved ones in this way, he knew that they would enjoy him good mood. In the winter of 1918, after soldiers destroyed the ice slide built by the Tsar’s children, Alexei Nikolaevich came up with the idea of riding a wooden board along the steps of the stairs, and in the process he was seriously hurt and fell ill. Internal hemorrhage left him unable to move.

In May, the royal family is transported from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg - during the trip, Alyosha is carried in the arms of the sailor Klimenty Nagorny. The attitude towards prisoners is becoming tougher. The two-story Ipatiev house where they were placed is surrounded by a double fence. The window panes are completely whitened – you can’t even see the sky. It is forbidden to open them, although it is already hot like summer. The doors to the rooms are off their hinges, the guards are behaving cheekily. Alyosha does not have the necessary medications, and his condition is not improving. The boy confesses to his mother: “I am not afraid of death. But I am very afraid of what they can do to all of us. If only they didn’t torture me for a long time.”

The Tsarevich will descend into the basement of the Ipatiev House on the night of July 17 in his father’s arms. An innocent child will be shot several times in the head.

By canonizing Alyosha as a holy passion-bearer, the Church testifies that the boy followed Christ along the path of suffering without hardening his soul. Loving God, he entered His Kingdom - where there is no illness and sorrow, where endless life full of joyful meaning. And each of us who turns to the royal passion-bearer Alexei with a prayer request will certainly be heard.

Gun salutes echoed throughout Russia, from Kronstadt on the Baltic, from St. Petersburg and from Peterhof - a child was born in the royal residence. Four times over the last decade shots from these guns were heard - at intervals of two years, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna gave birth to four daughters. And finally, on August 12, 1904, 300 gun salute shots announced to Russia that the newborn was a boy.

In the summer of 1903, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna attended the Sarov celebrations, but they behaved like simple pilgrims, fervently praying to St. Seraphim about giving them a son. Their prayer merged with the fiery prayer of the people. Exactly a year later, on August 12, 1904, Tsarevich Alexei was born and became the favorite of the whole family. The child was born strong, healthy, “with thick golden hair and big blue eyes.”

However, the joy was soon darkened by the news that the Tsarevich had incurable disease- hemophilia, which constantly threatened his life. Even when it was possible to control the external bleeding and protect the boy from the slightest scratches, which could be fatal, nothing could be done about the internal hemorrhages - they caused excruciating pain in the bones and joints.

This required enormous emotional and emotional stress from the family. physical strength, boundless faith and humility. During an exacerbation of the disease in 1912, doctors pronounced the boy a hopeless verdict, but the Emperor humbly answered questions about the Tsarevich’s health: “We trust in God.”

The heir was an unusually beautiful and intelligent child with an open soul; traces of physical suffering were visible on his thin face. The Empress taught her son to pray: at exactly 9 o'clock in the evening he went up to his room with his Mother, read prayers loudly and went to bed, overshadowed by her banner of the cross.

Those who knew closely Royal Family people noted the nobility of the Tsarevich’s character, his kindness and responsiveness. “There is not a single vicious trait in the soul of this child,” said one of his teachers.

Attitude towards women is the best way to test a man's nobility. He must treat every woman with respect, regardless of whether she is rich or poor, high or low in social position, and show her every sign of respect,” Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote in her diary. She could write such words with confidence: an example of male nobility, a chivalrous attitude towards a woman was always before her eyes - her husband, Emperor Nicholas.

He understood a lot and understood people. But he was closed and reserved. He was terribly patient, very careful, disciplined and demanding of himself and others. He was kind, like his father, in the sense that he did not have the ability in his heart to cause unnecessary harm. At the same time, he was thrifty. One day he was sick, he was served a dish that was shared with the whole family, which he did not eat because he did not like this dish. I was indignant. How can they not prepare a separate meal for a child when he is sick? I said something. He answered me: “Well, here’s another thing. You don’t have to spend money just because of me.”

He needed to be surrounded with special care and concern. That is why, on doctors’ orders, two sailors from the imperial yacht were assigned to him as bodyguards: the boatswain Derevenko and his assistant Nagorny. His teacher and mentor Pierre Gilliard recalls:

“Alexei Nikolaevich had great agility of mind and judgment and a lot of thoughtfulness. He sometimes amazed me with questions above his age, which testified to a delicate and sensitive soul. In the little capricious creature that he seemed at first, I discovered a child with a heart that was naturally loving and sensitive to suffering, because he himself had already suffered a lot.”

The upbringing of any boy as the future head of the family should consist of instilling responsibility, independence, and the ability to make a decision in the right situation, without looking at anyone. At the same time, it is necessary to cultivate compassion and sensitivity and an important property - the ability to listen to the opinions of Other people. The boy needs to be prepared for the role of husband, father and master of the house. For Tsarevich Alexei, all of Russia was such a home.

I then spoke with the boatswain, and the child was delighted that he was freed from what was a real nuisance for him.”

I. Stepanov recalls: “In the last days of January 1917, I was in the Tsar’s Alexander Palace with the tutor of the heir Gilliard, and we went with him to the Tsarevich. Alexey Nikolaevich and some cadet were animatedly playing a game near a large toy fortress. They positioned soldiers, fired cannons, and their whole lively conversation was full of modern military terms: machine gun, airplane, heavy artillery, trenches, etc. However, the game soon ended, and the heir and the cadet began to look at some books. Then Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna entered... All this furnishing of the heir’s two children’s rooms was simple and did not give any idea that the future Russian Tsar was living here and receiving his initial upbringing and education. There were maps hanging on the walls, there were cabinets with books, there were several tables and chairs, but all this was simple, modest to the point of extremes.

“Alexey was a very affectionate boy. Nature endowed him with a penetrating mind. He was sensitive to the suffering of others because he suffered so much himself. But the constant supervision irritated and humiliated him. Fearing that the boy would begin to be cunning and deceive in order to evade the constant supervision of his guardian, I asked Alexey for more freedom to develop internal discipline and self-control in the boy.”

The Empress's maid of honor A. A. Vyrubova noted that “frequent suffering and involuntary self-sacrifice developed in the character of Alexei Nikolaevich pity for everyone who was sick, as well as amazing respect for the Mother and all elders.” The heir had deep affection and reverence for his sovereign Father and considered the days spent under Nicholas II at headquarters in Mogilev to be the happiest times.

He was alien to arrogance and pride, he easily played with the children of his sailor uncle, while Alexei learned early that he was the future Tsar and, being in the company of noble people and people close to the Tsar, he became aware of his royalty.

One day, when he was playing with the Grand Duchesses, he was informed that officers from his sponsored regiment had come to the palace and asked permission to see the Tsarevich. The six-year-old Heir, leaving the fuss with his sisters, with serious look said: “Girls, go away, the Heir will have a reception.”

It happened that even on days of illness, the Heir had to attend official ceremonies and then at a brilliant parade, among the strong and healthy people The Tsarevich was carried past the rows of troops in the arms of the tallest and most powerful Cossack.

Teacher Pierre Gilliard described the behavior of the 13-year-old Heir at the news of the fall of the monarchy: “But who will be the Emperor? - “I don’t know, now - no one”... Not a single word about myself, not a single hint of my rights as an Heir. He blushed deeply and was worried. After several minutes of silence, he says: “If there is no longer an Emperor, who will rule Russia?” Once again I am amazed at the modesty and generosity of this child.”

Alexey Nikolaevich, speaking to me, recalled our conversation with him when he was on the train with the sovereign in the fall of 1915 in the south of Russia: “Remember, you told me that in Novorossiya Catherine the Great, Potemkin and Suvorov tied Russian influence and Turkish "The sultan forever lost its importance in the Crimea and the southern steppes. I liked this expression, and then I told my dad about it. I always tell him what I like."

In the summer of 1911, Pierre Gilliard became Alexei's French teacher and tutor. This is how Gilliard spoke about his pupil: “Alexey Nikolaevich was then nine and a half years old, for his age he was quite tall. He had a long face with regular, soft features, brown hair with a reddish tint and large gray-blue eyes, like his mother's. He genuinely enjoyed life - when it allowed him to - and was cheerful and playful... He was very resourceful, and he had a shrewd, sharp mind. Sometimes I was simply amazed by his serious questions beyond his age - they testified to his subtle intuition. It was not difficult for me to understand that everyone around him, those who did not need to force him to change habits and teach him discipline, constantly experienced his charm and were simply fascinated by him... I discovered a child with a naturally good character, sympathetic to the suffering of others precisely because he himself experienced terrible suffering ... "

We think that these sufferings of his were, in essence, suffering for Russia. The boy wanted to be strong and courageous in order to become a real king in his beloved country. According to the memoirs of S. Ofrosimova, “often an exclamation escaped him: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy people, I want everyone to be happy.”.

Ready to play pranks even during church services, he was very religious. In the spring of 1915, the Empress writes to Nicholas during Alexei’s illness that he is most concerned about whether he will be able to be at the service on Maundy Thursday. Everyone who witnessed difficult moments(and sometimes difficult hours) of illness, marked the great patience of the prince.

One day the Tsarevich entered the office of the sovereign, who at that time was talking with the minister. When the heir entered, the sovereign’s interlocutor did not find it necessary to stand up, but only, rising from his chair, offered his hand to the crown prince. The heir, offended, stopped in front of him and silently put his hands behind his back; this gesture did not give him an arrogant appearance, but only a regal, expectant pose. The minister involuntarily stood up and straightened up to his full height in front of the crown prince. The Tsarevich responded to this with a polite handshake. Having told the sovereign something about his walk, he slowly left the office, the sovereign looked after him for a long time and finally said with sadness and pride: “Yes. It will not be as easy for you to cope with him as with me.”

According to the memoirs of Yulia Den, Alexey, while still a very small boy, already realized that he was the heir:

“Her Majesty insisted that the Tsarevich, like his sisters, be raised completely naturally. In the heir's daily life, everything happened casually, without any ceremony, he was the son of his parents and the brother of his sisters, although sometimes it was funny to watch him pretend to be an adult. One day, when he was playing with the Grand Duchesses, he was informed that officers from his sponsored regiment had come to the palace and asked permission to see the Tsarevich. The six-year-old child, immediately leaving the fuss with his sisters, said with an important look: “Girls, go away, the heir will have a reception.”

Yes, one can assume that under Emperor Alexei Nikolaevich there would be order. This tsar could have been very popular among the people, since will, discipline and awareness of his own high position were combined in the nature of the son of Nicholas II with kindness and love for people.

A. A. Taneyeva: “The heir took an ardent part if the servants experienced any grief. His Majesty was also compassionate, but did not actively express it, while Alexey Nikolaevich did not calm down until he immediately helped. I remember the case of a cook who for some reason was denied a position. Alexey Nikolaevich somehow found out about this and pestered his parents all day until they ordered the cook to be taken back again. He defended and stood up for all his people.”

On July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia and, despite the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm and the Emperor of Russia exchanged telegrams, on the evening of August 1, Germany declared war on Russia. Alexey realized that war was horror, but he own life became much more interesting: the sailor suits were replaced by a soldier's uniform, and he was given a model of a rifle.

At the end of October, the Tsar, Alexei and his retinue left for Headquarters in Mogilev. Alexandra Feodorovna, like Nicholas II, believed that if the soldiers could see the Heir in person, this would raise their morale. The Emperor hoped that such a trip would broaden the Tsarevich’s horizons, and in the future he would understand what this war cost Russia. At the review of the troops in Rezhitsa, Gilliard observed Alexei, who did not leave his father and listened carefully to the stories of the soldiers... “The presence of the Heir next to the Tsar greatly excited the soldiers... But the greatest impression on them was that the Tsarevich was dressed in the uniform of a private - this made him equal to any young man who was on military service", writes Gilliard in his diary.

S. Ya. Ofrosimova: “The heir, the crown prince, had a very soft and kind heart. He was passionately attached not only to those close to him, but also to the ordinary employees around him. None of them saw arrogance or harsh behavior from him. He especially quickly and passionately became attached to ordinary people. His love for Uncle Derevenko was tender, hot and touching. One of his greatest pleasures was playing with his uncle's children and being among ordinary soldiers. With interest and deep attention, he peered into the lives of ordinary people, and often an exclamation escaped him: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy people, I want everyone to be happy.”

The Tsarevich’s favorite food was “cabbage soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat,” as he always said. Every day they brought him sampler and porridge from the soldiers’ kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment; The Tsarevich ate everything and still licked the spoon. Beaming with pleasure, he said: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.” Sometimes, eating almost nothing at the royal table, he quietly made his way with his dog to the buildings of the royal kitchen and, knocking on the glass windows, asked the cooks for a hunk of black bread and secretly shared it with his curly-haired favorite.”

The heir adored his father, and the sovereign in his “happy days” dreamed of raising his son himself. But for a number of reasons this was impossible, and Mr. Gibbs and Monsieur Gilliard became Alexei Nikolaevich’s first mentors. Subsequently, when circumstances changed, the sovereign managed to fulfill his desire.

Tsarevich Alexei was not destined to become Tsar and glorify the greatness of the Russian State, which he loved so dearly. However, throughout his short and unusually bright and sorrowful life until his last breath, he was able to glorify the greatness and beauty of the Christian soul, with youth ascending to God way of the cross, and having accepted martyr's crown, now prays for us at the Throne of God in the host of new martyrs of the Orthodox Church.

Holy Martyr Tsarevich Alexei, pray to God for us!

Tsarevich ALEXEY (1904-?) and Philip SEMENOV (1904-1979)

Several times I published here materials about the youngest children of Nikolai and Alexandra, Anastasia and Alexei, rescued on the night of July 17, 1918.
As for Anastasia (1901-?), her very rare bilateral congenital foot deformity (congenital bilateral hallux valgus), which Anna Anderson (1901-1984) also had, allows us to assert with a high degree of probability (1:17 million) that Anastasia Romanova and Anna Anderson are the same person. None of the other (more than 30) famous contenders for the “role” of Anastasia had this foot deformity.
We also note that medical statistics in in this case more than a thousand times higher than the reliability of DNA tests, which in 1994-1997 allegedly showed that Anna Anderson had no relation to the Royal Family and that Anastasia’s supposed remains were found near Yekaterinburg (in the Koptyakovsky forest) and buried in St. Petersburg along with the remains of Nikolai, Alexandra, Olga and Tatiana in 1998.

HEMOPHILIA AND CRYPTORCHISM
As far as we know, there were slightly more than ten candidates for the “role” of the rescued Alexei. One or two of them had the same blood disease - hemophilia, like Alexei, one or two - another rare disease, cryptorchidism (non-descent of one testicle), which the Heir to the Throne also had.
However, only one of all applicants - Philip Grigorievich Semenov - had both of these diseases, which is documented in his medical documents, in the medical history. By the way, the myths that none of the patients with hemophilia live long and that any seriously injured(external wounds) are fatal for them - this is false myths. There are known cases of 50-year or more life expectancy for patients with hemophilia, and their survival after severe injuries:
http://tsarevich.spb.ru/hemo-about.php

As in the case of Anna-Anastasia, until recently none of the researchers thought to inquire about the medical statistics of these diseases. Yes, everyone knew that both hemophilia and cryptorchidism are quite rare diseases, but none of the historians and researchers looked at the medical statistics.
Medical statistics of hemophilia, according to different sources, ranges from 1:8000 to 1:100,000; The medical statistics for cryptorchidism (for adults) is approximately 0.3%, or 1:333.
Therefore, at a minimum, only one person out of approximately 2,664,000 has both of these diseases (8000x333=2664000). Therefore, it is with this probability that we can claim that Philip Semenov really, as he claimed, was Alexei Romanov.

PHILIP SEMENOV: 1949
It seems that Edward Radzinsky was the first to write about Philip Semenov in his book “Nicholas the Second. Life and death". You can see articles about him on the Internet:
http://www.trud.ru/trud.php?id=200205230862601

<<В январе 1949 года в республиканскую психиатрическую больницу Карелии с диагнозом «маниакальный депрессивный психоз» поступил Семёнов Филипп Григорьевич, заключённый одной из исправительных колоний, что вблизи города Медвежьегорска. В сопроводительных документах значилось, что он дважды перенёс инсульт с последующим параличом. Потом наступило улучшение в такой степени, что он мог даже ходить на работу. Однако 8 января заключённый внезапно почувствовал сильную головную боль, обратился в лагерный лазарет, где ему оказали помощь. А спустя некоторое время Семёнов засобирался куда-то ехать, ругал какого-то Белобородова, перестал узнавать окружающих, отказывался от пищи. Поэтому врач колонии и направил его в Петрозаводск, в психиатрическую клинику.
It is from this that the amazing story of this unusual patient, full of mysteries and mysticism, begins to be documented. His medical history has been preserved under number 64. On the title page there is his last name, first name and patronymic, year of birth - 1904, nationality - Russian, profession - economist-financier. Further, the objective examination data are the same as for many patients of such clinics. If only this is somewhat distinctive - “consciousness is preserved, oriented in place and time.”
After two to three days, the state of acute psychosis with which Semyonov was admitted to the clinic completely passed. It was then that he told the doctors his “extraordinary” story, of which they had heard plenty over the years of working with this category of patients. In fact, he is Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, he was rescued during the execution of the Royal Family, taken to Leningrad, lived there, then served in the Red Army as a cavalryman, after the war he studied at the institute, worked as an economist in Central Asia. All his life he has been pursued by a certain Beloborodov, who knows his secret; it was he who forced Semyonov to commit theft, which is why he ended up in prison...
Resident doctors Yulia Sologub and Dalila Kaufman spent a long time talking with the “unusual” patient in the hospital. As Dalila Abramovna later said, he was a highly educated person who knew several foreign languages and read a lot, especially the classics. Throughout his entire stay in the psychiatric hospital, Semyonov was calm, completely communicative, with a clear mind and correct behavior. This is exactly how Kaufman characterized the patient’s revelations – in quotes – he did not impose his “nonsense” on anyone, it did not in any way affect his behavior, as usually happens with such patients, which baffled doctors.
And what was especially striking: Semenov’s medical history included a blood disease - a consequence of hemophilia, and also not prolapse of one testicle. Just like Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov! Two such coincidences were already enough to seriously draw attention to this mysterious patient of a psychiatric clinic. And if we add to this the fact that Semyonov was born in the same year 1904 as the Tsarevich, and on his buttock he had a cross-shaped mark from a wound... And he knew well all the palace ceremonies, knew the location of the rooms of the Winter Palace, the names and titles of everyone members royal family, much more from the palace life of the Romanovs and pre-revolutionary high society.
According to Philip Grigorievich, during the execution in Yekaterinburg, the “father” hugged him and pressed his face to him so that the boy would not see the guns pointed at him. He was wounded in the buttock, lost consciousness and fell into a common pile of bodies...

PHILIP SEMENOV: ROMANOV-IRIN-SEMENOV
But let's return to our Tsarevich from the strange house. He was saved and treated for a long time by some devoted person, perhaps a monk. A few months later, strangers came and announced that from now on he would bear the surname Irin (an abbreviation for the words Name of the Romanovs - Name of the Nation).
Then the boy was brought to Petrograd, to some mansion supposedly on Millionnaya Street, where he accidentally heard that he was going to be used as a symbol of the unification of forces hostile to the new system. He did not want such a fate for himself and therefore fled from these people. On Fontanka they were just signing up for the Red Army. Having added two years to himself, he joined the cavalry. Then he studied and worked as an economist. Got married. I changed my last name to Semenov, taking the documents of my wife’s relative... Then there was imprisonment, a psychiatric hospital...
Philip Semenov was shown to one of the best psychiatrists in the country at that time, professor from Leningrad Samuil Gendelevich. The doctor, moreover, turned out to be very competent in “royal” matters. He knew the location and purpose of the rooms of the Winter Palace and country residences of the beginning of the last century, the names and titles of all members of the royal family and its dynastic branches, all court positions, protocols of ceremonies accepted in the palace.
The tricky questions that Gendelevich began asking his patient led nowhere. Semyonov answered readily, without hesitation, giving more and more new details. He behaved calmly and with dignity...
<…>
Here, however, the information about Semenov given by Dalila Kaufman is somewhat at odds with the medical history of “Tsarevich Alexei.” From the entry made in it it follows that F. G. Semenov in April 1949, after a forensic medical examination, was sent to a psychiatric hospital of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And this may mean that the study of his mysterious and delusional, as it was believed then, legend was continued under an even greater cover of secrecy.
Delilah Kaufman wrote about all this to the famous writer Edward Radzinsky, who was preparing a book about Nicholas II. And he dedicated Semenov in his book “Lord... save and pacify Russia. Nicholas II: Life and Death" a whole chapter called "Guest", where he talks about this strange and mysterious man.
<…>
Philipp Grigorievich Semyonov was released from correctional colony No. 1 in 1951. He died in 1979, just when the remains of the royal family were first discovered in the Urals. His widow Ekaterina Mikhailovna was convinced that her husband was the emperor’s heir. And as Semenov’s adopted son recalled, his stepfather loved to wander around the city, he could stay in the Winter Palace for hours, he preferred ancient things. He spoke reluctantly about his secret, only with his closest people. He had no abnormalities, and after the camp he never went to a psychiatric hospital. He was fluent in German, French, English and Italian, and wrote in ancient Greek.
Philip Grigorievich Semenov has long been gone, but his secret remains. There are still many questions left in this story. In what schools could he be taught so many languages? Why such striking physiological and medical similarities between him and Tsarevich Alexei, whose remains have still not been found? For what offenses was Semyonov hidden in Stalin’s camps for a long time? Who is Beloborodov, because of whom, allegedly, Semyonov ends up in them?>>
These were excerpts from an article by Alexander Popov. As for Beloborodov, it is very likely that this is the same A.G. Beloborodov - chairman of the Urals Council in 1918...
***
GENDELEVICH and FEDOROV
The question that arose in me after reading the chapter about Philip Semenov (from the book by E. Radzinsky) and the article by A. Popov was where the doctor Samuil Gendelevich came from (namely, he was the main actor identification of Semenov as Tsarevich) - how could he know about hemophilia and cryptorchidism of the heir Alexei, and also have such extensive knowledge about the Royal Family? Perhaps Gendelevich was familiar with one of the physicians of the Royal Family who remained in Russia after 1917?
Several famous doctors of the Royal Family did not emigrate after 1917 and worked in the USSR. In particular, Sergei Petrovich Fedorov (1869-1936) immediately after the abdication of Nicholas changed his attitude towards him and then collaborated with the Bolsheviks. The same doctor Fedorov who advised Nicholas II regarding the health of Alexei on March 2, 1917 in Pskov. He continued his career in the USSR, he was the director of the Institute of Neurosurgery in Leningrad in 1929-1936. He was buried at the “Communist site” of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra of St. Petersburg.
There is no doubt that Professor S. Fedorov and Professor S. Gendelevich - two of the largest physicians in Leningrad in those years - knew each other and communicated various issues. Fedorov was also involved in the problems of epilepsy and nervous diseases, where Gendelevich was the largest specialist.
We can also confidently assume that Gendelevich had extensive knowledge about life Royal Court, about royal residences and palaces, about titles, etc. from Fedorov. They probably not only knew each other (like famous doctors Leningrad), but were also friends with each other.

CHILDREN OF F. SEMENOV
In addition to this article by A. Popov, I found my 1998 diary entries about documentary film“Impostors” (director Alexander Gabnis):
Philip Semenov was married four times. He married for the first time in 1930 (under the last name Irin), his wife's name was Sophia. In this first marriage three sons were born: Yuri, Vladimir and Konstantin. In Leningrad, he was found by A.G. Beloborodov, the same one who was the chairman of the presidium of the Ural Regional Council in 1918. He knew the secret and blackmailed Irina and demanded money. The family fled from his persecution to Samarkand, where Irin changed his last name to Semenov. He worked as an accountant in Samarkand. However, Beloborodov found him in Samarkand and again began to extort money. Twice Semenov informed Beloborodov of the location of the secret treasures of the Royal Family, but Beloborodov demanded money again and again. Semyonov began stealing government money and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He escaped from prison. Then he was married a second time (to a certain Asya) and a third time (to a certain Anna Ivanovna). For some time he lived in Tbilisi, but Beloborodov found him there again. Beloborodov's traces ended in 1938. In 1941, Semenov was arrested again and this time he was sentenced to prison for 10 years. Further events described in the article above.
Semyonov had no children after his first marriage. The fates of Vladimir and Konstantin are unknown. Perhaps they disappeared in the whirlwinds of the war of 1941-1945. His son Yuri was alive in 1998. Alexander Gabnis said that in 1994 the British allegedly conducted a genetic examination on him with Prince Philip.
I found confirmation of this in the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” No. 36, September 5, 2007:
http://gazeta.aif.ru/online/aif/1401/45_01
“In the late 1990s, on the initiative of the English newspaper Daily Express, the eldest son Yuri donated blood for genetic examination. Peter Gil conducted it at the Aldermasten Laboratory (England). The DNA of the “grandson” of Nicholas II, Yuri Filippovich Semyonov, and the English Prince Philip was compared. Of the three tests, two coincided, and the third turned out to be neutral.”
As far as is known, Yuri Filippovich Semenov did not lay claim to Russian throne and a place in the House of Romanov. He only wanted to know the truth. It seems that in 1998 he was going to leave Russia forever (?).

FILATOV, HAMMET, SEMENOV.
In total, since 1918, 11 “Alekseev contenders” were known. The most likely candidates are Philip Semenov (died 1979) and Vasily Filatov (died 1988), as well as Heino Tammet (he had cryptorchidism, but did not have hemophilia). The son of Vasily Filatov, Oleg lives in St. Petersburg to the present day. Outwardly, he is very similar to Nicholas II. You can read more about the history of Vasily Filatov in the book by O.V. Filatov himself, “The History of the Soul, or a Portrait of an Epoch.” The fate of Tsarevich Alexei, son of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia" (St. Petersburg, 2000). Genetic examination, conducted in Germany, seemed to confirm the relationship of the Filatovs with those victims whose remains were solemnly buried in St. Petersburg in 1998. However, the Russian Orthodox Church and several large domestic and foreign researchers These remains are still not recognized as the remains of members of the Royal Family. Some researchers (like V. Wiener from Yekaterinburg) have long argued that these are precisely the remains of members of the twin family of the Royal Family - the Filatov family, which was shot in Yekaterinburg also in July 1918...
I don’t know which of the three (F. Semenov or V. Filatov, or Heino Tammet) could have been the surviving Tsarevich Alexei. However, medical statistics convincingly speak for Philip Semenov.

Boris Romanov

P.S. On October 20, 2015, I received a review of this article from journalist Vasily Veikki Ivanov. I quote it below almost in full:
“In your publication you refer to Alexander Popov. But I dare to assure you that his name is not Alexander, but Alexey. For me, he is not the author<...>. The article, excerpts from which you quote, was largely copied from my publications of 1997-98 and 99. Having visited the Karelian Republican Hospital, one might say, on my own initiative and on the instructions of the editors of the magazine "North", I literally spent a whole month sitting in medical archive hospital and manually copied many pages from the Medical History (of the heir). My first publication was in August 1997 in the weekly magazine Gubernia, and then in the May (1998) issue of the magazine Sever, and it was called “Heir to the Throne or Impostor?” Then I worked in the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Popov would not have been allowed there - he is not a journalist, but a lover of collecting all sorts of things about UFOs). On Proza Ru, but relatively recently, I published these materials. Moreover, I had photographs of F. Semenov himself published in magazines and newspapers. Now, unfortunately, I don’t have them, but recent events make me think that I will resume my search."

The full review by V. Veikki Ivanov can be read in the reviews section for this article, and the article by V. Veikki Ivanov himself, “Heir to the throne or impostor?” can be read on Proza.Ru.