Rare Last Photos Of The Romanovs

Visiting the Troops

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This photo shows Tsar Nicholas II visiting a regiment of Kuban Cossacks in Russia along with his children during World War 1. The Tsar’s older daughters and wife helped nurse wounded soldiers as volunteers with the Red Cross during the war, though Anastasia was too young to help, so she played games of checkers and billiards with soldiers to lift their spirits instead. During the war, Nicholas II took command of the army on the front lines. The war also provided an opportunity for his wife, Alexandra, to influence him toward an authoritarian government approach. Her German origin injured the Romanov’s reputation during this time.

Empress Alexandra Walks with Her Daughter

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This photograph from the Beinecke Library’s collection shows Empress Alexandra walking with her second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna. During her lifetime, Tatiana was the best known of the Romanov family’s daughters. She was said to be the daughter who most favored her mother, Alexandra, and was often said to be her mother’s favorite daughter. Tatiana became a skilled Red Cross nurse when the war broke out, along with Alexandra and her sister, Olga. They cared for wounded soldiers in a private hospital on the Tsarskeo Selo grounds before the Romanov family was arrested during the Russian Revolution of 1917.