Romanov

The House of Romanov (????????, pronounced Ro-MAH-nof) was the second and last imperial dynasty of Russia, which ruled Muscovy and the Russian Empire for five generations from 1613 to 1762. From 1762 to 1917 Russia was ruled by a branch of the House of Oldenburg, which retained the Romanov surname.

Downfall

All these emperors (except Alexander III) had German-born consorts, a circumstance that cost the Romanovs their popularity during World War I. Nicholas's wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, although devoutly Orthodox, was particularly hated by the populace.

Related Topics:
World War I - Alexandra Fyodorovna

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Alexandra Fyodorovna brought to the Romanov family a mutated gene of her grandmother, Queen Victoria, which was responsible for hemophilia of her children. Nikolai and Alexandra had 4 daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia). The long-awaited heir to the throne, Alexei, was also a hemophiliac.

Related Topics:
Gene - Queen Victoria - Hemophilia - Olga - Tatiana - Maria - Anastasia - Alexei

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When the Romanov family celebrated the tercentenary of its rule, in 1913, the solemnities were clouded by numerous bad omens. Our Lady of St Feodor, a patron icon of the family, blackened so badly that the image has been hardly visible ever since. Grigory Rasputin proclaimed that the Romanovs' power wouldn't last for a year after his death, and he was murdered by one of the Romanov Grand Dukes several months before the February Revolution of 1917, which actually dethroned Nikolai II.

Related Topics:
1913 - Omens - Grigory Rasputin - February Revolution - 1917

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Bolshevik authorities killed the last Romanov monarch, Nikolai II, and his immediate family in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on July 17, 1918. Ironically, the Ipatiev House has the same name as the in Kostroma, where Mikhail Romanov had been offered the Russian crown in 1613. The spot where the Ipatiev House once stood has recently been commemorated by a magnificent cathedral "on the blood". After years of controversy, Nikolai II and his family were proclaimed saints by the Russian Orthodox church in 2000.

Related Topics:
Bolshevik - Nikolai II - Yekaterinburg - July 17 - 1918 - Ipatiev House - Kostroma - 1613 - Russian Orthodox church - 2000

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