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The Court of the Last Tsar: Pomp, Power and Pageantry in the Reign of Nicholas II

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I've always been interested in the Romanovs, the last rulers of Imperial Russia, and I will usually pick up anything new that has been written about them. One author that has been providing new insights and information about the last Tsar and his family has been Greg King, who has authored three previous works on the Imperial family.

This time, instead of looking just at the personal lives, he recreates the world of magnificent palaces, grand spectacles, weddings, coronations, christenings and funerals, that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family lived in and their lives in surroundings that were sumptuous, to say the very least. Greg King begins his journey with an overview of the Imperial family, but also the people of the court, from ministers and ladies-in-waiting, right down to the maids, footmen, chefs and nursemaids that cared for the Imperial children.

From there, we see that these people populated palaces of immense splendour, starting with the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo -- The Tsar's Village -- Peterhof, and the palaces in Moscow. A brief history of who built the palaces, what they were used for, and how they were decorated and arranged by Alexandra, along with quite a few ancedotes about them makes for interesting reading. Far from living in grand rooms decorated with gilt and malachite, both Nicholas and Alexandra preferred a rather bourgoisie style, of homey, chintz style, and heavily cluttered, and the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo was more like an English manor than the home of the man who ruled more than a sixth of the globe.

Possessions, of course, filled these palaces, and King takes a look at not just the artistry of Faberge eggs and jewelry by Cartier, but also how the Russian Court dressed and influenced fashion, from the wily tricks of the most famous dressmaker in St. Petersburg -- But I always cut my prices for you, Your Majesty! -- to the private trains that transported the Imperial family from one palace to another, and the two yachts that they used, as well as some rare photographs of the interiors.

A tsar does much more than just merely sign decrees and pack revolutionaries off to Siberia, and the next section goes into the details of the ceremonial lives of the Imperial family -- from religious and military pageantry and reviews, to the intricate planning and details of births, marriages and funerals, along with the coronation ceremonies that marked Nicholas II's ascension to the throne. The the marriage of Nicholas and Alexandra, christening of the long-awaited Tsarevich Alexei, and the funeral of Tsar Alexander III form the backdrop of these ceremonies.

Finally, there are the pleasures that the Romanovs enjoyed. From Imperial balls and the 'Season' that lasted yearly from New Years to the begining of Lent, St. Petersburg's aristocracy, State visits to other countries, and the lush palaces of the Crimea, King goes into fine detail, but refrains from bogging down the reader with unneccesary trivia.

In fact, this massive book of nearly 600 pages moves quite firmly, forming a narrative from memoirs, the family's own diaries and letters, and the massive photographic and film records that were left after the Revolution of 1917. King does not cover the events that occured after the start of World War One, only the declaration of war in 1914, and the later exile and execution of the Romanovs is only hinted at.

At first glance, this may only sound like a pegean of praise and adoration for the last Tsar and his family, but King weaves in the mistakes and blunders that Nicholas and his wife made that would send them from the popularity that they enjoyed in the early years of the reign to the sinister influences of Rasputin, to the self-imposed isolation and dislike that would eventually lead to the Revolution. Much of what King wrote about in his previous biography about Alexandra is brought up, from her extreme shyness and hateur, and her compulsive need to be in control. King refrains from making any judgements, but allows the major players in this tragedy to speak for themselves.

Along with the vivid descriptions, King includes several appendices that have maps of Imperial estates, St. Petersburg, the floor plans of palaces, the structure and organization of the Imperial court, and a genealogical chart of the Romanovs. There are also extensive notes, bibliographies, and an index.

Several inserts of colour photographs are included, and throughout the text, there are quite a few black and white photos. Unfortunately, while many of the photos are of objects and places not usually seen in books on the Romanovs, the quality of the photos leave much to be desired. They tend to be out of focus, blurry, and just plain shoddy reproduction. This is the greatest drawback of the book, and lowers the otherwise excellent quality.

For those who want to know the details of the last Romanovs, and see how they actually lived and moved in their lives, this is an excellent resource, full of entertaining stories, quite a few prophetic moments, and ultimately, an overall pall of oncoming doom. It makes a good ancillary text to the more standard biographies about the Romanovs by Massie, King and Vorres, and for fans of royalty, it's one that is not to be missed.

Greg King has recreated what seemed lost forever: the last court of the Romanovs in pre-Revolutionary Russia. This magnificent volume chronicles the daily lives of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their children, and the dozens of Grand Dukes and Duchesses so that it becomes a group biography. Much of that material is fairly familiar and accessible. What is much more intriguing is the incredible detail which King provides on the lives of the innumerable courtiers and servants who made the luxurious lives of the Romanovs possible. Anyone who has read anything at all about the last Tsar and his family knows the names of such retainers as Count Freedericksz, Baroness Buxhoeveden, Countess Hendrikov, and Pierre Gilliard, but King gives these loyal servants life by providing biographical details and other descriptions which I would have thought impossible to track down after nearly a century. It makes Nicholas and Alexandra's story so much more real and affecting to know the stories behind the people who spent their lives serving them. There's even a picture and biography of Jim Hercules, the American "Ethiopian" guard who brought the imperial children jars of jelly after he returned from vacations in the US!

Not only are there many previously unknown human stories in The Court of the Last Tsar, there are also fascinating descriptions of the palaces, hunting lodges, yachts, trains, jewels and other possessions of the Romanovs. King's descriptions of room after room filled with magnificent treasures in the Winter Palace, Peterhof, and Tsarskoye Selo are so vivid its like taking a tour led by the most expert of guides. Here again little known details add to the pleasure: Nicholas' yacht "Standart" was actually in active service for the Soviet navy until 1963, for example. King also discusses the Romanovs' vast wealth and the complications involved in administering an income which runs into the tens of millions of dollars in present day funds.

The palaces provided the setting for dazzling ceremonies, and King provides wonderful descriptions of balls, coronations, weddings, funerals, and other festivities. The information is so detailed and complete that I feel that if somehow I could travel back to the Winter Palace in 1900 to be presented to the Tsar and Empress, I would know exactly how to dress, which entrance to use, which halls and rooms to pass through, and how low to bow.

This is a fine book on many levels. Subjects are parsed in sections - Personages, Palaces, Possessions, Pageantry, Pleasures - and the narrative is fluid and distinct. Chapters on the extensive Romanov family are fashioned with critically vivid directness, and the author comes into his own discussing the Romanov palaces. King needn't take a back seat to anyone with respect to understanding architecture and its many-layered meanings. Detailed descriptions of the various Romanov houses gives this book great value both historical and artistic, with a completeness missing in other literature on the subject. Along the way there are some real tidbits - about the emperor's library at the Winter Palace, he reveals that the Imperial Bindery provided the collection of rare volumes with new leather bindings: brown for works in Russian, blue for French, red for those in English, green for German. King reveals that the Chesme room at Peterhof took its name from twelve large canvases by Jacob Philippe Hackaert, depicting the Russian naval victory over Turkey in the Mediterranean in the early 1770s. When Hackaert worked on his commission, the Russian navy actually had a sixty-gun frigate blown up as it lay at anchor, so that the painter might accurately reflect the horrors of battle! The book contains three large sections of beautiful color photos. Unfortunately, a number of interesting photos are in black and white; one especially, the homely Lower Palace at Alexandria, Peterhof, I wish was color, but the photos are pungent and important, with the large color shots reproduced again in b/w miniature on those pages of text germane to them. Especially valuable is a rare photo of mediaeval-inspired Feodorovsky Sobor in the Alexander Park at Tsarkoye Selo, its hipped roofs and vaulted arcades topped with a single onion dome above its chapel. It's a magnificent edifice! Nicholas II, who nursed a love of mediaeval architecture, loved this anachronistic fantasy and commissioned additional buildings in the same style. The book dazzles with details, architectural and otherwise, each chosen with purpose. That purpose, it turns out, is the revealing of Nicholas and Alexandra. Strange as it seems, this book about the material, as it were, of the court of Nicholas II, ends by revealing profoundly the fated couple. Perhaps no other book has opened more deeply the mystery of Nicholas and his Empress. THIS is the real treasure of 'Court of the Last Tsar'. It's not surprising King's reputation for essential scholarship noticably rises. If you've an interest in, or better, a love for Romanov history, this is the book to read. By shaping the discussion around palaces and ceremonies and privileges, the intense mystical humanity of Nicholas and Alexandra comes screaming through - vibrant with tenderness and grief, misunderstood, sacrificial. I'm tremendously moved by this book and you will be too. One of the great mysteries of human history nobly emerges almost, it would seem, by accident. It's transfixing from beginning to end. Greatly, generously, unreservedly recommended reading.

I would agree with Ms Huston that Mr King's book is 'full of entertaining stories', and on that level is a great read.

However, as for being 'extremely well researched' (Hall), 'a great work of scholarship' (Kurth), and 'a major source for historians' (Eilers), with Mr King 'emerging as one of the leading authorities' (Fuhrmann), I regret I must disagree with these assessments.

The book is filled with too many inaccuracies, and despite his fifteen years of research, the author has failed to master even the basic terminology. He has created court ranks that never even existed--starshaya dama, starshaya freilina, ober-truchsess, just to name a few--and his translations of them and others into English leave much to be desired.

P. 105 cites Princess Elizabeth Naryshkin-Kuryakin as Alexandra's ober-gofmeisterina when in fact she never held this exact title. Furthermore, her name is spelled incorrectly and she was not a princess by marriage. Her name should at least appear as it does on the cover of the English version of her memoirs, Under Three Tsars: The Memoirs of the Lady-in-Waiting Elizabeth Narishkin-Kurakin, or in strict transliteration as Naryshkina-Kurakina. NB: She was born Princess Kurakina and was known in Russia as Madame Naryshkina after her marriage. This double name was only used after the Revolution on her memoirs.

P. 105 describes the empress's suite thus: 'This included the starshiye dami, or ladies-in-waiting of the highest rank; the dames à portrait; the kamer-freilini, or personal ladies-in-waiting; the starshiye freilini, or ordinary ladies-in-waiting; the kaval'er-dami, or dames of the Order of St. Catherine; and the freilini, or maids of honor.'

First of all, there were only three (3) ranks, or titles for ladies at the court, not six (6) as is suggested here (not including that of ober-gofmeisterina and gofmeisterina, which Mr King himself does not include in this grouping). As already mentioned, starshaya dama and starshaya freilina did not even exist. The individuals who Mr King incorrectly calls starshaya dama and the dames à portrait were in fact one in the same, not two separate ranks. (Why he uses the French term dames à portrait in an English text is not understandable either as there is a perfectly good English translation of this court rank.) The kaval'er-dami (which is an incorrect transliteration) do not fall in this hierarchy, and even they did, would not be placed second to last they are here.

P. 106 states that both Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden and Countess Anastasia Hendrikov had the title of kamer-freilina. Neither in fact had it.

P. 489 purports to show the composition of the court of Empress Alexandra. Mr King cites Princess Alexandra Kozena (she was not a princess by marriage and her surname is misspelled) and Countess Emma de Freedericksz (the Freedericksz did not have the nobiliary particle 'de' in their name and her given name was not Emma) as Starshiye Dami as if there were only two (2). In fact nineteen (19) ladies were appointed to this misnomer rank during the reign of Nicholas II alone, and there were numerous others from previous reigns still alive at the time.

None of the ladies he names as Alexandra's Kamer-Freilini in fact held this title.

The ladies listed under the non-existent rank of Starshiye Freilini in fact belonged to two different subcategories of another rank. It is also interesting to note here the inconsistency in the transliteration of the surnames. One finds Princess Bariatinsky, Countess Tolstoy, and Princess Orlov (masculine endings), but Princess Obolenskaya, Countess Bobrinskaya, and Princess Vasilchikova (feminine endings). Out of consistency one should use all masculine endings (which is one option if one does not want to decline names in their female forms) or all feminine endings. Also to note is that Princess Olga Butzova was not a princess and her surname is spelled incorrectly. Cantacuzené is also an incorrect spelling.

There are five (5) ladies listed under the heading of Freilini (a rank that did exist); however, there were well over 200 freiliny (as it would correctly be transliterated) at the Russian court, not just these five. Why this meagre sampling is anyone's guess. In addition, Countess Elizabeth Kelepovskaya was not a countess.

Even within his own nomenclature, Mr King is not consistent, translating kamer-freilina as 'lady-in-waiting' on p. 488, but as 'personal lady-in-waiting' on p. 489. On p. 489, 'lady-in-waiting' is used to translate the non-existent title of starshaya freilina!

On p. 112 Mr King states that the Order of St. Catherine was 'reserved for women of the imperial family and their ladies-in-waiting'. This is inaccurate as not all 'ladies-in-waiting' received the order--in fact, the vast majority did not--and it was bestowed on many foreigners. However, what is most amazing is that he states that 'The other feminine order was that of St. Anna ... Although mainly reserved for women, it was also awarded to distinguished men at court.' The order of St. Anne was an exclusively male order and was never presented to women. Even if one did not have access to an authoritative book on the orders of the Russian Empire, there are dozens of web sites in both English and Russian that attest to this fact.

Then on p. 121 we read, 'While the tutors were thus engaged in their morning lessons, preparations were underway for luncheon. Alexander Bobrinsky, the ober-truchsess [another non-existent title], or palace steward, was in charge of the servants. Directly below him was the ober-kamer-fourrier, who supervised the palace kitchens; much to the chagrin of the Russians, every ober-kamer-fourrier from the reign of Alexander III was French'. To suggest that Count Alexander Bobrinsky, a direct descendant of Empress Catherine II and an Actual Privy Counsellor and former Governor of St. Petersburg, was below stairs supervising the servants at luncheon is ridiculous. Mr King has apparently completely misunderstood the meanings of these court ranks and the functions attached to them. Furthermore, the kamer-fourriers, as he spells it, were not in charge of the palace kitchens, and the last three listed at the court in 1917 were in fact all Russians!

On p. 141 he states that prior to the Revolution the Russian aristocracy spoke English and French but avoided Russian (the same statement appears in The Fate of the Romanovs, p. 30). This may have been the case in the eighteenth century, when French was the predominant language, but with the wave of Russification that swept the country in the mid-nineteenth century, almost everyone in society by the time of Nicholas II spoke Russian fluently, and even Anna Vyrubova, in chapter two of her memoirs, writes: 'My French, which I own I spoke rather badly, came in for a great deal of ridicule.'

His description of the court dresses on pp. 244-5 is somewhat baffling in the fact that he describes these as having a 'jacket', which they did not, and goes on to imply that there were two trains when in fact there was only one: 'the folds of the jacket formed a flowing train ... and a separate train, attached to the waist, fell back in folds to the floor.' Even a cursory examination of the numerous photographs of these dresses that have been published both in book format and on the Internet would enable a more accurate description.

On page 260 one finds the pearl and diamond tiara of Empress Alexandra made by Kurt Hahn. There was a jeweller by the name of Hahn, but his name was not Kurt, and besides, this tiara was made by a completely different firm.

One begins to wonder, just with these few brief examples, how many other errors have slipped into Mr King's 'encyclopaedic masterpiece' (Eilers). Mr King would be well advised to hire himself a qualified academic and translation editor to review his manuscripts before they go to print.

Furthermore, there have been numerous excellent books published in the past several years on the Russian court--Shepelev, Fedorchenko (in Russian), Tillander-Godenhielm (in English)--indispensable for anyone writing on the court, yet Mr King cites none of these in his bibliography. (He does mention a web site with an excerpt from Shepelev, but his book ought to have been consulted.) He does not even cite the official Russian Court almanac, which was published on a yearly basis up to the Revolution by the court about the court, which lists all the ranks and the people who held them. He could have avoided many an embarrassing error had he consulted this primary source, which should be the first one anyone writing about the court should consult. True, one does find an impressive array of Russian archival sources in the footnotes, however it is difficult to believe that any of these have been consulted in the original as nobody with even a basic understanding of the Russian language could have committed the errors in terminology and transliteration that one finds in The Court of the Last Tsar. Lastly, on p. 531 it states that the Almanach de Saint-Petersbourg was 'issued by the Ministry of the Imperial Court', when in fact it was a privately published society directory, and not an 'official' publication of the court as this designation suggests. Again, the indiscriminate distribution of titles by Mr King resurfaces in the bibliography, with de Basily, Nicolas picking up the title of prince.

So for those who want a nice memoiric (I just created that word in honour of this publication) overview of the period filled with 'mysteries, traditions, scandals, rivalries, rituals, and riches' this is the book! It makes fantastic reading if you want to immerse yourself in a fairytale-like atmosphere of a bygone era. Historians and those who wish to have an accurate and detailed account of the composition and titles of the court etc. will have to look elsewhere, I am afraid.

Wonderful! This is one of the finest, well researched, well written and well presented books I have ever read.

This book is what it promises a thorough view of the Court Life of Nicholas II. We are also given a glance at his wonderfully eccentric Romanov family. The fascinating Miechen, the frightening Nicholasha and the grim Sergei together with Uncle Bimbo and the wonderful Constantinovichi line.

If there is ever an argument that Nicholas II would have been a wonderful Constitutional Monarch this book is all the evidence needed.

What a wonderful pagentry of Russian Court life complete with rituals, clothes and jewelry this book presents. Russian Orthodoxy is explained enough to allow the reader to understand the tradgedy of Nicholas II.

Midway through the book I felt like putting on a corset and white dress, large hat with ostrich feathers and then walking down the Nevsky Prospek hoping to see the sights and characters described by Greg King. Perhaps I would even have bought a trinket by Faberge during my visit.

In addition, Mr. King owes me for the day I was forced to take off to finish the book. I was so lost in roubles, trains, boats, icons, starets, cousins, furs, troikas, burials, coronations and abdications that there was no way I could force myself into 2006 and get to work.

This will one day be the school text on the subject.

If you are interested in the last Romanovs and their place in Russian history this book is your cup of tea. ALthough I was enthralled with the incredible details of the imperial family's vast wealth, other aspects of the book intrigued me even more. The book contains many black and white pictures of the royal family and their entourage that I had never seen before. For instance, there's a very clear picture of the pivotal character Anna Vyrubova-pivotal as she introduced the Empress to Rasputin. Vyrubova is described by many sources as being overblown physically as well as being bird-brained and childish. Anna has a Wagnerian physique, true, but judging from her writings, my personal opinion is that she was anything but stupid. In fact she may have been quite manipulative but very very loyal to the Imperial family during their lifetime and after their murder. There are two photos of Alexandra's sister, Ella, one of her in imperial dress before her husband was murdered, and the other of her in her nun's habit. (She took the veil when her husband, Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich, was blown apart by a bomb). There are several pictures of the imperial children I had never seen. One of Marie and Anastasia is particularly delightful. Anastasia looks mischievous as I am sure she was. Mischievous but not nasty or "evil" as some thought. Greg King points out that Anastasia felt unwanted and was trying to call attention to herself. I'll bet this is true: after four girls I imagine her parents were anything but enthusiastic about Anastasia, and they likely showed it, but not intentionally. There is a delightful picture of the four girls all in white with large white picture hats sitting crammed into a Standart bench next to the tsar who is in a white admiral uniform. Alexandra's famed mauve bedroom is pictured. There's an image of Alexander III (Nicholas III's father) laid out and that brings me to the chapter called "An Imperial Funeral."

Greg King writes very well indeed, but this chapter on the tsar's death and the two week journey of his body from Livadia in the Crimea, where he died, to Moscow to St. Petersburg- somehow captures the oppressive Russian spirit prevalent in those days.

I'm going to quote the last paragraph of this chapter in just a moment. Don't think that the color photos of the palaces, jewels, trains, etc aren't impressive and interesting, they are both. But it is the human element in this book that got through to me and made an impression just as great as the emeralds and diamonds and rubies and the trappings of the richest dynasty in the world.

Here is the end of the chapter on Alexander III's death:

"As the choirs sang and priests chanted amid the haze of incense and overwhelming heat from the flickering votive candles, the weeks of pomp and pageantry, decay and desolate grief, finally enveloped the family. Alexander's widow, her ears filled with ceaseless chants, and her eyes stung with tears, collapsed into the arms of the Princess of Wales [her sister] her heart- breaking screams of 'Enough! Enough! Enough!' echoing through the vast gilded cathedral as the polished coffin holding her husband's remains disappeared from view through the stone floor."

By the time the tsar was finally laid to rest, his face had turned black.

I've read literally hundreds of books on the Romanovs and Imperial Russia and there's not a single volumen that covers all the many aspects of the Russian Court and Imperial Russia as this work does. I find it perfect for someone who is starting to learn on the subject and highly useful for those with an already deep knowledge on this matter. Contrary to what i've read below, i find the author treatment of the Romanovs is very objective, expressing the opinions of the contemporaries through quotes from their own memoirs and previously unpublished material from archives, instead of, as the anonimous reviewer wrote, expressing his own opinion. As i see it, the author offers the information and let the reader form his/her own opinion. Aside from the already mentioned archival material, the reader will find dozens of extremelly rare volumes that have been carefully studied and consulted for the research of this book, which alone should make it an essential addition to any Romanov library. As compared with many of the recent publications about the Romanovs, which are a cut and paste of previous works, you will really find this new book's content truly informative and amazingly detailed.

The Court of the Last Tsar is a long book of almost 600 oversized pages, elaborately illustrated and expensive to purchase. It is worth the rubles required to acquire it for your home library. Historian Greg King wrote a similar book on life at Queen Victoria's court called "Twilight of Splendor. These two volumes are both well researched and add insight to one's understanding of royalty in the nineteenth century.
We all know that Nicholas II and his German wife Alexandria along with their five children: Olga, Tatania, Marie. Anastasia and the tsaravich the hemophiliac Alexis were executed by the Bolshevists in 1918. Their life was tragic but until the Revolution they lived a life of incredible materialistic wealth and glamour. Nicholas was one of the richest men in all the world. He though little about alleviating the suffering of his vast nation and reluctantly accepted the Duma and small democratic reforms.
King divides the book into several sections:
Part One: Personages: We learn all about the Romanov dynasty which ruled Russian for three centuries. Nicholas was the 18th and final Tsar before the red tide of communism swept the family into history's dustbin. Nicholas was a mediocre ruler who proved to be a uxorious husband. He was short and loved dressing in military uniforms. His thinking was conventional and he relished life as an autocratic ruler. During his reign from 1894-1918 pogroms were held against Jews; the 1905 revolution was crushed and people had little liberty. His concern was focused almost solely on his family. He was cousin to both Edward VII of Great Britain and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germay. He loved England and he and Alexander often visited there and other nations. Alexandra was beautiful but came across as cold and shy. She was disliked by the Russian people. She sought spiritual solace from Rasputin when her son became ill. The daughters were charming but spoiled as was little Alexis. King spends several pages on other mothers of the Romanov clan.
II. Palaces-Details galore on the major palaces of the Tsar are chronicled. These palaces include: St. Petersburg's cold Winter Palace;
the retreat at Tsarkoye Selo. Peterhof and Moscow palaces. Many of the architectural terms the author uses will have to be looked up in a dictionary by lay readers. We learn how the servants lived and what a day was like in a Russian palace.
III.Possessions: Fabulous Faberge Eggs! Priceless bracelets, rings and necklaces are discussed in detail. We learn about the carriages used by the Romanovs and life at their country homes.
IV. Pageantry: One of the most interesting of the sections it deals with the funeral of Alexander III, the wedding of Nicholas and Alexandria, the coronation of the tsar in 1896 and the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty celebrated in 1913.
V. Pleasures: We go to the imperial balls of the era, enjoy state visits to such locales as Paris and join the family at rest in the Crimea.
Epilogue: With the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the life of the Tsar and his tragic family destroyed their lives and plummeted Russian into revolution and the overthrow and murder of Nicholas and his family.
King spends little time explaining the depth of the poverty stricken lives of most Russians. His focus is on the tsar and his court. In this he does an excellent job. The book is beautifully designed and allows us to travel back in our time machine to a vanished era. Well done!

i love this book,it is so hard to find good books about the czar.thanks for the great service.

I love reading non-fiction books about historical figures, so I was eager to get my hand on "The Court of the Last Tsar" by Greg King. All I can say is it was a complete waste of my time and money. One thing I hate is when an author constantly lets readers know his own personal opinion of the person or person he is writng about. It is quite clear that Greg King strongly dislikes the Romanovs, especially Empress Alexandra. For example, he criticizes everything about this woman, including her taste in furniture! If you are just starting to learn about the Romanovs, don't bother with this book. Greg King does not let readers know what is fact and what is his own negative opinion, therefore readers new to this subject will be sadly misguided.