Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums [Hardcover]

Prince of Greece Michael (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

Tsar Nicholas II was a man both unprepared and ill equipped to head the Russian empire, and under the influence of Alexandra Feodorovna, the painfully shy wife he so adored, he lead the country to disaster. This book tells the story of the couple's romance up to their abduction and death in 1918.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1850434948
• ISBN-13: 978-1850434948
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #895,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'The' best picture book on the Romanov family......, January 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Hobart, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums (Hardcover)

To leaf through the pages of this book for a Romanov enthusiast such as myself is truly a moving experience. I particularly like the photographs of the Grand Duchesses having reached womanhood. This book unlike many others I have encountered provides us the reader with an (dare one say it) almost 'too' intimite insight into the family's day to day lives. One senses the individuals as they actually were....., rather than as court photographs typically portray them. Photographs perhaps more than any other medium serve to remind us that people before us were just as much flesh and blood as we are, 'The family albums' has demonstrated this fact admirably.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Behind palace walls..., October 19, 2004

By 

Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums (Hardcover)

There are many books of pictures of the Romanov family, but Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums by Prince Michael of Greece is probably the best of the bunch. Since Nicholas became tsar and husband at almost the same time, their family life is very well documented in pictures. There are the usual official photographs taken by professional photographers. But the Romanov's were also big shutterbugs. They all owned cameras and it is in these candid shots that we really get a chance to see life within the palace walls. In addition to formal portraits, we see the Imperial Family at work, at play, on vacation and just relaxing. We also see extended family members (most of them European royalty from England, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and others). Many of these photographs were taken from the albums of individual family members, and were hidden in communist archives. They were only made available after perestroika.

This book also gives us a glimpse of the many residences of the Romanov's. While the Alexander Palace was their primary home, they also spent time in the Crimea (Livadia Palace), Spala (their hunting lodge in Poland), Standart and Polar Star (Imperial Yachts), and The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Some of these photographs are of never before seen interior shots.

Nicholas and Alexandra are criticized for being ineffective rulers, but in one thing they can't be faulted--they were loving and devoted parents. The closeness of their family life comes through very clearly in The Family Albums. There are also pictures of their captivity, that are extremely haunting. But looking at this book just magnifies the tragedy of their fate. They gave up not just palaces, jewels, clothes and priceless objects, but because of poor leadership, they also cost this beautiful family their lives. That is the most heartbreaking loss of all.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful pictures, surprising mistakes, March 31, 2002

By 

MARTIN J. HATLIE "Bio junkie" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nicholas and Alexandra: The Family Albums (Hardcover)

This book is a wonderful collection of pictures, nicely organized to bring out different dimensions of the story of Nicholas and Alexandra. However, I found two mistakes early into the book. The first was the the statement that Victoria Melita married Grand Duchess Boris, when in fact she married his brother, Cyril. The second was the statement that the marriage between Victoria Melita and her first Husband, Ernst of Hesse, foundered after the death of their daughter. In fact, the child's death occurred well after the separation of her parents. Given the author's family relationship with his subjects, these lapses are surprising and indicative of extremely careless editing. It causes me to discount the accuracy of the volume, overall.