The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga

Flight of the Romanovs is a very readable and engaging look at the decay within Imperial Russia at the turn of the century that brought a 300 year old dynastic institution to a dramatic end. Russian history buffs will enjoy the backgrounds provided for key players in this unfolding tragedy. My one concern was seeing how the authors got the date wrong for 1905’s Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg. The book I read says the event happened on January 9, 1905. Other sources I researched cite the date as January 22, 1905.

As a history fan I am of course familiar with the tragic tale of the fall of the Romanovs and the killings of Nicholas and Alexandra and their children. And of course I was aware that the Romanovs were quite a sprawling family, with lots of Grand Dukes and Duchesses, but I did not know a great deal about these individuals, who are all equally fascinating in their own right - and often even more so, as Nicholas and Alexandra enjoyed a quiet life.The book commences with the assasination of Alexander II and the ascent to the throne of his son Alexander III. From here we get to know of the young Nicki (later to be Tsar) and his other siblings, including Olga, who had a life of some hardship but did not complain until she died in her 80s. The book covers the revoltion of course, but for those readers wanting to know more about that and the impact on the immediate royal family, I recommend Robert Massie's excellent "Nicholas and Alexandra". What I found of more interest was how the extended royal family fared, some being executed the Bolsheviks, some enduring amazing hardship and escapes, and others being saved by sheer luck.The final part of the book deals with the remaining Romanovs in exile, and examines the interaction with the competing family groups and individuals who laid claim to the now empty throne. These characters include Kyrill, who is the ancestor of George, the current claimant, and Dimitri, the ultimate playboy who had an affair with Coco Chanel and married an American heiress.This book is a reminder of how revoltion and war can change the worlds of so many people, and how that change had spread and impacted through a Europe which was also in the throes of dramatic change. We must remember that the Romanovs were descended from or connected by marriage to most of the other royal houses in Europe, and there were many political and dynastic implications of the fall of the Romanovs. This is a fasinating story about fascinating people in a time when the world was turned upside down.

While most people consider the story of the Romanov's ended in the basement of the Ipateiv house on July 17, 1918, this wonderful description of the flight and plight of other members of the Romanov family held my attention continously. Unfortantely, because of my lack of familiarity of the uncles, aunts, cousins, children, grandparents, etc., etc., I kept returning to the concise family tree. The authors show a wide variety of activities of these relatives before and after the revolution and convey how some were "hanger-ons" and lived the life of royalty, while others kept the dream alive of returning to a czarist Russia. But all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed learning of the after affects of being driven out of Russia.

This is an excellent book that goes well beyond so many of the others about the Romanovs. Here we learn fascinating things not just about those who became Czar, but also about those members of the family following Alexander III who did not. Especially interesting are the stories of who lived, who died, and who vanished following the fall of Nicholas II. This is must reading for anyone interested in the Romanovs.

Having read all the available books on the Romanov family at the local library, I was shocked to actually find a book that was written within the last few years about the Russian royal family. It was fascinating to read how the grand dukes survived after the fall of the house of Romanov. It was very easy reading, well written and very informative as to the outcome of the extended family members. highly recommend!