Alexis

Alexis (born August 12 [August 25, New Style], 1904, Peterhof, near St. Petersburg, Russia—died July 17, 1918, Yekaterinburg) was the only son of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, and the tsarina Alexandra. He was the first male heir born to a reigning tsar since the 17th century.

Alexis was a hemophiliac, and at that time there was no medical treatment that could alleviate his condition or lessen his vulnerability to uncontrolled bleeding. The mystic healer Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was summoned to the palace to help the little tsarevich during one of his bleeding episodes, and he achieved marked success in relieving Alexis’s suffering. Whether through the hypnotic power of suggestion or the use of drugs or both, Rasputin proved indispensable in helping the boy survive several serious crises. Rasputin’s subsequent acquisition of enormous influence at the imperial court was due primarily to the relief and gratitude of the royal couple.

In March 1917 the tsar received from the Duma a demand for his abdication. At first he favoured giving up the crown to Alexis, with his brother Grand Duke Michael as regent, but he changed his mind, feeling that the boy was too fragile. His abdication was made then in favour of the Grand Duke Michael, who, however, refused to accept the crown unless it was tendered to him by the will of the people. The last chance for a regime of constitutional monarchy was thus cut short.

In 1918 Alexis was killed with the other members of his immediate family in a cellar where they had been confined by the Bolsheviks at Yekaterinburg. (Although there is some uncertainty over whether the family was murdered on July 16 or 17, most sources indicate that the executions took place on July 17.) The bodies were eventually buried in an unmarked location, and it was not until 1976 that the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters (Anastasia, Tatiana, and Olga) were found. A state funeral was held in 1998, and two years later the family was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2007 bones belonging to Alexis and his sister Maria were finally discovered; DNA testing confirmed their identity the following year, but the church contested the findings and prevented funerals from being held.