Chapter 1

How sick and how were the Romanov tsars treated

The treatment of the Romanov tsars followed the same rules as the treatment of their predecessors on the Moscow throne. Although there were already many doctors at the disposal of the Pharmaceutical Order, nevertheless the tsar usually tried first, and the tsarina with children - always to be treated with home remedies, and doctors were called only when they had to go to bed and the disease was for the most part already determined. In particular, the female half of the royal palace was strongly fenced off from rational Western medicine and its representatives. Doctors were called to the queens and princesses only in the most extreme cases, and even then they did not see the patient herself, but listened and asked the mothers of the boyars and gave advice to special grandmothers - doctors. When the queen was, in addition, a special grandmother-midwife. Gradually, the influence of time opened the doors of the tsarina's chambers. Already under Mikhail Fedorovich, they become available to foreign doctors, especially for their favorite therapeutic action - “throwing blood”. It is known, for example, that Tsarina Evdokia Lukyanovna (the second wife of Mikhail Fedorovich) in important cases "opened the vein blood" with the help of German doctors. However, under Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich), the doctor could not yet see his patients - the windows were tightly curtained, the patient's hand was wrapped in muslin so that the physician could not touch the body. But on February 18, 1676, the Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Alekseevich instructed the “dokhtur” Stepan Fungadin “to go to the mansions of the Blessed Empress Empress and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirillovna.” In general, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, mother of Peter I) was, in modern terminology, an “advanced” patient: she was the first to let the doctor in “on her own eyes” in case of illness, but even then most often they were “narrow” specialists , such, for example, as Ivashka Gubin - "guttural master".

Under Fyodor Alekseevich, consultations were in vogue. At the same time, special importance was attached to the agreement between doctors. So, a document has been preserved about the participation in the examination of Alexei Mikhailovich by doctors Yagan Rosenburch, Stefan Fungadin and Lavrenty Blumentrost, Simon Zomer and the pharmacist Peasant Engler, which stated that “there is no disagreement and no friendship between them and they have love between themselves.”

The participation of doctors in the treatment of kings was purely advisory: “they looked at the water and talked,” and what they saw and decided was recorded in a special protocol of the Pharmaceutical Order. The performance was repaired, that is, he observed the preparation and administration of medicines and the very course of the disease, the pharmacy boyar. How this happened in practice can be seen from the interrogation of the boyar A.S., closest to the Romanovs. Matveev, who, thanks to the intrigues of the Miloslavsky family, was removed from the management of the royal pharmacy. The Duma nobleman Sokovnin and the Duma clerk Semyonov took from Matveev a “fairy tale” about how medicines were compiled and brought to the sick Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Matveev testified that the medicines were compiled by doctors Costerius and Stefan Simon according to a prescription, and the prescriptions are kept in the Pharmaceutical Chamber. The doctor tried every medicine first, then he, Matveev, and after him the uncles of the sovereign, the boyars Fedor Fedorovich Kurakin and Ivan Bogdanovich Khitrovo, after taking the medicine, he again, Matveev, drank it in the eyes of the sovereign. L.F. Zmeev describes an incident that occurred during the reign of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich. Dr. Rosenburg prescribed medicine for the queen. The apothecary didn't exactly prepare it. The boyar, who was tasting the medicine, became nauseous. Then they made Rosenburg himself drink all the medicine at once. “All these are features of a terrible universal superstition and fear of poisons,” writes L.F. Zmeev, - characteristic of that era. If the perpetrator served at court, then this, moreover, was seen as laesio majestatis (state harm. - B.N.) and the punishment increased greatly.”

But there were also quite objective ways of harming the royal family. Since, over time, the circle of patients at the doctors of the Pharmaceutical Order expanded and they also treated foreign guests, boyars and military people at the royal command, there was a real danger of bringing “infection” into the royal chambers. Therefore, if any of the doctors accidentally visited a "sticky" patient, then he was obliged, having notified the sovereign, to stay at home until the royal permission. This measure extended not only to doctors. On June 8, 1680, the strictest royal decree was issued, forbidding people to come to the palace, especially to the Bed Porch, or from houses in which they were sick with “fire pain or fever and smallpox or some other serious illness.”

The Romanov tsars, generally speaking, were not distinguished by good health. In this regard, L.Ya. Skorokhodov expressed the paradoxical idea that the poor physical health of the Russian tsars had a positive impact on the flourishing of medical and medicinal business at the Moscow court in the 17th century.

The first tsar from the house of the Romanovs, Mikhail Fedorovich (1596–1645), was married to the kingdom on July 11, 1613, at less than seventeen years of age. Mild in disposition, weak physically and spiritually, he was so sickly that, in his own words, "he grieved so much with his legs that, at the age of thirty-odd years, they carry him in armchairs to and from the cart."

In 1643 the tsar fell ill with erysipelas. He was treated by doctors Artman Graman, Johann (Yagan) Belau and Willim Kramer. Before the tsar had time to recover from his erysipelas, on July 6, 1643, he fell ill with a sore throat (“toad”). He was treated by the same doctors - Graman and Belau. In April 1645, shocked partly by family troubles, partly by disturbing rumors about a new impostor - the son of Marina Mnishek, the tsar fell ill again. Doctors Graman, Belau and Vendelinus Sibelist, who arrived in Russia in 1643 instead of Artemy Diy, gathered at the bedside of the patient. The doctors “looked at the water” (urine) and found that “the stomach, liver and spleen, due to the mucus accumulated in them, are deprived of natural warmth and therefore the blood gradually becomes watery and cold happens.” It was decided to treat the sovereign with "cleansing agents." He was given a compound Rhine wine with various roots and herbs, moderation in food and drink was prescribed, it was forbidden to dine and drink "cold and sour drinks." However, the treatment did not help. The king was gradually exhausted. At the end of May, the doctors again "looked at the water", and she turned out to be pale, because "the stomach, liver and spleen are powerless from much sitting, from cold drinks and from melancholy, in other words, grief." The king was again ordered to give cleansing compounds and smear the stomach with balm. On July 12, 1645, on the day of his angel, the tsar went to matins, but his strength, apparently, had already left him, and he had a seizure in the church. The sick man was brought to the mansion in his arms, and on the same day the illness intensified. The king began to moan, complaining that "his insides are tormented." At the beginning of the third hour of the night, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich died. According to F.L. Herman, the disease that brought the king to the grave was kidney damage.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676), who ascended the throne in the same way as his father, at the age of sixteen, also did not have good health, and therefore he repeatedly resorted to bloodletting. At the same time, special awards were given to doctors, the ore gun and the translator each time. Bloodletting was also done to Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna. They say that one day, having opened blood for himself and feeling relieved, the king offered to do the same to his courtiers. Willy-nilly, everyone agreed, except for Rodion Streshnev, a relative of the tsar's maternal mother, who refused this procedure under the pretext of age. Alexei Mikhailovich flared up: “Is your blood more precious than mine? What, you think you're the best?" And then the matter did not end with words, but when the anger passed, rich gifts went to Streshnev from the palace so that he would forget the royal beatings.

In January 1675, the tsar, who was distinguished by obesity and sometimes suffered from a stomach, fell ill. He was treated by Dr. Samoilo Collins. In January 1676, Alexei Mikhailovich felt a breakdown and on January 29 at 9 pm he died at the age of 47.

Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (1661–1682), who inherited the throne at the age of fifteen, was so weak in health, his legs were so swollen that he could not even follow his father's coffin - he was carried on a stretcher. He was treated by doctors Johann Rosenburg, Stefan Fungadanov (von Gaden), Lavrenty Blumentrost, Sommer, pharmacist Christian Engler. Most often - Sommer, Gutmensch and von Gaden. The king was sick all the time. He died on April 27, 1682, at the age of 21. Such an early death of the king caused rumors of poisoning, the victims of which were doctors Gaden and Gutmensh.

Stefan (Daniel) von Gaden came from Polish Jews. From the Jewish faith, he moved to the Catholic, from it to the Lutheran, and finally accepted the Greek. In this regard, he had different nicknames: Danila Zhidovin, Danila Ievlevich, Danila Ilyin. He was sent to Moscow from Kyiv in 1657 by the boyar Vasily Vasilyevich Buturlin. He began his royal service from the lowest level - as a barber. Soon he was promoted to the rank of doctor, in 1667 - sub-doctor, and in 1672 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich made him a doctor of medicine, despite the fact that Gaden did not have the opportunity to systematically study medical sciences at foreign universities. A historical precedent of this kind was created by Boris Godunov, who awarded the doctoral title to Christopher Ritlinger, a doctor who did not have an appropriate diploma, who arrived in Russia in 1601 in the retinue of the English ambassador Richard Lee. In 1676, as before von Gaden, by royal decree, as a reward for the successful treatment of the often ill Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, he was promoted to doctor doctor (medicine) Sigismund (Simon) Sommer.

In the letter issued to Gaden, it was said that he was “sufficiently skilled in the doctoral and in any medicinal teaching and worthy of the dokhtur honor and in everything a person is needed.” He was one of the doctors closest to the tsar, which played a tragic role during the Streltsy rebellion on May 15, 1682.

Here is what the Polish diplomatic resident P. Svidersky wrote about this:

“The reason for the death of Tsar Muscovy Fyodor Alekseevich was an equally good attitude towards both the Poles and the Catholic faith, while the boyars warned him in vain and disliked this and finally decided to liquidate him secretly, persuading the doctor to shorten his age with poison and kill the king from the world. The duma boyars persuaded Danila Zhida, the royal court doctor, to cheat on the king and give him poison, who, as usual, secretly came to the royal chambers and took a beautiful apple in one hand from a golden tray standing on the table, and in the other a knife smeared on one side poison, approached the king and said: “Righteous sovereign. Your Majesty the right half, and me, your servant, the left. So saying, he cut it in half and gave the king the right half, smeared with poison from the knife, and he himself ate the healthy half.

The rebellious archers, confident in the poisoning of the king, searched in vain for Gaden. On the night of May 16, his wife was arrested as a hostage. At two o'clock in the afternoon on May 16, a message came that the son of Dr. Danila Mikhail, a young man of 22 years old, had been found. They caught him in disguise on the street (since no one could let him into their house, he hid in taverns). The archers asked him where his father might be, but he didn't know that, so (?) they killed him. The execution took place at the Execution Ground. Dr. Gaden was found the next night. Instead of him, they wanted to kill his wife, but she begged to be spared by Marfa Matveevna, the wife of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich. The next morning, Wednesday, May 17, at dawn, a message came from the German Settlement that Dr. Danila had come there the previous night in the dress of a beggar, who had been hiding for two days and two nights in Maryina Roshcha and other nearby places. He thought of asking his acquaintances in the settlement for sugar to eat, as he was very hungry, but was detained on the street by some of them who had a great friendship with the archers. The request for a doctor by the younger queen and princesses was not successful, since at Gaden’s house they found a “sea fish with many legs”, which the archers mistook for a witchcraft remedy (in fact, it was an ordinary crab. - B.N.). Gaden was tortured and confessed to many things. He was forced for three hours, because he wanted to give information about those who deserved death more than he did. The archers tortured him themselves, one of them recorded everything that the doctor said under torture, but these people, perhaps tired and furious, tore up the protocol, saying that it would be a long time, immediately took him to the market and killed him. Other sources call the place of death of Dr. Spassky Bridge near the Execution Ground.

The writer A. Sumarokov describes these tragic events in a slightly different way: “On the same day, they, the archers, caught in the clothes of a German baptized Jewish breed German physician Danila von Gaden in the German settlement and took another German, Gutmensh physician, in his house on Pogany Pond, named after Chistye Prude, and his son Gutmenshev (?). And these innocent foreign doctors, because they allegedly poisoned Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, and the son of Gutmenshev, because he was the son of a doctor they hated, were brought to Red Square, raised on spears, then chopped into small pieces.

Tsar Ivan Alekseevich (1666–1696), the younger brother of Fyodor Alekseevich, being a very sickly man, lived only thirty years. Nevertheless, he left behind numerous offspring. His daughter Anna Ioannovna became the Russian empress, and his great-grandson Ivan Antonovich (Ivan VI) became the emperor, who, however, practically did not reign, but spent his whole life in captivity in the Shlisselburg fortress, where he was killed during an unsuccessful attempt to free him at the age of 24 .

Hemophilia has been known since time immemorial. The first descriptions of symptoms similar to hemophilia are found in Hebrew as early as the 2nd century BC. And hemophilia as a hereditary disease was described in the Talmud in the 5th century AD. According to the laws of the rabbis, the boy was exempt from circumcision if his two older brothers died from this procedure. The explorer Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) introduced this rule for the sons of women who married a second time. Thus, already then began to take into account the laws of heredity. The Arab physiologist Albukazi (1013-1106) described the death of boys from bleeding after a banal injury.
The most famous carrier of hemophilia in history was Queen Victoria, this mutation occurred in her genotype, since no hemophilia sufferers were registered in the families of her parents. Theoretically, this could happen if Victoria's father was not actually Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, but some other man (with hemophilia), but there is no historical evidence in favor of this. One of Victoria's sons (Leopold, Duke of Albany) suffered from hemophilia, as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren (born from daughters and granddaughters), including the Russian Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich. For this reason, this disease was called "Victorian disease" or "royal disease". Also, sometimes in royal families, marriages between close relatives were allowed to preserve the title, which is why the incidence of hemophilia was higher.

The first detailed description of hemophilia was made by John Conrad Otto, a Philadelphia researcher. In 1803 he published his scientific work on the subject of increased bleeding. Studying in detail the genealogy of one of the families, Otto concluded that there is a hereditary tendency to increased bleeding in boys. However, the term "hemophilia" was first used in 1828 by the German physiologist Hopf.
Hemophilia "B" as a separate disease was identified only in 1952. Often this form is also called "Christmas disease" (in honor of the name of the first examined boy with this disease). Hemophilia A is accordingly called "classic". Modern knowledge and scientific research on hemophilia dates back to the 19th century.
Hemophilia suffered from many male descendants of the English Queen Victoria, whose great-great-grandson was the Russian Tsarevich Alexei, son of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
During a round-the-world trip, Nicholas II chose his bride - Princess Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt (baptized Alexandra Feodorovna). She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. The parents of Nicholas II were categorically against this marriage, because they knew that the family of Queen Victoria transmits a hereditary disease - hemophilia (blood incoagulability). Son Alexei was born with hemophilia, having received it from his mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who inherited the disease from her mother, Princess Alice, who, in turn, received it from her mother, Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was a carrier of hemophilia, but of her nine children, only one son, Prince Leopold, had hemophilia and died when he was thirty-one, and her daughters, Princesses Alice and Beatrice, were carriers of the disease.
Of Princess Beatrice's four sons, two had hemophilia, and her daughter, Victoria Eugenie, wife of the King of Spain, passed on the disease to two of her three sons. Princess Alice's son, Federic, one of seven children who inherited hemophilia, died at the age of three. Her sister Irene's two sons also had hemophilia. However, one of them managed to live safely to 56 years.
Monarchs-parents, as best they could, sought to protect their children from trams. For example, the Spanish royal family dressed their two boys in padded suits; even the trees in the park, where children used to play, were tied with felt. Nicholas II and his family were also forced to take precautionary measures, surrounding themselves with a narrow circle of people who knew the secret of the disease, and protecting the family from the outside world with a high iron grate around the palace park in Tsarskoe Selo. However, this could not save the prince from bruises and scratches, and the parents simply despaired, realizing that they were constantly living on the verge of disaster. Realizing that doctors were powerless to fight hemophilia, the empress began to look for other ways to save the heir to the throne. So in the life of the royal family appeared Grigory Rasputin, who had an inexplicable ability to alleviate the suffering of Alexei.
In the old days, hemophilia was treated with improvised means. For example, in 1936, the Lancet reported on the virtues of a bromide extract isolated from the white of eggs. In 1934, successful experiments were carried out on the use of snake venom to stop bleeding. In 1966, the journal Nature wrote about the healing properties of peanut flour for hemophiliacs.
However, the most important advances were made even earlier in the study of the possibility of blood transfusion. As early as 1840, the surgeon Samuel Lane described a case of successful blood transfusion in a hemophiliac boy with severe postoperative hemorrhage. However, the lack of knowledge about blood grouping and the elementary rules of transfusion stopped the development of this direction for many years.
In the early 1950s, animal plasma was used to treat hemophilia. Despite the fact that in some cases it was quite effective, there were still frequent and sometimes very severe allergic reactions. The work of Dr. Edwin Kohn to separate plasma into separate fractions using various concentrations of salt and alcohol, led to the preparation of weakly purified factor VIII concentrate (AHG - antihemophilic globulin). A huge breakthrough in this direction was made by Judith Poole in 1965, who showed that weak plasma thawing to 4°C leads to the appearance of a brown precipitate with a large amount of factor VIII in it. This product was named cryoprecipitate.
A few years later, a purified factor concentrate appeared, the advantage of which was obvious: it could be stored in a home refrigerator at a temperature of 4 ° C, despite the small volume, it was significantly more effective than cryoprecipitate. The appearance of the factor concentrate marked a new era in the treatment of patients with hemophilia: the concentrate allowed patients to switch to home treatment and not depend on the presence of a doctor in the immediate vicinity.
Subsequently, it became clear that it was too early to rejoice: the factor concentrate turned out to be too good a carrier of viruses. If the cryoprecipitate was transfused from one donor to one recipient, then batches of the factor concentrate were made from large volumes of blood from different donors. Between 1979 and 1985, a huge number of hemophiliacs who used the concentrate contracted AIDS, and many died from this cause.
The hepatitis C virus was only discovered in 1989. Then it became clear that most patients with hemophilia were already infected with it.

A huge achievement was made by Professor Pier Manucci in 1977, who showed that desmopressin (DDAVP) can increase the level of factor VIII and von Willebrand factor, which is a wonderful way to treat mild forms of hemophilia and von Willebrand disease.
The gene responsible for the production of factor VIII was deciphered in 1984. This became the basis for the production of recombinant (genetically synthesized) factor concentrates. Recombinant drugs eliminate the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other human viruses.
However, it is already clear that the future belongs to gene therapy. For a long time, trials have been underway to transplant a healthy gene responsible for the production of the missing clotting factor to hemophilia patients. This is an entire industry that is working in search of a cure for hemophilia. But everything is not so simple here either: step by step, with the development of new methods and methods of treatment, the human body comes up with more and more new ways to protect itself from otherworldly interference. Recent advances in genetic engineering allow us to hope for the best. However, what new round of evolution will lead to such a radical impact on the human body, now we can only guess.

A short, penetrating life... Tsarevich Alexei did not live a few weeks before his 14th birthday
(publication by Yulia Komleva, candidate of historical sciences)

On July 30 (August 12, old style), 1904, the only son of the last Russian Sovereign Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei, heir to the throne of the Russian Empire, was born in Peterhof. He was the fifth and very long-awaited child of the royal couple, for whom they prayed a lot and fervently, including during the celebrations dedicated to the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov July 17-19, 1903

On September 3, 1904, the Sacrament of the Baptism of the Tsesarevich was performed in the church of the Great Peterhof Palace with the name in honor of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow. According to a number of researchers, the heir received the name Alexei in memory of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676). The godparents of the porphyritic baby were the English and Danish kings, the German emperor, as well as the Russian Grand Dukes. Since Russia was at war with Japan during this period, all officers and soldiers of the Russian army and navy were proclaimed honorary godparents of the heir. According to tradition, in connection with the birth of the heir, charitable organizations were established: the military hospital train named after the heir-tsesarevich, the Alekseevsky committee for helping children who lost their fathers in the Russian-Japanese war.

The educator and teacher of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, in his memoirs, recalls how he first saw the Tsarevich in February 1906, who was then one and a half years old: “... I was already preparing to finish my lesson with Olga Nikolaevna, when the Empress entered with the Grand Duke Heir in her arms . She walked towards us with the obvious intention of showing me the son I did not yet know. On her face shone the joy of her mother, who finally saw the realization of her most cherished dream. It was felt that she was proud and happy with the beauty of her child.

And in fact, the Tsarevich was at that time the most wonderful child one can dream of, with his wonderful blond curls and large gray-blue eyes, set off by long, curled eyelashes. He had the fresh and rosy complexion of a healthy child, and when he smiled his round cheeks showed two dimples. When I approached him, he looked at me seriously and shyly, and only with great difficulty made up his mind to stretch out his little hand to me.

During this first meeting, I saw several times how the Empress pressed the Tsarevich to her with the gentle gesture of a mother who always seemed to tremble for the life of her child; but in her this caress and the glance that accompanied it showed so clearly and so strongly hidden anxiety that I was already struck by it. It wasn't until much later that I realized its meaning."

Terrible disease

On the mother's side, Alexei inherited hemophilia, which was carried by some of the daughters and granddaughters of the English Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The disease became apparent already in the autumn of 1904, when a two-month-old baby began to bleed heavily. Any scratch could lead to the death of a child; the membranes of his arteries and veins were so weak that any bruise, increased movement or tension could cause a rupture of blood vessels and lead to a fatal end: a fall, a nosebleed, a simple cut - everything that would be a trifle for an ordinary child could be fatal for Alexey.

From the very first years of his life, the Tsarevich needed special care and constant vigilance, as a result of which, on the orders of doctors, two sailors from the imperial yacht were assigned to him as bodyguards: boatswain Derevenko and his assistant Nagorny.
The maid of honor of the Empress Anna Taneeva wrote: “The life of Alexei Nikolayevich was one of the most tragic in the history of the Tsar's children. He was a charming, affectionate boy, the most beautiful of all children. Parents and nanny Maria Vishnyakova in early childhood spoiled him very much, fulfilling the slightest whims. And this is understandable, since it was very difficult to see the constant suffering of the little one; whether he hit his head or hand on the furniture, a huge blue swelling immediately appeared, indicating an internal hemorrhage, which caused him severe suffering. At the age of five or six, he passed into the hands of men, to Uncle Derevenko. This one used to be not so spoiled, although he was very devoted and had great patience. I hear the voice of Alexei Nikolaevich during his illness: “Raise my hand,” or: “Turn your leg,” or: “Warm my hands,” and often Derevenko reassured him. When he began to grow up, his parents explained to Alexei Nikolayevich his illness, asking him to be careful. But the heir was very lively, loved the games and amusements of the boys, and it was often impossible to keep him. “Give me a bicycle,” he asked his mother. “Alexei, you know that you can’t!” - "I want to learn to play tennis like sisters!" "You know you don't dare to play." Sometimes Alexey Nikolaevich cried, repeating: “Why am I not like all the boys?”.

Alexei was well aware that he might not live to adulthood. When he was ten years old, his elder sister Olga found him lying on his back and looking up at the clouds. She asked what he was doing. “I like to think, to reflect,” Alexei replied. Olga asked what he likes to think about. “Oh, a lot of things,” the boy replied, “I enjoy the sun and the beauty of summer while I can. Who knows, maybe one of these days I won't be able to do that anymore."

Life in Tsarskoye Selo

Outwardly, Alexei resembled the Empress and Grand Duchess Tatyana: he had the same delicate features and large blue eyes. P. Gilliard describes him as follows: “Aleksei Nikolaevich was then nine and a half years old. He was rather large for his age, had a thin, elongated oval face with delicate features, wonderful light brown hair with bronze tints, large blue-gray eyes, reminiscent of his mother's eyes.
He quite enjoyed life when he could, like a frisky and cheerful boy. His tastes were very modest. He did not boast at all that he was the heir to the throne, he least of all thought about this. His greatest happiness was to play with the two sons of the sailor Derevenko, who were both somewhat younger than him. He had great quickness of mind and judgment and much thoughtfulness. He sometimes struck me with questions above his age, which testified to a delicate and sensitive soul.

I easily understood that those who, like me, were not supposed to inspire discipline in him, could easily succumb to his charm without a second thought. In the little capricious being, as he seemed at first, I discovered a child with a heart naturally loving and sensitive to suffering, because he himself had already suffered a lot.

A resident of Tsarskoye Selo S.Ya. Ofrosimova shares the following impressions: “The heir to the Tsarevich had a very soft and kind heart. He was passionately attached not only to those close to him, but also to the simple employees around him. None of them saw from him arrogance and harsh treatment. He especially quickly and ardently became attached to ordinary people. His love for Uncle Derevenko was tender, hot and touching. One of his greatest pleasures was to play with the uncle's children and be among ordinary soldiers. With interest and deep attention, he peered into the lives of ordinary people, and often an exclamation escaped from him: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy! I want everyone to be happy."

A.A. Taneeva recalled: “The heir took an ardent part if some grief struck the servants. His Majesty was also compassionate, but did not actively express it, while Alexei Nikolaevich did not calm down until he immediately helped. I remember a case with a cook who for some reason was denied a position. Aleksey Nikolaevich somehow found out about this and pestered his parents all day until they ordered the cook to be taken back. He defended and stood up like a mountain for all his people.

At the age of seven, Alexei began to study. The classes were led by the Empress, who herself chose the teachers: the confessor of the imperial family, Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev, became the teacher of the law, and the teacher of the Russian language was Privy Councilor P.V. Petrov, teacher of arithmetic - State Councilor E.P. Tsytovich, French teacher and tutor - P. Gilliard, English was taught by C. Gibbs and Alexandra Fedorovna herself.

Life in Tsarskoe Selo had a close family character: the retinue, with the exception of the ladies-in-waiting and the commander of the combined guards regiment, did not live in the palace, and the Royal family, except when visiting relatives, gathered at the table without strangers and quite easily. The lessons of the Tsesarevich began at nine o'clock with a break between eleven and noon, during which the heir and the teacher went for a walk in a carriage, sleigh or car. Then classes resumed until lunch, after which Alexei always spent two hours outdoors. The Grand Duchesses and the Sovereign, when he was free, joined him. In winter, Alexei had fun with his sisters, descending from an icy mountain built on the shore of a small artificial lake.

Just like his sisters, the Tsarevich adored animals. P. Gilliard recalls: “He loved to play with his donkey Vanka, who was harnessed to a small sled, or with his dog Joy, a dark brown lapdog on low paws, with long, silky ears falling almost to the floor. Vanka was an incomparable, intelligent and funny animal. When they wanted to give Aleksey Nikolayevich a donkey, they applied for a long time, but to no avail, to all the horse-dealers in St. Petersburg; then the Ciniselli circus agreed to give way to the old donkey, which, due to its decrepitude, was no longer fit for performances. And in this way Vanka appeared at the Court, fully appreciating, apparently, the palace stables. He amused us a lot, because he knew many of the most incredible tricks. He turned his pockets inside out with great dexterity, hoping to find sweets in them. He found a special charm in old rubber balls, which he casually chewed with one eye closed, like an old Yankee. These two animals played a big role in the life of Alexei Nikolaevich, who had very little entertainment. He suffered mainly from the absence of comrades. Fortunately, his sisters, as I have said, liked to play with him; they brought joy and youth into his life, without which it would be very difficult for him. During daytime walks, the Emperor, who liked to walk a lot, usually went around the park with one of his daughters, but he also happened to join us, and with his help we once built a huge snow tower, which took the form of an impressive fortress and occupied us for several weeks. . At four in the afternoon, lessons resumed until dinner, which was served at seven for Alexei and at eight for the rest of the family. The day ended with reading aloud some favorite book of the Tsarevich.

All relatives of Alexei noted his religiosity. The letters of the Tsarevich have been preserved, in which he congratulates his relatives on the holidays, his poem “Christ is Risen!”, sent by him to his grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. From the memoirs of S.Ya. Ofrosimova: “There is a festive service ... The temple is flooded with the radiance of countless candles. The Tsarevich stands on the Royal Elevation. He has almost grown to the Sovereign standing next to him. The radiance of quietly burning lamps pours onto his pale, beautiful face and gives him an unearthly, almost ghostly expression. His large, long eyes look not like a child, with a serious, mournful look ... He is motionlessly turned to the altar, where a solemn service is being performed ... I look at him, and it seems to me that I have seen somewhere this pale face, these long, mournful eyes.

In 1910, the Jerusalem Patriarch Damian, knowing about the piety of the heir, gave him the icon of the Resurrection of Christ with particles of stones from the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha ​​for Easter.

According to P. Gilliard, Alexei was the center of a closely knit Imperial family, all attachments and hopes were concentrated on him. “The sisters adored him, and he was the joy of his parents. When he was healthy, the whole palace seemed to be transformed; it was a ray of the sun, illuminating both things and those around. Happily gifted by nature, he would have developed quite regularly and evenly if his illness had not prevented this. S.Ya. Ofrosimova recalls: “His vivacity could not be tempered by his illness, and as soon as he got better, as soon as his suffering subsided, he began to play naughty uncontrollably, he buried himself in pillows, crawled under the bed to scare the doctors with an imaginary disappearance ... When the Princesses came, especially the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, terrible fuss and pranks began. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was a desperate minx and a faithful friend in all the Tsarevich’s pranks, but she was strong and healthy, and the Tsarevich was forbidden these hours of childish pranks, dangerous for Him.

Education of the heir to the throne

In 1912, while resting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the Tsarevich unsuccessfully jumped into a boat and severely injured his thigh: the hematoma that arose did not resolve for a long time, the child’s health was very difficult, and bulletins were officially published about him. There was a real threat of death. “The Empress sat at the head of her son from the beginning of the illness,” writes P. Gilliard, “bent down to him, caressed him, surrounded him with her love, trying with a thousand small worries to alleviate his suffering. The sovereign also came as soon as he had a free minute.

He tried to cheer up the child, to entertain him, but the pain was stronger than motherly caresses and fatherly stories, and interrupted moans resumed. Occasionally the door would open, and one of the Grand Duchesses would tiptoe into the room, kiss her little brother, and, as it were, bring with her a stream of freshness and health. The child opened for a minute his large eyes, already deeply outlined by illness, and immediately closed them again.

One morning I found the mother at the head of her son... The Tsarevich, lying in his bed, moaned plaintively, pressing his head against his mother's hand, and his thin, bloodless face was unrecognizable. From time to time he interrupted his groans to whisper only one word "mother", in which he expressed all his suffering, all his despair. And his mother kissed his hair, forehead, eyes, as if with this caress she could alleviate his suffering, breathe into him a little of the life that was leaving him. How to convey the torture of this mother, helplessly present at the torment of her child for long hours of mortal anxiety ... "

According to many people who surrounded Tsarevich Alexei, he had a strong will, which was not just a hereditary quality, but developed and strengthened due to the frequent physical suffering caused to the child by a terrible illness. The disease became a kind of educator of the little martyr. According to Anna Taneeva, "frequent suffering and involuntary self-sacrifice developed in the character of Alexei Nikolaevich pity and compassion for everyone who was sick, as well as amazing respect for his mother and all elders."

However, for all his kindness and compassion, the boy did not tolerate when he was treated with insufficient respect as the heir to the throne. S.Ya. Ofrosimova tells the following episode: “The Tsarevich was not a proud child, although the thought that he was the future king filled his whole being with the consciousness of his highest destiny. When he was in the company of noble and close to the Sovereign persons, he had a consciousness of his royalty.

Once the Tsarevich entered the office of the Sovereign, who at that time was talking with the minister. At the entrance of the heir, the interlocutor of the Sovereign did not find it necessary to get up, but only, rising from his chair, gave the Tsarevich his hand. The heir, offended, stopped in front of him and silently put his hands behind his back; this gesture did not give him an arrogant look, but only a regal, expectant pose. The minister involuntarily stood up and drew himself up to his full height in front of the Tsarevich. To this the Tsesarevich responded with a polite handshake. Having told the Sovereign something about his walk, he slowly left the office, the Sovereign looked after him for a long time and, finally, sadly and proudly said: “Yes, it will not be so easy for you to deal with him as with me.”

According to the memoirs of Yulia Den, the maid of honor and friend of the Empress, while still a very young boy, Alexei was already aware that he was the heir: “Once, when he was playing with the Grand Duchesses, he was informed that officers of his sponsored regiment had come to the palace and asked permission to see Tsesarevich. The six-year-old child, immediately leaving the fuss with the sisters, announced with an important air: “Girls, go away, the heir will have a reception.”

Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner, who gave lessons to the heir in Tobolsk, recalled the Tsarevich as follows: “I loved Alexei Nikolaevich more than anyone. It was a sweet, good boy. He was smart, observant, receptive, very affectionate, cheerful and cheerful, despite his often severe morbid condition ...

He was used to being disciplined, but disliked the former court etiquette. He did not tolerate lies and would not tolerate them around him if he ever took power. He combined the features of his father and mother. From his father he inherited his simplicity. There was no self-satisfaction, arrogance, arrogance in him at all. He was simple.

But he had a great will and would never submit to outside influence. Here is the Sovereign, if he again took power, I am sure he would forget and forgive the actions of those soldiers who were known in this regard. Alexei Nikolaevich, if he had received power, he would never have forgotten or forgiven them, and would have drawn the appropriate conclusions.

He understood a lot and understood people. But he was reserved and reserved. He was terribly patient, very careful, disciplined and demanding of himself and others. He was kind, like his father, in the sense that he did not have the ability in his heart to do evil in vain.

At the same time, he was frugal. One day he was sick, he was served a dish that he shared with the whole family, which he did not eat because he did not like this dish. I was outraged. How can they not cook a separate meal for a child when he is sick. I said something. He answered me: “Well, here it is! You don't have to spend money because of me."

Favorite Bet. Introduction to military life

By tradition, the Grand Dukes on the day of their birth became chiefs or officers of the guards regiments. Alexey became the chief of the 12th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, and later of other military units and the ataman of all Cossack troops. The sovereign introduced him to Russian military history, the structure of the army and the peculiarities of its life, organized a detachment of the sons of the lower ranks under the leadership of the “uncle” Tsarevich Derevenko and managed to instill in the heir a love for military affairs. Alexei was often present at the reception of deputations and reviews of troops, and during the First World War, he visited the army with his father, awarded distinguished soldiers, and was himself awarded the silver St. George medal of the 4th degree.

On July 20, 1914, President of the French Republic R. Poincaré presented the heir with the ribbon of the Order of the Legion of Honor. In Petrograd, in the Winter Palace, there were two institutions named after Alexei - a hospital and the Committee for Lump-sum Benefits for Sick and Wounded Soldiers, and many military hospitals also bore his name.

Almost all of 1916, the Tsesarevich spent with his father at the headquarters of the supreme commander in Mogilev. According to A.A. Mordvinov, adjutant wing of Nicholas II, the heir "promised to be not only a good, but also an outstanding monarch." P. Gilliard recalls: “After the review, the Sovereign approached the soldiers and entered into a simple conversation with some of them, asking them about the fierce battles in which they participated.

Aleksey Nikolaevich followed his father step by step, listening with passionate interest to the stories of these people, who had seen the approach of death so many times. His usually expressive and lively face was full of tension from the effort he made to not miss a single word of what they were saying.

The presence of the heir next to the Sovereign aroused interest in the soldiers, and when he walked away, they could be heard whispering about his age, height, facial expression, etc. But most of all they were struck by the fact that the Tsarevich was in a simple soldier's uniform, no different from the one worn by a team of soldier's children.

The English General Henbury-Williams, with whom the Tsarevich became friends at Headquarters, published his memoirs Emperor Nicholas II as I knew him after the revolution. About his acquaintance with Alexei, he writes: “When I first saw Alexei Nikolaevich in 1915, he was about eleven years old. Having heard stories about him, I expected to see a very weak and not very smart boy. He was indeed frail, for he was stricken with disease. However, in those periods when the heir was healthy, he was cheerful and mischievous, like any boy of his age ...

The prince wore a protective uniform, high Russian boots, proud that he looked like a real soldier. He had excellent manners and was fluent in several languages. In time his timidity faded and he began to treat us like old friends.

Each time, greeting, the Tsarevich came up with some kind of joke for each of us. Approaching me, he used to check whether all the buttons on my jacket were fastened. Naturally, I tried to leave one or two buttons open. In this case, the Tsarevich stopped and remarked to me that I was "again inaccurate." Sighing heavily at the sight of such slovenliness on my part, he fastened my buttons to put things in order.

After visiting the Headquarters, the favorite food of the Tsesarevich became "soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat," as he always said. Every day they brought him samples of cabbage soup and porridge from the soldiers' kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment. According to the recollections of those around him, the Tsarevich ate everything and licked the spoon, beaming with pleasure and saying: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.” Sometimes, without touching anything at the table, he quietly made his way to the buildings of the royal kitchen, asked the cooks for a slice of black bread and secretly shared it with his dog.

From Headquarters, the Tsesarevich brought an ugly, sandy-colored kitten with white spots, which he named Zubrovka and, as a sign of special affection, put on him a collar with a bell. Julia Den writes about the Tsarevich's new favorite: “Zubrovka was not a particular admirer of palaces. He kept fighting with the bulldog of the Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, whose name was Artipo, and knocked over all the family photos in Her Majesty's boudoir on the floor. But Zubrovka enjoyed the privileges of his position. What happened to him when the Imperial Family was sent to Tobolsk is unknown.”

In the newspaper "Kronstadt Vestnik" dated November 7, 1915, an article was placed under the heading "Our Hope", dedicated to the stay of the heir at Headquarters. It described the days of Alexei: “... After mass, the Sovereign, together with the heir and retinue, went home on foot. The smile, look, gait of the young heir, his habit of waving his left hand - all this resembled the manners of the Sovereign, from whom the child adopted them. Despite wartime and frequent trips to the fronts with his sovereign parent, the Tsesarevich continued to study...

In the classroom, where classes are held with mentors, the atmosphere of goodwill. Teachers forgive the child for his habit of leaving his dog named Joy and the cat for lessons. "Cat" - that's his name - is present at all the lessons of his master. After class, a game of burners with friends. He does not choose them by origin. As a rule, these are the children of commoners. Having learned that their parents need something, the heir often says to the tutor: "I will ask dad to help them." Both the father and the heir go to the temple and from the temple together. In religion, the child draws clarity of views, simplicity in relations with all people.

The Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II himself did a lot to educate in his son attention and compassion for people. P. Gilliard describes the following case: “On the way back, having learned from General Ivanov that there was an advanced dressing station nearby, the Sovereign decided to go straight there. We drove into a dense forest and soon noticed a small building, dimly lit by the red light of torches. The sovereign, accompanied by Alexei Nikolaevich, entered the house, approached all the wounded and talked with them with great kindness. His sudden visit at such a late hour and so close to the front line caused astonishment to be expressed on all faces.

One of the soldiers, who had just been put back to bed after bandaging, looked intently at the Sovereign, and when the latter bent over him, he raised his only healthy hand to touch his clothes and make sure that he really was the Tsar, and not vision. Alexei Nikolayevich stood a little behind his father. He was deeply shocked by the groans that he heard and the suffering that he guessed around him.

On March 2 (N.S. 15), 1917, news was received of the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne for himself and for his son in favor of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the Tsar's younger brother. P. Gilliard recalls: “... It was noticeable how she [the Empress] suffered at the thought of how she would have to agitate the sick Grand Duchesses, announcing to them the abdication of their father, especially since this excitement could worsen their health. I went to Alexei Nikolaevich and told him that the Sovereign was returning tomorrow from Mogilev and would not return there again.

Why?

Because your father doesn't want to be supreme commander anymore!

You know, Alexei Nikolaevich, your father doesn't want to be Emperor anymore.

He looked at me in surprise, trying to read what had happened on my face.

What for? Why?

Because he was very tired and suffered a lot of hard times lately.

Oh yes! Mom told me that when he wanted to go here, his train was delayed. But then dad will be Emperor again?

I explained to him then that the Sovereign had abdicated in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who, in turn, evaded.

But then who will be the Emperor?

I don't know yet no one!

Not a word about himself, not a hint of his rights as an heir. He blushed deeply and was agitated. After a few minutes of silence, he said:

If there is no longer a Tsar, who will rule Russia?

I explained to him that a Provisional Government had been formed, which would deal with state affairs until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, and that then, perhaps, his uncle Mikhail would ascend the throne. Once again I was struck by the modesty of this child.”

The last lessons of the Sovereign Father

Since March 8, 1917, the Royal Family was under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, and on August 1, they were sent into exile in Tobolsk, where they were imprisoned in the governor's house. Here the Sovereign managed to fulfill the dream of raising his son himself. He gave lessons to the Tsarevich in a gloomy house in Tobolsk. The lessons continued in the poverty and squalor of Yekaterinburg imprisonment, where the imperial family was transferred in the spring of 1918.

Life of the Royal Family in the house of engineer N.K. Ipatiev was subjected to a strict prison regime: isolation from the outside world, meager food rations, an hour's walk, searches, the hostility of the guards. Back in Tobolsk, Alexei fell down the stairs and received severe bruises, after which he could not walk for a long time, and in Yekaterinburg his illness worsened greatly.

In tragic times, the family was united by a common prayer, faith, hope and patience. Alexei was always present at the service, sitting in an armchair, at the head of his bed hung a lot of icons on a gold chain, which was later stolen by the guards. Being surrounded by enemies, the prisoners turned to spiritual literature, strengthened themselves with the examples of the Savior and St. martyrs, preparing for martyrdom.

Tsarevich Alexei did not live up to his fourteenth birthday for several weeks. On the night of July 17, 1918, he was killed along with his parents and sisters in the basement of the Ipatiev House.

In 1996, the Synodal Commission for the canonization of saints, chaired by Metropolitan Yuvenaly (Poyarkov) of Krutitsy and Kolomna, found it “possible to raise the question of reckoning Tsarevich Alexy among the holy martyrs.”
Canonization of St. Passion-bearer Tsesarevich Alexy was held at the Bishops' Council in August 2000.

Ten years after the wedding, the Empress finally gave birth to a son. The Tsarevich was named Alexei, as Alexei Mikhailovich (Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676) ascended the throne in 1645 after the death of his father Mikhail Fedorovich, becoming the second tsar of the Romanov dynasty.), the last "true Russian" tsar, so revered by Nicholas and Alexandra . After Alexei Mikhailovich, his son Peter I opened the famous "window to Europe", and many in Russia considered this a fatal rejection of national traditions and something of a betrayal.

According to Bernard Peirce, an attentive observer and the most important English historian of Russia, the birth of Alexei Nikolaevich was "an event that, more than anything else, has recently determined the course of Russian history ... The children's room of the royal palace has become the focus of Russia's troubles."

After the birth of her son, new and very striking changes took place in the psyche and behavior of Alexandra Feodorovna. Up to this point, the Empress had been concerned mainly with family and religion, and even her assault on the occult seemed to be aimed at achieving only one goal: to produce an heir.

But after the birth of Alexei, she delved into politics: now her exalted consciousness was occupied not only with protecting interests; she had to take care of the future of her son and leave him the autocracy intact. Without doubting - and this time she was not mistaken - in the ignorance and self-confidence of the courtiers and openly hostile to the intelligentsia, Alexandra Feodorovna turned her face to the people.

The empress made tentative attempts to establish contact between the highest authority and subjects, convinced that the mystical unity of the king - "God's anointed" - with the people is capable of preserving the autocracy unchanged.

Ten years have passed since the day of her wedding, and Alexandra Feodorovna now felt completely Russian, but the image of Russia she cherished was only a figment of her imagination: these men - meek, sentimental, deeply religious and devoted to the "tsar-father" - existed only in the imagination of the empress who fanatically believed that Orthodoxy and monarchy are inseparable.

Six weeks after the birth of Alexei, it was discovered that the heir had hemophilia; from that moment the tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna took on gigantic dimensions and not quite normal forms, and, probably, only psychiatry is able to give a complete description of it.

Hemophilia, the "disease of kings" - its carriers are women and pass it only to sons - was considered incurable at that time, and discussion of this topic was taboo. With hemophilia, the blood does not clot well, and therefore the slightest blow, the slightest injury can cause internal and external bleeding with a large loss of blood and dangerous hematomas. Internal blood clots cause severe pain, especially if they occur near the joints.

During the most severe attacks, little Alexei suffered so much that he was not even able to get out of bed.

Queen Victoria, grandmother of Alexandra Feodorovna, awarded hemophilia not only to the English royal house, but also - as a result of complex family ties between European courts - the ruling dynasties of Spain, Germany and Hesse. The most incredible thing is that the queen absolutely did not consider herself the source of this disease, and only when she found out that one of her own sons had hemophilia, she had to admit the evidence of her guilt.

By that time, Alexandra Feodorovna's uncle, brother and nephew had already died of hemophilia, but it is difficult to say with certainty whether the imperial couple knew that - on the basis of the laws of heredity - they could have a son suffering from this disease.

Throughout Europe there were many princes who inherited hemophilia from Queen Victoria, and therefore the risk of producing a sick son was considered only one of the many dangers that arise in marriage. The main thing was not to talk about it, and the imperial couple forced even that narrow circle of people who knew the truth into silence.

If the Russian people, so prone to sympathy and compassion, had known about the illness of the heir, they might have become more sympathetic towards the empress, who was considered arrogant, arrogant and guilty of all the troubles of the monarchy.

Then the role of the one who treated the Tsarevich with suggestion and "miraculous" means would appear in a different light. This is just an assumption, but, in any case, everyone is well aware that the Russians - and most of them come from peasants - take revenge on the powerful of this world with their secrets, bringing down on them a whole stream of gossip and unhealthy curiosity.

The "lilac living room" of the empress lost its paramount importance, and the life of the Alexander Palace began to revolve around a new center - Alexei Nikolayevich and his illness. The child, as often happens in such cases, was very lively and frisky: noticing that he was forbidden to do anything that could harm his health, he began to actively resist this out of a sense of contradiction and consciously walked towards danger.

Alexandra Fedorovna decided that she had found a way out by assigning two sailors, Derevenko and Nagorny, to the boy as "guardian angels" ready to prevent Alexei's possible falls.

Later, when the imperial family was held under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo, Derevenko showed his true colors, turning from a protector of the heir to a cruel and arrogant tyrant. And Nagorny was shot in Yekaterinburg in early June 1918 for repeatedly protesting against the rough treatment of Alexei by the Bolsheviks.

However, the allegations that Klement Nagorny was devoted to his Tsarevich until his death should be questioned, since it is known that on May 28, 1918, while in prison, he wrote a petition to the representative of the Ural Council, Beloborodov. Under this petition for pardon - it, of course, was not satisfied - were the signatures of Nagorny and his comrade in misfortune, the servant Ivan Sednev. At the end of their message, they added that they were definitively refusing to serve under Nikolai Romanov.

The Romanov dynasty had a serious illness at the genetic level - this is a very rare form of hemophilia. Scientists from the Medical School at the University of Massachusetts, together with the head of the laboratory of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences E. Rogaev, studied the DNA of the Romanovs, which they obtained from the remains in Yekaterinburg.

These studies were supposed to confirm the existing information about the disease of the royal dynasty. The last carrier of this disease was the Prussian prince Waldemar, who died in 1945, only some symptoms indicated hemophilia - poor blood clotting, frequent hematomas.

In 80% of cases, such suffering is experienced by people who have a mutation in the F8 gene on the X chromosome. Rogaev did not find any anomalies in this gene in the Romanovs and began to study the neighboring F9 gene. This gene is responsible for the more complex form of the blood disorder, type B hemophilia. According to the journal Science, scientists were able to detect a mutation in the F9 gene in samples taken from Anastasia and Alexei Romanov.

Hemophilia of this type affects only 15% of its carriers. But there is an even rarer form of this disease - hemophilia type "C", but it is known only among Ashkenazi Jews.

A mutation in the F8 and F9 genes prevents fibrins from forming a scab at the site of a cut or blocking a vessel with a "plug" that cuts off blood flow. As a result, even a small cut can lead to a complete loss of blood. There have also been cases where people suffering from hemophilia bled for weeks.

Hemophilia is a recessive disease. Men are more likely to suffer from it, and women are its carriers.

Based on some data, scientists believe that the F9 gene mutation was also found in the English Queen Victoria, since no hemophiliacs were identified among her ancestors. Victoria passed the disease on to her ancestors, who ruled not only in Russia, but also in Germany and Spain.

But only in Russia this disease led to acute political consequences. The doctor, having examined the son of Nicholas II Alexei, said that the boy was too vulnerable and that he would not live even a month. His mother went to extreme lengths to save him. On November 1, 1905, the tsar met Grigory Rasputin, a peasant in the Tobolsk province. Rasputin was able to stop the bleeding and seizures of Alexei, which allowed him to live to adolescence.

The tragedy of the Romanov dynasty was that Rasputin, realizing that without him the royal family would not save the life of his son, began to take advantage of this and interfere in political affairs, which significantly undermined the authority of the Romanovs as rulers. The result was a militia against Nicholas and his family and their execution in 1918 in Yekaterinburg.

The royal Romanov dynasty carried a rarer form of hemophilia than previously thought. The results of scientists confirm the authenticity of the remains from Yekaterinburg and the fact that there were no Jews in the imperial family.

American and Russian scientists proved for the first time that Tsarevich Alexei Romanov and his mother Alexandra Feodorovna suffered from hemophilia B.

Employees of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, together with the head of the Laboratory of Molecular Brain Genetics of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Yevgeny Rogaev, studied the DNA of the Romanovs, obtained from the remains found in Yekaterinburg.

The genetic study was supposed to confirm the data of the Romanov contemporaries that the imperial family suffered from a hereditary bleeding disorder. The last carrier of this disease, Prince Valdemor of Prussia, died in 1945, and historical documents indicated hemophilia only with symptoms - increased bleeding, frequent hematomas.

Wrong gene

Most often (in 80% of cases), such suffering is experienced by people who have a gene called F8 mutated in the sex X chromosome. Rogaev failed to detect a defect in this gene in the DNA of the Romanovs, as a result of which the scientist turned to the neighboring F9 gene. He is responsible for the occurrence of a rarer form of hemophilia - type B. "This time, scientists were able to detect a mutation in the F9 gene in the material taken from the bones of Alexei, Anastasia and their mother Alexandra," according to the scientific journal Science.

Hemophilia B affects only 15% of carriers of this disease. There is another, even rarer form of hemophilia (C), but it is known only among Ashkenazi Jews.

Mutations in the F8 and F9 genes prevent fibrin proteins from forming a scab at a cut or plug in a vessel that blocks blood flow. As a result, even the slightest cut can lead to complete bleeding of a person. People with hemophilia have been known to bleed for weeks.

Hemophilia is a recessive disease. Most often, men suffer from it, and women are only carriers - they do not show symptoms.

Indirect cause of the fall of the dynasty

Based on the available data, scientists suggest that the F9 gene mutation occurred in the British Queen Victoria (1819-1901), since no hemophiliacs were identified among her ancestors. The ruler beloved by Sherlock Holmes transmitted the disease to her descendants, who became part of the ruling houses not only in Russia, but also in Germany and Spain.

However, only in the Russian Empire did this disease lead to serious political consequences, because Alexei was the heir to Nicholas II. Seeing how vulnerable the boy was, the doctors assured Alexandra Fedorovna that her son would not live even a month, but she dreamed of saving him, for which she made any sacrifices. On November 1, 1905, when Alexei was already 14 months old, Nicholas II met Grigory Rasputin, a peasant in the Tobolsk province. The Siberian managed to stop the bleeding of the prince and stop the seizures, as a result of which Alexei was able to live to adolescence.

The tragedy of the Romanovs was that Rasputin ceased to be the "family doctor" and began to interfere in politics, both internal and external, undermining the authority of the royal family and the monarchy. The result was the execution on July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg, which ended one of the oldest dynasties in Europe.

According to Rogaev, the results of the DNA study put the last stop in the identification of the remains of the royal family.