vintage everyday: Old Photos of Daily Life of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, in the 1910s

Nicolas sharing breakfast with his son Alexei in 1909

Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule. His poor handling of Bloody Sunday and Russia’s role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.

Nicholas II was born on May 18, 1868, in Pushkin, Russia. He inherited the throne when his father, Alexander III, died in 1894. Although he believed in autocracy, he was eventually forced to create an elected legislature. Nicholas II’s handling of Bloody Sunday and World War I incensed his subjects and…

Source: vintage everyday: Old Photos of Daily Life of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, in the 1910s

Rare Photos of the Romanov Royal Family Found

Life in Russia

Tsar Nicholas II appears in a photograph to be teaching his daughter Grand Duchess Anastasia how to smoke.

Another picture taken by the emperor dated 1916 shows Tsarevich Alexei – heir to an autocratic throne that would be abolished the following year – posing on a tree in winter with his beloved pet spaniel Joy.

These images of the Russian royal family, captured in photographs taken by the Tsar himself or his children, mostly date from the years of the First World War, and some very soon before the Romanov dynasty crumbled, to be rapidly replaced by Communism.

Found in a vault in Zlatoust, the album shows the private moments of the royals as the storm clouds gather over a dynasty that had ruled for more than three centuries.

The smoking picture shows the youngest princess Anastasia, then 15, evidently imbibing from a cigarette with every encouragement from the Emperor…

View original post 552 more words