Tsarevich Alexei of Russia Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia (August 12, 1904 - July 17, 1918), or Alexis Nikolaevich, of the House of Romanov, was a Tsarevich of Russia and was the youngest child of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra of Hesse.
His older siblings included sisters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Alexei was reportedly closest to Anastasia out of all of his sisters.
He had a medical condition called hemophilia from his mother Alexandra and traced back to her own maternal grandmother Victoria of the United Kingdom.
He was assassinated along with the rest of his family in 1918. His body was missing, along with a Grand Duchess (Tatiana, Maria or Anastasia) when the bodies were found.
In 2001, he and his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
The significance of Alexei is twofold. Firstly, Alexei was the heir to the throne despite being the fifth and last child of Nicholas II and Alexandra. Women had been barred from the succession by Paul I (1754-1801, ruled 1796-1801), in revenge upon his mother, Catherine II ('the Great'). Alexei was named after Aleksey I of Russia, who ruled from 1645 to 1676, known as 'the quiet' and father of Peter the Great.
In the first draft of Tsar Nicholas II's 1917 abdication, the intention was that the 12-year old Alexei would ascend to the throne under a regency. However, due to Nicholas' wish that Alexei should not be separated from the family, and in view of his crippling illness, the final draft included the abdication both of father and son in favour of Nicholas' younger brother Michael II.
Secondly, his hemophilia was integral to the rise of Grigori Rasputin. The tsaritsa, Empress Alexandra, a deeply religious woman, came to rely upon Rasputin and believe in his ability to help Alexei where conventional doctors failed. This theme is explored in Robert K. Massie's peerless "Nicholas & Alexandra". It is not too far-fetched to see that if Alexei had not suffered so terribly, Rasputin could never have gained such influence over Russian politics during the First World War, which at the very least hastened the collapse of Romanov rule.
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