We often think of the Romanov's as one of europe great dynasty with a great heritage and pretty strict ways, but we often forget about the how weird it got at some point as Peter de Great died. Peter's wife, Catherine I, was an estonian waiteress. He had his brother assasinated, then they chose Alexei's son as his successor as Peter II who married Catherine -to become Catherine II the Great-. She got her husband arrested, he was assasinated. Finally who was Paul's father name in reality?
The first Romanov, Alexei was elected. Both Catherines were in deed very suited to rule and sadly enought the ones brought-up to rule were mediocre. Under Alexander II, the Russian imperial court had reached the apex of its splendor, the most magnificent in Europe. The crown jewels were undoubtedly the world's richest; only the Persian and the British might even compare. The jewels were used by the sovereign and his consort but not personally owned by him, remaining the proprety of the state. Amid the grandeur and formality this glittering environment, Alexander II presided over a large extended family whose lives were predictably regimented and formal as well. Nicholas I, Alexander II's father, had sired a family of for boys and three girls. had it not been for his fertility (and that of the empress, his dear Mouffy), the Romanovs would have become extinct well before the twentieth century. In the mid-eighteenth century, at one point there were only two Romanovs beside the ruler. All twentieth-century Romanovs are decendants of the awesome Nicholas I, the Iron Tsar. Alexander II had firmly beleived in the sacral bond linking dynasty and people. Writing to one of his sons who had just toured the countryside, he said,
"I hope it will prove useful to you to have seen with your own eyes the devoted attachment of the Russian people to its imperial house. You will understand that this attachment obliges us to love our people and to strive to be usefull to them."
Most of us would love to find "the" solution to the political problems in Russian, but like many things and events in life, there is often not "one" solution but many little steps to make in one direction. One can only understand the frustrations of those who gave their life work to the USSR and end-up with a pention that is worth nothing anymore. Who wouldn't miss the old days in this situation? Human nature is the same whatever the political system we live in, we all need to work, eat and feel some "fulfillment", at least! These few pictures tells alot about one's expectation compare to another. The new Russia will have to be build on all of its history and only russians will decide of it.
