The Final Moments of Tsar Nicholas and the Royal Family
What thoughts raced through Tsar Nicholas II’s mind in the brief moments between the time Yakov Yurovsky read aloud his death sentence in the basement of the Ipatiev House, and the firing of the first shot into Nicholas’ chest?
One can only assume that his first and likely most overwhelming realization is that his entire family was about to be slaughtered, and there was nothing he could do to protect them. His wife, Alexandra. His daughters — Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia — children still. And his son — Alexei — helpless, sickly and suffering. All about to die.
A father’s instinct, his purpose one might argue, is to protect his family from harm. For Nicholas, his family was everything. They were all that mattered to him. He seemed to care little about ruling Russia, about Tsardom or abdicating his throne, about wealth, power, autocracy. He occupied the position of an autocrat, yes, and stubbornly clung to the trappings thereof — but his only real love was his family.
He barely had time to utter “wait — what?! Repeat please…” when the bullets began tearing at his flesh.
Tsar Nicholas II was the last Emperor of all the Russias when his reign came to an end in March 1917 by way of abdication. The Romanovs had ruled Russia for 300 years, and Nicholas ascended to Tsar when…
