“Weeping Willow”, The Sad Romanov
His life was short, tragic, and filled with gossip
It was late in the morning of July 10, 1899, and an elderly peasant woman was sobbing and crying for help on a desolate stretch of road in the Caucasian mountains. In her arms was a young man, his hands clenched into fists, his white uniform stained with blood.
The place was Abastumani, Georgia. The man was Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia, the third of Emperor Alexander III’s sons: he was tall, fair, handsome, and dead.
As a kid, George was outgoing, good-looking, and full of fun. Born in 1871, he was always getting into mischief and cracking jokes, but he was also the cleverest of the Romanov children. While his elder brother, Nicholas (the same Nicholas who would die at the hands of Communist revolutionaries in 1918), was described as a pleasant, but otherwise unremarkable fellow, George was the life of the party. His mother — Empress Maria of Russia — was vivacious and outgoing like him, and George was her favorite: he could get away with almost anything.
He would often tell great jokes, and Nicholas would write out the best ones on pieces of paper and save them in a box of curiosities.
Contrary to what one would expect, the Romanov kids had a very Spartan upbringing: they slept on camp…
