The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra

Annals of Communism

by Tsaritsa Alexandra, Robert K. Massie (Introduction), Vladimir M. Khrustalev (Editor)

Published for the first time in its entirety, the recently declassified diary of the last Tsaritsa of Russia, wife of Tsar Nicholas, reveals her private thoughts and activities until the night of her execution by the Bolsheviks. UP.

Genres: Russia, History, Nonfiction, Russian History, Romanovs, Royalty, Biography Memoir

282 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 1997

Reviews

[Katy S]

I checked out a diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra since I wanted to try to understand her better; the 1918 diary is the last ~7 months of her life from January to July 16, 1918. I would be interested in following up this time period with Nicholas's diary due to the numerous footnotes in Alexandra's from his which provided far more detail in a narrative style where Alexandra's was more of an agenda with brief notes of activity. A diary that might be more relatable (if accessible / if it still exists) would be 1912 covering Alexis's Spala incident, or 1914-1917 for Russia's involvement in WWI where Alexandra was regent with Nicholas on the front lines and was active as a nurse in the Red Cross.

As noted in the introduction, Alexandra noted her entries in both the Old and New Style dates, a discrepancy of ~13 days and once day light savings time was adopted on July 1st she made intentional mentions of the time saying things like "they told us it was 12 (but its 10)", showing she stayed on the boundary of two worlds. We know she also tried to balance her identity as a Russian, upbringing of Germanic (Hessian) royalty with being raised by an English governess as she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria -- which were two strikes against her during the first world war.

[Laurie]

What can one say about the occupations of a woman who had once been empress and then prisoner along with her family? No matter what your thoughts on the Romanovs; their deaths became unspeakable horror.

Alexandra does not give her innermost self away in this day book. She records the ordinary flow of the days and sometimes mentions the extra-ordinary. Her son is always on top of mind. He is feeble and sickly and requires much support from the family and their retinue. There is much tatting, knitting, embroidering and sitting in the sun; activities that relieve anxiety and boredom.

And then the blank page for Wed, July 17th. She, along with everyone else with her, never got to live that day and the blankness of the page says it all.

[Jane]

Loved it. It felt particularly tragic because the reader knows the ending. While some might find it repetitive and lacking in emotion the reader can imagine the emotions that lie underneath the surface. Primary sources are always essential.

[Ella]

A fascinating insight into the last year in the life of Alexandra Feodorovna. Although the diary is more of a log, rather than a place to share intimate thoughts, there are gems in her writings which bring the Romanov family dynamics to life.

[Janilyn Kocher]

Mundane read about the repetitious last few months of Alexandra. I appreciated the introduction and epilogue.

[Christopher Reed]

This diary simultaneously doesn't say a lot, and also says everything. From her writings it's clear Alexandra was a very concise woman. It is less of a traditional diary with intimate personal thoughts, and is much closer to an agenda book. It bullet points the final days of her life. It highlights the weather each day, the temperature's of the children when they're sick, and small things. How they keep busy while they're in captivity. How they thought that there might be a rescue planned, and what day they might need to be ready. The rescue never comes. The diary ends right before they're all murdered, much like their end, the book's is abrupt. It leaves the reader with a sense of melancholy, which is to be expected. Her diary makes one thing abundantly clear, she loved her children and husband.

[Alice]

Very good foreword and afterword. Introduces many new characters I hadn't heard about in the many biographies I've read of Alexandra. 3 stars only because the entries are so brief and don't add a lot of emotional insight into her last year alive (of course, this is the author's style).

[jenwalk]

I felt a little strange to be reading her personal diary entries, even though I'm sure they were censored due to circumstances in her life at the time. The entries were insightful and tender.
I also found myself dreading approaching the entries June of 1918.

[Helen Azar]

The only complaint I have about this book is that it is not complete, however that's only because I wanted all details. For those who just want to read Alexandra's diary, this will do the trick!

[Alenka of Bohemia]

Invaluable historical resource for any serious Romanov researcher. But not something you want to read as an introduction to the subject.

Not sure if I should rate this, considering it really is not "literature".