Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov (12 August 1904 - 17 July 1918)
Posted by George Snyder at 8/21/2007 7:33 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Look, I can't always be making history; sometimes I just report it. Wait til you see whose birthday it is tomorrow.
The last known picture of the heir apparent to the throne of Imperial Russia, with his sister Olga, circa 1918. He was almost 14 years old.
Of course you all know the backstory: Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin, Russian Revolution, whole family executed. What I didn't know is that in relatively recent times the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Alexei, his 4 sisters and parents as "passion bearers" of the Church, which I believe is close to being a saint but not quite, perhaps more like being a martyr.
Well, if things had worked out differently, you know?
Meawhile, I feel a great cosmic balancing act going on with the passing of Brooke Astor and now Leona Helmsley*, a yin and yang readjustment of energy, good witch versus wicked witch, in that ongoing battle between the Light and the Dark. I guess with poor Merv caught in the middle. As Larry and Justin have both been saying, Nancy R. is inconsolable right now. Merv was supposed to be with her to the end, to keep her company after Jerry Zipkin completely abandoned her, and her children, as you can imagine, have been less than, well, "there for her," you know -- not the way Merv was. At least she can be comforted knowing Judy Davis portrayed her better than anyone could have hoped, as good as Joan Allen doing Pat Nixon, if you ask me.
*[Click The Telegraph and go to the Obituary of the "hatter's daughter from Brooklyn" for a full account of the late Mrs. Harry Helmsley.]
Now, because I get most of my book news from The Daily Blague I learned from a review of the London Review of Books review of a memoir of "The Blair Years" that Tony Blair's personal taste in clothes was akin to Austin Power's and that he flirted in a not-quite-gay but not-quite-not-gay way with other men, and the reviewer thought anyone attending a girl's boarding school should be given the book as helpful reading.
Well, I know one particular terror of a thirteen-year-old young lady [are you reading this PAM?] attending a girl's boarding school to whom I suppose I could give the book, but I should think it would only give her ideas.
And yet, to be fair, at thirteen I would have been a terrible candidate for canonization or political intrigue of any kind. I didn't have a clue. I can only be grateful it wasn't my turn.
The last known picture of the heir apparent to the throne of Imperial Russia, with his sister Olga, circa 1918. He was almost 14 years old.Of course you all know the backstory: Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin, Russian Revolution, whole family executed. What I didn't know is that in relatively recent times the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Alexei, his 4 sisters and parents as "passion bearers" of the Church, which I believe is close to being a saint but not quite, perhaps more like being a martyr.
Well, if things had worked out differently, you know?
Meawhile, I feel a great cosmic balancing act going on with the passing of Brooke Astor and now Leona Helmsley*, a yin and yang readjustment of energy, good witch versus wicked witch, in that ongoing battle between the Light and the Dark. I guess with poor Merv caught in the middle. As Larry and Justin have both been saying, Nancy R. is inconsolable right now. Merv was supposed to be with her to the end, to keep her company after Jerry Zipkin completely abandoned her, and her children, as you can imagine, have been less than, well, "there for her," you know -- not the way Merv was. At least she can be comforted knowing Judy Davis portrayed her better than anyone could have hoped, as good as Joan Allen doing Pat Nixon, if you ask me.
*[Click The Telegraph and go to the Obituary of the "hatter's daughter from Brooklyn" for a full account of the late Mrs. Harry Helmsley.]
Now, because I get most of my book news from The Daily Blague I learned from a review of the London Review of Books review of a memoir of "The Blair Years" that Tony Blair's personal taste in clothes was akin to Austin Power's and that he flirted in a not-quite-gay but not-quite-not-gay way with other men, and the reviewer thought anyone attending a girl's boarding school should be given the book as helpful reading.
Well, I know one particular terror of a thirteen-year-old young lady [are you reading this PAM?] attending a girl's boarding school to whom I suppose I could give the book, but I should think it would only give her ideas.
And yet, to be fair, at thirteen I would have been a terrible candidate for canonization or political intrigue of any kind. I didn't have a clue. I can only be grateful it wasn't my turn.
Well, of course, poor Nicky & Alexandra & all the children are saints now. And deserve to be. This is why Fabergé knick-knacks with an imperial provenance have shot up dramatically in price. They are now holy relics, just waiting to be cared for by devout Russian oligarchs eager to buy a place in heaven.
[1904 Replies: as always, you are correct and see the bigger picture. I hear the place of execution is even a shrine now, a destination for pilgrims and so forth. Perhaps that's where Malcolm Forbe's egg collection will be found one day, like bits of the True Cross and the Shroud of Turin.
I confess, however, that after years in West Hollywood, surrounded by the ever-encroaching influence of the Russian Mafia -- oh yes, there's another side to that gay mecca, don't ask -- I am ambivalent about the Putin Set. These oligarchs -- unpleasant chaps some of them. And yet, should one always be suspicious when deep devotion and great wealth combine? Take the Vatican, for example...]