Historians today agree that the brutal murder of Nicholas II and his family in July 1918 could have been prevented. Unfortunately, his cousin - English King George V - did not invite the Romanovs to his country, thus leaving them at the mercy of the Bolsheviks.
On March 15 (2), 1917, Nicholas II renounced the throne, and seven days later, together with his wife Aleksandra, five children and the closest courtiers, he was under house arrest in his residence - the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. The further fate and safety of the imperial family lay at the heart of the European relatives of Nicholas II. The most powerful of them was George V, with whom the Russian emperor had a cordial relationship.
Russian and English - two nephews
The mothers of Nicholas II and King George - Empress Maria Fedorovna and Queen Alexander - were natural sisters and were from Denmark. Close kinship made the monarchs resemble each other like two drops of water. In 1893, during the wedding of George with Maria, Princess of Teck, some of the guests gathered at the wedding party wished to express their wishes to Nicholas, who was there, and not to the newly wedded spouse. In addition, Maria Fedorovna and Queen Alexandra maintained regular and cordial contacts, thanks to which their children also corresponded with each other and met each other frequently. Mikołaj and Jerzy had similar personalities:they loved a quiet family life, avoided lavish parties, preferred to spend time in the bosom of the family, were shy and had imperious mothers.
Maria Feodorovna
Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894, and his cousin - in 1910. The monarchs decided to do everything possible to maintain peace in Europe and stop the militaristic aspirations of "cousin Willie" , i.e. of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Once upon a time, George V wrote to Nicholas that he was his "best and most cordial friend". During World War I, Great Britain and Russia became allies.
Royal Promises
March 21 (8), 1917, i.e. Six days after the abdication of Nicholas II, British ambassador to Petrograd Sir George Buchanan met with Russia's Foreign Minister Pavel Milukov and did not hide his concern for the tsar and his loved ones. The Russian assured Buchanan that nothing would threaten the life of the dethroned ruler. What's more - the minister added - when signing the abdication, the Tsar expressed his desire to go to England and the new Russian authorities did not object to this wish.
The emperor envisaged staying abroad only during the war, but after its end, he would return to Russia to live the life of an ordinary citizen. The Provisional Government complied with Nikolai's wishes, because, according to his ministers, the remaining monarch in Russia would result in social unrest, which the new authorities wanted to avoid.
Milukov asked Buchanan for Britain to issue an official invitation to Nicholas II, his wife and children. The ambassador immediately forwarded this message to London.
King George V
Jerzy V immediately commissioned his specialists for Russia to prepare an opinion on the situation in that country. Experts unanimously predicted the imminent overthrow of the moderate Provisional Government by more radical Bolshevik elements that hated Nicholas II.
On April 1 (March 19), during another meeting with Buchanan, Milukov again emphasized that the only guarantee of safety for Nicholas II was his departure to England. According to the plans of the Provisional Government, the emperor and his family were to reach Murmansk, where an English ship would be waiting for them. On April 4 (March 22), His Majesty's Government sent Nicholas an official invitation, and George V wrote such a letter to his cousin:
Yes, my dear Niki, I hope our friendship will last until the end of days. In this matter, nothing has changed for me, after all, I have always loved you (...) Remember that you can always count on me as your friend. Your forever devoted Jerzyk.
Knife in the back
It seemed that the Romanovs' departure to England had already been sealed. But unexpectedly, this decision of his ministers was opposed by George V himself, who ordered the breakdown of negotiations on the stay of Nicholas II's family in his country.
The reason for such inhospitality was the king's fear for his own reputation. The point was that rumors were spreading in the UK about allegedly pro-German sympathies of Empress Alexandra, née a Hessian princess. It was said that the Russian monarch wanted to sign a separatist peace with Germany, that she surrounded herself with agents of William II. These rumors were untrue.
Official photo of Emperor Nicholas and the Hessian princess Alice after their engagement was announced
The change of position of George V was caused by the fact that German blood was also flowing in his veins. His grandfather Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, was a German prince, his grandmother Victoria was half German. In order not to be accused of sympathy for the enemy, the king of England wanted to distance himself from everything that was German.
Meanwhile, the British government tried to show George V how indecent it is to revoke an invitation issued. Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour kept telling the king that "it is not fitting for a royal to withdraw from his promise." The ruler seemed willing to accept the position of his government. But three days later, he expressed his wish that Ambassador Buchanan would "propose to the Russian government to consider a different residence for Their Imperial Majesty," because the stay of the Romanovs in England would cause "a negative public reaction".
Fortunately, Nicholas II, staying in Tsarskoye Selo, was not informed about the details of the negotiations with the British. The news about the betrayal of beloved "Jerzy" would be a heavy blow for him.
Other options?
On August 1 (July 19), 1917, the tsarist family was sent to Tobolsk in the Urals. At that time, many officers devoted to Nicholas planned to liberate the Romanovs and transport them abroad or hide them in Russia. According to the British historian Helen Rappaport, author of several books on the tsarist family and 20th-century Russia, from a technical point of view, the release of the Romanovs was easy, because the protection of their home was small and poorly armed. But from a logistical point of view, the operation was complicated. How to secretly deport a family of 7 from Russia without arousing any suspicions? Where to hide them if Mikołaj and Aleksandra refused to leave the country?
Unfortunately, also Emperor William II did not help the tsar.
After the Bolshevik coup, there was a real threat to the health and life of the Romanovs. Therefore, members of the Danish royal family, who were closely related to Nicholas II, asked Emperor William II with a request that he set up diplomatic channels and help the tsar and his relatives get out of Russia. Kaiser refused, fearing that the Russians would accuse him of wanting to restore the monarchy. Anyway, it is highly doubtful whether Nicholas and Alexander, who accused William II of the outbreak of World War I, would have accepted the help of a German Kaiser.
As Helen Rappaport maintains, the Russian emperor believed until the end that his loyal friends would save him and his loved ones. Hope turned out to be in vain and on July 17, 1918, the whole family was killed by bullets in the house of the merchant Ipatjew in Yekaterinburg.