Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Notes

Hyphenation has been standardised.

Other changes made are noted at the end of the book.

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THE EX-CZARINA ALEXANDRA OF RUSSIA]

MY EMPRESS

TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF INTIMATE LIFE WITH THE EMPRESS OF ALL THE RUSSIAS FROM HER MARRIAGE TO THE DAY OF HER EXILE

BY

MADAME MARFA MOUCHANOW

FIRST MAID IN WAITING TO HER FORMER MAJESTY THE CZARINA ALEXANDRA OF RUSSIA

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD MCMXVIII

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY JOHN LANE COMPANY

Press of J. J. Little & Ives Co. New York

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I MY APPOINTMENT 11

II THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE CZARINA’S MARRIED LIFE 20

III BIRTH OF GRAND DUCHESS OLGA 33

IV THE CORONATION 46

V VISITS ABROAD 59

VI THE GRAND DUCHESS ELIZABETH 72

VII THE CZARINA’S FAMILY RELATIONS 82

VIII LIFE AT CZARSKOI SELO 94

IX THE COURT AND ATTENDANTS OF THE CZARINA 105

X THE CZARINA AND ST. PETERSBURG SOCIETY 117

XI THE CZARINA AND HER MOTHER-IN-LAW 129

XII THE CZARINA’S DAILY OCCUPATIONS 141

XIII THE JAPANESE WAR AND THE BIRTH OF THE CZAREVITSCH 152

XIV THE CZARINA, HER CHILDREN AND HER CHARITIES 164

XV THE FIRST REVOLUTION 176

XVI THE CZARINA’S FRIENDS 188

XVII THE GREAT WAR 200

XVIII DISASTERS AND THE SECOND REVOLUTION 211

XIX HOW THE CZARINA WAS ARRESTED 222

XX LIFE IN PRISON 236

XXI EXILE—I AM DISMISSED 249

ILLUSTRATIONS

The ex-Czarina Alexandra of Russia _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

The ex-Czar Nicholas II of Russia 20

Winter Palace, Petrograd 34

Alexander Hall in the Kremlin at Moscow 44

Throne Room in the Kremlin at Moscow 52

Old Banquet Hall of the Czars 70

Rasputin 80

The ex-Czarina of Russia and her Four Daughters 102

Grounds of the Imperial Palace at Tzarskoié Sélo 122

Grand Duke Michael 132

Grand Duchess Olga 144

The ex-Czarevitch 156

The ex-Czarina and her Son 168

The Grand Staircase, Winter Palace, Petrograd 178

Grand Duchess Elizabeth 188

Grand Duchess Anastasia 220

MY EMPRESS