Nicholas & Alexandra: The Letters

A prime example of love stories without happy endings is the marriage of Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, who drank from the "poisoned chalice" of history. Through a combination of bad luck, bad timing, and bad decisions, their love story led to the violent downfall of a regime that had endured for 300 years. Hosted by Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb, this PBS-aired documentary explores the tragic tale of a couple who profoundly affected 20th-century world history. The related pair met at a wedding when Nicholas was 16 and Alexandra 12, the latter a German princess with strong English connections. Nicholas was smitten and determined to marry Alexandra when she got older, although the Russian royal family thought the union was inappropriate. Nicholas is characterized here as a "nervous virgin," while Alexandra was prissy, priggish, and deeply religious, at first resisting calls to convert to the Russian Orthodox church. When young, Nicholas—who wasn’t particularly intelligent—was shielded from state affairs, but after seeing his grandfather assassinated he turned fatalistic. The pair tried to create their own world and its rules, with pet terms of endearment, but the real world intruded in the 1905 uprising and Communist agitation. Alexandra unwisely counseled her husband to be more autocratic and roll back reforms, and when their hemophiliac son was born, they enlisted the help of the self-proclaimed healer and mystic Rasputin. When war broke out, Nicholas toured the eastern front in an attempt to inspire the troops, although he spent much of his time working on puzzles. Meanwhile, things unraveled back home, and exhibiting a combination of "iron will and monumental stupidity," Nicholas waited too long to abdicate, leading to the merciless slaughter of his family. Drawing on the royal couple’s letters, this cautionary history lesson about hunger, war, and revolution is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)