This splendid selection of 140 rare or unpublished photographs from the Romanovs' own albums is an intimate portrait of the private and public lives of Tsar Nicholas II's family. It shows them relaxing in the luxury of their magnificent country estates, at work during World War I in the Palace Hospital, the children playacting, mushroom picking, and studying with their tutors. More formal portraits include the ceremony of the Imperial court as well as such important family occasions as the celebration of the birth of the heir Alexei.This unique compilation is taken from the personal album of the Tsar's daughter Grand Duchess Maria and from the Tsarina Alexandra's own commemorative album, both now in the James Blair Lovell Archive. It also draws on the impressive collection of Ian Lilburn, a close friend of Anna Anderson, once the most plausible claimant to being the Grand Duchess Anastasia. With an explanatory text and informative captions often compiled from the original Russian, this is an extraordinary chronicle of a way of life that ended with the brutal execution of practically every member of the Imperial Family photographed in this book.