London daily mail. The skal of the married czar and his 16yearold mistress revealed in the raunchiest love letters ever written by a head of state. Simon i didnt actually write that. Thats the headline by the daily mail. But it is the most outrageous and most explicit correspondents ever written by a head of state. I have to say the correspondents is so outrageous that they added to the daily mail. They rang me up. They said were a tabloid newspaper. We cant print this stuff. Were a family newspaper. Who was the head of state . It was the czar Emperor Alexander the ii. The emperor who liberated the serbs the slaves of russia. And exactly at the same time 1861 as your president lincoln was about to liberate the slaves of america, the two men were in correspondents. And both of them were assist nated. So interesting relationship. Alexander ii was the sympathetic of all the romanovs of this book. And he also brought in jury trials and local electorate assemblies. He lays down the foundation for reform. He wanted to bring in a constitution which is the last proper chance to bring it in. But he was assassinated the day he was going to bring the constitution. As for the love life, thats another thing all together. Let me ask you first, what did you find the love letters . Simon theyre in the russian archive in moscow. These have never been worked on by my historians because they recently returned to the russian archives. When alexander ii was asays nated. His widow, his mistress, princess catia left to paris. She took 3,000 of outrageous letter. When it remained in private hands until 1998. And in 1998, the rothchild family bought these letters. Why . Because in 1945, the red army had captured when they took berlin and vienna but captured the archives and they took them back to moscow. And they wanted to swap tafpblet russians agreed. The arkives arent very interesting. But last week they got the letters. And theyre love letters between a 40somethingyearold emperor and his young schoolgirl, 18yearold mistress when they met and they started their affair. Their passionate, poignant, their theyre theyre increasingly political. And theres stuff in these letters that i didnt know were invented. I thought it was invented in the 21st century. But youll have to read them to know what im referring to. So this article doesnt have all the racy stuff in it . It doesnt have all the racy stuff in it because some of it is very racy even by the standards of 2016. How long was alexander ii the emperor . 1881. 1821 to he believed in reform. He showed real political skills. But he raised expectation for reform of all which he was not willing to fulfill. That caused a backlash that led to a terrorist movement demanding the destruction all together and they hunted him like an animal. He believed because his mistress was there on the first time of his assassination attempt he believes that she was his guardian angel. They had been together for all these years. E bomb was thrown at his carriage. He inspected the dead and wound. And his guards said please get back in the couch, please. He said no, i want to expect. Im an emperor and was one more terrorist, one more killer. And they threw the ball right at his feet and blew his legs to smithereens. He was taken back to winter pa lace. One of the people who saw him die was the little boy who became nicholas the second, his grand sofpblet in reading your book, i just kept asking how does this man remember all this . I probably could get here and find a statistics you wouldnt remember. What technique do you use in order to put all this together . I want you to eventually get into how many roman noves there were. Writing these books is a huge talent and its a nightmare for some reason i have a taste for doing these. Romanov princess. And it governments so many years. You can imagine every single mon narc this book have their children, their wives, their mistresses, their theyre great poets and composers and all of this has to be mastered so. Writing these books is a heal of a mental challenge. I immerse myself in the subject for the few years. I only read about this subject. Obviously afterwards we cant wood o read some james l. Thriller. When i just work my way from the beginning, rain by rain and when each we one i lead all the books on the subject first of all. I get all of the books and journals. And then ultimately i go to russian and walk around the pa lances, look at the archives and then when i feel ive got enough, i move on the the next. To the next monarch. You were here last in 20044 and we also did an interview peter slim did in london. I want to put up on the screen. The number of Nonfiction Books youve written. So that the audience can know the kind of thing ive been involved in. We go back to the first one in 2001. Stallen the coy of the czar which we talked about in three. 200. , the biography in you say ro mon ofs. You say romanos. The rush asses say romano. But we english say romanov. It doesnt matter. Ly you mentioned the lost child. This is a 2008 vanity fair article that undoubtedly you remember in which a friend of yours the honorable hannah roth child, who is she. Shes a novelist and writer. Hes head of the british museum. The very important woman in england and shes a daughter of rob roth dws child. Heres the quote. Hes the best lunch kate in london. And across all sections of society. Did you find that to be a compliment. I dont know. What did you think. Im not sure you found that as a compliment. Are you a gossip . I think all Human Affairs all human business, all politics is about human relationships. You can call that gossip, if youd like. On the worlds face. But if you look at these books for example, in all of them. There are sud dis and how power itself affect on penalty on power. Even if you are talking about an emperial court with chamberlains and ladies in waiting or whether youre talk about the office of the president of the united states. So the elected officials. And it emanates from the person who has been elected who has the power. And im a student of the way that works. And im fascinating by the way that happens. So im hoping that this book you can read it as as entertainment during a lot of shocking murders and the rest. You can look at it about how it works together. Its the study of human nature and power. Really, it showed to i just gave you one example. In 1981, when it was murdered. When he was this fascinated form reallyened in russia 18 1917. In rush yap history. Look at trump. Look at, you know, look at the clintons. Again and again, personalities is decisive in power and in politics. And so my books concentrate on the personal. Whos your favorite personality . The one that you had the most fun researching . Well, its just totally compelling. You know, hes a miss under character. I wanted to look at him have in a very similar sense. When was the emperor. Emperor 1975. Hes been 1962 if he was a child. Breath taking wezz these people. You look at two of the greatest men in this book. Peter the great and the prince who was captain the great east market r part. Pay it through the most talented individuals in the whole row mon of story. Both of them died at 52. Thats a pretty terribling statistics. Because think of all they achieved and they died 552. Oth of them utterly exhausted. Lets start. He was called the gray because he achieve sod. He modernized russian. He. He brought him more than technology, western experts. Western forms of government. He mobilized it in hopes that hey could defeat sweden. A new norton catch tall. He conquered the baltic and he created the boltic fleet, the boltic flee which made russia. He did all of this really because. Despite all the National Reasons and the wonderful swedish methods. At court. And the modern artistry he develops for the military. Despite all of this, more than stuff. As always basically an wherever he said was the government. If he slept, the government slept. When he was drunk, the government was drunk. He was everything. He was the ultimate personal ruler of russia. He was a genius. He took part in the beheadings of his enemies. He tortured his own sun to death. He you know, he was fascinated with the human boddy, dismanltmantling it. He was fascinated with the human body. Alsoer, can i bite the bullet. Then he made his entire entourage do the same. After that he brought his own collection of tony tours. They insidded on coming out. Another one had a bad foot. You had to a sort air. You were in peter the greats enter rage. You made sure you never mentioned it. How many difference emperors did you right r right about . There are 20 that actually ruled but there are also many region, many Prime Minister. Many feeled marshalled. His wook has everyone from these composers and have many fassnatesing and talent fascinating people and it was to putin. Alent person we talk about him for a minute. You go into great detail about him. When did he first rushup . He first spoke up in 1995. I think theres an analysis of him of being slightly scude. Two more emphasises on whether there or not. He represented what Nicholas Alexander felt was the authentic romanov awe the tockcrassy. Do you recognize who hes standing by . Simon no. Who did he have contact with . Nicholas ii. What was his relationship with him. There was no love affair. These are great pictures. There was no love affair as was rumored with alexandra. But alexandra and nicholas both tan. Tely needed ress pew it was a tragic family story and the parents were agonized by this by the child suffering by his pain as he would almost die immediately from these attacks. He must sisting that succeed to the pull plan tude of autocracy. So in this case was the stress on the child and themselves. What year is nicholas. This is 1905, 1904 was when the child alexy was was born. They meet him next year. Nd he remains key. Nicholas ii was the emperor for how long . Over 20 years. 1894 to 1917. The reason i wanted to talk about this. Is is the end of the roman ovs. Because rasputen became essential will to parents as well as the child. But he didnt become totally politically important until world war i. And in world war 1, nicholas decided to become superof commander in cheefment and he left the capital in the charge f the Emperor Alexander. Extremely self righteous, religious who believed bsolutely in se cred and a sacred ly disday atockcrasssi thats the rule of w nanov of a godgiven ramonov. And when nicholas ii left, alexandra was back in petersburg. This und herself and in preposterous nomination where she would have complete content for politicians particularly and journal itselfs. She found herself in the business of politics and she knew nobody. She had to prove to this very broodish woman. She might know some people. And that was rasputen who only knew the most competent for the people in st. Petersburg. The people he sent home ugget suggested were not the most afraid getting competent people. And that was a catrasstofey. This beak is made between three dars and a private competition. Theres the several thousands letters at that time apart from being fascinating because theyre passionate about each other. Their very close. That it also reveals how isolated they were. Isolated by their own wishes by the way. How much they defended to the third degree on rastpute. When you read the letter you realize that she was close to being saying. You read the book, i think people will be amazed just how unstable she was and she would a comb. You realize that the prestige and the power in the monarchy is seeping away fast when hes in charge. Who didnt like rasputen . No one liked him except for the family. The four doors to them and the emperial couple. By the time its targetted in 914, no one liked rasputen but people couldnt face the fact that thraffs responsibility belonged to the czar and they blamed it on rass pew ten. They were sure that they would solve the problems of russias misrule. How did they do it . If you go to st. Petersburg and a lot of americans do. Where would they find nicholas and alexandria living at that time. And where did rass pew ten live . They lived outside from peteeringberg. Theyre regarded as the immoral debauchery. They live in the alexander palace. For how long her grand sun bizarre for war and peace. We might come to him a litter. The centerpiece. Now rasputen lived on a flat. When he came out its asking her he would meet them in a small cottage outside the city gates that no one knew about it. And that little house is still there by the way. And no one goes to see it but they should. Because thats where russia was governed. All the flees controlled by the minister of the year orwould make a reck of anyone visiting. But anyway, they avoid anyone knowing but of course, everybody knew anyway. And meanwhile also in this city both for the use of the palace which im sure. That has the information where they talking about how he was killed. Once you dwruse wealthiest man in russia. He was bi secting. Open addict. He and him friends was a member of the emperial family, in fact. And they decide the only way to kill rasputen. To it was like a vampire movie. That finally killed them. But in fact, the murder was very different from that. And there are interesting things about it. One we now know there was some poe tension. The british seek service. The early version of the mi6. And may of action i would be involved in the assassination. First of all to be against the war which was true and that was about the only sensible policies. Things of the difficult is to stay out of the war. Nicholas was Strong Enough to withstand the pressure. Whos side was the russia was . They the british were interested in him being k. O. Ed. One to keep russia in the world. And without a monarchy poke really leaves the washington if rassputen continued his dark influence. So somehow british agents were friends with him were involved with this plot. And what really happened was they lived into this house. Hey tried it ones. He rant outside and somebody brought him down with a second shot that was not fall tall. At this point someone walked up with a huge pistol. Liked it with magnum. They put it right against rass pew tens foreign. Im just blown away like that. It was not this kind of romantic sort of gothic story. That we see in sort of hollywood movies. Theres heres the famous picture ofs are asputenn on the screen. What atraded this headline. And what exact year he was killed . December 16. This is a great picture. Hes actually their dead doctor. They found the body underneath the ice of the river. And took a while to find him. And what was interesting hes storing that before hes all topsy. You can tell that the point black shots is an execution shot. There you can see it pretty clearly. So what impact did it have . Well, the funny shing was. Stead of strengthening the monarchy, it renothing changed. Nicholas the second was still g withme nicholas ii rulin alex sappeder reform. Or getting into a representative government. Nothing changed. All it showed that the government was hollow and nicholas the second was a deeply incompetent ruler. Im at the end. Cholas and alexanders assassination. I want you to lead us after that and explain after this asays nation of rass pew ten. When is the next step in this process. The monarchy literally lost two months afterwards. And the irony was that this wasnt a revolution led by lenin and stallen and trops i can. They were all inside sigh bear yeah. You know the resolution is never going to happen in my lifetime. But here it came. It was totally unexpected and yet yet people start to protect about Food Shortages and quickly spread. The troops who in the city started to fraternize with the rebels. And nicolas was far away at the front. Where was he. He was right at the front of the quarters. His train got sidelined, supposedly stopped by workers and he found himself totally alone in the Railway Station in the middle of nowhere. He had to ask the general to what do and the general said as one. And so suddenly he was alone in his imperial carriage and he had to sign an about dough cation. The human fill yak boy. And then he spoke to his doctor and said just tell me something. Is this curable . No. How long could he live. But he could die at 30. You could die very young. And then, you know what, i need to change my plan. I have to change my application. Keep the child with me. Was that his decision . Any emperor could say. If we look at putin, his success, the success in my government is a measure of it orderness of its authority, of its system if you like. Paul the i. Czar andy czar could point to anyone they like. One of the most extraordinary colorful female characters in this bock. But she was little. She would first appear walking naked as a prisoner in the russian camp. She was neither a russian Norah Odonnell match and yet peter the great married her and renamed her katharine. And crowned her empress of washington. Even though she had no claim that the third. Russia the state can make. The state can break someone. O up until then, you know, czars could choose their own successors. The irony in dow now a days, it seems in 2016, the president began that and can choose their own successes. In a way thats unthinkable. So you have better than putin who was similarly, the chosen other person. Once again, we are in a situation where despite all the trappings of democracy, bizarre can choose his own successor. Why, the whole revolution in 1917, what happened to the last romanovs . Terrible story. The romantic approach to Nicholas Alexander. The movie view. I dont take it. I differ from the traditional romantic epic. It were a couple who were in love with each other. Parents, butoving they were also rulers. I think what people read in this book what they were really like, i think people will be amazed at how rapidly antisemitic they were. Jews isf about shocking. Considering that they regarded as wonderful, romantic heroes. Next to you and your family. We left at that time, my mothers family, to escape. His vindictiveness, i think people will be surprised when they read the book that they may not recognize the Nicholas Alexandra they knew. The family is in the one part of it. I will say, when they were on the throne in to do or 1917, they did conduct themselves with immense grace and facing. Humiliation, or beam prisoners of the republican government. They behave with immense dignity. Itt is why they were made two cents. At the same time, it is worth remembering, at the same time was the the second pose, reading tolstoy and books to children in captivity, he was the reading his children prodigals of the elder of zion. The antisomatic forgery. That gives you some perspective. In the end, when the bolsheviks took power, lenin, stalin, a turn ofy, it was in events. They were in danger of their lives. It was unthinkable that the children could be in danger of their lives. Lenin and trotsky were ruthless and they could take their chances. It is clear, when you look at all,rders to kill them