Imperial Crimea: Estates, Enchantments and the Last of the Romanovs

Imperial Crimea: Estates, Enchantment and the Last of the Romanovs offers the most comprehensive account of Russia’s Imperial Family and its ties to the Crimea available in English. The book draws on both published works and on unpublished sources, including German diplomatic reports on Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; the unpublished memoirs of tutor Charles Sidney Gibbes; private letters by members of the Imperial Family; and correspondence and materials from Broadlands Archives; The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; The Mainau Archives; the Staatsarchiv, Darmstadt; the State Archives of the Russian Federation; and the State Public Library, Russian National Library Collection, in St. Petersburg. Encompassing travelogue, Tartar history, Russian conquest and the flowering of the peninsula under Romanov rule, Imperial Crimea takes readers on a Turn of the Century tour of the peninsula through the eyes of tourists; follows the Imperial Family from Nicholas I to Nicholas II; explores the diverse array of palaces dotting the edge of the Black Sea; and concludes with the 1919 departure of Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna and other Romanovs from the Crimea.