A History of the Romanov Dynasty and the Russian Monarchy In February 1613, amidst the filth and debris left by foreign invaders in the great Kremlin Palace, an obscure sixteen-year-old prince named Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov was proclaimed Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias. He was to establish a dynasty that would determine the destiny of Russia for three centuries. A line of dynastic rulers would come in his wake: Alexei--who would raise Russia to a position of importance in Eastern Europe; Peter the Great--who would build an invincible army and a new capital, St. Petersburg, and forcibly bring Russia out of the Middle Ages and into the modern world; and in the eighteenth century a succession of three extraordinary empresses, Anna, Elizabeth, and Catherine the Great, who would break with the tradition of supreme male authority. Catherine would bring the ideas of the Enlightenment to Russia and create a court whose splendor would rival that of Versailles. At its height in the mid-nineteenth century, the empire of the Romanovs comprised more than one sixth of the earth's surface. It was a "whole world, self-sufficient, independent, and absolute"--flaunting the greatest wealth in Europe. Its culture, both rich and brilliant, would continue to shine, decades after the demise of its imperial benefactors. This was the world that ended with the murders of the last of the Romanovs: Nicholas II and Alexandra, and their five children in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the Ural city of Ekaterinburg on the night of 16/17 July, 1918.

Royal Russia's Mission Statement Royal Russia is an historical organization dedicated to keeping the memories of old Russia alive by celebrating the Romanov Dynasty and Imperial Russian history. We are able to accomplish this through our in-depth web site, and the translation and publication of books and periodicals. Royal Russia believes that the legacy of the Romanovs and the history of Tsarist Russia should be sources of national pride and prosperity. Our goal is to educate, restore and honour one of the world's greatest dynasties and the rich history of pre-revolutionary Russia. Our web site aims to educate and inform new generations of Russophiles, to offer sources for historians, teachers and students, and to satisfy the quest for a better understanding of the Romanov Dynasty and Imperial Russia for Romanovphiles. We support the research and translation of historical documents so that historians, researchers, and the general public in the West will have access to them. We support the preservation and restoration of buildings of historical importance in Russia so that present and future generations may come to appreciate the history of Russia so vehemently denied them under Communist rule. We also support a restoration of the monarchy in Russia, recognizing HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna as the Head of the Russian Imperial House and claimant to the Russian throne.

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Royal Russia
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Telephone / Fax: (905) 492-1036 ~ E-mail: royalrussia@yahoo.com