COUSINS DIVIDED: GEORGE V AND NICHOLAS II

"After the last Tsar, Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate in the spring of 1917, the British Ambassador to St Petersburg was instructed to offer sanctuary in Britain to the beleaguered imperial family. But King George V quickly reneged on this invitation and, sixteen months later, the Romanovs were murdered in Siberia. What made the King's actions even more shocking was the fact that the Tsar was his cousin. Cousins Divided takes a fascinating look at the parallel lives of Tsar Nicholas II and King George V." "Tsar Nicholas and King George were first cousins through their mothers, sisters Queen Alexandra and the Empress Marie Feodorovna. Close friends since childhood, the cousins sailed together at Cowes and were so alike that George was mistaken for the Tsar at his own wedding. They believed they had a unique and personal relationship among monarchs." "Yet, while professing to be fond of his Russian cousin, in 1917 the King became apprehensive, worried that if he offered the Russian royal family shelter the seeds of revolution could spread to Britain. George feared for both his throne and his popularity." "There have been many historical judgements about the Tsar's assassination, but always a reticence about George V's role. Was George V right? Would the Tsar's arrival in England have de-stabilised the country?" "Ann Morrow draws on archival material as well as the memories of the Tsar's mother and ballerina mistres, grand-dukes and ministers, soldiers and servants, Bolsheviks and diplomats and many more. Cousins Divided provides a behind-the-scenes look at the courts of Russia and Britain, as well as debating George V's controversial and fateful decision."--BOOK JACKET.