Once A Grand Duchess Av John Van Der Kiste

<p><strong>Born into the wealth and splendour of the Russian imperial family as the shy fourth child of the Tsarevich, Xenia might well have expected to play only a minor role in the Romanov story.</strong> Yet when she was just six years old, the assassination of her grandfather, Alexander II, moved her father and his family into the centre. She became a key witness to the events of the tumultuous years that followed, seeing her brother Nicholas crowned as Emperor; the Revolution; and the ''terrible. horror'' as the first rumours of the imperial family''s capture and death began to circulate. She endured her own, and her family''s, exile to Europe.</p><p>Previously unpublished photographs and correspondence are used to reveal the intimate private life of the sister of the last Tsar, making this essential reading for anyone interested in the ill-fated Romanov dynasty.</p>