Gray Michael Mikhail Chebotarev (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Jacket photos after Nicolai Chebotarev (illustrator). 1st Edition. First UK edition, first impression. Some slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, corners very slightly rubbed and bruised, spine slightly faded, not price clipped (£20.00), no inscriptions, pink file card with 'relevant reading' tipped in, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg+ copy for its age. 308pp, illustrated. The author's contention is that the Tsarevich Alexei was spirited away from the murder of his family at Ekaterinburg in 1918, and survived as 'Nicolai Chebotarev' until 1987 and was, in fact, the author's father. Over the years, a number of people have claimed to be survivors of the ill fated family. In May 1979, the remains of most of the family and their retainers were found by amateur enthusiasts, who kept the discovery secret until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In July 1991, the bodies of five family members (the Tsar, Tsarina, and three of their daughters) were exhumed. After forensic examination and DNA identification (partly aided by mitochondrial DNA samples from Prince Philip, a great nephew of Alexandra), the bodies were laid to rest with state honours in the St. Catherine Chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, where most other Russian monarchs since Peter the Great lie. Boris Yeltsin and his wife attended the funeral along with Romanov relations, including Prince Michael of Kent. The Holy Synod opposed the government's decision in February 1998 to bury the remains in the Peter and Paul Fortress, preferring a 'symbolic' grave until their authenticity had been resolved. As a result, when they were interred in July 1998, they were referred to by the priest conducting the service as 'Christian victims of the Revolution' rather than the imperial family. Patriarch Alexy II, who felt that the Church was sidelined in the investigation, refused to officiate at the burial and banned bishops from taking part in the funeral ceremony. The Russian president Boris Yeltsin described the murder of the royal family as one of the most shameful chapters in Russian history. The remaining two bodies of Alexei and one of his sisters, presumed to be Maria by Russian anthropologists and Anastasia by American ones, were discovered in 2007. What can one say about this somewhat sad conspiracy / fantasy book, written by an obviously 'lost boy'? The author may well be of Russian or even Romanov descent, just not the one he claims here. I also doubt the claim that Princess Marina was his mother.