Nicholas while he was still a Prince (first in row for the succession to his fathers throne) went on a world tour by ship and by land to see more of the world and the different cultures abroad Russia and Europe. Visiting India and Ceylon, both places being in those days part of the British Empire with Queen Victoria as head of it. Nicholas was one of Queen Victorias grandchildren so it was also a kind of family visit. During his visit to Kandy in 1891 the Crown Prince Nicholas planted this tree and reminds us today the nice trip through Ceylon of this often rather unlucky man. Later during the same journey in Japan, Nicholas has been attacked by a Samurai who hit him on the head with a sword. Nicholas II (Russian: Николай II, Николай Александрович Романов, tr. Nikolay II, Nikolay Alexandrovich Romanov (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 -- 17 July 1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and titular King of Poland.[2] His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias.[3] Like other Russian Emperors he is commonly known by the monarchical title Tsar (though Russia formally ended the Tsardom in 1721). He is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church and has been referred to as Saint Nicholas the Martyr. Nicholas II ruled from 1 November 1894 until his enforced abdication on 2 March 1917.[4] His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse. Enemies nicknamed him Bloody Nicholas because of the Khodynka Tragedy, the anti-Semitic pogroms, Bloody Sunday, the violent suppression of 1905 Revolution and the subsequent executions of political opponents,.[5] Under his rule, Russia was humiliatingly defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, which saw the almost total annihilation of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts to gain influence in the Middle East, ended the Great Game between Russia and the United Kingdom. As head of state, Nicholas approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the beginning of Russia's involvement in World War I, a war in which 3.3 million Russians were killed.[6] The Imperial Army's severe losses and the High Command's incompetent handling of the war, along with other policies directed by Nicholas during his reign, are often cited as the leading causes of the fall of the Romanov dynasty.[citation needed] Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned first in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, then later in the Governor's Mansion in Tobolsk, and finally at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 1918, Nicholas was handed over to the local Ural soviet by commissar Vasili Yakovlev who was then presented with a written receipt as Nicholas was formally handed over like a parcel.[7] Nicholas II; his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna; his son, Alexei Nikolaevich; his four daughters (Olga Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, Maria Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaevna); the family's medical doctor, Evgeny Botkin; the Emperor's footman, Alexei Trupp; the Empress' maidservant, Anna Demidova; and the family's cook, Ivan Kharitonov were executed in the same room by the Bolsheviks on the night of 16/17 July 1918. This led to the canonization of Nicholas II, his wife the Empress Alexandra and their children as passion bearers, a category used to identify believers who, in imitation of Christ, endured suffering and death at the hands of political enemies, on 15 August 2000[8] by the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia and, in 1981, as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, located in New York City.[9] At the time of his death, his net worth was $900 million, which is the inflation adjusted equivalent to $300 billion in 2012 dollars, thus making him one of the richest monarchs in human history.(Wikipedia)

• published: 30 Oct 2013
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