Читать книгу Once A Grand Duke by Alexander Grand Duke of Russia - Alexander Mikhailovich - Страница 6

THE history of the last fifty turbulent years of the Russian Empire provides only a background, but is not the subject of this book.

In compiling this record of a grand duke’s progress I relied on memory only, all my letters, diaries and other documents having been partly burned by me and partly confiscated by the revolutionaries during the years of 1917 and 1918 in the Crimea.

Naturally enough, I am dealing at greater length with those who played an important part in my personal life: Emperor Alexander II, Emperor Alexander III, the last Czar Nicholas II, my mother-in-law Dowager-Empress Marie of Russia, my wife Grand Duchess Xenia, and my parents and brothers. The others—generals, ministers and statesmen—appear to have been generously taken care of both in their own memoirs and in the numerous volumes dedicated to the Russian Revolution.

I have no desire for post-mortems and I have done my utmost to keep bias and prejudice from influencing my judgment. In fact, there is no bitterness left in my heart.

ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF RUSSIA.

Paris, Autumn, 1931.