Nicholas I

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, reigning from 1894 until his forced abdication in March 1917. The eldest son of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, he presided over rapid industrialization alongside growing political unrest, including the 1905 Revolution, Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, and Russia's costly involvement in the First World War. He married Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Alix of Hesse, in 1894, and the couple had five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and the haemophiliac heir Alexei. After his abdication, Nicholas and his immediate family were held in captivity, first near Petrograd and later in Siberia and the Urals, until their deaths in 1918. His reign marked the end of over three centuries of Romanov rule in Russia.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna was the eldest daughter of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, and the elder sister of Nicholas II. In 1894 she married her cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, with whom she had seven children. She lived through the fall of the Romanov dynasty and, along with her mother, escaped Russia via Crimea in 1919, eventually settling in Britain, where relatives including King George V offered her refuge. She spent the rest of her life in exile, remaining close to her mother until Maria Feodorovna's death in 1928. Xenia outlived nearly all of her immediate family, dying in England in 1960, more than four decades after the revolution that ended her family's rule.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich was the youngest son of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, and the younger brother of Nicholas II. When Nicholas abdicated in March 1917, he named Michael as his successor, but Michael declined to accept the throne unless offered it by a popularly elected assembly, effectively ending three centuries of Romanov rule the following day. He had served as a cavalry officer and briefly commanded troops during the First World War. His morganatic marriage to Natalia Sheremetevskaya, a divorcee, had caused a rift with Nicholas II and led to a period of exile abroad before the war. He died in 1918, shortly before Nicholas II and his immediate family.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was the eldest child of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. Born in 1895, she grew up alongside her sisters Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and her younger brother Alexei, within the close-knit and largely secluded world of the imperial family. She trained as a Red Cross nurse during the First World War, working in a military hospital at Tsarskoye Selo alongside her mother and sister Tatiana. Thoughtful and musically gifted, she was reportedly reluctant about prospective political marriages proposed for her. After her father's abdication in 1917, she remained with her family in captivity until her death alongside them in 1918, at the age of 22.

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna was the second daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, born in 1897. Tall and often described as the most poised of the four sisters, she was especially close to her mother and effectively ran the household during her father's absences at military headquarters. Like her elder sister Olga, she trained and served as a Red Cross nurse during the First World War, performing surgical assisting duties at the family's private hospital in Tsarskoye Selo. She, along with her sisters Olga, Maria, and Anastasia and her brother Alexei, remained with their parents throughout the family's captivity following the 1917 abdication, until her death with them in 1918.

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna was the third daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, born in 1899. Known within the family for her warmth, physical strength, and fondness for children and soldiers, she was considered the most sociable of the four sisters. Together with her elder sisters Olga and Tatiana and younger sister Anastasia, she shared a close bond expressed in the family's habit of signing letters with the joint initials 'OTMA.' She spent her final months confined with her parents and siblings following Nicholas II's 1917 abdication, first at Tsarskoye Selo, then Tobolsk, and finally Yekaterinburg, where she died with her family in 1918 at the age of 19.

Maria Alexandrovna, born Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, was Empress consort of Russia as the wife of Alexander II, whom she married in 1841. She was known for her piety and charitable work, founding hospitals and schools and supporting the Russian Red Cross movement. She and Alexander II had eight children, including Alexander III, who succeeded his father as emperor, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Her health declined in later years, and she died in 1880, the year before her husband. She is an ancestor of Nicholas II through her son Alexander III.

Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was Empress consort of Russia as the wife of Alexander III, whom she married in 1866. The daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, she was the sister of Britain's Queen Alexandra, placing her at the center of Europe's interconnected royal houses. She and Alexander III had six children, including Nicholas II, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. After the family's downfall she was among the few Romanovs to escape Russia, eventually returning to Denmark, where she lived until her death in 1928, having outlived her son Nicholas II and most of his family.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was the youngest child of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, and the youngest sister of Nicholas II. She trained as a nurse and worked in field hospitals during the First World War. Her first marriage, to Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, was unhappy and later annulled; she then married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had two sons. She escaped Russia with her mother in 1919 via Crimea, lived for a time in Denmark, and later settled in Canada in 1948. A skilled amateur painter, she remained close to her brother's family and was one of the last Romanovs to have known Nicholas II's children personally. She died near Toronto in 1960.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was the fourth and youngest daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, born in 1901. Lively and known for her sharp wit, she was the youngest of the four sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and herself, who signed letters jointly as 'OTMA.' She died with her family in 1918, but persistent rumors that she had survived produced decades of impostor claims, most famously by Anna Anderson, making her the subject of enduring public fascination. DNA analysis of remains recovered near Yekaterinburg in 2007 and identified in 2009 confirmed that she died with the rest of her family, finally resolving the mystery that had surrounded her fate for most of the twentieth century.

Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was the fifth child and only son of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, born in 1904 and heir apparent to the Russian throne. He inherited haemophilia through his mother's line, a condition that caused recurring life-threatening episodes and shaped the private life of the imperial family, including its association with Grigori Rasputin, who was consulted for the boy's care. Despite his illness, he was reported to be lively and close to his four sisters. His father's abdication in March 1917 named him as successor before Nicholas instead passed the throne to his brother Michael. Alexei remained with his family throughout their captivity and died alongside them in 1918, aged 13.