1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,360 Speaker 1: Welcomed unobscured, a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky. 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: He was a peasant, born into a family of peasants, 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: but soon his fame would spread across the great empires 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: of the modern world. He would be known for his 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: mysterious power, a power gained in the shadows. He had 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: studied the butcher's trade. He had studied medicine, but he 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: abandoned both. Those would not be the pathway to immortality, 8 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: and he was after more than earthly things. Maybe you 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: see what he did gain was the power to heal, 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: a mystical power born of an invisible force. He studied 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: the occult and mysticism, and soon was treating patients with 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: psychic fluids and astral forces, and he had a potent 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: effect on women. When writers caught wind of him, they 14 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: called him the Cagliostro of our Age, after the Italian 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: magician and psychic healer of a century before. Are clearly 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: he was taking his place in history, and that was 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: all before he met the Romanovs. To anyone in the 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: court circles of Imperial Russia in those years, it would 19 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: have been no surprise that Melitsa made the introduction. She 20 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: had married into the branching Romanov family tree and brought 21 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: her dark fascinations with her. Now she was taken with 22 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: this occult healer, and by all accounts she insisted that 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: her cousin, Nicholas, the Czar of Russia, meet the man, 24 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: And we know that in nineteen o one Nicholas did 25 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: just that. In fact, in his diary for that day, 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: Nicholas called him remarkable. The man's other worldly powers brought 27 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: him back to the powers of this world. After all, 28 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: for a peasant with mystical talents, it was the opportunity 29 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: of a lifetime. Soon Nicholas and Alexandra were meeting with 30 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: him together. Sometimes Melissa joined them, or even widened the 31 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: circle to other close relatives. In fact, it wouldn't be 32 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: long before you would say that the Imperial couple of 33 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: Russia were obsessed. They would gather around this occult teacher 34 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: and hang on his every word. They would listen for hours. 35 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: One historian even writes that the Czar and Czarina of 36 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: Russia reached the height of religious ecstasy in his presence. 37 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: In fact, in their private conversations, Nicholas and his wife 38 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: Alexandra started to refer to him secretly as our friend, 39 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: and then they introduced him to their daughters. He started 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: to pray with them in their bedroom. By now you 41 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: can probably guess the man's identity. A royal favorite and 42 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: a cult healer in the court of the last Romanovs. 43 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: That's right, I mean Philippe Nazir Vakad. And if that 44 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: name is a surprise, it's because once we peel back 45 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: the layers of legend and myths around the history we think, 46 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,399 Speaker 1: we know there's always something far more dark and far 47 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: more fascinating to reveal underneath. And if there's one time 48 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: in place to find hidden and destructive energies humming behind 49 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: a veil of lies, it's the doomed court of the 50 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: last Romanovs. This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Manky. They called 51 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: her Sunny. She was a bright spark in her family's life. 52 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: She was raised with tenderness and whimsy, and all of 53 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: that seemed to flow out from the little girl too. 54 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: She was also determined and independent. Before she was six, 55 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: little Alex was already driving horse drawn carriages. It was 56 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: like she was born to take the reins. After all, 57 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria she had her 58 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: mother's name, Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice, married into German nobility. 59 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: In the heart Alice became Alex when the name was 60 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: handed down to the newborn. Along with her dimpled cheeks 61 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: and radiant curls, the sunshine of her personality was needed 62 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,280 Speaker 1: in the family. When Alex was still an infant, her 63 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: older brother Fretty, had fallen out from a window. He 64 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: might have survived the bumps and bruises, but he had hemophilia. 65 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: Any small injury could take his life. After the fall, 66 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: they lost him. It was the darkness in which Sonny 67 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: grew up. By all accounts, her parents weren't lavish people, 68 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: despite their social rank. In fact, one thing that is 69 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: often said about her mother is that she took a 70 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: deep interest in nursing, and not just from the death 71 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: of her son. In fact, when she was still a girl, 72 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: she had been inspired by Florence Nightingale as Princess and Hessa. 73 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: She found a hospital and even worked with Nightingale herself 74 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: to train the nursing staff. Her daughters followed along on 75 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: the visits to patients. If young Alex had a strong will, 76 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: she also had a natural curiosity. No doubt those early 77 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 1: trips stuck with her. But if her earliest years were 78 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: a bright dance of childish curiosity and simple pleasures, even 79 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: greater tragedy would eclipse those years. A tragedy called diphtheria. 80 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: It burned through the Hessa household, and before its murderous 81 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: work was done, her mother and one of her sisters 82 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: were dead. Little Alex was just six years old. In 83 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: the years that followed, Alex went from one house of 84 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: grief to another. A royal life was a mobile one, 85 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: and Alex traveled frequently, not least because now that her 86 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: mother was gone, it was her grandmother who directed her upbringing. 87 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: Even when she was at home in Darmstadt. Every aspect 88 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: of her training and education was selected and overseen through 89 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: a massive string of letters from England. Under Queen Victoria's 90 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: watchful eye. Alex was polished and pruned in the English style. 91 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: So it was no small thing when Queen Victoria cut 92 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: wind of a romance in her family which she did 93 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,359 Speaker 1: not approve of. Alex's older sister Ella had fallen for 94 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: a cousin. That wasn't the problem, though. It's who the 95 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: cousin was. The Russian Grand Duke Sergey, Alexandrovitch. Nothing that 96 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: Victoria could do would stop the marriage, though, But the 97 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: match between Ella and Sergey wasn't the only one struck 98 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: at their wedding, because that's where twelve year old alex 99 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: first caught the eye of another Russian prince, Sergey's nephew Nicholas. 100 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: That only sixteen he had been seated with Alex and 101 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: her sister's over dinner, and if his diaries are anything 102 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: to go by, she made an impression. All it took 103 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: was one meeting for her to become his little darling. 104 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: It wasn't a secret though. Just a few days after 105 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: their meeting they exchanged letters, the first of many that 106 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: would follow. It would be a long five years before 107 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: the pair would see each other again, but a lifelong 108 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,040 Speaker 1: passion had begun. Not that they had an easy road, 109 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: you see, if Queen Victoria objected to one granddaughter marrying 110 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: into Russia, there was no way she could be pleased 111 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: by her face of her returning in the same direction. 112 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: Here's historian Helen Rappaport to tell us more. Queen Victoria 113 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: was pretty adamant initially at the thought of her precious 114 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: granddaughter Alexandra Alicki, as they called her, marrying into the 115 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: Russian throne. Queen Victoria was absolutely against the idea of 116 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: Alicki marrying Nikki young Nicholas at Saryevitch of Russia because 117 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: she felt that Russia was very unstable, very unsafe, I mean, 118 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: even then by the eighteen eighties and nineties there was 119 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: his history of political assassination and um, you know, Nicholas's 120 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: own grandfather had been murdered by revolutionaries, so they had 121 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: to overcome quite a lot of obstacles. Victoria was right, 122 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: of course, but her foresight about royal life in Russia 123 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: wasn't enough to change Alex's mind. After all, she was young, 124 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: bald end soon enough in love. Victor Maria did everything 125 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: she could, more and more often. She invited Alex to 126 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: visit England to stay with her there to spend time 127 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: with her British cousin Eddie. But Alex wouldn't be tempted 128 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: by Queen Victoria's throne or air. She followed her own 129 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: instincts wherever they would lead, like one visit when she 130 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: was traveling through Wales with Queen Victoria and they stopped 131 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: to survey the coal mines. It was the place where 132 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: England's empire turned the earth into raw fuel of the 133 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution. It was, in a sense, the birthplace of 134 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: the empire's raw power. Alex's grandmother hoped the girl would 135 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: fill her head with thoughts of inheriting the English crown, 136 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: that all this power could be hers, But Alex was 137 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:46,439 Speaker 1: intrigued by something else instead, the minds themselves. She insisted 138 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: on seeing more than the surface. On her demand, she 139 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: was taken down to walk grimy tunnels, to feel the 140 00:08:52,960 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: cool air underground, to experience the darkness, or herself never 141 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: forget who you are. Those can be inspiring words. They 142 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: can lift us up in moments when we feel confused 143 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 1: or at a loss. They can be a reminder to 144 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 1: hold fast to what is good and true about our 145 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: place in the world. For Nicholas, they were a warning. 146 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: They came to him from his mother in the days 147 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: when he was finally becoming a man. But what she 148 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: meant was, do not forget that one day you will 149 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: be emperor. You see, his father had just become Czar 150 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: of Russia. Nicholas was now the tsar vich the crown prince, 151 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: the next in line. The problem was that Nicholas loved 152 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: nothing more than being just one of the guys. In particular, 153 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: he loved the closeness and camaraderie of the military. As 154 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: a colonel in the horse Guards, he loved the drills, 155 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: the meals together with his fellow officers, and not to 156 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: mention the after hours the knights out on the town. 157 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: There was a comfort and a sense of belonging there, 158 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: belonging that he had never felt growing up in his 159 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: father's shadow, and that shadow was long. You see, Nicholas's father, 160 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: Alexander the Third, was an enormous man. His feats of 161 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: physical strength were his calling card. He was commanding and severe, 162 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: and unlike the Romanovs that came before him, he was pious, 163 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: strictly devoted to his marriage and family. In his huge 164 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 1: hands and by his huge personality, he bent Russia to 165 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: his will the way he bent iron pokers and toward 166 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: decks of cards for fun. Aggressive power was his style, 167 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: and that's where young Nicholas did not feel at home. 168 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: You see, he was an intelligent boy. With his tutors, 169 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: he learned French, German and spoke English so well some 170 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: historians have said that he could have fooled an Oxford professor. 171 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: He was witty and fun and not at all the 172 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: kind of person his colossus of a father could respect. 173 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: Maybe that's why Nicholas found some solace among the horse guards, 174 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: at least through military serve us. Maybe he could impress 175 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: his father, he could prove that he was more than 176 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: just the kind of person unsuitable for rule, an intellectual. 177 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: But when he was so drunk that the other officers 178 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: had to carry him home after a night of carousing, 179 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: that's where his mother's voice came in. Never forget who 180 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: you are. He might sit, probably atop his horse, shoulder 181 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: to shoulder with other cavalry officers, but one day he 182 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 1: would need to be ready to take the reins of 183 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: the Russian Empire. But it wasn't just his parents who 184 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: were hammering this message into Nicholas. He was getting that 185 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: message loud and clear from the tutors who cultivated his mind. 186 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,319 Speaker 1: In fact, he was taught by the Church authorities who 187 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: had also instructed his father. And while Nicholas was given 188 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: to languages and writing and everything that came with it, 189 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: he was always pursued by the warnings that had steered 190 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: his father's court away from an intellectual culture. You see. 191 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: In the late eighteen hundreds, the Church authorities were teaching 192 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: that reliance on human mind made Russia vulnerable to human delusion. 193 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: What wasn't delusional aristocratic rule that was real. In fact, 194 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: it was the command of God himself, and it was 195 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: God himself who chose the tsar's to do. Anything that 196 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: would limit the complete power of the Russian Empire's ruler 197 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: would be simply put the spit in the face of God. 198 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: You see, the Russian authorities believed that humans were so weak, selfish, 199 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,959 Speaker 1: and vicious that they couldn't be trusted to rule themselves. 200 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: In fact, they couldn't even be trusted to think. The 201 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: right thing to do. Couldn't be discovered by thinking through 202 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: your problems, like say, the problems that might arise if 203 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: you were governing a massive empire. No, Instead, the way 204 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: forward would be revealed by God. The only hope for 205 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: humanity was to obey the czar. Must obey God, of course, 206 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: and in political terms this meant that the people must 207 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: obey the czar. As he would later put it to 208 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: his Prime Minister, Nicholas believed that the heart of the 209 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: czar is in the hand of God. For the young 210 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,960 Speaker 1: Nicholas growing up under this instruction. This meant that he 211 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,959 Speaker 1: learned to mistrust the ideas and arguments of the people 212 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: around him. Instead, he taught himself to rely on mystical knowledge, 213 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: hunches and impulses, ideas that came to him through instinct, 214 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: ideas that he took to be the voice of God 215 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: in his life. It was one reason that over his 216 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: lifetime Nicholas would ignore the advice of his counselors over 217 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: and over again. But of course, his heart wasn't just 218 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: in the hands of God. It was also in the 219 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: hands of the German princess raised by the British Empress. 220 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: It was set on Alex. It was death that opened 221 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: the door. It was the fall of Nicholas returned home 222 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: to Russia. After a long visit with Alex, he found 223 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: that the colossus was brought low, his father was dying. 224 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,320 Speaker 1: They tried all sorts of things. First, they went to 225 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: the imperial hunting town of Spala in Poland, but when 226 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: the doctors insisted they moved him to the warmer climate 227 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: of Crimea. Nicholas sent for Alex immediately, and she was 228 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: on the next train. She met Nicholas's father in time 229 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: for the all important moment, he gave her his blessing. 230 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: The engagement between Nicholas and alex was official. It wasn't 231 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: just the Czar whose preferences had delayed the engagement, it 232 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: was alex herself because there was a major change that 233 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: she would have to make before she could join the 234 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: Russian Imperial family. Alex you see, was Lutheran. Here's Dr 235 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: Helen Rappaport again. There is no way she could have 236 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: retained her Lutheran German Lutheran faith and be a future 237 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: Sari Saris of Russia. So this was a hugely challenging 238 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: period for her because she loved Nikki Art, she did 239 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: not want to abandon her Lutheran faith. Alexandra had all 240 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: been always been pretty religious and pious and very observant. 241 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: So it was a really, really difficult period because eventually 242 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: it was her sister Ella who helped the suade her 243 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: because Ella, too, like alex Alexandra, married a Russian. She 244 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: married granddukes so gay but without all the agonizing about 245 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: adopting the russtional thoughts faith. Ella embraced it pretty much 246 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: immediately and then persuaded Alexandra to also do likewise, without 247 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: her older sister Alex would never have taken the plunge. 248 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: It was at another family wedding that spring, with the 249 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: many branches of Queen Victoria's family tree drawn together, that 250 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: Nicholas had finally proposed to Alex, and with the gathering 251 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: family around her urging her aunt, she accepted. Whatever Alex 252 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: may have felt, we can imagine in Nicholas's relief. One 253 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: historian remarked that the Tsarovitch cried like a child. He 254 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: wrote to his mother that nature, mankind, everything all seemed 255 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: good and lovable. His tears were tears of joy. Of course, 256 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: the same camp be said on a deathbed. In that case, 257 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: the only thing to come is the grave. On November one, 258 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: the czar's illness took him. It was time for the 259 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: Tsarovitch to take up his mantle. It was time for 260 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: him to not just remember who he was, but to 261 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: become the next ruler of the Russian Empire, and Nicholas 262 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: was terrified. We even have his desperate questions. He asked 263 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: to his brother in law in the first desolate moments 264 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: after his father died, and they definitely don't ring with 265 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: the determination of a new leader. What am I going 266 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: to do, He asked, what is going to happen to me, 267 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: to you, to alex to mother, to all Russia. I 268 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: am not prepared to be czarre. I never wanted to 269 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling. 270 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,400 Speaker 1: Helen Rappaport agrees now that the problem from for Nicholas 271 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: right from day one was that he should probably had 272 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: another twenty years to prepare for becoming zare. So he 273 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: hadn't learned the tools of the trade. He hadn't learned 274 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: state's craft, state craft. He was timid and frightened and 275 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: terrified of the enormous responsibility of becoming Zar in his trenches, when, 276 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: of course he would have expected becomes are maybe in 277 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 1: his forties. But in the end Nicholas's on rushing destiny 278 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: was unavoidable, and he marched into it like a soldier 279 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: marching to war. He took it very, very seriously, and 280 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: in a very kind of dogmatic and rather narrow way, 281 00:17:53,680 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: in that he simply decided or declared rather from them 282 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: and when she became czar, but he would preserved the 283 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: autok Chrissy handed to him by his father, Alexander the 284 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: Third exactly has passed down to him. The future before 285 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: him wasn't all terrible destiny, though, because it also had 286 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 1: alex It was on the first of November that the 287 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: Tsar died. The very next day, alex took her first 288 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: communion in the Russian Orthodox Church. She was now consecrated 289 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: to her new faith, and it was at the end 290 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: of the same month that Nicholas and alex were married. 291 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,879 Speaker 1: But if it was a transformation for Nicholas from Tsarevich 292 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: to tsar, the transformations for alex were all the greater. 293 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,280 Speaker 1: Not only did she leave her childhood faith to embrace 294 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: the church of her new empire, but she left her 295 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,639 Speaker 1: name behind as well. The German name alex was gone, 296 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:53,440 Speaker 1: the Russian Alexandra Fyodorovna took its place. She was a Romanov. Now. 297 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: During the wedding itself, something dire and morose hung over 298 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: the day. Alexander would later called that the sacred rituals 299 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: joining her to Nicholas seemed to be just one more 300 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 1: day in church after a month of funeral ceremonies. There 301 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: was just one difference, she said, now her dress was 302 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: white instead of black. Still, all her wedding day felt 303 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: like just one more mass for the dead. It took 304 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: time for things to change. The coronation of the news 305 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: Are would not come until the spring of eighteen six, 306 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: but the responsibilities of rule didn't wait for that day. 307 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: It fell to the couple swiftly and severely, And when 308 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: the day of coronation did arrive, it brought burdens of 309 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: its own, burdens like the heavy chain of the Order 310 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: of Saint Andrew that Nicholas wore into the cathedral, and 311 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: that was meant to be passed from him to Alexandra 312 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: during the ceremony. But as Nicholas climbed toward the altar, 313 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: the clasp holding this symbol of sacred power gave way. 314 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: The chain fell from Nicholas when it thundered to his feet. 315 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,880 Speaker 1: The fall reverberated across the gathered crowd and down through time. 316 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: In the silence that followed, the whispers began where the 317 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,399 Speaker 1: news Ours shoulders broad enough to bear the burden of 318 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: an empire. But that wasn't the only burden carried out 319 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: of the capital. The other was far more gruesome, because 320 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: the thing that Nicholas meant to be his crowning act 321 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: of generosity turned into a maccab dance of death. You see. 322 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: He had advertised that every peasant in St. Petersburg would 323 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: get a gift from the news are a kerchief of 324 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: gingerbread and a mug, and for that mug there would 325 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: be free beer. The posters went up everywhere, and the 326 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: crowds came in. And when I say crowds, I mean 327 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: half a million people. And when they were called forward, 328 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,119 Speaker 1: they all pressed forward at once. It became a stampede. 329 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,920 Speaker 1: Thousands who came for a gift from the Czar were 330 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: caught in the crush, and hundreds were trampled and killed. 331 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: This was no small matter. In fact, Nicholas was sick 332 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: that such a horrible tragedy was caused by his desire 333 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: to make a good impression. For a moment, he thought 334 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: about calling off the cell librations. But the rest of 335 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: his family, oh, they wouldn't hear of it. While they 336 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,959 Speaker 1: danced at the coronation ball, the police picked through the 337 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,840 Speaker 1: field of bloated bodies wearing their festival clothes, smashed together 338 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: under the weight of desperate neighbors. And when the Romanovs 339 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 1: traveled home after the festivities, they were passed by a 340 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 1: procession of wagons, wagons that were filled with mangled corpses. 341 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 1: Ella was deeply disturbed. Her sister Alexandra had married Nicholas 342 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: under the shadow of the old Czar's death, and more 343 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: tragedies had followed close on their heels. But it wasn't 344 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: the depths of a few thousand peasants that upset Ella. No, 345 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: all of that was in the past. Stranger things had 346 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,639 Speaker 1: crept into the court at St. Petersburg, things that terrified 347 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: Ella far more than the deaths of the St. Petersburg poor, 348 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 1: although maybe she should have thought quite a bit more 349 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 1: about what drove people to climb over their neighbor's dead 350 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: bodies for a gift basket of in your bread. But 351 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: Ella was like the rest of the Romanovs. She had 352 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: been in Russia long enough to care about only a 353 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: very small circle of aristocratic issues. And this is where 354 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: we come back to the spiritualist mystic Monsignor Philippe. He 355 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: was the twenty nine of August of nineteen o two. 356 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: Ella was writing to Nicholas's mother. She knew all about 357 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: this mystical healer, she said, the man who was glued 358 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: to her younger sister's side. In fact, this occult counselor 359 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: Horror of horrors. Wasn't even Russian, he was French, and 360 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: in Ella's eyes, he was influencing Nicholas and Alexandra to 361 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 1: a terrifying extent. Ella knew why too. She credited his 362 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: place at court to the women she called the cockroaches, 363 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: Nicholas and Alexandra's closest friends, the sisters Stana and Melitza. 364 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: Those weren't the only nicknames they had, though. Whispers of spiders, 365 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: crows and worse followed them through the St. Petersburg salons. 366 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: But it wasn't enough to separate them from the Empress. 367 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: You See, like Ella and Alexandra, Stana and Melitza had 368 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 1: married into Russian nobility, and sure they had made some enemies, 369 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: but they had also gotten cozy with some important people 370 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: at court. For instance, the Tsar's cousin and confidante, Nikolasha. 371 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: Six ft five and brimming with violence, Nikolasha shared the 372 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: Tsar's desperate devotion to the army. But where Nicolas was meek, 373 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: Nikolasha was all ferocity. He loved lording his position and 374 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: his physical might over the soldiers under his command. The 375 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: old Tsar had torn packs of cards to show his 376 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: strength Nikolasha went further. When he wanted to show off 377 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: the sharpness of a sword, he cut one of his 378 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: dogs in half. If there was a Roman off in 379 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 1: the mold of the old Tsar, it was Nikolasha. Maybe 380 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: that's why Nicholas held him so close. Soon enough, Stana 381 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: held Nikolasha close as well. So when Alexandra was first 382 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: coming to grips with what it meant to rule her 383 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: new empire and embrace her new faith, it was Nikolasha, Stana, 384 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: and Melizza who were speaking into her ear. Now, maybe 385 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: it was natural for Alexandra to follow the lead of 386 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: friends who knew what it was like to sail into 387 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: the Russian nobility as an outsider. But here's the thing. 388 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: Melissa's Russian Christianity was far more orthodox, and her sister 389 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: Stana followed in her wake. So in the days when 390 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,199 Speaker 1: they put their heads together, one of the things Stana 391 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,119 Speaker 1: and Melissa managed to pass on to Alexandra was a 392 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: deep interest in the crossroads of Orthodoxy and the occult, 393 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: especially the teachings of mystics and holy men. Here's historian 394 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: Douglas Smith to tell us more. These two sisters, who 395 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: were the King of Montenegro, who had married into the 396 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: extended Romana family, and they were utterly obsessed with the 397 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: occult and Rosicrucianism and mysticism. And they learned about this 398 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: Messieur Philippe through travels to France, and they helped introduce 399 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: him to Nicholas and Alexandra Um and he made his 400 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 1: way to the court in St. Peter's and they were 401 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: utterly taken with him. They were convinced he was a 402 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: prophet um, that he could divine the future, and that 403 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,399 Speaker 1: he had insights into the nature of rule and power 404 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: and how Nicholas should govern Russia. Of course, Alexandra wasn't 405 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: the only one looking for guidance. Nicholas was also searching 406 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: for a beacon to lead him, and if he held 407 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: to the teachings of his childhood, he was looking less 408 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 1: for the statesman and theorists of the day to lay 409 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 1: out a plan of action, and more for the voice 410 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: of God, not least because one of the problems that 411 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,199 Speaker 1: preoccupied both Nicholas and Alexandra was one over which no 412 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,159 Speaker 1: counsel of scholars or schemers could hold sway. They needed 413 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: to produce an air. Not that their marriage didn't bring 414 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,679 Speaker 1: them children. It did first Olga, then Tatiana, then Maria 415 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,719 Speaker 1: and finally, in nineteen o one, Anastasia. But if they 416 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 1: took joy in their daughters, they also grew increasingly fearful, 417 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: and of course the burden fell heaviest on Alexandra. Here's 418 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:05,680 Speaker 1: Helen Rappaport again. Her role, essentially once she was Itza 419 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: was to produce a male heir, because in Russia the 420 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,919 Speaker 1: throne was passed down by male children only. So the 421 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: pressure on Alexandra from day one, first of all, was 422 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: to produce children, but particularly to produce a boy. And 423 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: I think it's almost impossible to imagine the enormous emotional 424 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: and psychological pressure on her over a period of ten 425 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: years to produce a boy and to keep having girls. Uh, 426 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: and not only that difficult pregnancies, big babies. I mean, 427 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: she must have suffered physical agonies producing those four girls 428 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: in in fairly quick succession. So when Stana went to 429 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: mon Senior Philippe for headaches, and then Melitza got his 430 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: help on treating her six son, of course they would 431 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: see the possibility of helping their friend the Empress as well. 432 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: The introductions went swimmingly he was exactly what Nicholas and 433 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 1: Alexandra had been looking for, not least because as a 434 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: spiritualist he could channel the voices of the dead for Nicholas. 435 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,919 Speaker 1: That meant Philip's seances were a way to make up 436 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: for lost time. When he needed advice on holding the 437 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: reins of Russia, he could ask the person who knew 438 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: the job the best, his dead father. And to Alexandra 439 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 1: he offered something even more valuable. Philip claimed that there 440 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: was a certain magnetic electric energy that emanated from his fingertips, 441 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: and by passing them over uh the Empress's belly once 442 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: she was pregnant, he could make sure that the next 443 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 1: child she had would be a son. And obviously this 444 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: is something that was high on their list of priorities, 445 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: and that gave Philipp this great um hold over Nicholas 446 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: and Alexander for quite some time. But if that was 447 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: a joy to Stana and Melitza, it was a horror 448 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: to Ella and to the Dowager Empress, Nicholas's mother, But 449 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,679 Speaker 1: they did more than send letters back and forth pouring 450 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,679 Speaker 1: scorn on the Montenegrin sisters. Soon enough, Nicholas's mother had 451 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,919 Speaker 1: the palace commandant on the case, investigating the French mystic 452 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: who had lived for two months in a small house 453 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,199 Speaker 1: near the palace, and he went further to working with 454 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: the head of the Czarist secret police in Paris to 455 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: collect information on Philippe. What did they hear back That 456 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: the man was a Charlatan, He was a dabbler in 457 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: black magic, and plenty worse too, including anti Semitic smears 458 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: and conspiracy theories that made him out to be a Satanist. 459 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: If this report was meant to turn Nicholas and Alexandra 460 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: away from their new friend, their royal favorite backfired. Any 461 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: valid criticisms of Philippe were mingled with racist slander, plenty 462 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: of reasons for Nicholas and Alexandra to throw it aside. 463 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: Russian secret police were fired, and rumors flew that it 464 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: was because the Tsar was furious, maybe even that Philippe 465 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,480 Speaker 1: had identified his enemies and was tightening his grip on Nicholas. 466 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: At the Zar's prompting, Nikolasha even went out and got 467 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: Monsignor Philippe a medical degree from the Russian Military Medical Academy, 468 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: complete with uniform and no wonder The Czar and Czarista 469 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: refused to hear either just critiques or malicious gossip about 470 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: their spiritual adviser. After all, they had been harboring a secret, 471 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: a triumph they credited to the powers of Philippe. Alexandra 472 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: was pregnant. Months passed. If Alexandra felt vindicated in the 473 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: face of her royal mother in law's criticism, Over time, 474 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: that thrill turned to caution and then to worry. The 475 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: pregnancy didn't seem to be progressing the way she expected. 476 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: Philip had promised that the baby was a boy, their 477 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: son and heir. He also told Alexandra not to let 478 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: doctors examine her. Ella tried over and over to get 479 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: her sister to change her mind to let go of Philippe. 480 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: After the investigation into the occultist word was spreading and 481 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: important secrets, they only drove more interest and curiosity about 482 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 1: the hidden life of the Czarina would turn idle questions 483 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: into malicious stories. Ella wanted her sister to see that 484 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: it was a prophetic moment from Ella, but Alexander was 485 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: listening more to Stana and Melitza than her own sister. 486 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: It would take the tables turning before Alexandra would relent, 487 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: But the tables did turn. In August of nineteen o two, 488 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: after months of protting, Alexandra agreed to a check up 489 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: with Russia's leading gynecologist. The whole family was stunned by 490 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: what he found. She was not carrying a son. Instead, 491 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: she was suffering a molar pregnancy. Philippe had been dead wrong, 492 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: and if she had not been following his advice to 493 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 1: keep things secrets, the doctors could have helped her long before. 494 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: But if you think this revelation could change Nicholas and 495 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: alex Andrew's mind, then you don't know the Romanovs. Yes, 496 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: they told the family the truth through the shame and embarrassment, 497 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: and their next stop was Philippe himself. Not to express 498 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: their anger with him, though they went back to him 499 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: for comfort. The rest of the family was furious and 500 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: Ella was proved right. Stories started finding their way to 501 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 1: the press. The tempest poured out of the teacup and 502 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: into the atmosphere, false stories mixed with the truth that 503 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: these are was being influenced by a French occultist and 504 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: taking advice on matters of state. In the darkness of 505 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: seance to Nicholas and Alexandra, Philippe was a personal friend 506 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: and spiritual advisor to the public, though he was now 507 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: the Satanic power behind the throne. As the year passed, 508 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: the rest of the royal court urged them to realize 509 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: that the rumors could be false, but the damage of 510 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: the scandal could be all too real. In the end, 511 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: Nicholas came around. If he was going to be the 512 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: caretaker of Czarism that he wanted to be, he needed 513 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 1: to make a change. It was painful, but to ease 514 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: the break, Monsignor Philippe gave Alexandra gifts. First, he gave 515 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: her a small bunch of dried flowers. They had been 516 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: touched by the hand of Christ himself, he told her. Second, 517 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: he gave her a bell. He said that by an 518 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 1: unseen force, it would ring whenever someone who was not 519 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: a friend came near. No doubt, Alexandra felt grateful to 520 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 1: have it in such an unfriendly place, and we know 521 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: she treasured both of them. Philip also left the pair 522 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: with one more thing, a prophecy that was also a 523 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,959 Speaker 1: set of instructions. Follow them, and Alexandra would finally conceive 524 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: a son and heir. At the end of nineteen o 525 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: two and into nineteen o three. The pair did just that, 526 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: they had to fight the Church and have a long 527 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: dead holy man canonized as a saint. They had to 528 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: make a pilgrimage to the monastery at Sarov, where they 529 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: needed Alexandra to bathe in the spring. There. The imperial 530 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: couple had thrown off advice from many quarters, but they 531 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: followed these instructions to the tea. They won their battle 532 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: with the Church, and on the nineteenth of July, Nicholas 533 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: himself took part in a holy procession to carry the 534 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: relics of their new saints into Sarov Cathedral. That night, 535 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: these are and Zarina, along with others, lowered themselves into 536 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: the river Sarova. The water was frigid, but Philip's promises 537 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: warmed their courage. So did the pilgrims who joined them 538 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: on their trek to Sarov. Some accounts say that it 539 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: was one hundred and fifty thousand people, others say it 540 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: was twice that. Regardless of the actual number, there was 541 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: one thing that Alexandra and Nicholas took to heart. The 542 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,120 Speaker 1: Russian people were with them, so it seemed was the 543 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,520 Speaker 1: guiding hand of God, because within a month Alexandra was 544 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: pregnant again, and this time it was real. Here's Helen 545 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: Rappaport once again, finally in this longed for boy. Now, 546 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: of course the church fells rang and gun salutes with 547 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: fars all over Russia, and everyone was celebrating the Saryevitch, 548 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: and then this horrendous tragedy befallsome. Now, this longed for 549 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:12,320 Speaker 1: beautiful child, and he was a very beautiful baby, turns 550 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:17,399 Speaker 1: out to be him Ophelia. Once again. For Alexandra, joy 551 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: was quickly overshadowed by terror, because when the baby was 552 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: just a week old, Alexandra noticed blood seeping from his 553 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: belly button and unaccountable bruises blooming over his body. The 554 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: realization dawned that her son, the new Tsarovich Alexei, had 555 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 1: the same condition that had killed her brother Fretty all 556 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,479 Speaker 1: those years before. From there on out, protecting Alexey would 557 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: become a central preoccupation of Alexandra's life, hardly less for 558 00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,840 Speaker 1: Nicholas too, And they went back to their first familiar 559 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: line of defense. They wrapped the boy's illness in secrecy. 560 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,799 Speaker 1: It was the difference between Czar and Zarina, all of 561 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:02,799 Speaker 1: this pressure for Alexandra to bear his son, and so 562 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,320 Speaker 1: little respect for who she was as a ruler, a thinker, 563 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 1: a person. Nicholas at least could put on his military 564 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,680 Speaker 1: medals and parade with the troops. The scrutiny of the 565 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: Czarina was so much more personal, so much more invasive, 566 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: and there was hardly the expectation that she brought anything 567 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: more to the table. It hadn't always been this way 568 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: in Russia, though, after all, Catherine the Great had governed 569 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: the empire for over three decades. But Catherine's son had 570 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: hated her. He had poisoned that well when he changed 571 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,600 Speaker 1: the laws and tried to make sure that no woman 572 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 1: would rule Russia again. That legacy shut the door on Alexandra. 573 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: But she had shown them, Yes, she had her son, 574 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,319 Speaker 1: even on their terms, she had won. Through it all, 575 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: it was clear that Alexandra had few friends in the 576 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,680 Speaker 1: Imperial court. She would have to look beyond the halls 577 00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: of power to find the kind of support, personal and 578 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: spiritual that she was desperate for. She would win on 579 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 1: her terms, too, And that's where the story really begins, 580 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,279 Speaker 1: because this season on Unobscured, we're exploring the story of 581 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: one of the twenty centuries most notorious schemers, The man 582 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,839 Speaker 1: who had come to stand beside the Empress Alexandra as 583 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: the days darkened and the fires of war came on. 584 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: He was a peasant standing at the crossroads of history, 585 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: a man who became a legend in his own lifetime. 586 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,640 Speaker 1: As one age was swept away by war and revolution 587 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,239 Speaker 1: and something new emerged. The stories of his life were 588 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: repeated and remade into the inhuman sorcerer we know today 589 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:37,360 Speaker 1: as Grigory Resputant. He was a preacher, a monster, a healer, 590 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: and a friend to the most powerful family in the world, until, 591 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: that is, their whole world came crashing down around them. 592 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: The reports that held the details of his life and 593 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 1: death were locked away, and in the shadows of a 594 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 1: fallen order, Legend after legend sprang in to fill the 595 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: void and placed the weight of the empire's destruction on 596 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,799 Speaker 1: his shoulders. In those early days of her reign, though 597 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: before the romanovs ever met the peasant preacher from Siberia, 598 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: Alexandra's strength of will was clear for everyone to see, 599 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: as was her loneliness in the vast Russian Empire. Even 600 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: in her own family, the men whispered after her. She 601 00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:19,240 Speaker 1: was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and shouldn't her hold 602 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 1: over the British Empire have put an end to the 603 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,239 Speaker 1: Snyder arguments about whether women were capable of commanding empires. 604 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: Maybe it could have, but some men in Alexandra's family 605 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: seemed to have missed that lesson men like her brother Ernie. 606 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: Maybe he was thinking of her early years when she 607 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: was guiding teams of horses as a tiny child, that 608 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 1: he twisted the experience back on her in disgusting terms. 609 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,640 Speaker 1: The Czar is an angel, Ernie said, But he doesn't 610 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: know how to deal with alex What she needs is 611 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:53,360 Speaker 1: a superior will which can dominates and bridle her. Obviously, 612 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: these would be heinous words coming from anyone, but from 613 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: her own brother they use menace and condescension. It's a 614 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,240 Speaker 1: reminder of just how difficult it was for any women 615 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: of the era to command respect. When he looked at 616 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:11,080 Speaker 1: Nicholas's reputation for weakness and Alexandra's strength of character, he 617 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,680 Speaker 1: only saw flaws. No wonder Alexandra would be willing to 618 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,880 Speaker 1: shut out the toxic voices of those around her. But 619 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,799 Speaker 1: of course it seems Alexandra it was never truly numb 620 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:24,160 Speaker 1: to the venomous treatment she received, no wonder she would 621 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,879 Speaker 1: treasure the witness of Monseigneur Philippe's ringing bell. She knew 622 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: that even at the Reins, she was valued more for 623 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,280 Speaker 1: her womb than her mind, her strength, or her faith, 624 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,479 Speaker 1: and anyone could be an enemy. But that didn't break 625 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,919 Speaker 1: her will. It only made her more determined, more dead 626 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:45,400 Speaker 1: set on showing them, showing everyone who she was Empress 627 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: of Russia. And there was one final promise left by 628 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,400 Speaker 1: Monsignor Philippe that she held onto. It gave her courage 629 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: in the moments when she felt alone, when he was 630 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,720 Speaker 1: comforting her through the painful separation. As he left Russia 631 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,800 Speaker 1: for the last time, he dried her tears, saying, be calm, 632 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:11,879 Speaker 1: your majesty, Another friend will come. That's it for this 633 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:16,280 Speaker 1: week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around after this short sponsor 634 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,680 Speaker 1: break for a preview of what's in store for next week. 635 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 1: It was a life of work and wandering, and a 636 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: life of little rest. Later, he would write, everything was 637 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: interesting to me, good and bad, and he had so 638 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: much to learn. He wasn't seeking knowledge from books and 639 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,360 Speaker 1: from stages. No, that was the worst way to answer 640 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: the questions that he was trying to answer the learned, 641 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:47,520 Speaker 1: Grigory wrote, do not go to God. They study everything 642 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:51,880 Speaker 1: by books, and that knowledge confuses them. It was just 643 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: one of the many reasons that he didn't want to 644 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,319 Speaker 1: become a priest. After all, he said, he met many 645 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: who failed to live up to their responsibilities. He had 646 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: thought of becoming a monk, but the rigid orders, days 647 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,239 Speaker 1: of studying theology, and cycles of trying and failing to 648 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:11,200 Speaker 1: hold to monastic discipline were the opposite of what he wanted. 649 00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: On the road, Gregory was hunting more than the abstractions 650 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:19,879 Speaker 1: of theologians and the rationalizations of corrupt clergy. Like other 651 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 1: religious teachers, seekers, and believers of his day, he rejected 652 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: those things. Now he was hunting for spiritual revelation. He 653 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:32,000 Speaker 1: was looking for something earthier, the crossroads where the work 654 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: of God met people in their ordinary life. And in 655 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:52,879 Speaker 1: that quest he had lots of examples to ponder. Unobscured 656 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,560 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky and produced by Matt Frederick, 657 00:40:56,640 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Josh Thane in partnership with Heart Radio, 658 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: with research by Sam Alberty, writing by Carl Nellis, and 659 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: original music by Chad Lawson. Learn more about our contributing historians, 660 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,960 Speaker 1: source materials and links to our other shows over at 661 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: grim and mild dot com, slash Unobscured, and as always, 662 00:41:18,160 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Four