Anna Anderson’s claim is the most famous. She went to her grave claiming to be the last grand-duchess Anastasia ... DNA testing after her death revealed her true identity. She was not a Royal, but a former factory worker from Poland. ibid.
Finally, there is compelling forensic evidence that thirteen-year-old Crown Prince Alexei was executed along with the rest of his family, although not buried with them. ibid.
On July 17th 1918 Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and five children are reported to have been executed. But their bodies could not be found. Then in 1991 a grave is uncovered: two of the children are missing. Mystery Files: The Romanovs, National Geographic 2010
In October 1917 the Bolshevik Party led by Vladimir Lenin seized power. The Czar and his family are taken to the Bolshevik stronghold of Yekaterinburg in the Urals, over 1,700 kilometres from their home. ibid.
One by one each of the children are gunned down at point blank range. In total a hundred and three shots are fired. ibid.
Yurovsky’s written accounts describe the terrible events that followed: to dispose of the remains and leave no trace the bloodied corpses are taken to remote woods ... Yurovsky and his men are afraid they will be spotted. Unceremoniously, the Romanovs are thrown into a pit, covered with acid and set alight ... For eighty years the two sites where the Romanovs are supposed to be buried are lost. ibid.
But when the five bodies are identified in 1991 two of the children are still unaccounted for. Speculation that they somehow escaped persists. The mystery of their disappearance remains unsolved. Then in June 2007 a second burial site is found just sixty meters from the first grave ... In February 2009 after two years of forensic investigations scientists confirmed the remains of the two missing Romanov children had been identified. ibid.
Within weeks he married a strong-willed Alexandra ... The couple have four daughters. Infamous Assassinations: Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas is weak and indecisive. ibid.
The Russian Orthodox Church regards him as divinely appointed. ibid.
July 18 1918 Moscow: the assassination of the Tsar is confirmed by a communique from the Official Soviet News Agency. ibid.
The bullets seem to be bouncing off the bodies of the princesses. They are finished off with bayonets. ibid.
The Tsar ordered the protests crushed ... Over fifty civilians were shot dead. The massacre forced Petrograd soldiers to choose whom to defend – the people or the Tsar. They shot their duty officer dead and poured on to the streets. The First World War: Revolution, Channel 4 2003
Germany’s greatest help to Lenin’s cause was getting him back to Russia. ibid.
Lenin was soon winning converts. ibid.
What he said was, End the war. ibid.
Lenin’s ideas spread to the front. ibid.
The city [Petrograd] woke to a new world order. ibid.
On 17th July 1918 these four girls in white dresses were brutally murdered in the bloody climax to the Russian revolution. The girls’ names may not be remembered but their alluring mix of beauty and innocence holds an enduring fascination. They are emblems of a world which vanished for ever in the revolution. Russia’s Lost Princesses I: The Gilded Cage BBC 2014
A surprisingly modern family ... Picture-perfect princesses. ibid.
After 1905 the imperial children rarely appeared in public. ibid.
The Tsarina turned to a mystical healer – Gregory Rasputin. ibid.
These fairytale princesses seemed to live a charmed life. But behind the happy family photographs their childhood was far from idyllic. Russia's Lost Princesses II: The World Turned Upside Down
Saudi Arabia is a family business ... One of the last absolute monarchies on Earth. Frank Gardner’s Return to Saudi Arabia, BBC 2013
The US presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones. Anthony Burgess
Monarchy is by definition incompatible with democracy. The Power Behind the Throne, 2015
Supporters of the parliamentary system insisted that the British monarchy has no political power … Is this really true? ibid.
Money is one sort of power … Recent reports have revealed how much the Royal Family routinely seeks to directly and personally change the decisions of government. ibid.
They receive direct grants from the state … They have their own private property holdings. ibid.
Crown land is some of the most valuable. ibid.
Charles pays no corporation or capital gains tax on his business enterprises. ibid.
‘She was a very passionate woman.’ Private Lives of the Monarchs s1e1: Queen Victoria, historian, Yesterday 2017
‘She was a drug taker.’ ibid.
We explore the young Victoria and her racy medicine cabinet. ibid.
‘There were seven assassination attempts on her life.’ ibid.
Victoria just wasn’t the maternal kind. ibid.
What is the truth about the madness of King George III? The Private Lives of the Monarchs s1e2: George III and the Prince Regent
George IV: ‘He was described as a cowardly contemptuous dog by one of his aides.’ ibid.
‘He wanted to be regarded as totally British.’ ibid. Tom McMahon, historian
A very happy marriage that lasted for 57 years and produced 16 children. ibid.
His [George III’s] eldest son was spendthrift and dissolute. ibid.
He married Maria in secret in 1785. ibid.
He was obese, lazy and quite possibly addicted to the opiate-based drug Laudanum. ibid.
He went to his grave unmourned and unloved. ibid.
Louis XIV, the Sun King, the longest reigning monarch in European history and the French king who built this fabulous palace here at Versailles. But what actually went on inside? What is the truth about the King’s tangled love life, his extravagant love life and extraordinary vanity. The Private Lives of the Monarchs s1e3: Louis XIV
12 illegitimate children and that was in addition to the six borne him by his wife Maria Theresa of Austria. ibid.
‘His entire life was one Truman Burbank public show.’ ibid. historian
Bathing was considered a health hazard. ibid.
‘This weird melange of perfume and excrement hanging all over the palace.’ ibid. historian
How did Charles II become more famous for his sexual adventures than for performing his royal duties? Private Lives of the Monarchs s1e4: Charles II
‘He was feckless, he was slothful and he was lewd in his behaviour.’ ibid.
William Chiffinch: royal page, keeper of the closet, otherwise known as royal pimpmaster. ibid.
Diseases like syphilis were rife at court. ibid.
The kingdom of Swaziland is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies.
The king rules by decree over his million subjects, most of whom live in the countryside and follow traditional ways of life.
The struggling economy benefited from preferential access which textile exporters had to the United States until this facility was withdrawn over human rights concerns in 2015.
The country exports sugar and many Swazis work in South Africa and send their earnings home.
According to UNICEF Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world. The HIV-Aids virus has killed countless Swazis who have left behind thousands of orphans. Some 210,000 people, our of a population of 1.2 million, are estimated to be living with HIV. BBC online article 14th December 2016
Now I’ve travelled half way around the world to try to track down a different kind of ruler: an absolute ruler. One of the only left standing. Have you ever met a king? I have. Uncensored with Michael Ware: King of Swaziland, National Geographic 2017
One of the last absolute monarchies in the world … often criticized in the western press for his lavish spending, for the state of his nation, for the treatment of his people. ibid.
On August 4th 1914 Britain went to war against an old friend and traditional ally ... How it is that Britain came to fight alongside Russia against Germany is one of the great puzzles of the twentieth century. The explanation lies in part in the eccentricities and foibles of a single family. Royal Cousins at War I, BBC 2014
European diplomacy was also a domestic drama. ibid.