(Continued from page 36)

  My work on this project could not have been completed without the trust and encouragement of Alexei's widow, Sandra Romanov.  The Tsarevich granted his third wife the title of Grand Duchess, but she steadfastly refuses to use it until that time when people know and believe the truth.  I respect Sandra's decision but wonder if her husband's story might not have come into the open a lot sooner if she had issued a public challenge by using the initials H.R.H. in front of her name.  She does receive mail addressed in that fashion!

Mrs. Romanov's parents, Gill and Dorothy Brown also play a big part in the story.  They were there when their daughter met Russia's Crown Prince on the beach in White Rock, B.C. back in 1956.  Dorothy was a teenager at the time of the Tsar's murder and says emphatically, "I know who was living under my roof"!  Their support is much appreciated and I have come to value their friendship.

It goes without saying that I am most grateful for the support of my family.  My wife Diana and our two children have lived with this story every day and my parents and my brother have endured patiently while I have talked about little else for the past four years.  Dad was the first to notice Alexei's obituary in the Vancouver Sun of July 2, 1977... and I doubt that he ever expected it would go this far.  Thanks also go to Sam Clark and his parents Lee and Bruce who gave me the knowledge I needed to solve the mystery of Alexei's blood disease.

I must express my gratitude to His Holiness Alexei II, Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Moscow and All Russia for the Christmas cards that he has sent for the past six years.  My thanks also go to His Royal Highness The Prince Edward for the initial interest he expressed in this story in his position as the Joint Managing Director of Ardent Productions.

Numerous others have helped with my understanding of this story... whether they realize it or not.  Russia's Dr. Pavel Ivanov appeared to mistake me for a fellow scientist the first time that we spoke on the telephone.  He hasn't answered my letters now since September 1995.  The late Dr. William Maples at the University of Florida stopped talking the year before that.  England's Dr. Peter Gill sent photocopies of his 1994 NATURE GENETICS article without ever saying a word.

The author of  'THE LAST TSAR', Edvard Radzinsky is the best known member of Russia's 22 member Romanov State Commission, appointed by President Boris Yeltsin in 1993 to oversee the mtDNA identification of Tsar Nicholas II's discovered remains.  During a promotional tour for his book 'THE RASPUTIN FILE', Mr. Radzinsky made a very clear statement to an interviewer in London that: "Maybe (Tsarevich) Alexei did NOT have haemophilia.  At the time, medicine was not so advanced..."

Richard and Marina Schweitzer (Granddaughter of the Tsar's Doctor Evgeny Botkin) have always been most kind on the telephone.  The books by authors Peter Kurth, Robert Massie, Suzanne Massie, John Klier, Mark Steinberg, Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko, the late James Blair Lovell, and others have been a great help.  Greg King (THE LAST EMPRESS) had said back in 1994 he would pay us a visit, but never came.  Then there is fellow Vancouverite, historian Marvin Lyons, who identifies himself as Executive Secretary of something called the Vorontsov Palace and Corps of Pages Memorial Trust... but that's a story for another day.

©  J. Kendrick 2002                                                                      Home