For the Love of an Empress

For Lili Dehn, who came to the last Russian Imperial Court as a young girl and who was destined to become one of the star-crossed Empress Alexandra's closest and most devoted confidantes, it was love at first sight: At last, advancing slowly through masses of greenery, came a tall and slender figure. It was the Empress. I looked at her, admiration in my heart and in my eyes. I had never imagined her to be half so fair and I shall never forget her beauty as I saw her on that July morning, although the Empress of many sorrows remains with me more as a moving and holy memory. She was dressed entirely in white, with a thin white veil draped round her hat. Her complexion was delicate, but when she was excited her cheeks were suffused with a faint rose flush. Her hair was reddish-gold, her eyes - those infinitely tragic eyes - were dark blue, and her figure was as supple as a willow wand. I remember that her pearls were magnificent and that diamond earrings flashed colored fires whenever she moved her head. She wore a simple little ring bearing the emblem of the Swastika, her favorite symbol - one that has given rise to so many conjectures and been quoted triumphantly as proof positive of her leanings toward the occult by those who are ignorant of what it really meant to her. On her escape to England after the Russian Revolution and after the execution of the Imperial Family, Lili became determined to tell the truth about Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra as she had known them over many years. To her certain knowledge, they had been among the kindest, the most decent and the most considerate of people imaginable, surrounded by a loving and devoted family. Those who said otherwise hadn't known them and had been systematically deceived by false rumors and relentless anti-Tsarist propaganda. It was time to set the record straight.