Summary Last Russian emperor ('czar') Nicholas and his five kids (weakling heir and four girls) were revered by the simpleton Russian people like saints, until the Great War turned out disastrous and the imperial commander in chief was blamed for national misery. The Menshevik revolution brought peace by capitulation to the German empire and a quiet revolution, the dynasty being 'bannished' to a luxury palace. But Lenin's Bolsheviks seize power and ordered the 'tyrant' imprisoned to desolate, hostile Ekaterinaburg, guarded by a zealot captain. The czar's cousin, the British king, had to abandon an exile hospitality offer due to the czar's German wife, and a spy found a rescue impossible. The family was taken to a woodland meadow and shot. Burning the corpses proved arduous, so two kids were separated, giving rise to the hope they survived, but modern DNA evidence identified all.

• Documentary
• History
• Mystery