Whiffs of scandal

Sexual revelations are not a traditional feature of the Romanov myth. Following the murder of the last Tsar, the Tsarina and their five children in 1918, all seven were canonised by the Russian Orthodox church.

The only slurs to have come close to the saintly Romanovs have been those cast upon their friend Rasputin. Tales of Rasputin's sexual antics - flashing in St Petersburg nightclubs, boasting he slept with the Tsarina - still abound, even though the author, Greg King, seemed to have offered the final word as, in a previous book, he revealed that Rasputin's penis may have been conserved by fanatical émigrés in Paris in a velvet box. One of the aims of King's new book, The Fate Of The Romanovs, is to wrest the Imperial family from their stultifying iconic image. To this end, King and his co-author, Penny Wilson, include material once deemed improper. But are the stories true?

The authors suggest that the Grand Duchess Olga, aged 23, was sexually abused or even raped by Bolshevik guards during her last journey from Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg. One of the children's tutors, Sydney Gibbes, apparently told his adopted son that he heard terrible screams that night. He never, as far as I know, mentioned it to anyone else, but perhaps he wished to protect the honour of his former pupil.

The authors describe a photograph taken the following day in which Olga "clutches her purse, head turned to the window, face pensive and etched with worry". To me, she just looks bored, And they do not explain why, later in the day, Olga managed to fret over a Bolshevik guard who had fallen from a ladder and hurt his foot.

During the family's captivity in Ekaterinburg, the lively Grand Duchess Marie was apparently bowled off her feet by a Bolshevik guard called Ivan Skorokhodov. The pair were, say the authors, "almost certainly" discovered together by two Bolshevik officials on Marie's 19th birthday.

At a later stage, the Bolshevik commandant noted that the Tsarina was treating Marie as an outcast, while a priest commented: "Before all this, we had never met such refined people. Of course, one changes one's opinions, knowing what has happened." Yet there is no direct evidence linking the Tsarina's behaviour or the priest's comment with any indiscretion by Marie.

But King and Wilson do successfully lay to rest the myth which maintains the family went stoically to their deaths like martyrs. It is highly unlikely that they ever envisaged their own murders. Up till the moment the family were told they were to be shot, they were reasonably happy. Testimonies are presented from two members of the Union of Professional Housemaids who saw all four grand duchesses the day before they died. The girls were laughing: "There was no trace of sadness". One guard reported that, as they were led to the cellar to be shot, they smiled.

The authors bravely disagree with Robert K Massie, Orlando Figes, Edvard Radzinsky and Richard Pipes that the decision to kill the family was taken by Lenin, suggesting that it was ordered by a maverick group of Bolshevik officials. The book presents a picture of horrifying chaos, culminating in 10 cackhanded gunmen struggling to shoot 11 prisoners in a small cellar. Two of the grand duchesses were apparently still breathing 10 minutes after the commandant said he had checked their pulses.

King and Wilson do not go into the possible escape and survival of Anastasia. However, they call attention to the disappearance of her body: it has still not been found.

The Fate of the Romanovs is both encyclopaedic and compelling. The authors' tendency to report rumours and counter-rumours along with the facts sometimes muddies already dirty water. On the other hand, they are sparing in their claims on any ultimate truth, preferring a wealth of revealing detail, not least the Romanovs' preference for five baths a day and the Tsarina's mysterious possession of a merkin, or pubic wig.