Tercentenary of the House of Romanov (1913)

The celebrations marking the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty began on the morning of 21 February 1913 with an artillery salute of thirty-one rounds from the Peter and Paul Fortress. The Patriarch of Antioch performed a special mass at the Kazan Cathedral. Nevsky Prospekt was lined with troops and crowds of people eager to catch a glimpse of the imperial family.

At midday, the Romanovs emerged from Palace Square in open carriages. Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexis were in the first carriage, drawn by a pair of horses. The second conveyed the two empresses – Alexandra Fyodorovna and Maria Fyodorovna – followed by the tsar’s four daughters in a third carriage. The tsarevich was carried by a Cossack, his face contorted with pain. Alexandra Fyodorovna had a cold and distracted air.

The next day, a gala performance of Mikhail Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar was given at the Mariinsky Theatre in the presence of the imperial family, followed by a ball at the Noblemen’s Assembly on 23 February.