Counting down to 17 July 1918 when the family was murdered.
On 12 July 1918, Alexandra woke up with a lot of pain and it was so bad that she had to remain in bed all day. Dr. Botkin was there but there was little he could do. He was running out of medicines and could not obtain new ones. Maria volunteered to stay with her mother while the others went outside into the garden. Maria spent the day reading to her mother works by the religious writer Grigory Dyachenko.1
In the afternoon, it had begun to thunder and rain.2
I’ve been enjoying your website but I wonder why you don’t have more on royal women from Africa and Asia, especially Africa when I consider places like Ethiopia and Madagascar that have long traditions of empowered women and strong royal traditions.`
Mostly because information from those regions is rather sparse. 🙁 If you have any book recommendations about women from those areas, do let me know!