I knew the almost impossible task of rehabilitation which lay before me, but, as the task daily assumed greater proportions, love and pity for my beloved friend urged me to attempt it. I knew that I might be accused of being a Rasputinière, since my photograph taken with him had appeared in one of the English illustrated papers; but my best reply to such a possible charge is that I am living in England with my husband and child, and that my husband has sanctioned my description of Rasputin as I and others knew him. If the Empress’s association with Rasputin had been a guilty one, or if I had not been in a position to describe events exactly as they happened, this book would never have been written. It is both unjust and untrue to ascribe the Revolution as directly consequent upon the Emperor’s weakness, or the pro-Germanism and hysteric sensuality of the Empress. I have endeavoured to show that Rasputin was probably one of the unconscious tools of the Revolution against Imperialism: there is no doubt that German intrigues brought Lenin back from Switzerland to overthrow the milder rule of Kerensky, who was not ready to offer the country an efficient substitute for Tsardom, but the Empress was entirely innocent of pro-Germanism. Russia was ripe for Revolution; she had essayed Revolution years before the Empress or Rasputin saw the light. Her political history alone proves my statement, but War hurried the feet of Revolution toward her bloodstained goal. Other European kingdoms have tottered or fallen, but Russia is a land of extremes: hence the extreme methods of her ideas of equality, which are, in many respects, similar to those of the French Revolution. I am well aware that certain “official” documents relative to the Empress were sent to England, and I know the shameful assertions which they contained. These documents emanated from the Duma, and were “arranged” by the Duma, in order to justify many things which would otherwise have been unjustifiable. I have not attempted to give to the world any elaborate descriptions of Court festivities, and those happenings which are the common property of all European journalists. Mine is a very simple résumé of the daily life and personality of the Empress as I knew her. I have endeavoured to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration, in the hope that the public, who have innocently lent a ready ear to those things which are untrue, and which have been exploited by people who never saw or spoke to the Empress, will give equal consideration to the testimony of one who both knew and loved The Real Tsaritsa. INDEX PAGE Alexander II, 21 Alexandra, Queen, 199 Alexandra, Tsaritsa, _passim_ Anastasie, Grand Duchess, 78, 159, _passim_ Appraxin, Count, 161 Bariatinsky, Princess, 61 Beletsky, General, 106-7 Benckendorff, Count, 152-3, 157, 167, 181, 201, 212 Botkin, Dr., 72, 159, 240 Büxhoevgen, Baroness, 154 Clementine of Coburg, 129 Cyril, Grand Duke, 162