Baby in the Palace - PART I

a delicate and intuitive spirit. I [Pierre Gilliard] had no difficulty in believing that those who were not forced, as I was, to teach him habits of discipline, but could unreservedly enjoy his charm, easily fell under its spell.”

This opinion is confirmed by the other teacher, the tutor of English: “He was full of spirits and had quick powers of observation, a generous nature and a very strong will. He knew the meaning of gratitude, a rare trait in the great... I gave him English lessons after the Revolution, and it was lovely to see him when a lesson was over, getting up ceremoniously, giving me his hand, with an exact imitation of the Emperor's manner, and thanking me with his own particularly sweet smile: It’s really nice of you, you know. He felt he was under an obligation to me, as I was not his regular teacher, and so he always tried to show me small attentions, like presents from his own things -- he couldn‘t buy anything, he was a prisoner. He was the most conscientious child I ever knew, and always tried to know his lesson well.”

In general, lessons in history and languages seemed to be the best, due to Aleksei’s natural love for the military and for his country, and because he was growing up in a bilingual household. His sisters all spoke Russian and English with equal facility, and took daily lessons in French. Aleksei himself is said to have preferred Russian in conversation, though during World War I, several British representatives would remark that “he spoke several languages well and quickly.” He was also rather musical, learning to play the balalaika, a very old Russian instrument popular among the peasant class, together with his sister Anastasia. Most likely, he had what music teachers today call a “perfect pitch,” as he was able to imitate melodies he heard from his gramophone after listening to them only once or twice.

A frequent obstacle to his studies was his illness, which began to take full force in his life just as he was entering the proper age for schooling. In the start of his life, Aleksei had a normal childhood, playing rough games with his sisters, enjoying it when they tossed him from a hammock into a pile of hay, and playing war in snow-drifts during the winter. Sometimes when he fell, large bruises would

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