Shortly before I conceived him, I made a pilgrimage to Sarov to honour St Seraphim, whose holy relics have performed many miracles. Those in need of miracles bathe in the Sarovka River, where St Seraphim bathed, and as at night I waded into the icy depths, I prayed with all my heart and soul that my next child would be a boy – and my prayer has been answered! Although we gave our precious son the name Alexei, after the tsar who was Peter the Great’s father and who is the tsar Nicky admires most, we had very much wanted to name him Seraphim, but Nicky’s mama and his grand-uncles – even Sergei – nearly had heart attacks when we told them. And so my little darling is Alexei Nikolaevich, Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich, Grand Duke of Russia.

Nicky and I are so pleased that Georgie agreed to be one of his godparents, as did Willy (despite me no longer thinking of him as a true Kindred Spirit!). My two eldest girlies were absolutely splendid at his baptism ceremony. It was the first time either of them had taken part in anything so formal, and they looked absolutely delicious in traditional Russian court dresses of deep-blue satin decorated with silver-thread embroidery and little stiff headdresses decorated with pearls.

You cannot begin to imagine, dear May, what a difference Baby’s birth has made to us. (Baby is our pet name for Alexei.) Where once I was so unpopular, both with Nicky’s family (other than Sergei), and with St Petersburg society (who are absolutely NOT typical of the real Russia), now I can do no wrong. There has been some terrible unrest in the country over the last several months – all caused by troublemakers who fill the heads of the workers with unrealistic expectations; there was even a general strike some months ago in Odessa – but Baby’s birth has shown how truly devoted to us the country as a whole is. The peasants – who are the true Russians of Russia – refer to Nicky as their ‘Little Father’, and now I am ‘Mamushka’, their Little Mother. Outside St Petersburg, at Ilinskoe, where Ella and Sergei have their country home, we have only to appear and the people flock in hordes from miles around and bow respectfully in their hundreds to us. Some of them even fall on their knees, so do not believe any rumours as to our unpopularity!

My last piece of good news is that Sergei is soon to be relieved of the burden of his governorship of Moscow and is to be recalled to another position here, in St Petersburg. I will then see far more of Ella than I have for quite some time, although she and Sergei were on a visit to Peterhof when darling Baby was born.

Much love and huge hugs, your always Kindred Spirit, Alicky